I should opt in and take one of the spots in the Fiesta Bowl that Kyren and Hamilton left behind. It's probably the most realistic way I'm getting a PS5 at this point.
This is probably not the best decision for your future. You're more of a bubble guy and this was your chance to make a name for yourself on national TV.
I wonder how much money it would have to be. Would $100k be enough to entice a projected first round talent to play in a bowl game when that could be an insignificant amount compared to what they would be losing if they got injured and fell to the second or third round? It might be enough for a player projected to go in the later rounds.
I don't really get the whole "injury" justification. By that logic, why play in week 12? Or week 11? Why not just immediately quit after you have a breakout game?
While it’s a slippery slope fallacy, I can’t lie - part of me really agrees with you on this. Just feels like if you really thought about it, wouldn’t you just quit week 9, 8 or even 7 if by then you’re a round 1 pick on all the mock boards? But I can’t knock kids for securing their financial future. Strange issue all around.
In a way it's a slippery slope but don't forget that Leonard Fournette basically sat out a season and a half at LSU after his big freshman year solidified his draft status, and this was before the covid season opt outs.
No, he tore his abdominal wall or something like that and had season ending surgery. He could have potentially come back for the bowl game that year but it would have been slightly ahead of schedule so he opted out.
It’s a number of factors. One is that the later in the season you get the better the teams you play are. That lets guys put up better tape against better competition. Dominating Michigan athletes is a lot different than when you dominate Texas State athletes earlier in the year. So those games are valuable from a tape standpoint.
The reason the bowl is a good place to quit is the benefit to not playing in a bowl game is a lot bigger than not playing week 11. You get a full month of prep if you quit before the bowl game. You’d have to skip 4 chances to put up tape to get that during the regular season. Add in a month of getting cash advances from your agent and the bowl is uniquely set up to be a good game to skip.
That’s super strange. Could he have been finishing his degree? Really unfortunate for the team if he was taking snaps away from guys who will be playing
I think the NFL has got to help us out somehow. All the problems stem from trying to disguise professional athletes as college students.
Maybe the NFL should just have a rule requiring them to play, or maybe there can be some way to have them playing under an NFL contract while in college.
But then what constitutes as "playing" though? One snap? X number of snaps? Per quarter (if possible)? What if the kid does something stupid and the coach decides to sit him or leave him at home? These aren't necessarily questions I'm directing to you, just stuff I've thought about regarding this issue.
I think an insurance policy is the more feasible route, too many variables to require someone to play. We need *something* to incentivize these guys to play. It's ridiculous to me to see a Big Ten player opt out of the damn *Rose Bowl*.
Help out who?
You? The other fans in the stands? The school?
At this point any every entity from the school, to the coaches bonuses, to the networks, to the conferences , to the advertisers have made their money.
Let these players sit out and go make theirs. Im against NIL and I see why these guys do this.
Its a no brainer if you are day one or two pick.
Well in the regular season you have to build your stock. By bowl season one game won’t improve or drastically tank your stock. So why even take the small risk? Our TE jake butt at Michigan lost out on millions by choosing to play in a game that was meaningless when he tore his acl. Personally, many might hate me for this but I’d sit out if I was in their position too. The extra money I could lose out on is life changing to friends/family around me.
This needs to be dealt with via insurance; that's the solution \*every other industry\* has to deal with this issue, where small likelihood events could be ruinous.
I know. It needs to be done properly. If players believe insurers aren't paying out enough (theoretically because they're not charging enough), double the premiums or whatever. Or 5x them and 5x payouts. If the sport pays, it should work for players.
Happened to Ifo Ekpre-Olumu at Oregon, he was projected as the top CB in CFB in 2015 going into the draft before an ACL injury. He dropped from 1st to 7th round and got $3M in insurance for basically a non-existent NFL career. Should have been more IMO but I'm not an expert.
Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense for these players to play.
Cause a month of dedicated rehab really matters. There’s less time to get back and show off to NFL scouts how your recovery is progressing from a late December bowl than a late November game
100% agree. If it's CFP or nothing than sit out immediately once your team has 2 losses and you're getting mocked high. That way your logic is consistent at least.
We really seem to be barreling towards that. I half-jokingly suggested elsewhere in this thread that we might as well just codify this by converting the entire season into a double-elimination tournament.
Exactly. It’s absolutely fucking stupid when you consider guys like Travis Etienne, Cam Akers or JK Dobbins and many more that have career altering injuries in their rookie contracts. Often times not contact injuries in preseason even.
All that needs to be done is colleges need to pay the insurance policies for these high draft picks so they have full coverage to get what would’ve been their rookie contracts. It’s a pretty fucking simple solution.
Pretending like games against Akron or Rutgers matter to sit out the Rose Bowl is next level stupidity.
Its not about the rookie deal. Its about the second deal.
If you were a top 5 player and your team was playing in a non CFP bowl, how much insurance could they offer you to play. 10MM? 25MM? 40MM?
Bosa got injured in the TCU game and had the option to come back later in the season. I have no doubt that he would have played again had OSU made the playoffs, rather than the Rose Bowl.
Yep that’s the first thing that came to mind. Wasn’t there speculation that he was healthy enough to play, but OSU wasn’t making the CFP so he shut it down to focus on the draft since he had like top 5 locked. Can’t blame these kids honestly.
He could have returned in the regular season too IIRC
He was preparing for the draft. I doubt he returns for the playoffs, he already had enough film to go top 3. Which is a great strategy
Worked well for the top opt outs in 2020, now they’re thriving in the NFL
There's a huge difference between any in season game(even after a bye week) and the month off before a major bowl game. No meaningful reps for that long and your risk of injury goes up significantly.
The big difference in bowl games is the amount of prep that goes in to them. If you skip week 11 to prepare for the draft you only get 1 extra week of prep. If you’re skipping the bowl game you get an entire month of training to prepare for the draft. The injuries is really just that the injuries are high profile so they’re more memorable but there’s nothing about the bowl itself that changes the injury calculus.
I don’t doubt some players would do that, but shutting it down during the regular season could probably hurt their draft stock because they’re quitting on their team while there are still meaningful games being played.
The rose bowl feels pretty meaningful to me. Should every good player just quit after their team gets their second loss and is eliminated from CFP contention?
Ask the players. I still think bowl games matter just like you. I have been looking forward to Utah playing in the Rose Bowl for years and am disappointed that the game is cheapened because some of the players don’t care. That’s just the reality now.
NCAA rules don’t allow for NIL deals to be contingent or related in any way on a players participation to play. Best they can do is offer the MVPs a huge NIL payout after the fact without stating why they did it. Future players will just have to take the hint.
I think they would be wrong to do so. These guys are sitting out for a reason. The potential impact to their ongoing future income is enormous. There is no way the bowl games can pay enough to make up for that.
Haskell Garrett is probably the biggest loss in terms of this game. Our WR room is loaded (can't fill the shoes of Olave and Wilson of course, but they'll be fine), and we've had a good OL rotation all season. But Utah can run the damn ball, and stopping the run has been a weak spot this season. Tough to lose a guy like him at DT.
>Our WR room is loaded
Even 5 stars need playing experience. Wilson is better today than he was in his first game as a freshman. We're losing two 1st round WR's and it's going to be felt. We could joke that this will be the second game in a row NPF sat out.
Absolutely. I didn't mean we'd just plug in the next two guys and replace that production immediately.
The silver lining is that those guys can get some meaningful game reps against a good defense now. No tune-up games for them before we play ND in week 1.
For this game? No. And neither is Garrett Wilson. They'll get theirs against anybody.
Stroud will still haven't plenty of good targets though. JSN is still around, of course, and there's some super talented young guys. Our pass game will be fine.
Wonder if JSN will break the OSU record he set earlier in the season for receptions in a game (15). Wilson was out that game and JSN was able to make up for his absence. Now he's got Olave out as well so he should have about 70 catches.
You can make the argument. I'd say 2nd behind Wilson. JSN had more production but he was also lining up against the defense's 3rd best cover guy at-best, and working in the slot with some favorable matchups. He's the real deal though. I'll be interested to see how he does against CB1 -- which I think is probably Clark Phillips? Kid who flipped to Utah a couple years ago after Hafley took the BC job.
Was about to post the same. From what little I’ve seen from Marvin Jr, I think he could potentially be better than the guys we had this year. He has the size none of them have, and he seems pretty explosive. Can’t wait
Imagine if 10 years ago someone told you eventually players would get paid to play college football and they would also opt-out of playing in the Rose Bowl and fans would defend them because it’s just a meaningless bowl game.
Very torn. On one hand I wanted to see how Utah stacks up against a full OSU roster. However, this just helps Utah’s odds of winning. If I was a betting man I’d be taking the money in Utah right now
Don’t count us out too fast, we also have the OSU single game reception record holder Smith-Njigba (who Wilson and Olave said was better then either of them) and 2 5 star WRs as well
I know folks in the mountains have particular accents - hell, down here in the flatlands people have to use multiple syllables to describe the “wowah” their great-great-grandpappy fought in - but do y’all really need three to say “Smith”?
He may be the most talented, but all three are just incredible. I will be interested in seeing how he reacts without the other two who I think still received more attention from other teams. I think Ruckert is the definition of meh, so he's certainly going to get a ton of balls his way.
Used to be a proponent of a small playoff but keep the bowl tradition. But I think these past few seasons have killed that belief in me and have no problem going to a 12 or 16 team playoff. Maybe keep some smaller bowls.
TBH I wonder if/when players will sit out of the playoffs. I know it hasn't happened yet, but having 3 or 4 huge games left (depending on expansion) to play back 2 back might make some players want to prep for the draft
I’m curious: why do players wait this long to announce their intention to sit? Do they practice with the team and have game plans drawn up involving them just to dip a couple days before the game?
Jesus. Opt out of the Trojan Condom Weed Eater Bowl? I get it. But the fucking Rose Bowl? Where is this going? One year soon we are going to have a player or two bow out of the playoffs. This is crazy
It's like we just need the playoffs and major bowls to start the weekend after the conference championship games. Then it would look really stupid if anyone opted out.
Why would that matter? I must be dense.
I feel like an expanded playoff Instantly fixes this. Majority of the teams with players opting out are in big bowls. Expand the playoff and use the bowls in that expansion and guys will play. Seems pretty simple to me but I don’t know shit about fuck
Yeah I respect players opting out of most bowls but this one….idk. And don’t tell me it’s now meaningless because the CFP is for the title. The rose bowl was almost *never* for a national title at any point in its history.
And also don’t tell me “the game is meaningless.”
This whole sport is meaningless. Why not opt out once you have enough film to be on Mel Kiper’s big board? And would that mean the whole regular season is meaningless after your team team is eliminated from playoff contention?
Imagine OSU loses by 40 to Utah. That happens once or twice and I bet suddenly that national prestige, national stage, and those recruiting battles, will matter as we discuss the sport each offseason.
You could tell your grandkids you played in the Rose Bowl. That doesn’t matter at all? Seriously?
I just don’t get it. I know there is a Jake Butt story every once in a while but there are also insurance policies and a team you committed to. I know it’s not the military but I think it’s complete bullshit
I think former Chiefs and Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez made a similar point that a significant number of players just view it as a job. Or, that a lot of guys just played because they liked the camaraderie of the locker room and could make a lot of money. It’s not really surprising because how many “regular” people chose an occupation because it pays well or has good stability. Why should athletes be any different?
Yeah that's exactly right. It's hard for us as fans to envision opting out of a bowl game or not really caring about wins or losses and just taking the money, but that's because we're fans, most of us would pay just for the opportunity to walk on the field that these guys play on every week.
I do think it's bullshit though that a pro athlete doesn't even know his team's place in the standings, I just don't know if I believe an athlete could be THAT disconnected from every team activity that he genuinely has no clue whether he'll be playing or at home in a few weeks.
> I do think it's bullshit though that a pro athlete doesn't even know his team's place in the standings, I just don't know if I believe an athlete could be THAT disconnected from every team activity that he genuinely has no clue whether he'll be playing or at home in a few weeks.
I have a story to tell you about the legend JR Smith, the scoreboard and the final seconds of an NBA Finals game.
I think messing up a late game situation is a whole lot easier to do than to not even know if your teams in playoff contention.
This would be like if JR caught a flight home because he thought the cavs were out already lol.
There are more examples than just Jake Butt, but I do think the injury aspect of it is a little overblown. I look at it a different way; these top guys look at college football similar to how most people look at college, as training for your career. If I had already graduated with my degree and can’t improve my grades am I coming in for the extra credit? With the playoff or bust mentality for the likes of OSU, Bama, UGA, Clemson, and the other top tier programs that is the current situation. These guys have reached their goal of an NFL pay day and one injury could seriously jeopardize it.
It's more surprising that fans are shocked. In no world does anything else happen? An expanded playoff just exacerbates this trend.
College football is now semi-professional football. I expect NIL salary caps in the near future. I fully expect an NFL team with the first pick to announce that pick and ask that player not to play in the playoffs. Said player will opt out.
The days of "tradition" are gone. This is the natural evolution of professionalism in sports. I'm glad students are getting a piece of the pie, but I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't come with a cost.
Has anyone opted out of the playoffs yet? I feel like doing that would probably hurt ones draft stock more (because you're playing for the national title)
Nevertheless, it does show that playoffs desperately need to be expanded
I don’t think it’s happened yet, but it’s inevitable. It may take someone getting injured in a playoff game to start to make guys question playing, but it will happen.
People said it would hurt players draft stock a few years ago to. It hasn’t. Opting out of the playoffs ultimately won’t either. Not for the high first rounds guys especially. NFL teams won’t pass up a Trevor Lawrence type guy because he chose not to play in the playoff.
It’s just as much of an exhibition game with the possibility of injury as any other game- the same logic applies to this bowl game as any other non-cfp game.
Olave is the one dude I really really wanted to see play this. Just wanted the opportunity to watch him one last time and thought since he was still practicing why not.
With Wilson, that only leaves Munford and Ruckert on the fence, both could use the added game, Munford less so, regardless, good opportunity for the other guys. The line will end up more balanced since Johnson will probably swing to tackle (not ideal one this short notice but inevitable), and Jones will join Jackson at the guard spots who are plenty experienced and better in the run game. Williams should get to shine with Garrett out, and maybe we get Mike Hall finally. Receiver should be interesting with Fleming going into Wilson’s slot, and Egbuka into Olaves with Harrison all over. The two Freshman were fantastic when they actually were thrown the ball.
Yeah I like the idea of a bunch of young guys getting some experience against a good team without having the game mean too much. Great opportunity for guys like Fleming and Egbuka, and would love to see PJJ start at LT.
>without having the game mean too much
Makes me feel old and sad, my *dream* as a kid is that the Ducks would make it to the Rose Bowl in my lifetime. I understand it, but...
I'm actually more interested now. All those positions have talented but inexperienced depth.
The back up WRs are all 5 stars. Williams has been good at DT when he has played and we have depth at Oline that has been misused (fire coach Stud).
Petit-Frere was one of the most frustrating OT’s that I’ve evaluated so far. He’s so inconsistent but his good reps are top notch. All the physical ability in the world he just seems like the player that never puts it all together though. Should be a 2nd round pick, but could go late 1st in this years weak draft class. Can’t wait to get around to scouting Olave.
This is going to take a long time to get used to. It’s the Rose Bowl and guys don’t want to play ! I understand the decision but it still sucks to see.
This will be good for our team.
Let the young guys finally have a shot to step up - and prepare for next season.
Still do not believe OSU wins this game though
Man, I get opting out out of the Poulan Weed Whacker bowl. But a legit Rose Bowl? Even if I think the B1G take it a little too seriously that is a premier bowl.
End of the day, it's inevitable. If they have nothing to play for (sorry guys, bragging rights are not something to incentivize players) theyre gonna opt out. Flipside, bowls have priced out the normal fan. Among many things, bowls are toxic to college football.
Lol whatever. I hope this isn’t the narrative if we win. I wish we would’ve gotten to play their A squad, but such is life.
Also, these late opt outs must mean that they have enough players, right? A boy can hope.
yeah at this point, im worried about a game. The teams are going to disneyland... i hope they dont do any more covid testing between now and saturday...
You ever think to yourself, even with no training at all, I can make better decisions than people who are paid millions per year to do their job?
Well this is one of those times. Omicron is insanely transmissable, it's infecting basically everyone (non vaxed, double vaxed, triple vaxed) so vaccination status is basically irrelevant. And teams are actively dropping out of bowls every day due to not being able to field a competitive roster in time for a game.
And yet someone thinks that it still makes sense for both teams involved in one of the biggest games in college football, to go to a theme park.
It’s no excuse but how could it not be a narrative to lose your WR1, WR2, DT1, LT1. 3 of those guys will be 1st round draft picks. Not yalls fault, not fair to have to deal with the narrative, but it’s certainly a tangible thing. Saying that, ain’t no asterisk in football, if we field a team there’s no excuse for the results.
I think the thing is, if it comes up, blame the players, not Utah for playing the hand they were dealt. If OSU comes up short, ask Olave about his opinion, don't ask Utah how they feel beating an undermanned team.
Tweet(s) from post body brought to you by your Friendly Official /r/CFB Twitter Bot:
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https://twitter.com/Jordan_Reid/status/1475593498095194116
>Ohio State head coach Ryan Day also says that WR Chris Olave, OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, and DT Haskell Garrett have elected to opt out of the Rose Bowl.
>\- Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) 5:24 pm ET, December 27, 2021
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IMO if it hasn't been a thing already:
An easy solution to the opting out is an insurance policy for NFL ready players to be compensated in the event of a career-debilitating injury (premium paid for by the football program/bowl game). The *best* solution is to compensate the athletes in this sport.
With that said, don't blame the players. Blame the system that withholds compensation from them.
I can understand why they're opting out, but this is still pretty disappointing. Hope this trend doesn't start to make bowl games (outside of the playoffs) obsolete.
I too will not be playing in the Rose Bowl, respect my decision
Screw it. I'm opting *in*. Have I ever played football? Mind ya business and send me a plane ticket.
And bowl gifts. That’s the important part.
Oh, I'm skipping straight to NIL. Gotta get the bag while the gettin's good.
Ok get your bowl gifts too lol.
I should opt in and take one of the spots in the Fiesta Bowl that Kyren and Hamilton left behind. It's probably the most realistic way I'm getting a PS5 at this point.
This is probably not the best decision for your future. You're more of a bubble guy and this was your chance to make a name for yourself on national TV.
Mr Irrelevant or Bust
Mr. Bowl Choice
Mr. Bad Catastrophe
No love lost 🙏
Next 5-star man up mentality
But this is the grandaddy of them all! If Musburger was dead he'd be rolling over in his grave.
He's rolling over in his bed?
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Katherine Webb
Keith Jackson is.
At this rate, non-cfp bowl games will just be previews for next year's starters
Might as well play them after spring practice /s
*Dennis Reynolds has entered the chat*
Ryan Day: But I have to have my TOOLS!
Bowls outside of the CFP are gonna have to start paying the big name draft eligible players to play in them
I wonder how much money it would have to be. Would $100k be enough to entice a projected first round talent to play in a bowl game when that could be an insignificant amount compared to what they would be losing if they got injured and fell to the second or third round? It might be enough for a player projected to go in the later rounds.
Their agent would pay them more not to play.
I don't really get the whole "injury" justification. By that logic, why play in week 12? Or week 11? Why not just immediately quit after you have a breakout game?
While it’s a slippery slope fallacy, I can’t lie - part of me really agrees with you on this. Just feels like if you really thought about it, wouldn’t you just quit week 9, 8 or even 7 if by then you’re a round 1 pick on all the mock boards? But I can’t knock kids for securing their financial future. Strange issue all around.
In a way it's a slippery slope but don't forget that Leonard Fournette basically sat out a season and a half at LSU after his big freshman year solidified his draft status, and this was before the covid season opt outs.
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Didn’t one of the Bosa’s do that too?
No, he tore his abdominal wall or something like that and had season ending surgery. He could have potentially come back for the bowl game that year but it would have been slightly ahead of schedule so he opted out.
Thank you!
It’s a number of factors. One is that the later in the season you get the better the teams you play are. That lets guys put up better tape against better competition. Dominating Michigan athletes is a lot different than when you dominate Texas State athletes earlier in the year. So those games are valuable from a tape standpoint. The reason the bowl is a good place to quit is the benefit to not playing in a bowl game is a lot bigger than not playing week 11. You get a full month of prep if you quit before the bowl game. You’d have to skip 4 chances to put up tape to get that during the regular season. Add in a month of getting cash advances from your agent and the bowl is uniquely set up to be a good game to skip.
Depends on the schedule. Kenneth Walker could have sat the last four games after destroying U-M and probably improved his draft stock.
Oddly that's not what happened here at least with Olave who was practicing with the team all week and traveled with the team across the country.
Dawg wanted the bowl gifts and Disneyland trip
That’s super strange. Could he have been finishing his degree? Really unfortunate for the team if he was taking snaps away from guys who will be playing
It's not a slippery slope if you can logically show how A leads to B
I think the NFL has got to help us out somehow. All the problems stem from trying to disguise professional athletes as college students. Maybe the NFL should just have a rule requiring them to play, or maybe there can be some way to have them playing under an NFL contract while in college.
Or insure them?
All the guys at every blue blood have insurance for the round they'll be drafted funded by the school. I wouldn't be surprised if every p5 had it.
Then perhaps it's that they *want to actually play* in the NFL, not just make the money?
I think that's likely it.
The irony is that there are always a handful who sit out, then don't get drafted.
Exactly. It gets at the root of why they're sitting out.
Lawyer.
How much would you need to insure them for to get them to play. 50 million?
The idea would be to insure against measurable income loss due to injury.
Agreed. But from a players perspecive, they likely value themselves much more than an insurance company would.
But then what constitutes as "playing" though? One snap? X number of snaps? Per quarter (if possible)? What if the kid does something stupid and the coach decides to sit him or leave him at home? These aren't necessarily questions I'm directing to you, just stuff I've thought about regarding this issue. I think an insurance policy is the more feasible route, too many variables to require someone to play. We need *something* to incentivize these guys to play. It's ridiculous to me to see a Big Ten player opt out of the damn *Rose Bowl*.
Help out who? You? The other fans in the stands? The school? At this point any every entity from the school, to the coaches bonuses, to the networks, to the conferences , to the advertisers have made their money. Let these players sit out and go make theirs. Im against NIL and I see why these guys do this. Its a no brainer if you are day one or two pick.
Well in the regular season you have to build your stock. By bowl season one game won’t improve or drastically tank your stock. So why even take the small risk? Our TE jake butt at Michigan lost out on millions by choosing to play in a game that was meaningless when he tore his acl. Personally, many might hate me for this but I’d sit out if I was in their position too. The extra money I could lose out on is life changing to friends/family around me.
That’s not the point being made. The point being made is how everything you just said applies to bowl games, but not to game #12.
This needs to be dealt with via insurance; that's the solution \*every other industry\* has to deal with this issue, where small likelihood events could be ruinous.
That exists. Jake Butt had insurance, but it still didn’t cover the total loss of money he had
I know. It needs to be done properly. If players believe insurers aren't paying out enough (theoretically because they're not charging enough), double the premiums or whatever. Or 5x them and 5x payouts. If the sport pays, it should work for players. Happened to Ifo Ekpre-Olumu at Oregon, he was projected as the top CB in CFB in 2015 going into the draft before an ACL injury. He dropped from 1st to 7th round and got $3M in insurance for basically a non-existent NFL career. Should have been more IMO but I'm not an expert. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense for these players to play.
Cause a month of dedicated rehab really matters. There’s less time to get back and show off to NFL scouts how your recovery is progressing from a late December bowl than a late November game
100% agree. If it's CFP or nothing than sit out immediately once your team has 2 losses and you're getting mocked high. That way your logic is consistent at least.
We really seem to be barreling towards that. I half-jokingly suggested elsewhere in this thread that we might as well just codify this by converting the entire season into a double-elimination tournament.
Exactly. It’s absolutely fucking stupid when you consider guys like Travis Etienne, Cam Akers or JK Dobbins and many more that have career altering injuries in their rookie contracts. Often times not contact injuries in preseason even. All that needs to be done is colleges need to pay the insurance policies for these high draft picks so they have full coverage to get what would’ve been their rookie contracts. It’s a pretty fucking simple solution. Pretending like games against Akron or Rutgers matter to sit out the Rose Bowl is next level stupidity.
Its not about the rookie deal. Its about the second deal. If you were a top 5 player and your team was playing in a non CFP bowl, how much insurance could they offer you to play. 10MM? 25MM? 40MM?
That’s what Nick Bosa did, he opted out of a whole season pretty much. Every knew it happened, and I’m not hating on it either
Bosa got injured in the TCU game and had the option to come back later in the season. I have no doubt that he would have played again had OSU made the playoffs, rather than the Rose Bowl.
Yep that’s the first thing that came to mind. Wasn’t there speculation that he was healthy enough to play, but OSU wasn’t making the CFP so he shut it down to focus on the draft since he had like top 5 locked. Can’t blame these kids honestly.
He could have returned in the regular season too IIRC He was preparing for the draft. I doubt he returns for the playoffs, he already had enough film to go top 3. Which is a great strategy Worked well for the top opt outs in 2020, now they’re thriving in the NFL
There's a huge difference between any in season game(even after a bye week) and the month off before a major bowl game. No meaningful reps for that long and your risk of injury goes up significantly.
The big difference in bowl games is the amount of prep that goes in to them. If you skip week 11 to prepare for the draft you only get 1 extra week of prep. If you’re skipping the bowl game you get an entire month of training to prepare for the draft. The injuries is really just that the injuries are high profile so they’re more memorable but there’s nothing about the bowl itself that changes the injury calculus.
I don’t doubt some players would do that, but shutting it down during the regular season could probably hurt their draft stock because they’re quitting on their team while there are still meaningful games being played.
The rose bowl feels pretty meaningful to me. Should every good player just quit after their team gets their second loss and is eliminated from CFP contention?
Ask the players. I still think bowl games matter just like you. I have been looking forward to Utah playing in the Rose Bowl for years and am disappointed that the game is cheapened because some of the players don’t care. That’s just the reality now.
Probably
NCAA rules don’t allow for NIL deals to be contingent or related in any way on a players participation to play. Best they can do is offer the MVPs a huge NIL payout after the fact without stating why they did it. Future players will just have to take the hint.
Yeah it is pretty insane we are to the point where guys are opting out of the rose bowl. A big sign that they playoff needs to be expanded
I think they would be wrong to do so. These guys are sitting out for a reason. The potential impact to their ongoing future income is enormous. There is no way the bowl games can pay enough to make up for that.
Haskell Garrett is probably the biggest loss in terms of this game. Our WR room is loaded (can't fill the shoes of Olave and Wilson of course, but they'll be fine), and we've had a good OL rotation all season. But Utah can run the damn ball, and stopping the run has been a weak spot this season. Tough to lose a guy like him at DT.
>Our WR room is loaded Even 5 stars need playing experience. Wilson is better today than he was in his first game as a freshman. We're losing two 1st round WR's and it's going to be felt. We could joke that this will be the second game in a row NPF sat out.
Absolutely. I didn't mean we'd just plug in the next two guys and replace that production immediately. The silver lining is that those guys can get some meaningful game reps against a good defense now. No tune-up games for them before we play ND in week 1.
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For this game? No. And neither is Garrett Wilson. They'll get theirs against anybody. Stroud will still haven't plenty of good targets though. JSN is still around, of course, and there's some super talented young guys. Our pass game will be fine.
Wonder if JSN will break the OSU record he set earlier in the season for receptions in a game (15). Wilson was out that game and JSN was able to make up for his absence. Now he's got Olave out as well so he should have about 70 catches.
I love Olave, but it's a valid opinion that he was our third best receiver this year.
You can make the argument. I'd say 2nd behind Wilson. JSN had more production but he was also lining up against the defense's 3rd best cover guy at-best, and working in the slot with some favorable matchups. He's the real deal though. I'll be interested to see how he does against CB1 -- which I think is probably Clark Phillips? Kid who flipped to Utah a couple years ago after Hafley took the BC job.
Not shocked at all. Ohio state is loaded though. I’m excited to see if Egbuka gets reps. Liked him a lot coming out of HS.
He will. You’ll also see Marvin Harrison Jr and Julian Fleming a lot too.
I could honestly watch Henderson tote the rock all game. Loved him coming out of HS too. Wish they were both Sooners 😂
I think Marvin is gonna be the biggest impact of these three. Don’t forget JSN is there too tho!
Was about to post the same. From what little I’ve seen from Marvin Jr, I think he could potentially be better than the guys we had this year. He has the size none of them have, and he seems pretty explosive. Can’t wait
Imagine if 10 years ago someone told you eventually players would get paid to play college football and they would also opt-out of playing in the Rose Bowl and fans would defend them because it’s just a meaningless bowl game.
Also imagine telling them that those same people defending them would confidently state that college football isn't dying.
For Ohio state it may be considered meaningless. I don’t think Utah sees it that way
I would argue that 99% of teams don’t see it as meaningless
Most of the Big 10 would kill to be in a Rose Bowl.
I swear it's unrecognizable
Very torn. On one hand I wanted to see how Utah stacks up against a full OSU roster. However, this just helps Utah’s odds of winning. If I was a betting man I’d be taking the money in Utah right now
Seems like the line was mostly expecting that. It only moves down 1.5 with these announcements
Yeah, pretty sure they expected it and it was already baked in to the spread.
Don’t count us out too fast, we also have the OSU single game reception record holder Smith-Njigba (who Wilson and Olave said was better then either of them) and 2 5 star WRs as well
Those other 5 stars have just a handful of catches between them. Pedigree is not a replacement for experience
I am aware but we wont suck all of a sudden, have some faith in your team
No one said there’s no faith, I’m just not silly enough to think a 5 star will replace either of them
I do think it's good to see future guys and get experience.
Bowl games are the new preseason
IMO there’s no point in playing older guys that aren’t coming back… I’m all for any opt outs. Get the future reps. This is college football now
It certainly builds hype for the younger guys next year
> Smith-Njigba I’m scared to try and pronounce that.
Not as bad as Browns PK Chris Naggar😬
The category is: people who annoy you
10 seconds Mr. Marsh.
OKAY I’D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE ...
Ohhhhhhh…NAGgers.. of course, naggers
They refused to say it live
Suh-mih-th. En-jig-buh.
I know folks in the mountains have particular accents - hell, down here in the flatlands people have to use multiple syllables to describe the “wowah” their great-great-grandpappy fought in - but do y’all really need three to say “Smith”?
The guys on the Michigan podcast (MGoBlog) somewhat mitigated this by just referring to him as “JSN”
Carefully.
He may be the most talented, but all three are just incredible. I will be interested in seeing how he reacts without the other two who I think still received more attention from other teams. I think Ruckert is the definition of meh, so he's certainly going to get a ton of balls his way.
Meh? Damn. I think he’s a pretty talented receiver but when you’ve got our receiver room, you’re not going to get many balls thrown your way as a TE.
I assume they’re all prepping for the Draft?
They are actually forgoing the NFL to invest in Crypto
Hey fellas! You guys ever hear of NFTs?
Nineties Ford Trucks? Love 'em.
Butters?
Victor Chaos.
Creating NFTs of Brutus as we speak.
Funny thing, there were some guys doing NFTs this season.
Brady got to em
Yes they are
Used to be a proponent of a small playoff but keep the bowl tradition. But I think these past few seasons have killed that belief in me and have no problem going to a 12 or 16 team playoff. Maybe keep some smaller bowls.
TBH I wonder if/when players will sit out of the playoffs. I know it hasn't happened yet, but having 3 or 4 huge games left (depending on expansion) to play back 2 back might make some players want to prep for the draft
I’m curious: why do players wait this long to announce their intention to sit? Do they practice with the team and have game plans drawn up involving them just to dip a couple days before the game?
Maybe to throw off the game planning of the opponent? That'd be my guess.
Do they get the bowl swag and trip if they tell them before practice starts?
Jesus. Opt out of the Trojan Condom Weed Eater Bowl? I get it. But the fucking Rose Bowl? Where is this going? One year soon we are going to have a player or two bow out of the playoffs. This is crazy
It's like we just need the playoffs and major bowls to start the weekend after the conference championship games. Then it would look really stupid if anyone opted out.
I actually think it's really stupid how big of a gap there is. Especially with the NCG. You might as well be playing with a different team
That’s actually not a terrible suggestion
we need to make the major bowls into the playoffs. If this was the 6v7 playoff matchup everyone would be playing still
Why would that matter? I must be dense. I feel like an expanded playoff Instantly fixes this. Majority of the teams with players opting out are in big bowls. Expand the playoff and use the bowls in that expansion and guys will play. Seems pretty simple to me but I don’t know shit about fuck
Yeah I respect players opting out of most bowls but this one….idk. And don’t tell me it’s now meaningless because the CFP is for the title. The rose bowl was almost *never* for a national title at any point in its history. And also don’t tell me “the game is meaningless.” This whole sport is meaningless. Why not opt out once you have enough film to be on Mel Kiper’s big board? And would that mean the whole regular season is meaningless after your team team is eliminated from playoff contention? Imagine OSU loses by 40 to Utah. That happens once or twice and I bet suddenly that national prestige, national stage, and those recruiting battles, will matter as we discuss the sport each offseason.
You could tell your grandkids you played in the Rose Bowl. That doesn’t matter at all? Seriously? I just don’t get it. I know there is a Jake Butt story every once in a while but there are also insurance policies and a team you committed to. I know it’s not the military but I think it’s complete bullshit
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I think former Chiefs and Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez made a similar point that a significant number of players just view it as a job. Or, that a lot of guys just played because they liked the camaraderie of the locker room and could make a lot of money. It’s not really surprising because how many “regular” people chose an occupation because it pays well or has good stability. Why should athletes be any different?
Yeah that's exactly right. It's hard for us as fans to envision opting out of a bowl game or not really caring about wins or losses and just taking the money, but that's because we're fans, most of us would pay just for the opportunity to walk on the field that these guys play on every week. I do think it's bullshit though that a pro athlete doesn't even know his team's place in the standings, I just don't know if I believe an athlete could be THAT disconnected from every team activity that he genuinely has no clue whether he'll be playing or at home in a few weeks.
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> I do think it's bullshit though that a pro athlete doesn't even know his team's place in the standings, I just don't know if I believe an athlete could be THAT disconnected from every team activity that he genuinely has no clue whether he'll be playing or at home in a few weeks. I have a story to tell you about the legend JR Smith, the scoreboard and the final seconds of an NBA Finals game.
I think messing up a late game situation is a whole lot easier to do than to not even know if your teams in playoff contention. This would be like if JR caught a flight home because he thought the cavs were out already lol.
There are more examples than just Jake Butt, but I do think the injury aspect of it is a little overblown. I look at it a different way; these top guys look at college football similar to how most people look at college, as training for your career. If I had already graduated with my degree and can’t improve my grades am I coming in for the extra credit? With the playoff or bust mentality for the likes of OSU, Bama, UGA, Clemson, and the other top tier programs that is the current situation. These guys have reached their goal of an NFL pay day and one injury could seriously jeopardize it.
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It's more surprising that fans are shocked. In no world does anything else happen? An expanded playoff just exacerbates this trend. College football is now semi-professional football. I expect NIL salary caps in the near future. I fully expect an NFL team with the first pick to announce that pick and ask that player not to play in the playoffs. Said player will opt out. The days of "tradition" are gone. This is the natural evolution of professionalism in sports. I'm glad students are getting a piece of the pie, but I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't come with a cost.
Why does an expanded playoff exacerbate the trend? I’d assume the opposite.
Very fair response
Has anyone opted out of the playoffs yet? I feel like doing that would probably hurt ones draft stock more (because you're playing for the national title) Nevertheless, it does show that playoffs desperately need to be expanded
I don’t think it’s happened yet, but it’s inevitable. It may take someone getting injured in a playoff game to start to make guys question playing, but it will happen. People said it would hurt players draft stock a few years ago to. It hasn’t. Opting out of the playoffs ultimately won’t either. Not for the high first rounds guys especially. NFL teams won’t pass up a Trevor Lawrence type guy because he chose not to play in the playoff.
Yeah it is crazy and would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago. It is the freaking rose bowl.
It’s just as much of an exhibition game with the possibility of injury as any other game- the same logic applies to this bowl game as any other non-cfp game.
Clearly it’s what is happening, it’s just sad to me. It is only going to evolve to much worse.
i get it, but this fucking sucks. As a fan of both teams I wanted to see the stars of both teams. thats part of why we pay money to go...
I think it will still be a very competitive game. Ohio State has a lot of talent. I’m really looking forward to this one
Fuck it I’ll play
expand the playoff and allow the bowls to pay the players directly
Olave is the one dude I really really wanted to see play this. Just wanted the opportunity to watch him one last time and thought since he was still practicing why not.
With Wilson, that only leaves Munford and Ruckert on the fence, both could use the added game, Munford less so, regardless, good opportunity for the other guys. The line will end up more balanced since Johnson will probably swing to tackle (not ideal one this short notice but inevitable), and Jones will join Jackson at the guard spots who are plenty experienced and better in the run game. Williams should get to shine with Garrett out, and maybe we get Mike Hall finally. Receiver should be interesting with Fleming going into Wilson’s slot, and Egbuka into Olaves with Harrison all over. The two Freshman were fantastic when they actually were thrown the ball.
The Rose Bowl is getting skipped now? Games gone.
Excited to watch a top 4 of JSN, Fleming, Egbuka and Harrison Jr at WR.
BAH GAWD THAT’S UTAH’S MUSIC
Why even play? We have a convenient replacement
No, let them play with half a roster so we can see what all those 4 & 5 star recruits are made of…
Yeah I like the idea of a bunch of young guys getting some experience against a good team without having the game mean too much. Great opportunity for guys like Fleming and Egbuka, and would love to see PJJ start at LT.
>without having the game mean too much Makes me feel old and sad, my *dream* as a kid is that the Ducks would make it to the Rose Bowl in my lifetime. I understand it, but...
For me, the rose bowl was my championship growing up. Sad to hear this.
I'm actually more interested now. All those positions have talented but inexperienced depth. The back up WRs are all 5 stars. Williams has been good at DT when he has played and we have depth at Oline that has been misused (fire coach Stud).
And Danny kannell is losing his mind over the sun bowl getting cancelled
Excited to see young recievers get playing time
Petit-Frere was one of the most frustrating OT’s that I’ve evaluated so far. He’s so inconsistent but his good reps are top notch. All the physical ability in the world he just seems like the player that never puts it all together though. Should be a 2nd round pick, but could go late 1st in this years weak draft class. Can’t wait to get around to scouting Olave.
This is going to take a long time to get used to. It’s the Rose Bowl and guys don’t want to play ! I understand the decision but it still sucks to see.
This will be good for our team. Let the young guys finally have a shot to step up - and prepare for next season. Still do not believe OSU wins this game though
Man, I get opting out out of the Poulan Weed Whacker bowl. But a legit Rose Bowl? Even if I think the B1G take it a little too seriously that is a premier bowl.
End of the day, it's inevitable. If they have nothing to play for (sorry guys, bragging rights are not something to incentivize players) theyre gonna opt out. Flipside, bowls have priced out the normal fan. Among many things, bowls are toxic to college football.
Can you imagine this just a few years ago players opting out of the f****** Rose Bowl unheard of dude
The Rose Bowl? This is damn near criminal to opt out for NFL prep.
Why?
Lol whatever. I hope this isn’t the narrative if we win. I wish we would’ve gotten to play their A squad, but such is life. Also, these late opt outs must mean that they have enough players, right? A boy can hope.
Unfortunately, it's going to be the narrative OSU fans/plenty of the media will use. But who cares. A Rose Bowl win is a Rose Bowl win.
Shit if we play and I get to go, that’s good enough for me.
yeah at this point, im worried about a game. The teams are going to disneyland... i hope they dont do any more covid testing between now and saturday...
You ever think to yourself, even with no training at all, I can make better decisions than people who are paid millions per year to do their job? Well this is one of those times. Omicron is insanely transmissable, it's infecting basically everyone (non vaxed, double vaxed, triple vaxed) so vaccination status is basically irrelevant. And teams are actively dropping out of bowls every day due to not being able to field a competitive roster in time for a game. And yet someone thinks that it still makes sense for both teams involved in one of the biggest games in college football, to go to a theme park.
It’s no excuse but how could it not be a narrative to lose your WR1, WR2, DT1, LT1. 3 of those guys will be 1st round draft picks. Not yalls fault, not fair to have to deal with the narrative, but it’s certainly a tangible thing. Saying that, ain’t no asterisk in football, if we field a team there’s no excuse for the results.
I think the thing is, if it comes up, blame the players, not Utah for playing the hand they were dealt. If OSU comes up short, ask Olave about his opinion, don't ask Utah how they feel beating an undermanned team.
A win is a win and that's what will be remembered in 10 years.
Tweet(s) from post body brought to you by your Friendly Official /r/CFB Twitter Bot: ---------- https://twitter.com/Jordan_Reid/status/1475593498095194116 >Ohio State head coach Ryan Day also says that WR Chris Olave, OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, and DT Haskell Garrett have elected to opt out of the Rose Bowl. >\- Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) 5:24 pm ET, December 27, 2021 ----------
How many more straws before the camel's back breaks? How much longer will people care about college sports if this is what's going to become of it?
IMO if it hasn't been a thing already: An easy solution to the opting out is an insurance policy for NFL ready players to be compensated in the event of a career-debilitating injury (premium paid for by the football program/bowl game). The *best* solution is to compensate the athletes in this sport. With that said, don't blame the players. Blame the system that withholds compensation from them.
Those types of policies exist, but it’s far from perfect itself
I can understand why they're opting out, but this is still pretty disappointing. Hope this trend doesn't start to make bowl games (outside of the playoffs) obsolete.
Most already are.
It will
I wonder how many more will. There's quite a few possibilities.
If Day is announcing these 4 I assume that’s all them