(01-01-2015 12:45 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  The problem I have with the "meaningless" argument is that over 2/3 of college football is "meaningless" if you use the definition of "crowning a champion" as the purpose of a game. If the only reason you play a game is to figure out if you can be champion, then every team that starts off 0-2 or 1-3 should just stop the season right there.

Football is fun to play and to watch. That's why you play the games. Winning is a fun part of games...so it's nice to win more than you lose. But that doesn't ruin the entire game when/if you lose. I get so sick of people trumpeting "bowl games are meaningless" because I want to ask them, "Why do you want LESS football to watch and potentially enjoy?" So Boston College and Penn State didn't crown a champion...but the first quarter and second half and overtime were quite fun to watch? Why do we need to whine and moan about it being "meaningless"? All of Penn State's November was "meaningless" but I still enjoyed watching my team play.

Sure attendance is down at some games, but prices are up and while the Orange Bowl doesn't have the sort of crowds it had decades ago, it doesn't have the sort of teams it had a couple decades ago when it hosted the Big 8 champion vs an at-large opponent that was either the ACC champ, one of the best eastern independents or the SEC runner-up.

Last night they had the loser of the ACC title game and the third or fourth best SEC team. Mississippi State average attendance was 17k below the SEC average and GT's about 2k under the ACC average.