(Podcast length - 5:07 mins)
While you might be knee-deep in the holiday shopping season, others are immersed in college football bowl game season.
Transcript
1. What's in a name? Well, for bowl games, it's big money, with the cheapest bowl game sponsorship costing an estimated $500,000. The committees will do anything to please their title sponsors, including naming the game something odd. The most memorable bowl game names roll off the tongue this season, like the Cheez-It Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, and the Cure Bowl. And yes, there used to be a game called the Salad Bowl. HOW LONG UNTIL WE HAVE THE SMOKE-A-BOWL?
2. Not all teams are invited to bowl games. The program's TV exposure and additional revenue make a bowl game a coveted spot. Traditionally teams had to have six wins to be eligible, but then we had more bowl games than teams. So now the NCAA defers to a team's APR (Academic Progress Rating) for those final spots, and because of that, five-win Rice landed a spot in the LendingTree Bowl. HEAD OF THE CLASS
3. Players heading into the NFL Draft (National Football League) tend to opt out of participating in non-playoff bowl games, and teams are hoping NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) will change that. Who can turn down the offer from Cheez-It? They will honor one player from each of the four teams participating in its sponsored bowl games, the Cheez-It Bowl and Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. The players will enjoy the Cheez-It "Feelin' the Cheeziest" hotel rooms, which are precisely what you think they are – very orange. ORANGE YOU EXCITED?
4. If you think being named the Heisman this season was impressive, how about the title of "Mayo Dumper?" The winning coach won't get Gatorade dumped on his head at the Duke Mayo Bowl, but mayonnaise instead. For the record, Caleb Williams took home the Heisman Trophy this season. Still, of the finalists (CJ Stroud - Ohio State), Stetson Bennet – Georgia and Max Duggan - TCU), Williams is the only one not heading to a college football playoff game. WIN SOME, LOSE SOME
5. The top four teams in the country (in ranking order – Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State) will play each other on New Year's Eve in either the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix or the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Each conference receives $6 million for each team selected for a semifinal game and $4 million for each team that plays in a non-playoff bowl. There is no additional payout for the National Championship Game, only additional expenses covered. BOWLED OVER
Worth noting: Bowl game season begins on Friday, December 16. There are no bowl games set for New Year’s Day, January 1, which is traditionally a big bowl game day. That day officially belongs to the NFL this year, as New Year's falls on a Sunday. The winner of the two playoff games on NYE will play each other in the National Championship Game on Monday, January 9. SCHEDULE
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