QB - Graham Mertz

Pierce played in our bowl last year and said he would never consider sitting. It’s just a mindset that needs to be recruited.

 

Like I said, they should incentivize playing in the bowl games because they do matter to everyone that loves their team/s. It matters to the university... the students... the faculty... the alumni... the fans, and most of all it matters to the players. Or... it should matter to the players. College football is NOT just an audition for the NFL to most of the team.

So, yes, Bowl games matter.

 

I think it's safe to say we all would love to have 22 Pierce's starting every game.

 

Can't tie NIL to performance or playing anywhere. Not sure how you could make that happen

 

Not only the talent but the mindset.

 

Not as the NIL laws are written as of today, but that can be addressed and changed. I would like to see that as an added incentive... if it's legally possible.

 

In other words.... Pay to play is what you are advocating for.

 

Already pay to play... that would be pay to play WITH accountability.

 

At what point is a game meaningless? What makes a game meaningful to an NFL prospect exactly? Does a playoff spot mean anything to a kid that could lose his NFL payday to injury? A college title isn't going to make him a millionaire. NiL changes things in that now boosters can compensate a kid to play as motivation but I never understood this idea that a game is meaningless. They signed on to get free education, boarding, training coaching, food etc etc and now they qualify what games matter? NFL players play for the contract they signed. It's not that different. A star player should sit out the season once they are eliminated from playoff contention?

 

At his NSD press conference, Napier made it clear Florida will be going after another Qb after spring. Sounds like we could bring in another edge guy defensively and another receiver. As Napier explained, “We’re not quite done, yet.”

It will be interesting to see what everyone’s perceptions will be after spring practice and the late portal/juco portal.

 

The scholarship is for the regular season and calendar semester. Bowls are not NCAA sanctioned events so technically have nothing to do with the scholarship.

Coaches opt out of bowl games when they take new jobs. Players should have the same option.

Coaches get bonuses for bowl games. Players get gift bags.

 

Ok? Players are opting out before bowl games as well. The questions are still pertinent. It's a slippery slope when players start qualifying "importance" of games.

 

It’s what we already have, just face reality and have legit rules.

 

A bowl game is equivalent to the last week of the NFL season for a team that isn’t making the playoffs

 

Does Mertz have only 1 year of eligibility?

 

Seems like the player's name, image and likeness would have less value if he sat out a bowl game. If I'm the CMO of the company that invested in a player that represents the brand on national television, I would expect that player to show up for the game.

 

To me there are 2 reasons a lot of bowl games don't matter anymore:

1: The overabundance of bowl games. Once upon a time there was one bowl game, the Rose Bowl (as Keith Jackson always said "The granddaddy of them all") and it was only for the Big Ten and the Pac 12. This begat the Sugar, Cotton and Orange Bowls for the other conferences and highly rated independents. These games were vital back when final rankings were strictly determined by polls. Thanks to this we were able to jump teams ranked ahead of us to win the natty by beating FSU in Sugar Bowl without having to go through any playoff system. Prior to this too many bowls were added for the growing tv market to the point now where they need so many teams to fill them that some of them have even taken teams with losing records if a 6-6 team declines.

2: In addition in the BCS era the committee decided 2 teams, in the beginning, who could play for the championship and the expanded to 4. We would not have been eligible for the 96 championship in this scenario. Actually FSU would have played Arizona State for the title (ugh).

In 2024 the playoff will go to 12 teams so that will make a few more of the bowls meaningful, but the rest will be what they are. They tend to end up as a matchup between one team that hasn't been to a bowl in a while and is excited to be there vs a team that could care less. These lead too very boring blowouts, the only interesting thing about our game was would we score and keep the string alive.

If you were not a Gator fan would you have watched this whole game. Without looking, who played in the Bahamas Bowl, the Cure Bowl? Rice was 5-7 going into the Lending Tree Bowl, who beat them? The Quick Lane Bowl, the Camellia Bowl, the First Responder Bowl and the Liberty Bowl were all matchups of 6-6 teams do you remember any of them? Do you remember where some of these bowls are even played?

I know you can say all of these bowls are meaningful to somebody, but I don't think they will be really relevant as long as supply exceeds demand by so much. Go back to where bowl games had to be earned instead of participation trophies and maybe players, coaches and fans will care about them more.

 

I’ve read 2

 

I came on this thread to get an update on Mertz. Is this off the rails or what?

 

Probably true IF NIL were working as designed....where kids were actually being paid based upon some value they provide due to their name/image/likeness. Problem is, it turned into booster groups just paying kids without any regard for ROI.