Decision to Skip Bowl Games Sends a Horrible Message

It has been known for several days that star LSU running back Leonard Fournette will not be playing in the Citrus Bowl this year, but today another college standout followed suit. Stanford's Christian McCaffery has also chosen to forgo his team's bowl game, the Sun Bowl, to focus on the NFL Draft. Fournette and McCaffery, though full of both talent and potential, have also shown that loyalty and character are not exactly in abundance in college football.

Fournette was on perennial Heisman watch at LSU

Let me start off by saying this: the amount of bowl games in college football is absolutely stupid. You hear all these coaches complaining about society, about youth sports. Everyone has an issue with every single kid getting a trophy and, quite frankly, I completely agree. I hate that. I think it sends the wrong message entirely. Yet college football adopts that same mindset and sends how many schools to a meaningless bowl game every single year? That needs to change and the reason I bring that up is because the bowl games play a huge part in the way these athletes and coaches who leave early are being viewed.


First off, let's address the way the media is relaying their decisions not to play. "Skipping the bowl game" is sugar coating it. Call it like it is. They are quitting. Fournette and McCaffery have decided not to join their teams in preparation for the game and they will not be in uniform. They have quit the team. What kind of message does that send?

The Citrus Bowl and the Sun Bowl. I would be lying if I said I had any desire to watch either of those games. But you know what? They're still games. They're still on the schedule. The teams still have to prepare, show up, and play. There is still a winner and a loser. The decision to not play by Fournette and McCaffery is wrong, regardless of how much money in the NFL is on the line.

Few backs have the physicality and durability of McCaffery

Everybody wants to say that the risk of injury is too high and that it could cost them millions of dollars and draft stock. That's true and there is no denying either of those things. Everybody wants to argue that this game means nothing. Again, also true. But LSU and Stanford's last five regular season games meant nothing. If playing for a spot in the playoffs is the only way a game can mean something, then Fournette should have stopped playing when LSU lost two of their first four games, and McCaffery should have quit taking the field when Stanford lost three out of four games in mid-October. That's when their playoff hopes were shattered, right? So every game after that essentially meant nothing just like these bowl games, right?

No. Fournette and McCaffery signed up to play football. It's a dangerous game and you can get hurt at any moment. Welcome to the world of being an athlete. If injury is the big fear here then those guys should have never played another down once LSU and Stanford dropped in the AP Poll and had no hopes of making the playoffs. They are quitting not only on the teammates that helped shape their careers and bring them to the spotlight, but they are quitting on the coaches that helped them grow, and they are quitting on the schools they represented. If I'm a teammate, a coach, or a member of either school's athletic department, I would be immensely disappointed.

If Fournette and McCaffery can leave their teams because these games don't mean anything anyway, then how do you look the guys in your locker room in the face and say you're walking away? Those guys that blocked for you, those guys that handed the ball off to you, those guys that came to practice and analyzed film every single day so that they could do their job to protect you and you leave them in the final game of the season to focus on yourself? I understand the safety concerns, I truly do, but I believe that is a selfish move to leave your teammates to protect yourself. Those guys are going to be out there fighting and trying to bring home a win. You should be too.

It would be interesting to see how NFL scouts and executives view situations like this. To me, I think seeing guys make decisions like this tells me all I need to know: he's out for himself. They could be nice guys with great work ethics, but their final moment as college athletes was them quitting on their teams and walking away before the season was over. I don't want a guy like that on my team. I want loyalty and dedication whether it's the national championship or a scrimmage in practice. 

So where does this leave college football? It's been an on-going issue with coaches bailing on schools before bowl games, but now players are doing it too. You can't hardly stop it, but there's no doubt it hurts the NCAA, and God knows the NCAA doesn't need another reason to look foolish. Maybe we'll see a fix to this issue, or maybe we'll eventually see coaches and athletes that put their present team first all season long. I hope it's the latter. Regardless, the decisions have been made and they aren't going to change. Fournette and McCaffery will go on to get drafted, but not without leaving a final bad impression.