Bowl season starts today! There are 2 games on Friday night, the Bahamas Bowl (Middle Tennessee vs. Toledo) and the Cure Bowl (Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina).

No, the first Power 5 team doesn’t play until Saturday (Oregon State in the LA Bowl), but that doesn’t mean Friday’s slate isn’t interesting.

I can’t wait to watch Coastal Carolina play. I love coach Jamey Chadwell’s offense and think he’ll be moving on to a bigger school sooner rather than later. We’ll see if that’s proven right next coaching carousel!

Enjoy bowl season while it lasts, because there’s less than a month before the final game of the college football season on Jan. 10.

Enough sad news, though. Let’s dive in to this week’s Mailbag questions:

@SChinni12:

How would you fix players opting out of bowl games? I heard something about bowls handing out NIL deals. Do you support that?

I’d never stop a bowl game from handing out money to players. That’s fine to me. But a $50,000 NIL deal isn’t going to stop a surefire first-round pick from opting out of the Alamo Bowl or Duke’s Mayo Bowl (both exciting games, but not in the Playoff).

The only answer is to expand the Playoff. If you get 12-16 teams (or more, but please not more) in the College Football Playoff, more teams have a chance to win a title. That means more teams will be able to keep players around.

You expand the Playoff, players will stick around. You don’t see any Alabama, Georgia, Cincinnati or Michigan players opting out of bowl season, do you?

To me, that’s the only answer that makes sense and doesn’t harm players’ ability to make money.

Robert:

NCAA president Mark Emmert recently said being a university president is the “hardest job in America.” While I agree that job is difficult (seriously, someone is always mad at you – undergrads, grad students, faculty, alumni, etc.), what would you say are some no-doubt harder jobs?

I also agree that being a university president is no picnic, but there are some much harder jobs out there, and they run the spectrum in terms of salary.

For example, being a brain surgeon is very hard, as it requires years of school and lots of precise skills in the operating room. But, being an elementary school teacher is also incredibly difficult, as you have to wrangle a bunch of kids and keep them focused. Neither of those are easy jobs, but they are compensated very differently.

Manual labor – road work, building construction, mining – is also difficult, and takes a bigger toll on the body than being a university president. Heck, even being a college football coach is difficult. You’re always recruiting and the pressures you face are immense.

Retail jobs and service industry jobs aren’t a walk in the park, either. Dealing with angry people doesn’t sound fun to me.

I personally think every job has its own set of challenges. The key is to do things that fulfill you in your free time. Just make sure your job doesn’t become your entire identity and you’ll be fine.

Making fun of Mark Emmert is a good hobby to start with if you need something to do!

Matt:

A total of 3 5-star 2022 quarterbacks signed with SEC teams this week – Conner Weigman (Texas A&M), Ty Simpson (Alabama) and Walker Howard (LSU). Who do you think has the biggest impact in 2022?

That’s a tough question since all 3 of those teams have starting quarterbacks returning this coming year – Heisman-winner Bryce Young at Alabama, Haynes King at Texas A&M and Myles Brennan at LSU. Obviously, King and Brennan didn’t start the most games at their schools this past year due to injuries, but they’re still talented and experienced.

My answer is not going to be Alabama. Young is a superstar and should put his name in the mix for the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft this coming season. I also think Brennan is highly underrated.

That leaves Texas A&M. King is vulnerable as the starter, in my opinion. If Weigman comes in and shows flashes of brilliance during spring practices, Jimbo Fisher has to give him playing time. The Aggies have too much talent to go 8-4 in 2022.

Weigman could be the missing piece. Or, it could be King. Fisher has a big decision in front of him that he has to nail.

@Dobbe8:

Which bowl game has the best name?

Without a doubt, it’s the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. I love that sponsor and all the mayo-related things it brings to the game.

Mayo bath instead of Gatorade bath? Gross, but great television. Entertaining Twitter account? Big time. This year, the game features 2 regional rivals in North Carolina and South Carolina. That adds to the intrigue.

That’s the recipe for a good bowl game. I also am a fan of mayonnaise, unlike many others in this country. Am I just angling for my own mayo sponsorship? I’ll let you decide.

Second-best name is the Cheez-It Bowl. Definitely angling for a sponsorship deal there!

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.