ACC school becomes first bowl-eligible team to opt out of playing in a bowl
By Keith Farner
Published:
The next wrinkle in an ever-changing college football season has arrived. How will teams handle bowl decisions during a time when players can opt out of the season, and eligibility is frozen until next year?
Boston College made the first move. The Eagles became the first bowl-eligible team to opt out of a bowl game this season, Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports reported, after he was informed by Boston College athletic director Dr. Patrick Kraft.
BC finished 6-5 in head coach Jeff Hafley’s first season and were likely to play in either the Gasparilla Bowl or the Military Bowl, according to bowl projections. BC officials decided to pass in part because of the “emotional, mental and physical grind” of playing the 2020 football season in a pandemic. They made the decision after consulting with the team’s leadership council.
“It’s a road game, basically,” Kraft told Yahoo Sports of a bowl game. “The players would have to be away from their families for the holidays and it’s uncertain if families could come to the game. It’s different than the true bowl game experience.”
Thamel noted that questions loom whether this creates a domino effect around the sport. The combination of needing to stay on campus for Christmas, not being able to experience the bowl city because of COVID-19 restrictions and the exhaustion from the isolation of playing during a pandemic make it likely that similar decisions will follow for teams outside the highest tier of bowl games.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
