Sonny Dykes calls out people who say bowls do not matter

The TCU Horned Frogs got an overtime win over the USC Trojans in overtime at the Alamo Bowl on Tuesday night. For head coach Sonny Dykes and his team, it would prove to be an emotional celebration following the game.

This comes at a time when fans and experts around the country have seemingly grown frustrated with bowl games. After all, as players are more and more likely to opt out, the value put on those games has seemingly declined. At the same time, value is something that changes from one person to the next, and the Alamo Bowl was certainly important to TCU.

Dykes wanted to emphasize that following the game. So, while he admitted that TCU does strive for success beyond the bowls, there’s still value to be found in something like an Alamo Bowl win.

“We all want to be in the Playoff,” Dykes said. “But anybody that says bowls don’t matter didn’t watch this game tonight, because bowls matter. This is important for this university and, most importantly, these young men. It matters and they treated it that way. That’s why they came out with a winning edge.”

TCU played the Alamo Bowl without starting quarterback Josh Hoover. He’s planning on entering the Transfer Portal, so he’s using this time to prepare for that move, even if the portal isn’t already open. That, along with players looking to avoid injury before the NFL, is not uncommon now.

Still, win or lose in a bowl game, there are some major benefits to playing bowls. For teams, there are the added bowl practices that teams that don’t play in a bowl lose out on. On top of that, for players, it offers a trip and a reward for a season where they’ve found some amount of success.

For TCU, this was the Horned Frogs’ third year out of four he’s been with the program. The most successful of those was, undoubtedly, his first. That year, TCU made the four-team College Football Playoff, won the Fiesta Bowl, and played for a national championship. Getting back to that place in the expanded Playoff is now the goal, even if making a bowl is also something that Dykes wants to celebrate.

“But look, I want to be in,” Dykes said. “I want to be in the Playoff every year. I know our players want to be in the Playoff every year. I know our fans want to be, and we’re going to work our tails off to get there.”

Paul Finebaum calls college football bowl game status ‘a serious problem’

Regardless of how Sonny Dykes feels, there’s a growing concern for bowl games. Recently, Paul Finebaum explained the issue on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

“Well, I think the playoff decision will be made quickly, and I think there is momentum to expand it for next year. The bowl situation is really a serious problem. Cole, you’ve done some games … and will do some more. I mean, I flipped on the TV early this morning, and this is not a shot at Birmingham, but I mean, I wasn’t really that aware that the game was going on, because things are different… And because of the complexities of college football, that has gone away when a lot of people, you walk into a mall today, they couldn’t tell you who was playing downtown,” Finebaum said.

“And it’s hard, because these are essentially television events. They’re great television events Saturday, if you didn’t have anything to do and wanted to watch about eight or nine football games on multiple screens. You could see it, but they’re just not important anymore. The community influence is gone and they’re essentially something to put on between the end of football or at the end of the regular season and the championship game, and they fill in the gaps at weird times of the day, weird matchups that make very little sense. And it’s not completely going away. But every time the playoff expands, what used to be a good or great or average bowl game becomes even less important.”