Penn State football eyes history in final act of current college football system

We are witnessing the end of college football bowl season as we know it in 2023. Next year, the sport will transition into a new Playoff format, completely revamping the look and feel of the postseason. As we say goodbye to a long and storied era, Penn State football has the chance to make history on Saturday when the Nittany Lions take the field in the Peach Bowl for the very first time.

Current state of the bowl system

Bowl games have been a part of college football for over 100 years. The Rose Bowl was the first game to be played annually starting in 1916. The Orange, Sugar, and Sun Bowls were introduced in 1935. Originally, bowl games were difficult to receive an invite to, and only the top teams played in them.

In 1985, there were still only 12 total bowl games in all of Division 1-A college football. However, we saw the expansion begin in 1986, with the introduction of the Hall of Fame Bowl, later the Outback, and now the Reliaquest Bowl.

Now, there are 41 FBS bowl games and a National Championship game concluding the College Football Playoff. The NCAA relaxed bowl requirements years ago, and 6-6 is the minimum record required to reach the bowl season. We have situations, like this season, where there aren’t enough bowl teams, so a 5-7 Minnesota makes it because of its academic rating.

Most fans would agree that more college football is always a good thing, but the system that brought so much excitement just 10 years ago is completely different now.

Opt-outs and the transfer portal

Players are opting out of bowl games more and more each season. The transfer portal has gutted teams as players try to find their new schools before the spring semester so that they can participate in spring practices. This has left some rosters with as many as 20-30 players not participating in bowl games. The teams we see during the regular season are not what is displayed in the postseason.

The introduction of the College Football Playoff was thought to be a good thing for the sport because it would mean more teams would have a chance to prove they are national champions. The result was that it just lessened the importance of bowl games, including the New Year’s Six Bowls.

Look no further than the Orange Bowl this season, where multiple key players on both Georgia and Florida State have opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft or entered the transfer portal.

Penn State football has a new opportunity in a dying system

Penn State football will get a unique opportunity on Saturday in the last year of the current bowl format before the introduction of the 12-team Playoff in 2024.

The Nittany Lions have never played in the Peach Bowl, which was created in 1968 and is the ninth oldest bowl game. In the early years of the bowl game, the teams featured usually hailed from the ACC or SEC. That became a lock from 1993-2013, when the ACC and SEC were the tie-ins for the game.

Penn State not playing in the game is somewhat understandable. Since the introduction of the New Year’s Six in 2014, the Nittany Lions have played in the Rose, Fiesta, and Cotton Bowls. They have also made appearances in the Sugar and Orange in previous years, meaning that the Peach Bowl is the last of the major bowl games for the storied Penn State football program to check off the list.

Penn State football will have the unique opportunity to be the first team college football to win all the New Year’s Six Bowl games. Getting a chance to do it against a new opponent gives this game some more spice than just another New Year’s Six game.

Next season, the new 12-team College Football Playoff will include the six major bowl games as the quarterfinal and semifinal sites. This is truly the last season of the bowl games as we have known them. So, whether in Atlanta on Saturday or watching from your home, enjoy it, because it is truly the end of an era.

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