Layoffs + High Expectations Can Equal Disappointing Bowl Games

You can't tell it from the quality of my blogging, but I write stories for a living.

No, I really do.

I'm not a great writer, but I do ok.

But I have to keep doing it, you know? I have to write and write and write to keep on my game, if you will.

I keep hearing – and you hear this every year – about college football bowl games and how some teams, like Florida against Louisville and LSU against Clemson – have come out flat.

Many reasons have been speculated by the sports TV and radio pundits. As a guy who lives in Virginia, I want to think those games in particular are a product of ACC football rising to dominance.

But we all know that's not the case.

You know what is the case? (I'm stating this as a fact, by the way, just like when all the college football experts give their opinions.)

Layoff!

Yep, just like me taking a month break from writing, how can we expect college football teams to end their regular season, take five or six weeks off from live competition, and then come back to the same proficiency they displayed during the season?

It's why some teams come out looking like it’s the first week of the season, and that's why many of the big schools schedule softies for opponents to open their new campaigns.

When a team takes off so much time, it's almost like beginning the season all over.

The layoff isn't the only reason these bowl games are so unpredictable – you know Louisville had a lot of motivation to knock off SEC power Florida – but it ranks the highest on my list.

When Notre Dame and Alabama take the field Monday night in the championship game, who knows how those teams will perform?

Notre Dame last played Nov. 24 against USC. Just think of all the things you've done since that date.

That was a long time ago. Forty-four days, to be exact. There was an entire month of no live football for the Irish and Crimson Tide, and we expect them to go out on the field and play the game of their lives.

Ludicrous.

I like college football, but there's a lot that needs to be fixed about the game. Implementing a four-team playoff is a good start, but even with the playoff, there will still be long layoffs.

One way to fix that problem, and a few others, is by extending the playoffs to more teams, forcing those teams involved to play games scheduled closer together.

Until that happens, we'll continue to see odd, unpredictable occurrences in bowl games… like total ACC domination!