Don’t Be A Wet Blanket This Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not anxious about 2024 and the College Football Playoff expanding.

But this is bowl season. 

I’m here to enjoy it. 

As Penn State heads to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to take on Ole Miss, it’s a time to enjoy the absurdity of college football because chances are, after 2023 closes, there won’t be as much of it to go around. 

Ever since the College Football Playoff started in 2014, this is the conundrum with bowl games.

They, very much, are what you make it. Am I excited about the Peach Bowl? Absolutely. It’s a top six bowl. It’s a chance for Penn State to maybe get a national-level signature win. It’s a chance to check out a new NFL stadium as a fan. 

It’s a chance to likely get some free Chick-fil-A. 

But go read the comments (never read the comments) or parts of the message boards and you’ll find complaints about Penn State underachieving and players opting out. You’ll find messages of failure and despair yet again. 

Those feelings aren’t invalid and I’m not here to shame you (that much) if that’s you. But maybe this is really what the College Football Playoff has done for college football. It has been the extra squeeze of lemon throwing off the taste of your large Chick-fil-A Lemonade. 

I mean, these bowl games used to mean something. In fact, from 1960 to 2013, Penn State won 12 now-so-called New Year’s Six Bowl plus two more that were de facto national championship games resulting in such.

Sure, the titles may live forever but go ask anyone about the emotions the image of Ki-Jana Carter rushing down the Pasadena grass toward the end zone evoke. Go ask anyone that stayed up way past their bedtime to watch Kevin Kelly finally make a kick to win the Orange Bowl in 2006 and tell me that wasn’t a big part of your childhood as a Penn State fan.   

Since the start of the College Football Playoff era, when Penn State has won three of those New Year’s Six bowls without a national title – all under one coach – those who are grumpy will tell you that’s not good enough. For me, an eternal optimist about the Nittany Lions, I have tried to enjoy it. I even planted a rose bush in the backyard after last year’s win. 

And even if I enjoyed it then, it doesn’t mean I can’t be a bit disappointed for a moment now. 

Yeah, I’m a little disappointed they didn’t make the four-team playoff. Yeah, I’m also just hair more than a little disappointed Mike Yurcich decided to go galaxy-brained twice in very winnable games that would have mattered in the playoff race. Yeah, I also would like Penn State to win a national title in my lifetime. And yeah, at times this fandom can be a bit like starring as Tantalus at the State Theatre. 

But all of that angst is likely going to get worse next year, whether you like it or not. (And I certainly don’t like it.) 

For now, though, I’ve decided to embrace college football’s chaos. I’ve decided not to be a wet blanket about the state of college football. You should too. There are plenty of reasons not to after all.

There are beautiful Pop-Tart toaster trophies. There are french fry baths for coaches. There are obscure companies you’ve never heard of forking over boatloads of cash just to have a good day of website traffic. And for Penn State fans, there’s still a big bowl game that hopefully your team can go out and win.

2023 will be the last line of amateurism and fun we’ll have as a fan before the playoff expands.

After 2023, you’re still going to have some of that fun at lower levels of the bowl subdivision. But at least for a program like Penn State – or even Ole Miss – which has hovered as a top 12 team, the sole focus will be making the playoff in 2024, 2025 and every year the playoff is at least a dozen spots big. After expansion, there is no more safety net of a New Year’s Six bowl outside of the playoffs. There is only even more pressure.

So when Penn State takes the field against Ole Miss, enjoy it. I’m begging you, this Capital One Bowl Mania season, choose joy. 

Choose to love it for all of its quirks like opt-outs and football fields wedged into baseball stadiums. Choose to not be a grouch. This is supposed to be fun. This is supposed to be enjoyable. Because after this year, some of that joy is going to be taken away from you. 

Does that excuse Penn State for failing to win at least 11 regular season games in what felt like a very possible year to do so? No but I can’t do anything about it. You can’t do anything about it. James Franklin can’t do anything else about it either. There’s no sense in worrying about it anymore.

So damnit, enjoy it and don’t rain on your own fandom parade. 

Enjoy the fact that Penn State could become the first program to win all six of the New Year’s Six. Enjoy the fact that whether you’re going to the game or watching on your couch, you’ll get one more chance to watch Penn State play a relatively meaningful game this season with your family and friends. 

Enjoy the fact college football – for at least now – is still college football, vastly different from the pressure-packed National Football League. 

Enjoy the fact that there’s still a little bit of time to embrace the present. 

As sure as I am to enjoy the free Chick-fil-A on Saturday, I’m also certain to enjoy this college football world one more time in 2023. 

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