Army Snubbed For a Bowl Game Because College Football Is Fundamentally Broken
Army went 9-2 this season and was outstanding. The team's two losses came against No. 8 Cincinnati and Tulane. Despite that stellar season, the Black Knights won't be going to a bowl game because college football is fundamentally broken.
Army was guaranteed a spot in the Independence Bowl, but on Sunday that game was canceled. Due to the fact that major conferences have guaranteed bowl tie-ins and the NCAA wiped off record requirements for bowl games, many teams with records below .500 are taking their bids. As a result, six SEC teams with losing records going to bowls but Army isn't.
Army, despite 9-2 record & a guaranteed bid to Independence Bowl, will not be allowed to play in bowl game, sources told @Stadium. Army was snubbed because other bowls had contractual agreements w/teams & locked into taking teams w/ losing records over a 9-win team
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 20, 2020
Yeah, that's right, college football has screwed the United States Military Academy out of a bowl berth it deserves because of its ridiculous postseason setup. That's how 4-6 Kentucky is going to the Gator Bowl, 4-5 Ole Miss is participating in the Outback Bowl, 3-6 Tennessee will be in the Liberty Bowl, 3-7 Arkansas will play in the Texas Bowl, 3-7 Mississippi State will be in the Armed Forces Bowl -- they couldn't put Army in this one?!?! -- and 2-8 South Carolina will be in the Gasparilla Bowl. Yep, a 2-8 team will be in a bowl game but 9-2 Army will not.
I've already written about how broken college football's postseason process is thanks to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee's bumbling efforts, but Army's exclusion just proves the entire sport is a joke.
Bowl tie-ins are one of the dumbest aspects of college football. That's how you get three-loss North Carolina in the Orange Bowl over 6-1 Indiana or undefeated Coastal Carolina. UNC is ranked behind both teams, but the ACC is tied to the Orange Bowl and after Clemson and Notre Dame made the playoff, the game had to take the next highest-ranked ACC team. So the Tar Heels were crowbarred in over more deserving teams.
Aside from just blowing up the College Football Playoff and starting from scratch, we need to scrap bowl tie-ins. They're moronic and wildly unfair. The Orange Bowl bid should have gone to an at-large team after the ACC's top squad got selected to the CFP, and other bowls should have been allowed to fight to get Army in after the Independence Bowl shut down.
College football is a joke right now and someone needs to save it from itself.