In Reply to: I fully understand that, I just don't think highly of guys who opt out posted by TAMPATIDE on December 31, 2023 at 12:58:51
Was the Orange Bowl when these players were "needed most?" If FSU had made the top 4 and were playing in a semi, That's an important game and you probably would have seen 0 healthy starters opt out for FSU. But this year's Orange Bowl, not nearly as important of a game this year.
I don't believe Georgia had any official opt-outs. FSU was in a unique situation, they were the first undefeated Power 5 conference champion to not make the playoffs. For the most part, FSU didn't have the attitude that "We'll prove the committee wrong." FSU was pissed, some opted out and it cascaded. I think there was a mindset from other FSU players that "They're not playing? Why should I play?" and more opted out.
UCLA's best player this year, Laiatu Latu, opted out of our bowl game. He'll be a 1st round pick in the 2024 draft. I don't blame him for opting out, I wish Latu good health and luck. But if he'd sat out the usc game, which is an important game, I would've thought less of him.
CFB and the bowls have certainly changed and Nick saw that. From 2016 "But when we all started this, however many years ago it was, I said that you’re going to diminish the importance of other bowl games in college football, alright? Which has happened. That has happened. All anyone talks about is the playoff. Alright, we have a bunch of other bowl games that people don’t think are all that important so if you don’t think it’s important, all of the sudden some players don’t think it’s important. So you can’t really blame the players. We created this, OK? We created this."