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This ASU team is ticking me off

My understanding is that ASU has half its starting defense not playing for various reasons

WELL, then ASU might have some pretty good depth.

UW is also down two of its top three WRs (and they weren't deep to start), plus like every tight end, a chunk of the OL, and the top two backs from the preseason. Allen is better than both, but if they had the one who wasn't lazy, they could at least rotate a little at tailback. 

This might not be the year for Paul Chryst to say bowl games aren't given, they are earned

At least he's on brand w the wardrobe once again.

My understanding is that ASU has half its starting defense not playing for various reasons

As BaB mentioned, UW was missing a lot of players too. They just weren't opt-outs like ASU's were.

You missed a 10-minute drive to end a game. It was the most Big Ten of triumphs.

Exactly. That drive was a thing of beauty.

I cannot believe I made it to the end - Didn't think I'd even make the START.

Yeah, non-playoff bowls should just be exhibitions.  What's the point of teams at 85% or 63% or whatever is stupid.

All of sports are exhibitions. The point is people get to watch their teams 8 percent more and have a last experience with them.

I found myself thinking about this last night. I live not far from where a bowl was played. One team was disappointing (why it was in a so-so bowl). One was better than the bad projections (why it was in a so-so bowl). The second team won, looked good, had a fun day for fans and will now get some unjustified offseason hype. This is a net good, in my mind. 

In this sport, about a third of teams get to end on some kind of good note. It might be after a bad year. Sometimes it's that Florida Birmingham bowl where really no one cares. But most of the time, it is a cherry of some sort. Maybe a breakthrough year has another nice moment. Maybe you reach a big stage and win. Maybe it's just another strong season capped with victory. Maybe an also-ran gets a certain ranking for the first time in a while (no one talks about the bowl ranking effect, but they should).

Danny Kanell was on his usual troll, calling them "participation trophies" and while that's a loaded term, it's sort of apt in a good way. People generally loathe that term, but in a vacuum where it's not actually about parent's egos (this is what it's about) the point of those would be to make people feel more happy about what they're doing. If bowls bring a measure of joy to fans and a lot of kids want to play, that seems good. I am here for football being a factory of more joy for observers. 

And I think that's especially helpful in a world (really sports in general and the larger world) where we are so quick to find things that might being joy and assure people "no, that thing is actually bad and worthless." Pardon my language, but fuck that. People regularly seek to tear down 90 percent of the sport and then lament how the narrative focuses too much at the top. We don't get that many games, even a low-end bowl can mean a certain thing to a certain group. If you find it stupid, there are many wonderful hiking areas around your state and documentaries available. 

You missed a 10-minute drive to end a game. It was the most Big Ten of triumphs.

great, didn't score in the 2nd half - could have covered and made me some money