DISCLAIMER: I am a dumbass and wrote below that the national semifinal between Notre Dame and Clemson would be played at the storied Cotton Bowl. That is incorrect. The first national semifinal game will be played at Jerry Jones’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

After I posted this piece of fantasy, I thought there is no way the semi-final is actually being played at this Cotton Bowl, which is a relic compared to Jerry Jones’ monument to self-love. So, this piece is hit and miss. Maybe more miss than hit.

It still doesn’t change the fact that a No Contest sucks Tip O’Neill’s balls. Simply put, no contest belongs in a court of law and nowhere near a football field. Football isn’t a court of law unless you’re Roger Goodell.

I would like to blame my mistake on having watched too many Cotton Bowls broadcasted by Lindsay Nelson and that his technicolor sport coats have destroyed my ability to think critically.

Ever To Excel

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In the uber macho world of college football, the First Responder Bowl between Boston College and Boise State being played at the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas, was ruled a no-contest by bowl authorities and no stats will count. The decision to cancel was based on a weather pattern of lightning strikes moving through the Dallas area, which would have caused a delay of approximately five hours. At the the time of the cancellation, Boston College was leading 7-0 and there was 5:08 remaining in the first quarter.

No one can argue with canceling the game to protect the players from injury. Each school had warmed-up, play had commenced, and a lengthy wait would have placed the players in jeopardy of injury. The decision not to continue today’s game was understandable.

But the larger question: Why not replay or start the game from where it was suspended the following day?

The decision by bowl authorities to cancel the game clearly was not in the best interests of each school’s seniors, who saw their final college football game eradicated by a meteorological event. Little or nothing, which surrounds or comprises college athletics, has to do with the welfare of the student-athlete. For those players, band members and cheerleaders, who sacrificed a family Christmas to travel to Texas, they will leave having experienced approximately ten minutes of football. Clearly there was no thought given to the students from the two schools and the commitment they had made to attend the game.

If a ticket refund is offered to both schools’ fans, do those fans also receive any type of refund for their airfares and hotel rooms? Or would these fans need to have purchased “bowl insurance” to see any type of refund?

Here is the real determining factor that precluded both teams from playing on Thursday. The first national semi-final game between Notre Dame and Clemson will be played on Saturday, December 29th, at 4:00 pm. The location of that game is: The Cotton Bowl

Both B.C. and Boise St. need to get the fuck out of town and pronto. Hotel space needs to be freed up. The actual field needs to reflect the august nature of the Cotton Bowl, with Notre Dame and Clemson colors festooning the end zones, and each of the national semi-finalists needs access to the field for practice.

To be blunt, Boise St. and B.C. are bowl pretenders playing in a meaningless bowl game. The only people carving out time to watch today’s meteorological event were diehard fans from each school. To ESPN, the First Responder Bowl was inexpensive community access programming that took up a few hours of daytime tv. With a set programming schedule, ESPN has no room to show the game at another time.

In the big money world of college football Boise St. and Boston College were sacrificial lambs, but wouldn’t it have been great if the game could have been moved to S.M.U.’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Thursday afternoon?

The game would be broadcast by each school’s radio station or from a spectator taking a video, from their phone, and putting it on their YouTube channel. The game would be played in a setting reminiscent of a high school game. Some people would have to leave to make flights back to wherever but the game would be played – the spirit of competition would survive.

Unfortunately, in today’s college football, it’s not about the game but about the big bucks. The colossus of college football clearly does not care about the First Responder Bowl. The players, from Boise St. and B.C., will view this bowl game as unfinished business and the message sent to both squads is that your bowl game truly doesn’t matter.

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Twitter Trash

Someone’s tweet stated this was most talented senior class in the history of Boston College football. This class isn’t even close to being the most talented in the history of Boston College football.

With a 7-0 lead, many B.C. folks believe the Eagles were going to roll over the Broncos. I’m far less sanguine than those folks.

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B.C. Hype Machine

The B.C. Hype Machine appears to have no basis in reality. Already diehards are making a case for A.J. Dillon’s 2019 Heisman run, which begs the question can a kid from a small Catholic university, in New England, compete against the sports marketing departments of Southern schools?

Steve Addazio is putting together the greatest recruiting class in the history of Boston College. This never gets old – the constant inaccurate refrain that Addazio is a great recruiter. Beating out Wake Forest, for a recruit, is not the mark of a legendary recruiter.

And to soften the hype, twenty-something Liam Coen has decided to stick with the Los Angeles Rams and not become Addazio’s new offensive coordinator. Smart move by the former UMass quarterback. Maybe Hue Jackson will take the job?

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