The Bowl Games Confound Their Critics

More than a century after the first Rose Bowl, college football continue to dazzle with its bowl games, confounding those who have prematurely written their obituaries in an era of a 12-team playoff. In game after game, this season’s bowl games provided thrilling contests decided in the final moments, while the non-bowl playoff games (excluding the national championship game, which essentially functions like a neutral-site bowl game) produced four snoozers. The lesson in this, as in much else, is that organic, locally generated, time-tested notions are almost always superior to schemes designed by central planners who wish to replace the old with the new while lacking the understanding of why venerable traditions are beloved.