ESPN article said 29 scholarship players were opt outs or injured.
“ The Seminoles played without their top two quarterbacks, top two running backs, top two receivers, starting tight end, three starting defensive linemen, two of three starting linebackers and three starting defensive backs. They were down 29 scholarship players in all.”
Bowl games not in playoffs are going to be nothing more than scrimmages from here on out. Not that they’re not already “everybody gets a trophy” games as it is.
But gotta get that tv revenue.
When that many starting players "opt out" there should be some kind of penalty or lack of payment from the bowls. I'm absolutely not saying FSU would have won, but it would have at least been a game. UGA sat 3 starters against GT before losing to Bama and the result was a single possession win by UGA, just from being slightly vanilla and having a few players sit out. Having the majority of your skill players sit out and I'm sure the rest not exactly focuses is disrespectful to the fans who paid the money to travel and go to the games.
FSU should have just declined the invite and let someone else play that wanted to be there - but of course they were not about to turn down that payday.
