Auburn football has one less postseason chance with no Las Vegas Bowl

2020 was set to be the first season the SEC was going to take part in the Las Vegas Bowl. Now, with its cancellation, Auburn football has one less postseason chance.

Traditions are being broken in all sorts of terrible ways in 2020. The tradition of playing more than 10 regular-season games has been broken for Auburn football. That’s a potent stinker right off the bat.

Another tradition that was set to be broken in a good way was the Las Vegas Bowl no longer being a matchup between the Pac-12 and the Mountain West. Instead, starting in 2020, the annual Sin City-hosted extravaganza was going to start being a showdown between two Power 5 conferences in the Pac-12 and the SEC.

Now, the tradition is being scrapped altogether, per the bowl game’s official website:

"Due to the ongoing health pandemic, the Las Vegas Bowl has been cancelled for the 2020 season.“Unfortunately we will have to wait another year to present the Las Vegas Bowl in its new home,” said John Saccenti, Las Vegas Bowl executive director. “This was a difficult decision but the right one considering that our game was founded nearly three decades ago to help drive tourism to the Entertainment Capital of the World during the month of December. We are looking forward to making our bowl week bigger and better than ever in 2021.”December’s game was slated to be the first bowl game played in Allegiant Stadium and feature a new matchup between the Pac-12 Conference and Southeastern Conference, as part of a rotating cycle that also includes the Big Ten Conference."

Obviously, the most immediate problem here is that Auburn football just lost a chance to play in a bowl game. With the team falling out of the rankings and losing two straight against top-five teams to fall to a sub-par (for Auburn) 5-4, the Tigers couldn’t afford to lose an opportunity to undo all of this season’s misgivings.

The disappointment was definitely felt by both conference commissioners, who just lost out on quite a bit of revenue:

"“The Pac-12 is disappointed for our teams and fans that the Las Vegas Bowl has been forced to cancel this year’s game,” said Larry Scott, Pac-12 Commissioner. “We look forward to next year’s game, which promises to be a fantastic national stage in one of the world’s best football stadiums, to showcase Pac-12 football.”“We are disappointed the Las Vegas Bowl has been cancelled for the 2020 football season and will miss the opportunity for SEC student-athletes to experience an exciting new venue,” said Greg Sankey, SEC Commissioner. “We have no doubt the Las Vegas Bowl will be a great part of the future SEC bowl lineup and look forward to our partnership in the years ahead.”"

Remember that the Auburn football program could directly feel the losses of this if they just miss the cut for every other bowl game. Considering the seasons had by nationally-ranked SEC powerhouses Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida, and Georgia, that could be a distinct possibility.

Instead of seeing Auburn take on a foe like the Oregon Ducks in a 2011 BCS National Championship rematch, or perhaps even a first-time matchup against the California Golden Bears or Colorado Buffaloes, fans will have one less reason to gather in celebration and cheer this holiday season.

I suppose that’s the point, though…