Unlike Notre Dame, which decided to take its ball and go home in a tantrum after getting left out of the College Football Playoff, Auburn’s reasoning for opting out of a bowl game makes perfect sense.
The invite was unexpected after the Tigers finished 5-7 for the second straight season. And with a new head coach, Alex Golesh, still trying to fill out his staff, recruit his own players, and define his plans and vision for the program, and seek players from the transfer portal, taking part in a bowl game would be nothing but a distraction for Auburn.
On Monday, Golesh was asked about the Tigers' decision not to play in a bowl game despite the invitation.
“I think if it all had happened a week ago and our guys were all here, the staff that was previously here was still here and intact for the most part, I think that would have been realistic,” he said. “I think you go through the week and when that question was posed to us, there was multiple things that go into it. One, there’s so much staff turnover that it would be hard to truly be able to put it all together and be competitive to where you have a chance to go win a football game. If you’re going to go play a game, you’re wanting to win the game. The other part of it is, our guys, there are so many of them that are done with finals that were able to get out and go home and be with their families for a little while. So to be able to get everybody back together, figure out who the heck is going to coach them, how you would actually do that? The timing of it all was not practical.”
Too many factors to consider made bowl game unrealistic
Moreover, playing in a lower-level bowl game usually costs a football program money. Still, it wasn’t like Golesh and Auburn’s leadership didn’t have conversations about it. They all came to the same conclusion.
“John (Cohen) and I talked about it at length twice,” Golesh said. “To be able to get the guys back here. To be able to do what we have to do to go field a football team that could go win. With so many conversations happening right about roster management and all of it combined with, I would tell you that 75 percent of the guys aren’t here. I think that would be really unrealistic and not fair to the kids more than anybody else. So it just didn’t make any sense.”