The Birmingham Bowl was having a tough time finding a second school to participate against the Georgia Southern Eagles. On Sunday night, On3's Brett McMurphy reported that the Appalachian State Mountaineers answered the call. The game is a rematch in the Sun Belt from a 25-23 GSU win on November 6 from Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina.
As McMurphy reported earlier in the night, the Auburn Tigers, FSU Seminoles, UCF Knights, Baylor Bears, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Temple Owls, and Kansas Jayhawks all declined the invitation to play the Eagles.
At one point, McMurphy was cracking jokes about how no one wanted to accept the Birmingham Bowl invite.
"We interrupt for a Public Service Announcement: if you're a football team (must have at least 11 players) & would like to play in a really cool bowl game & be on ESPN vs. Georgia Southern, please show up at Birmingham's Protective Stadium by 1 pm Dec. 29th kickoff. Thank you," McMurphy tweeted.
On Sunday night, the Birmingham Bowl became an even bigger punchline than many already treat it to be. Auburn could've legitimized the bowl game had they accepted a chance to play it the closest thing possible to a homefield during bowl season.
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish may have singlehandedly changed College Football's bowl season forever by declining an invite to participate after getting snubbed from the CFP's 12-team field for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
If these games are worth nothing to one of the sport's biggest programs, why should any of them mean anything to anyone? Notre Dame's apathy is a painful progression from needing these games in the past to generate wealth from schools to today's paid players not seeing it as worth it.
With players transferring now more than ever, there's little "finishing what you started" in the sport today. These non-CFP bowl games don't hold enough sentimental value, or actual monetary value, to justify their existence any longer.
And yet, it doesn't change the fact that AU should've sent out whoever would've suited up to play in the Birmingham Bowl.