The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are opting out of College Football's bowl season because they were snubbed in the CFP's 12-team field for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Miami Hurricanes this past Sunday. The Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones are opting out because their head coaches stepped down; Chris Klieman, suddenly, and Matt Campbell, to take the Penn State Nittany Lions' job. In Waco, the Baylor Bears didn't have any other reason to opt out other than they're focusing on 2026 and beyond.
College Football's bowl season, in its first year sponsored by Coca-Cola, is in a bad way. KFAN1003's Ben Leber doesn't see that as the case, though. The K-State alum approves of the schools opting out.
"I applaud ND, ISU, KSU and Baylor for opting out of Bowl season. We are in a broken system with a shoddy governing body and virtually no rules. They don’t owe the NCAA or the public anything playing in these games," Leber wrote.
"Until things change they should do what’s best for them. It’s not “quitting” it’s good business."
Good business for whom?
Three of these schools have practically no chance of winning the national championship next year. Notre Dame has the best chance of the bunch and could probably get away with this. They didn't get away with their College Football independence unscathed by the time the CFP selection committee was deciding their fate against schools actually in conferences.
Did Auburn opt out of College Football bowl season?
Yes, the Auburn Tigers declined an invite to the Birmingham Bowl. According to On3's Justin Hokanson, "Coaching change, staff building, roster retention, players in offseason mode — a bowl trip simply wouldn’t make sense."
Coach Alex Golesh, like Baylor's Dave Aranda, is worried about next year. That's a consistent issue for programs this year that the NCAA must reckon with.