Mike Gundy Is Not a Fan Of Players Skipping Bowl Games

With Leonard Fournette, Christian McCafrey and Shock Linwood (?) skipping their respective bowl games to prep for the 2017 NFL Draft, everyone on the planet with a WiFi connection also has an opinion. I ride with Berry Tramel in that football coaches have set the standard here, and players are simply meeting that standard.

Mike Gundy was asked for his opinion (“in our opinion”) over the weekend. Here’s what he told the Oklahoman.

“I can only go on my history, and I would have never bypassed a bowl game to miss one more opportunity to play with my teammates,” Gundy said. “Everybody is different. I was not a first-round pick, so I can’t speak for others, but at some point it looks like this is going to increase and this is going to grow. I think it’s sad from the standpoint that you’re only in college once.

“We all know that when we’re in college we don’t realize it’s the time of our life, we get out and we’re in a hurry, we’re in a rush, if you get married you have kids and things start to really move fast. So, I would always encourage the young people to enjoy the college life.”

A life Gundy noted later on that he might have enjoyed a bit too much.

There is not really a right answer here. I can’t sit here and say, if I was going to be a first round pick, that I would definitely play in my bowl game. I understand the sentiment, and for 95 percent of college football players, it’s going to be true that you will regret playing in your bowl game. I’m talking about the Jordan Sterns types.

“We work hard all off-season with winter conditioning with Coach Glass and then just to be able to go out there with your brothers and just have fun, you know, and enjoy the moment, enjoy each of these games, especially being my last game as a Cowboy,” said Sterns on Monday. “I’ve been taking in every last second with these guys up here and with the guys that aren’t in here, as well.”

But it’s disingenuous (and a little silly in light of what happened to Jaylon Smith last year) to say players should definitely play an exhibition that could cost them millions just because we want to watch.

I’m not saying that’s what Gundy is doing. It’s not. But as so many others are offering every hot take imaginable, the reality of the situation is much different than bowl truthers want to acknowledge.

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