Bowls should lean into absurdity
Context
Dan's bowl prescription is simple: if non-playoff bowls are going to be treated as lesser inventory, they should stop mimicking playoff seriousness and become stranger. He wants crazy mascots, CEO stunts, mayo-dump energy, minor-league theme-night creativity, and more reasons to watch even when rosters are depleted.
Richard agrees that Notre Dame should have played the bowl game it skipped, using Florida State's Georgia blowout as the counterexample: showing up still matters. But the larger cultural point is that bowl season can survive by being distinctive, not by pretending every game is a premium championship-adjacent product.