With apologies to the the legendary Simon & Garfunkel and their iconic song Mrs. Robinson:
“Where have you gone, Charlie Wysocki?
A college football nation turns its lonely eyes to you — woo, woo, woo.”
As I sat in the press box for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl matchup Monday between Iowa and Tennessee, I thought back to the first bowl game I ever attended in this same stadium more than four decades ago. I was a wide-eyed teenager as I excitedly watched the Charley Pell-coached Florida Gators play the Jerry Claiborne-coached Maryland Terrapins in the 1980 Tangerine Bowl. I don’t remember a whole lot about the game except that both teams were giddy to be playing in a second-tier bowl game a week before Christmas.
And even though Florida won 35-20, the star of the game was a Maryland running back by the name of Charlie Wysocki — an NFL prospect who ran the ball 39 times for a Tangerine Bowl record 159 yards.
Sadly, in today’s world, Wysocki would have either opted out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft or would have already entered the transfer portal in order to accept a larger financial offer at a more traditional college football powerhouse.
Which brings us to this year’s Citrus Bowl on a cool, sunny, honey of a New Year’s Day at Camping World Stadium, where coach Josh Heupel’s Vols destroyed Iowa 35-0 in a game that, quite frankly, had no juice or intrigue. Part of the reason, of course, is because Iowa’s offense is historically incompetent. A bigger reason is that it was played on the same day as the two College Football Playoff semifinals. But the biggest reason of all is because bowl games are rapidly turning into glorified pre-spring scrimmages where coaches are playing backups and benchwarmers.
God bless the announced crowd of 43,861 — the second-lowest attendance since Camping World…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mike-bianchi-fsu-other-college-004600370.html
Author : Orlando Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-01-03 00:46:00
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