USC Morning Buzz: Sun Bowl Just Can’t Catch A Break

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Stanford tailback Christian McCaffrey does not appear to have a serious injury but he has been banged up most of the season. Is this a controversial decision? Maybe it’s considered a business decision. Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith tore knee ligaments in last year’s Fiesta Bowl and went from a top 10 pick to second-round selection.
Meanwhile, the Sun Bowl loses its top ticket attraction. Remember when USC QB Matt Barkley was unable to play because of a shoulder injury.

88 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Sun Bowl Just Can’t Catch A Break”

  1. Good for Christian, because the NCAA profits from theses players, and offer horrible short term insurance coverage . So why should the players subject themselves to injury, especially if they have a bright future in the NFL . So if the NCAA doesn’t care, then why should the players?

    • There is a thing called team, mutual respect for the brothers you have been playing with. The fact he has a degree free from Stanford must be worth something financially. Yes the NCAA is bogus, but his teammates worked their butts off to help make him the “star” he is. He owes them something.

      • You think the OL supports this decision after opening holes for him the last three years? Those guys are still hoping to get drafted and could use bowl victory exposure to NFL.

        • Great point.
          Thanks guys. Thanks for getting me Heisman hopes. Thanks for blocking while i ran. But I’m gonna chill out and cheer for you instead of fighting with you side by side.

      • I agree with everything you said, but I don’t like the fact that the NCAA disregards a player if he’s has a career ending injury. If a scholarship included insurance policies that that financially protected players from career ending injuries, then Christian McCaffrey should play.

    • Would you say the same Fred if a soon to be NFL free agent decided to skip the NFL playoffs because he could get injured and devalue himself in terms of a theoretical future contract offer?

      • Not the same thing. All teams making the NFL playoff have a chance to win the Super Bowl. McCaffrey was scheduled to play in a meaningless non-playoff bowl game.

    • BS. This kid got a million dollar education at Stanford FOR FREE because he could play football.

    • The spin should have been “I need to miss the bowl game because I have to get caught up with my school work due to playing on Thursday nights”

    • By that logic. why should any player continue to play once their team has two losses and is eliminated from the national playoff?

  2. It is a sad fact of college football that it exists as the farm system for pro football. So much of what we enjoy on Saturday turns to greed on Sunday.
    It is a “business” decision to skip the reward your team earned. Good luck looking good after skipping out on your (there’s no I in) team

    • I am sure his ex teammates agree with you. The guy they have busted their butts for for 3 years so he can become famous while they stick around for their senior year and have to play in a bowl game he is too good for.

  5. This is a bad precedent that hopefully will not catch on. The odds he could get injured during the bowl game is the same as the previous 36 games and he never had a problem playing those games and receiving a free education.

    Does McCaffrey really think he needs 10 extra days to prepare for the NFL draft?

    Will he actually move up on the draft board as a result of these 10 extra days?

    Will he not be preparing himself during the bowl practices?

    Will the NFL view this as a view into his soul that he is not a team player and go down in the draft?

  7. These kids are a bunch of snot nosed prima donnas. This is not just an extra game. It’s a bowl game that fans travel to. It’s a game that could help tilt recruiting. Its a last chance at trying to make up for weeks 1-12. These kids are acting like they are Kobe Bryant at age 18. This is getting ridiculous. No pride.

    • wanna bet … Harbaugh said good move already , he would do the same this day in age
      You are talking big time bucks people … not a play game and pair of shoes
      times have changed and Darnold will do the same thing next year if he is smart

  9. My guess is the NCAA will address this over the offseason. If this becomes the norm, the cash cow of bowls and TV revenue will dry up. You can bet CBS has already called Larry Scott. No reason to tune in if marquee seniors and juniors opt out.

    • By their logic. why should any player continue to play once their team has three losses and is eliminated from the national playoff? Why risk injury playing in the regular season for the meaningless reward of making a non-national playoff bowl game if they have a bright future in the NFL?

  12. This is the trend. Fournette at LSU is sitting out his bowl game. It shows how these lower tier Bowl are terribly irrelevant. The trend is likely to continue in this level of Bowl.

    Coaches often leave their team to assistant coaches for these games too. So it’s not new. These games are a way for ADs to raiser money from boosters, for ESPN to have programming, andVegas to make money off gambling addicts.

    • McCaffrey comes from an upper class family. Save the sad song about him having to “take care of his family”. That is absolute rubbish.

  13. He had a great run last year ad a less than average one this year. e epitomizes what Stanford is historically – never seriously in any discussion as a national power with periodic ‘bumps’ in attention.

    I hope the Rams draft him he can be the Steve Grady i.e. the last white running back and yeah I realize there have been some (Papadakis, Sonny etc.). since 1966

      • If he can’t get picked as a running back i doubt they can turn him into a wide receiver – you need to be able to leap very high McCraffey is a nice side article nothing more.

        • bench warmer in the NFL. it was Stanford’s OL in 2015 that made McCaffrey. Put any Heisman winner out there alone vs. 11 guys and see how good they do. If Adoree had Stanford’s 2015 OL he would have been Heisman winner twice over. Football is like an orchestra not tennis.

          • That’s why the Rams suck – they haven’t a clue how to build a team – contrast that with the product the Raiders have become in 3 years – a great great front line both sides of the ball.

          • Hey you know I was worng it’s actually been 4 years since Reggie McKenzie began the moves that has resulted today in the Raiders in the playoffs.

            Mans the rams suck

          • They do. I had hopes for them moving back to L.A. One way to look at them is they nowhere to go but up.

          • Not going to happen i.e. people don’t suddenly become something they have never been before – Kroenke didn’t move to create a powerful team in St. Louis and he won’t here.

            ‘If’ the Chargers come north I hope they have the common sense to re-brand the team with a new name. That would go a long way in generating interest in them – if they stay ‘Chargers’ they’re D.O.A..

      • Falls to slot receiver for Brady. Isn’t Slot a tweener position? I hate New England but while Brady’s there, that could be a good fit

  14. Poor Steve, set to star at USC and along comes OJ,
    kind of like when fellow Loyola High grad Brendan McCracken was ready to star at ucla and along comes Troy Aikman

  15. Not a surprise some college players are taking themselves out of harms way healthwise for the NFL draft.

    But don’t try telling me all of Stanford’s players or coaches are happy not having their star player not helping them win a bowl game if he is able to play… for they busted their tails helping him become a probable high draft pick.

    • and he did the same for them … they don’t win a Rose Bowl with out him and Shaw doesn’t get a 20 mil extension.

      you don’t play football for free when you don’t have to .. mac doesn’t have to anymore

      smart move

  16. My dad always said, you can tell a man’s true colors when it is time to go to war and sit in a trench with that man. McCaffrey is someone you cannot trust. You are playing and you want your best on the field. If he is healthy, he should play. If not, then I will be surprised if the team even acknowledges him while at the bowl game and afterwards. When you signed the Letter of Intent, you signed that you would do your best for the college until you leave or your eligibility expires. He did not honor his commitment.

    • I drank the McCaffery Kool-aid after they beat SC the second straight year and bought into the story he was this throwback All-American kid. I was actually sad for him when he was injured after the ruin game and his Heisman dreams faded. Now it turns out he’s just another selfish money-grubber.

    • He was that team … U and your dad never had 20 mil at risk playing in some POS bowl game.

      • How about a howizter pointed at u at the Battle of the Buldge? But 20 million is more important than your life

    • Exactly. Or for the National Championship. Which means the Sun Bowl is beneath his dignity and he’s using the NFL draft prep as an excuse.

      • it’s the stupid Sun Bowl .. .the whole USC team and coaching staff quit on it a few years back … and it wasnt the 1st time

        get over it … kid has proven enough , time to get paid him get paid not everyone else mooching off of him

    • I don’t. He starred last year when they routed Iowa 45-16 and would consider it just another non-national championship playoff game now.

      • doubtful … the Rose Bowl is big time and memorable
        No one gives a crap about the Sun Bowl , see the last 3 USC teams that went there.

        There will come a time when a star … says to hell with playing in these ‘big’ bowls too … just the way it is now

        You don’t play football for free when you don’t have to anymore

  19. Always thought he was a smart kid. Meaningless game, and he gave up his body for that school for 3 years. Kudos on a great college career –

  21. If he has been playing hurt the whole year and has his teammate’s respect because of it then maybe it is ok. Maybe they signed off on it. There is a good chance that McDaffy will be playing on a losing pro team so will he call it quits before the season ends? Will Harbaugh let his brother do the same at Michigan? Quite a lot to consider.

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