It has been a long, frustrating, and interesting college football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the show must go on and bowl season has arrived. College Football Playoff rankings, and bowl selections are announced as college football fans prepare for one of the most exciting periods of sports there is to offer. 

The Wisconsin Badgers didn’t have an ideal season due to COVID problems as well as bad plays, but still managed to clinch a bowl berth with their overtime win at Minnesota 20-17, keeping Paul Bunyan’s Axe in the state. The Badgers will battle Wake Forest in Duke’s Mayo Bowl on the morning of Dec 30. 

Junior Danijela Gallo is happy the Badgers made it to bowl season. “I was very scared they weren’t going to make a bowl game,” Gallo said. “They make one every year and I didn’t want this year to get worse by not being able to watch them over winter break like always! So thank goodness they made it.” 

As for the College Football Playoff rankings, they look very similar as they do every year. Fans will be seeing Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Notre Dame compete for the national title. There was a ton of speculation regarding these rankings, as the COVID season brought many unfair circumstances in deciding who the top four teams really were. 

To put that in perspective, 6-0 Ohio State is in, compared to 8-1 Texas A&M. Although Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina aren’t taken as serioulys in college football rankings due to playing in weak conferences, both teams are undefeated and have been very impressive this year but will not be given a shot at a national title. 

Senior Keegan Kapocius thinks the playoff system needs to be fixed. “Although many people believe the playoff rankings aren’t what they should be, the committee had really no other choice,” Kapocius said. “Even though Ohio State has only played six games, everybody knows they are one of the most, really if not the most, talented team in college football. As for Texas A&M not getting in, they really had no place to get in unfortunately as Notre Dame has played more games and beat Clemson. I think the playoff needs to be extended to at least six spots, so fringe teams like Texas A&M that are good enough to compete for a championship get a fair opportunity.” 

With everything that has gone on this year, college football fans are just grateful to be able to experience a bowl season when there were points in time where it was questionable. Senior Nikola Mastilovich loves bowl season and is looking forward to tuning in. “It really is one of the best times of the year,” Mastilovich said. “It falls around Christmas time and the new year, so being able to watch games with family and friends is awesome and something I always look forward to.” 

It’s safe to say that college football has made 2020 somewhat bearable. It’ll be a good way to end this unfortunate year with a ton of bowl games to watch and getting to watch the Badgers play as well. We’ll see who ends up winning this year’s National Title as the college football world eagerly anticipates waking up and watching games until the sun goes down for days on end.