LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bragging rights are at stake Wednesday night if the University of Louisville can add a DirecTV Holiday Bowl win over USC to the victory the Cards delivered against Notre Dame in October.
(The 8 p.m. game airs on WDRB, starting with a one-hour pregame show produced by WDRB, which begins at 6:30 p.m.)
Louisville 2, Brand Names 0 would resonate in any recruiting pitch.
The Holiday Bowl has a spicy history over four-plus decades. Jim McMahon, the funky quarterback who led the Bears to their only Super Bowl victory, was a Holiday Bowl MVP. So was Steve Young. And Marshawn Lynch.
The 1979 Holiday Bowl was the first of the only three bowl victories Indiana University has celebrated.
Brigham Young claimed a share of the 1984 national title by defeating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl.
People still fuss about the validity of that claim but you cannot argue about this: The Holiday Bowl earned its spot in the college bowl constellation. Programs generally love coming here.
But the constellation is changing, and there is conversation some bowl games will be at risk.
College football will shift from a four-team playoff to a 12-team playoff next season. Those will be the only 11 postseason games that matter.
Top players have been joined by back-ups in passing on games that do not figure in the national championship discussion. It's a trend that has accelerated in recent seasons. The transfer portal has become another issue that depletes rosters.
Some argue it is depleting the box office, too. The average announced attendance at the first 20 bowl games involving FBS teams this month is 20,418. According to my calculation of figures at ESPN.com, bowl stadiums have been filled to 49.8% of capacity.
Many games are essentially sound stages for ESPN programming. They fill the appetite for action with the increased availability of legalized sports gambling.
The Holiday Bowl attracted crowds of 50,000 or more for 35 of the first 37 seasons the game was staged, topped by a gathering of 66,222 when Texas Tech defeated California in 2004.
Only one of the last six Holiday Bowls had a crowd of more than 50,000.
A year ago, the game was moved to Petco Park, a baseball stadium used by the San Diego Padres. Capacity is 41,000, and the announced crowd for Oregon's victory over North Carolina was 36,242 last December.
With Los Angeles roughly a two-hour drive (depending on traffic), organizers are hoping USC fans will follow the Trojans here despite their disappointing 7-5 season. Getting Louisville fans to make an expensive trip across the country two days after Christmas was a big ask, even with a 10-win team.
Southern California will be without its top quarterback, top running back and second-best receiver against the Cards.
Neither Jawhar Jordan, U of L's 1,128-yard rusher, nor Jamari Thrash, the Cards' 858-yard receiver, made the trip to California. Their next football opportunities will be competing to make a professional roster.
I'm not the only one who wonders if developments like those will make events like the Holiday Bowl disappear. Cards' coach Jeff Brohm said that he and USC coach Lincoln Riley had the same discussion the other day here in San Diego.
"Coach Riley and I were just talking about that the other day and we were together," Brohm said.
"I think that times are gonna change. I think everyone's really excited for the 12-team playoff to take take into effect. I think that will bring a lot of excitement into college football, a lot of interest from everyone, every fan of the game.
"Even myself I think as a as a fan, you look forward to seeing that dynamic work and play out. So I think that'll be exciting.
"Obviously, the other bowl games we're not quite sure what will exactly happen there. So I don't have a definite average answer there. But I think it is great that starting next year 12 teams will have an opportunity to compete for a championship."
Riley reportedly makes $10 million per season. USC is not paying him that money to bring a Holiday Bowl trophy home on I-5. If USC makes another Holiday Bowl, Riley is likely to be looking for work.
So the playoff is where it's at for him, too. But he did express some love for the bowl games that could tumble through the cracks.
"Yeah, I would agree (with Brohm)," Riley said. "I mean, I've been excited about the 12-team playoff for a while. I think it's something that certainly has needed to happen.
"Now, do I believe that there's many other bowl games, this included, that are a big part of college football history and that we need to find a way to preserve them and integrate them in a new system?
"Hell yeah, I do. We do.
"There's there's just too many great memories, too many great players, too many great college football moments that we can't just put off to the side just because the playoff has changed.
"So there's there's a good way to get it done. I don't have all the answers, but I'll certainly be in full support of that when the time comes."
The time could be coming soon.
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