The debate for the last several years is whether or not bowl games matter. Do they create value in recruiting, etc. when so many players sit out now-a-days? The answer may be yes, and it may be no.
With bowl games, the number of bowl games in 1990 was 19, and is now 43. What that means is the magic number is six wins. Back in the 90’s at least seven or eight used to be required. And even then, many teams were still left out with those records. This created more value in the bowl games from a prestige standpoint, and you also saw better-performing teams only year-over-year.