Something happened to bowl games over the years that made them relatively meaningless, but what happened this past year bordered on embarrassing. Four losing teams were allowed to participate in bowls and two of them, San Jose State and Nebraska, hoisted bowl-winning trophies. Recently, the ACC athletic directors voted that conference teams would have to post at least a 7-5 record before being allowed to participate in bowls. Since the other conferences did not go along with the initiative, the move was largely seen as symbolic.
Sometimes, though, symbolism has to become reality and what the ACC did is something the other conferences should adopt.