Sometimes, bowl games are a reward.
Sometimes, though, they feel more like an extra twist of the knife.
Last season, that was definitely the case for Texas Tech, which first lost a round of ‘How-many-star-players-can-quit-on-me?’ to Arkansas before losing the Liberty Bowl itself.
The Memphis football program, which calls that venue home, experienced something even worse on Friday.
After a season-ending slump of three consecutive losses, the Tigers saw pretty much all their star players make the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Fla. to take on North Carolina State. Participating in bowl festivities and practice would leave you to believe most of them would actually play.