Social media reaction to astonishing decision by Baylor on bowl bid
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In a college football world that is ever-evolving, one thing that has remained constant is a system of post-season games as old as the forward pass-bowl games.
At the very least, bowl games give college football fans a chance to see their favorite group of gridiron warriors battle it out one last time before the sports calendar switches to full-on basketball and later baseball.
But when bowl bids went out on Sunday, the Birmingham Bowl had trouble finding an opponent for one of their contestants, Georgia Southern (6-6). As it happens, Baylor was in the mix of teams to be that opponent despite their 5-7 record. As of this writing, that opponent will now be Appalachian State (5-7), according to Brett McMurphy of On3.
Appalachian State fills the 82nd & final bowl spot, created when Notre Dame opted out. Birmingham Bowl is rematch of Nov. 6 game b/w App State & Georgia Southern https://t.co/xmtONYXlFa
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 8, 2025
No thanks!
In a post on X also by Brett McMurphy, as many as seven teams with identical 5-7 records had declined the invitation to play in any bowl games: Baylor, Florida State, UCF, Auburn, Rutgers, Temple and Kansas all declined post-season play.
At least 7 teams that were 5-7 have now declined a bowl bid: Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple & Kansas, sources told @On3sports. The quest continues to find an opponent for Georgia Southern in the Birmingham Bowl
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 8, 2025
In a X post circulating around social media, Baylor University put out a statement regarding the decision to opt out of a bowl bid,
Statement from Baylor on a potential bowl bid.
— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) December 7, 2025
“We have declined the opportunity to play in a Bowl, as we've already progressed deeply into the offseason timeline of preparation for the 2026 season. “
Other teams have opted out of bowl games as well, most notably Notre Dame. After being left out of the College Football Playoff with a 10-2 record behind a 10-3 Alabama, the Fighting Irish have opted not to play in a bowl game.
In the Big 12 Conference, both Iowa State and Kansas State also declined bowl bids. Both teams will now fork over $500,000 fines imposed by the conference. It is presumed that Baylor will have to hand over a half million dollars as well.
But that could have been avoided with a simple RSVP to a bowl game and a bowl game payout with a Happy Gilmore-size check.
Shock and awful
Bears fans are up in arms about this decision. Baylor is in final discussions and have all but hired a new athletic director in Doug McNamee. Whether McNamee or Baylor President Linda Livingstone, or both, made this decision, it projects an aura of weakness and poor leadership onto a football program that already is perceived to have both.
And in light of the incompetence of our Administration and new athletic director we would remain uncompetitive anyhow. Figured I'd just finish it off for them
— Bear the Truth (@bbouldin33) December 7, 2025
I hope the big 12 fines Baylor $500k for declining the bowl invite. So stupid.
— T-REX (@T_REX1991) December 8, 2025
@BUFootball you are an embarrassment. Your seniors would love to get one last game in. And you cheated the out of that.
— Pat Neff’s tip (@pharm3rtx) December 8, 2025
In all seriousness, IF this report is real, and Baylor has a chance to get to a bowl game (even a not-so-great one), you take it 100 times out of 100. First, there's the $$$$. Second, there's the practices. Third, there's the focus on something else other than <gestures> all of…
— OMG (@OsoMediaGroup) December 7, 2025
This implies Baylor declined. Cowards! https://t.co/X0FQh6DjI2
— OMG (@OsoMediaGroup) December 7, 2025
Legitimately disappointed we declined. 15 practices and game experience for a lot of young players that need it going into next year. AND A MILLION BUCKS! CMON
— Brian Horn 🐻 (@bhorn8956) December 7, 2025
If our backups lose to a 6-6 Sun Belt squad we deserve to suffer lol
— Sam Bradshaw (@Baylor_S11) December 8, 2025
Win or lose go play for the seniors who don’t have nfl chances beyond special teams
We want to be a big time conf and we are not going to bowl games? We're hurting ourselves! TV numbers are the most important metric in college football! Fine them 1 million! https://t.co/T6S21E9vEo
— Matt in DC 🐻 (@_REALMC) December 7, 2025
In early November, Baylor football coach Dave Aranda was publicly given the thumbs up by Livingstone and retained as head football coach for the 2026 season. Under Aranda, the Bears finished the 2025 campaign on a three-game losing streak. A bowl game gives this team extra practices plus game action for the 2026 players, an opportunity to evaluate players ahead of the upcoming spring practice.
Baylor could have been practicing for Georgia Southern right now if the the players were consulted about potentially playing in a bowl game. To a man, they would have collectively shouted to the mountain tops in agreement to play the game. That's what football players do.
Put us in a bowl game since teams wanna decline @NCAA
— Ashtyn Hawkins (@ashtynhawkins) December 5, 2025
However, it appears that the love of football has fallen out of love. Administrative forces away from the sidelines have made a potentially $500,000 decision that has placed Baylor on the wrong side of football history.
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Tony comes to On SI with six years of experience writing about sports online. His work has been published on such sites as The Gridiron News, Mike Farrell Sports, YardBarker, Athlon Sports and College Football Backers. Tony is a U.S. Air Force veteran and is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
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