Non-CFP Bowls Don't Matter? Tell That to Illinois' Bret Bielema

All that sputtering and moaning you've heard out of places like Tuscaloosa and South Bend is the chorus of college football's interminable soundtrack over the past few years: sour-grapes followers of Alabama and Notre Dame – not to mention self-styled purists and elitists – who have elevated the College Football Playoff the end-all-be-all of the sport, rendering every non-CFP postseason game supposedly meaningless.

But consider: One-hundred and thirty-six schools make up the list of CFP-eligible programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). This year, 12 teams made the playoff. Do the math, and that leaves a whole bunch of college football players – and some very good teams – on the outside looking in. Long before the existence of the CFP, college football celebrated standout seasons without dismissing 91 percent of the field as utterly irrelevant.

In 1980, the season ended with 15 bowl games – not just the Rose or Cotton, but also the Tangerine, Fiesta, Independence and others – engaging in intra-conference rivalries and rewarding players, coaches, families and fans with unforgettable experiences.

Hokey? Antiquated? If you say so. But at least one figure with a pretty unique perspective would disagree.

Bret Bielema explains the significance of bowl games

Opportunity 13 awaits. pic.twitter.com/eHSZFAYSpU
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) December 30, 2025

Tuesday's game will mark the 12th college football bowl game for Illinois' Bret Bielema as a coach, and as a player at Iowa, he also participated in the 1990 Rose Bowl and 1991 Holiday Bowl. In a Monday press conference ahead of Illinois' matchup with Tennessee at the Music City Bowl in Nashville (4:30 p.m. CT, ESPN), Bielema didn't sound like a guy disappointed in his team being stuck in a "lesser" bowl.

"Obviously, it's a game," Bielema said. "It's going to be remembered by a victory or loss, whichever side of the field you're on. But you create a memory, you create a moment, you create an opportunity for a family to come together and maybe share a bowl experience."

Hot chicken & country music. It doesn't get more NashvILLe than this. pic.twitter.com/WBh8eLrNYE
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) December 28, 2025

Bielema coached a 12-win Wisconsin team to the Capital One Bowl (better known as the old Citrus Bowl) in his first season in Madison. He has coached in two Rose Bowl games. He coached Arkansas to three bowls, and he has won a total of five bowl games in his coaching career. But he didn't mention any of those Monday.

"You know, my mom and dad went to bowl games with me. We didn't really travel a lot as a family growing up," he said. "I remember the first time my parents traveling out of the state of Illinois was to come to the Rose Bowl game that I played in, and to see my dad and my brothers and [to have] that experience was pretty awesome.

"And as many bowl games as I was in as an assistant coach, as a coordinator and a head coach, whenever my mom and dad would get together and talk about bowl games, they would always go back to the bowl games when I was a player. And to see parents here – I saw a couple parents in the lobby last night – just creating a memory that'll last a lifetime, it's just absolutely awesome."

Final verse. Full volume in the Music City. pic.twitter.com/5xfeQf081C
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) December 30, 2025

Every FBS program in the country starts the season with a goal – or maybe a dream – of playing for a national championship. Only a dozen of them even get a shot at season's end. Should the rest of them just pack up and go home?

If non-CFP bowl games are your idea of college football participation ribbons, fine. Don't watch. Meanwhile, parents, fans and people who just like watching a couple of good football teams tangle at the end of the season will have butts in seats, eyes glued to the flatscreen and hearts open to whatever experience they get to hold for years to come.