3 takeaways from Oregon’s Holiday Bowl win over North Carolina

Do we still want to play bowl games in weird venues?

I’ll be honest, it was really cool to see sports played in unique venues, but it’s starting to become more harmful to the game than good.

We’ve seen the NHL Winter Classic have issues with the ice, and college basketball temporarily canceled their Carrier Classics until this fall due to weather and the difficulty of shooting the basketball outdoors. College football bowls have had the same problem with playing games at baseball parks.

While the stadium looks cool in theory, it looks way less impressive when the stadium is barely half full, but that’s not my main beef. The playing surface on the field at Petco Park for the Holiday Bowl was not up to par for such a big game. I feel bad for the grounds crew that was trying desperately to keep the field safe.

We saw multiple field goals missed that forced both teams into awkward positions that forced them to go for it rather than kick field goals. On top of that, the players were slipping all over the place.

While a 28-27 final between the Ducks and Tar Heels is a high-scoring affair, this could have been an absolute shootout if this game was played in Eugene, Chapel Hill, or just a normal football-designed stadium. I probably sound like a curmudgeon, but these games should be less about gimmicks and more about the quality of play. If they can’t get fans to these great football games, maybe there just needs to be fewer bowls.