I feel good for Pitt's coaches and players because Kenny Pickett has said he's going to play in the Peach Bowl against Michigan State. "We ride with Kenny," Pat Narduzzi has said time and again.
It's nice to know Pitt will ride with Pickett one more time and have a chance to finish its historical season in style.
I also feel good for Pitt's fans and those of us who love watching quality college football. Pickett has been spectacular this season. He won't win the Heisman Trophy, but he is a deserving finalist. He will leave Pitt after one more game with virtually all of its major passing records. That is saying something at a school that once had the great Dan Marino.
I'm just not sure I'm happy for Pickett. It seems to me he is taking a significant risk by playing in a bowl game. Most of the NFL draft gurus will tell you he's going to be a first-round pick next spring. An injury could cost him millions.
That isn't to say I don't like Pickett's decision. I love it, actually. How can you not admire a kid who puts his team first? Pickett has been first-class in every way, all season, all career.
But I wouldn't have held it against Pickett if he had decided not to play in the bowl game.
I haven't always been so charitable with players who skip games.
I remember hating it when LSU's Leonard Fournette and Stanford's Christian McCaffrey were among the first notable players to do it in 2016. It just felt like they were quitting on their teammates. Didn't they sign up to play in every game? I remember asking Ben Roethlisberger about it. I loved his response: "I would never, ever think about not playing a game. I'm always going to be there for my guys."
But it's not as if not playing hurt Fournette and McCaffrey with NFL teams, as I originally thought might happen. I guess I was pretty naive to think a club might say, "We can't take that guy. He's not a team player." Talent always trumps all. Fournette was taken No. 4 overall by Jacksonville in the 2017 draft. McCaffrey went No. 8 to Carolina and signed a four-year, $64 million contract extension in April 2020.
Then, there were a couple of major injuries that really opened my eyes. Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith had a major knee injury in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl and dropped from the first to the second round in the 2017 draft. Michigan tight end Jake Butt had it worse, slipping from possibly the first round to the fifth round after his knee injury in the 2016 Orange Bowl.
Suddenly, players began putting their interests first. More and more began opting out of a bowl. It wasn't personal. It's never personal. It's just business.
Smart business, you could argue.
Beyond that, there are too many bowls, a record 42 this year. That's about 35 too many. Pitt is fortunate; it's going to a good bowl because it won the ACC championship. But so many of the others are meaningless. I wouldn't blame any player for not playing in one and using that time to get ready for the draft.
And one final thing:
Did you notice a couple of major coaching moves last week? Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley left for USC. Notre Dame's Brian Kelly left for LSU, where, quite amazingly, he quickly picked up a Southern accent. Sure, Riley and Kelly did it for significant pay raises. Who in America can't appreciate that? But what about their commitment to their players? They asked them for loyalty and dedication to the team, then they bailed on them. That's why I would have loved to see Notre Dame make the College Football Playoff field. That would have served the sleazy Kelly right.
If the coach isn't interested in hanging around for a bowl game, why should a top player when that player has so much on the line?
Pitt is fortunate to have Pickett.
In more ways than one.
