5-7 San Jose State beats Georgia State 27-16 in 2015 Cure Bowl

The inaugural AutoNation Cure Bowl is almost designed to fit the argument that there are too many bowls.

It’s the third-most prestigious of three games in its own building, behind the Citrus Bowl and the Russell Athletic Bowl. Its first edition featured a 6-6 team that routinely plays in front of 60,000 empty seats in the Georgia Dome and a 5-7 team from the other side of the country. On a nippy Orlando night, the announced attendance at the 70,000-seat stadium is 18,000, and that’s probably twice as high as the actual. It is the only bowl relegated to the CBS Sports Network, a channel many fans do not get.

Including a delightful Celebration Bowl between NC A&T and Alcorn State — a 41-34 A&T win — there were eight return touchdowns (three punt returns, a kick return, three interception returns, and a fumble return) and 10 touchdowns on gains of 30-plus yards in Saturday’s six bowls.

Eighteen touchdowns via defense, special teams, or huge gainer, combining to gain 1,082 yards. Are you not entertained?

The Cure Bowl, not even the No. 2 bowl on Orlando’s depth chart, is a first-year endeavor that pitted 6-6 Georgia State against 5-7 San Jose State, which was only bowling because of good academic progress by previous SJSU teams.

There are probably too many bowls, in part because players are not paid money for these things. They instead get minor bowl gifts in addition to their other non-monetary compensation. That means all revenue rushes freely throughout the system, uninhibited by the kinds of natural market things* that tend to limit artificial sprawl in all other forms of labor-dependent entertainment.

The hype for the Cure Bowl is real and it is infectious. San Jose State’s Thomas Tucker captured a really great moment the day before their game against Georgia State -- even if San Jose State doesn’t win the Cure Bowl, they’ve already won pre-game. GET HYPHY:

The only crucial thing missing was the presence of E-40, but this will suffice.

If you think there are too many bowls -- actually, let’s clarify: if you think there are too many bowls and you think this is a bad thing -- you’ve probably referenced the Cure Bowl. It features two teams with a combined 11-13 record. One is from 2,800 miles away, and the other averaged 10,300 in home attendance this year. This has all the makings of a pointless football game, and to add insult to injury, it’s being played in the same venue as two other bowls.

It’s also a game between two teams that play fun, optimistic football and, thanks to youth, might get something out of playing a 13th game.

There are now 40 bowl games, plus the National Championship. That’s a lot of football.

This overflow of football has meant the usual group of 6-6 teams aren’t the worst teams to go bowling this year. This time, all of the 6-6 teams are in, plus some 5-7 teams. The idea of giving a trophy to a team that finishes 6-7 is a funny one, but everything about this sport is funny, so whatever.

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