re: Is this a new trend?

I see it as a trend, yes, at least for the teams that were close to a playoff berth and didn’t make it. Auburn did it last year and with more and more star players quitting to save themselves for the NFL, the quality of games being played will go down, too, further contributing to the other players not being motivated to show out.

Bowl games have sucked for a while with teams that have losing records or 6-win seasons getting to play in the Summers Eve Bowl. The playoffs have made it worse because now only the semi-final bowl games really matter. The prestigious bowls aren’t as lustrous when they aren’t hosting a playoff game. The players don’t care about the history; they just want championships and bowl games that don’t have the playoff logo associated with it don’t mean anything to them. It’s why the stars are willing to sit out.

TLDR; kids don’t care about bowls unless they have something to prove and we didn’t tonight.