Xbox Bowl Postgame Ceremony A Reminder Of What Is Being Taken From Us

"Oh look, another article where Austin whines about his favorite college football traditions being taken from him!"

I can hear the detractors coming for me now, but this is serious stuff, folks.

I recently wrote about how bowl season is being killed by the modern era of college football, but the death of the bowl game is happening right before our eyes.

Less than a week ago, two prominent brands in Washington and Boise State duked it out in the LA Bowl and no one showed up, offering us a stark reminder of how far we've fallen as a college football society.

The worst part about bowl games going the way of the dinosaur is just how much fun and how unique bowl season has been in the past.

We got a nice reminder of the wackiness of the bowl season of old in the postgame ceremony from last night's Xbox Bowl.

Yes, that is indeed Master Chief from Microsoft's Halo franchise handing out the trophy with "Achievement Unlocked" plaques sitting on the table for the game's MVPs, evoking bitterly nostalgic memories from every millennial in attendance who ever sat in an Xbox Live lobby hurling insults and epithets at their friends (you had to be there).

There's a good chance no one even watched this game, either, considering the Arkansas State Red Wolves and the Missouri State Bears aren't exactly household brand names.

When you lump that in with the fact that this game ran concurrently with the NFL's Thursday Night Football – and an all-time classic of a game, at that – the little old Xbox Bowl was probably completely glossed over.

That's unfortunate, especially when factoring in how good of a contest this game was.

Missouri State scored 21 fourth quarter points and nearly came back from a 31-7 deficit in the final frame in their first season as a member of the FBS.

The postgame festivities were just the icing on the cake, and a sad reminder of what used to be.

I would not be shocked to see bowl games become completely eradicated within the next five to ten years, meaning moments like these would be nothing but memories.

If you're a college football purist, soak up all the bowl action you can this year, because you never know when you will have watched one for the very last time.