At least 20 players are planning to skip their teams' bowl games to focus instead on getting ready for the NFL and avoid injuries. Six coaches who have players sitting out bowl games this year have nearly $400,000 in total bonuses at stake in those games. Like Doeren, Minnesota coach PJ Fleck and Memphis coach Mike Norvell can each earn $50,000 bonuses for winning their bowl games. The bonuses for winning bowls in most cases are tiny compared with the coaches' yearly salaries, ranging in this group from Holgorsen's $3.6 million to Applewhite's $1.75 million. They can be redundant to other contract bonuses and schools sometimes barely break even financially when they participate in lower-tier bowls.

Source: ABC News December 21, 2018 09:00 UTC