"You don't get free gifts": Former Heisman Winner Mark Ingram gives a reality check to new-age Bowl game athletes

Former Heisman winner Mark Ingram is a host of "The Triple Option" podcast, alongside Urban Meyer and Rob Stone. On Wednesday, they released a new episode of the show, where they discussed the bowl experience.

Ingram shared that his bowl experience was fantastic and that he had so much fun. However, he pivoted to talking about how it is a different landscape now. He does not think players should be focused on having a bowl experience because they get paid now. So, he thinks they need to be focused on winning and qualifying for the college football playoff.

"When you go to the playoffs, under the playoffs current performance based distribution model, each team earns $4 million for qualifying in the CFP," Mark Ingram said. "So, we're paying you, and we need you to get to this college football playoff. Then you get another $4 million for playing in the quarterfinals, and another $6 million for advancing in the semifinals, and $6 million more for competing in the title game." [9:45]

"So this is through and through a business. We're paying our players. So, you don't get a bowl experience. You don't get free gifts because I'm paying you. You can go get your own gifts."

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Mark Ingram discusses the potential new 2026 CFP format

Later on the show, "The Triple Option" crew discussed the possible changes that are being made to the CFP format in 2026. In the new format, there would be an increase to 14 teams, and certain conferences would be guaranteed a set number of spots.

For example, both the SEC and Big Ten would each get four teams that qualify for the college football playoff. Mark Ingram shared his opinion on this possible change (starts at 17:20).

"It makes a lot of sense to me especially with the expansion of the Big Ten and expansion of the SEC. I think that is very justifiable and you talk about four from the Big Ten this year, and you had three from the SEC. People were advocating for four, five, possibly even six teams from the SEC that could possibly have been in it."

In the proposed 14-team college football playoff format, teams like Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina would have had a better chance of making the playoffs this past season. However, this proposal has not been approved yet and no changes are locked in.