College football bowl games are known to create publicity for universities, increase donations from alumni, and promote tourism for host cities.
Players appear on national television, travel to a new or warm-weather destination, and receive recognition items.
But does playing an extra game affect a student-athlete’s academics?
After discovering from their students how much student-athlete data is publicly available, two University of Missouri researchers decided to find out if playing an extra football game affected academic performance.
Bradley Curs and Casandra Harper, associate professors in the College of Education and Human Development, analyzed academic data of players who competed in a bowl game versus those who didn’t from 2003 to 2018….