Can't blame the guys at all for sitting the game out, but it's really hard to win when a team goes in without their star offensive player and possibly two best defensive players. The offense was clearly not the same without Chase Brown. I was considering earlier today whether there is something the NCAA can do to better incentivize (financially) players to suit up for bowl games, but then we see what happened tonight in Cincinnati and there is no amount of money that is worth taking that risk. Bowl games can and probably will start offering some sort of NIL package (the two Cheez-It bowls already did) to some players, but like you said, for the true stars there is really no amount of money that could make it worthwhile. I also expect it not to be too long into the 12 team CFP era when some star player (this will likely be on a team seeded like 10 or something, that everyone knows will not win it all) opts out of the playoff.