What a strange column. Reusse: How Gophers ended up playing in Phoenix just as mysterious as bowl game name itself

[BleedGopher]

In typical Pat fashion, it takes 6 paragraphs to even mention the topic of the bowl he's writing about. I realize this was a late game and Pat likely wrote this two weeks ago outside of a few stats he plugged in.

Why not a column on Big Dan and his journey here and it finishing with a TD before he goes on to NFL? Instead we have, well this:

Which leaves the question: How did a Gophers team that finished 6-3 in the Big Ten wind up in a bowl so low on the pecking order that Coach Brew went to it twice?

How Gophers ended up playing in Phoenix just as mysterious as bowl game name itself

This is the first Guaranteed Rate Bowl, but the Gophers have been in this game several times before.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[FormerFatOL]

Not gonna click on the link. No subscription. I'm guessing Phat copied and pasted some of the 50 pages of Gopherhole comments on this subject.

 

[Gold Rush]

I think that is a worthy question, though. You just have to go down there and win it and make the most out of it. They SHOULD have gone to a better bowl - West Virginia was overmatched and had zero chance in this one. They would have undoubtedly gone to a better game if they had beaten Bowling Green and Illinois....

 

[Go Gophs]

Yes, we got screwed Big Time. Beat a couple really good teams and 8-4, 6-3 should have landed them darn near NYD. The loss to BG seems to be what held them back.

This bowl game sucked. Too late, couldn't hardly see with the bad lighting, terrible field conditions, marginal opponent. It was just all around bad, at least to watch on TV. If you were down there I'm sure it was better.

All this said they did what Flecks teams always seem to do and that is win the bowl game they are awarded. The defense was great as it was all season.

 

[BleedGopher]

I think that is a worthy question, though. You just have to go down there and win it and make the most out of it. They SHOULD have gone to a better bowl - West Virginia was overmatched and had zero chance in this one. They would have undoubtedly gone to a better game if they had beaten Bowling Green and Illinois....

That's fine. He had weeks to write and publish that column. It's not a "post bowl game" column.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gophers_4life]

As always, most of the column is trolling fans/alumni/supporters of the University of Minnesota.

That's as much a part of his job as anything. Because they (the STrib) know those columns get clicks and views, which is the name of the game.


Indeed, Gopherhole cannot help itself from starting a new thread devoted solely to the latest Reusse troll job.

 

[Some guy]

That's fine. He had weeks to write and publish that column. It's not a "post bowl game" column.

Go Gophers!!

Yeah. Maybe he forgot to publish it. I agree with your analysis. Not a bad column for Dec 22nd

 

[cjbfbp]

That's fine. He had weeks to write and publish that column. It's not a "post bowl game" column.

Go Gophers!!

Good point! Why publish this column now?

 

[Grant]

It’s just so boring and tired.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Good point! Why publish this column now?

He probably had an even worse version, for if they had lost the game.

Grumpily had to settle for the version where we won, I guess.

 

[cjbfbp]

This bowl game sucked. Too late, couldn't hardly see with the bad lighting, terrible field conditions, marginal opponent. It was just all around bad, at least to watch on TV. If you were down there I'm sure it was better.

I didn't think the game looked bad on TV. If nothing else, the game was worth watching for:

1) the touchdown by our 6'9" 380 pound fullback; and

2) an outstanding defensive effort. We don't get 5 sacks often and one was by Jah Joyner. We also registered 6 passes defended. The defensive backs were overshadowed by the defensive front but it was one of the very best collective games by the defensive backs. Held WV to their second lowest points, yardage, and points per play totals of the season. Only Oklahoma State surpassed our defensive dominance this season.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

yes, it was a rambling column, even by Reusse's standards. But, the underlying point is valid - based on their record, the Gophers should have been playing in a "better" bowl game - if you define better based on the reported payout for participation.

It would be interesting to have bugged the B1G offices during the bowl selection process to hear what was going on behind the scenes.

I guess my takeaway is that, if the Gophers want to go to better bowl games, they have to take the decision out of the hands of the B1G and win enough games so that it's impossible to bypass the Gophers in the bowl selection process.

 

[FormerFatOL]

Shit. I broke down and clicked the link to read the story. It's akin to clicking on the "see ignored content" link here and immediately regretting it. Ish.

In the end, to SON's comment above, it would be interesting to know the backstory of this year's bowl selection. I wouldn't be surprised if the Gophs said thanks but no thanks to the Pinstripe (ugh, especially with COVID madness), the Music City (although they probably wanted Purdue for geography), and maybe even the Las Vegas Bowl with an even worse time slot. Plus, Arizona has tons of Gopher transplants.

 

[restovich]

He just cannot control the snark.

Like in the way he keeps trying to compare P.J. to Brewster.

 

[topos]

It was truly a bad bowl, against a bad team, during a bad timeslot. I found it hard to get excited for this one which is a rarity in my gopher football fandom. Thank god for the enticing betting spread.

Playing WVU was honestly on par with playing Maryland or another below-average BIG team. We should have put up 30+. Classy move by PJ to not score the final TD.

The silver lining is that we will not sleepwalk through the preseason anymore. I think we will see more of the playbook early on and put bad teams away instead of RUTM three downs and out.

 

[Go Gophs]

I didn't think the game looked bad on TV. If nothing else, the game was worth watching for:

1) the touchdown by our 6'9" 380 pound fullback; and

2) an outstanding defensive effort. We don't get 5 sacks often and one was by Jah Joyner. We also registered 6 passes defended. The defensive backs were overshadowed by the defensive front but it was one of the very best collective games by the defensive backs. Held WV to their second lowest points, yardage, and points per play totals of the season. Only Oklahoma State surpassed our defensive dominance this season.

I just mean the lighting, the maroon looked purple on my tv and it was dark overall. Yes, the defense was awesome. Watching Dan F power into the end zone was fun. Fun watching some of those blitzes where WV didn't touch our guys and we just hammer their QB.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Another column by Reusse to take a pot shot at Gopher Football and coach PJ Fleck. His constant comparison's to coach Brewster of coach Fleck are so tiresome and stale. One thing you can say about Coach Brewster he never said a negative thing, never went slash and burn about being head coach at the University of Minnesota even after being fired. Coach Fleck tries to emphasize the positive and the direction of the program is building, and Reusse can't handle that coach Fleck actually has a little substance and method to his regime and program. I liked reading Reusse story on the Hilley kid that was from Champlin Park HS, the Badger Volleyball setter kid, then he writes this drivel about pretending to actually trivialize the Bowl Game selection process for the Big 10. We all know the deal here, and the so called pecking order the Conference pigeon holes us with, what ticks and pisses most of us off is the perpetuation by Twin Cities sports writers like Reusse to always harp on the negative and shine the University of Minnesota football program in the most negative light. Vikings have not won crap in 40 plus years, barely any division titles, have not been to a Superbowl since the 1976 season and yet they get treated with kid gloves by the Star Tribune and the media in this town. Spielman has been GM for 15 plus years and you don't see Reusse going after that failure like he does coach Fleck. The Vikings brand is as stale and tired as Reusse and the gang try to brush paint and put stains on the Gophers football program with. Souhan, Reusse, the Pioneer Press guy, turds all of them. The sportscasters during the game harping on the Bowling Green loss got really old too. None of us liked it, we all realize it was a crap game to lose but to define the Gophers season by it is a cop out and garbage, lazy journalism.

 

[FormerFatOL]

Another column by Reusse to take a pot shot at Gopher Football and coach PJ Fleck. His constant comparison's to coach Brewster of coach Fleck are so tiresome and stale. One thing you can say about Coach Brewster he never said a negative thing, never went slash and burn about being head coach at the University of Minnesota even after being fired. Coach Fleck tries to emphasize the positive and the direction of the program is building, and Reusse can't handle that coach Fleck actually has a little substance and method to his regime and program. I liked reading Reusse story on the Hilley kid that was from Champlin Park HS, the Badger Volleyball setter kid, then he writes this drivel about pretending to actually trivialize the Bowl Game selection process for the Big 10. We all know the deal here, and the so called pecking order the Conference pigeon holes us with, what ticks and pisses most of us off is the perpetuation by Twin Cities sports writers like Reusse to always harp on the negative and shine the University of Minnesota football program in the most negative light. Vikings have not won crap in 40 plus years, barely any division titles, have not been to a Superbowl since the 1976 season and yet they get treated with kid gloves by the Star Tribune and the media in this town. Spielman has been GM for 15 plus years and you don't see Reusse going after that failure like he does coach Fleck. The Vikings brand is as stale and tired as Reusse and the gang try to brush paint and put stains on the Gophers football program with. Souhan, Reusse, the Pioneer Press guy, turds all of them. The sportscasters during the game harping on the Bowling Green loss got really old too. None of us liked it, we all realize it was a crap game to lose but to define the Gophers season by it is a cop out and garbage, lazy journalism.

Preach it!

 

[Gophers1992]

Another column by Reusse to take a pot shot at Gopher Football and coach PJ Fleck. His constant comparison's to coach Brewster of coach Fleck are so tiresome and stale. One thing you can say about Coach Brewster he never said a negative thing, never went slash and burn about being head coach at the University of Minnesota even after being fired. Coach Fleck tries to emphasize the positive and the direction of the program is building, and Reusse can't handle that coach Fleck actually has a little substance and method to his regime and program. I liked reading Reusse story on the Hilley kid that was from Champlin Park HS, the Badger Volleyball setter kid, then he writes this drivel about pretending to actually trivialize the Bowl Game selection process for the Big 10. We all know the deal here, and the so called pecking order the Conference pigeon holes us with, what ticks and pisses most of us off is the perpetuation by Twin Cities sports writers like Reusse to always harp on the negative and shine the University of Minnesota football program in the most negative light. Vikings have not won crap in 40 plus years, barely any division titles, have not been to a Superbowl since the 1976 season and yet they get treated with kid gloves by the Star Tribune and the media in this town. Spielman has been GM for 15 plus years and you don't see Reusse going after that failure like he does coach Fleck. The Vikings brand is as stale and tired as Reusse and the gang try to brush paint and put stains on the Gophers football program with. Souhan, Reusse, the Pioneer Press guy, turds all of them. The sportscasters during the game harping on the Bowling Green loss got really old too. None of us liked it, we all realize it was a crap game to lose but to define the Gophers season by it is a cop out and garbage, lazy journalism.

I respect Tim Brewster 1000x more than I do Pat Reusse. Brew may have been in over his head as a B10 head coach, but he exited with nothing but class and I believe he gave it his all in his short stint as head coach.

Reusse makes a living trying to rile people up. He's very good at it, but I'm not sure that's something worth being good at.

 

[DarthGopher]

As always, most of the column is trolling fans/alumni/supporters of the University of Minnesota.

That's as much a part of his job as anything. Because they (the STrib) know those columns get clicks and views, which is the name of the game.


Indeed, Gopherhole cannot help itself from starting a new thread devoted solely to the latest Reusse troll job.

Bingo. It is all about clicks and revenue. Writing things that piss people off and/or stir up controversy sells advertising. It sure as hell isn't newspaper subscriptions.

 

[Gophers_4life]

yes, it was a rambling column, even by Reusse's standards. But, the underlying point is valid - based on their record, the Gophers should have been playing in a "better" bowl game - if you define better based on the reported payout for participation.

It would be interesting to have bugged the B1G offices during the bowl selection process to hear what was going on behind the scenes.

I guess my takeaway is that, if the Gophers want to go to better bowl games, they have to take the decision out of the hands of the B1G and win enough games so that it's impossible to bypass the Gophers in the bowl selection process.

In the bad old days, bowl games would select whichever teams they wanted, from their contractually tied-in conferences that were eligible.

At least now, the Big Ten has some degree of control.


But for these "meaningless" bowl games, it's still mostly a money grab, for TV ratings and for bowl organizers selling ticket (and indirectly for hotels, bars/restaurants, and entertainment in the area).

The fanbases that travel well, in some sense are always going to be more favored for those games.

 

[DarthGopher]

yes, it was a rambling column, even by Reusse's standards. But, the underlying point is valid - based on their record, the Gophers should have been playing in a "better" bowl game - if you define better based on the reported payout for participation.

It would be interesting to have bugged the B1G offices during the bowl selection process to hear what was going on behind the scenes.

I guess my takeaway is that, if the Gophers want to go to better bowl games, they have to take the decision out of the hands of the B1G and win enough games so that it's impossible to bypass the Gophers in the bowl selection process.

This article spells it out very clearly. Once you read it, you'll be less ticked about being "screwed".

Please stop thinking bowl selection will ever be fair.

Why do people still get upset about bowl selection ignoring standings or head to head wins?

www.thedailygopher.com

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

Not gonna click on the link. No subscription. I'm guessing Phat copied and pasted some of the 50 pages of Gopherhole comments on this subject.

Inognito mode

 

[USAF]

This article spells it out very clearly. Once you read it, you'll be less ticked about being "screwed".

Please stop thinking bowl selection will ever be fair.

Why do people still get upset about bowl selection ignoring standings or head to head wins?

www.thedailygopher.com

This article is a crapload of crap. Geography doesn't matter, except when it does. Fan base doesn't matter, except for when it does. Recently in the Outback? Uh...might matter. Or not. Depends. There is zero logic in this attempt to justify the GR Bowl.

Everything in it is wrong.

As for the Ruesse article, he's not wrong about the Gophers deserving a better bowl than the GRB. And I ATTENDED the damn thing, in person.

 

[Word]

yes, it was a rambling column, even by Reusse's standards. But, the underlying point is valid - based on their record, the Gophers should have been playing in a "better" bowl game - if you define better based on the reported payout for participation.

It would be interesting to have bugged the B1G offices during the bowl selection process to hear what was going on behind the scenes.

I guess my takeaway is that, if the Gophers want to go to better bowl games, they have to take the decision out of the hands of the B1G and win enough games so that it's impossible to bypass the Gophers in the bowl selection process.

Not gonna click on the link but did Pat do any research? Talk to Coyle? Call the Big Ten office? Call the bowl game reps? Otherwise it's just lazy garbage.

 

[Word]

This article is a crapload of crap. Geography doesn't matter, except when it does. Fan base doesn't matter, except for when it does. Recently in the Outback? Uh...might matter. Or not. Depends. There is zero logic in this attempt to justify the GR Bowl.

Everything in it is wrong.

As for the Ruesse article, he's not wrong about the Gophers deserving a better bowl than the GRB. And I ATTENDED the damn thing, in person.

Was the lighting as bad in person as it looked on TV?

 

[Iceland12]

As always, most of the column is trolling fans/alumni/supporters of the University of Minnesota.

That's as much a part of his job as anything. Because they (the STrib) know those columns get clicks and views, which is the name of the game.


Indeed, Gopherhole cannot help itself from starting a new thread devoted solely to the latest Reusse troll job.

In typical Pat fashion, it takes 6 paragraphs to even mention the topic of the bowl he's writing about. I realize this was a late game and Pat likely wrote this two weeks ago outside of a few stats he plugged in.

Why not a column on Big Dan and his journey here and it finishing with a TD before he goes on to NFL? Instead we have, well this:

Which leaves the question: How did a Gophers team that finished 6-3 in the Big Ten wind up in a bowl so low on the pecking order that Coach Brew went to it twice?

How Gophers ended up playing in Phoenix just as mysterious as bowl game name itself

This is the first Guaranteed Rate Bowl, but the Gophers have been in this game several times before.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

Trolling Gopherhole fans and depending on Bleed to link it here , are all Patrick has left.

 

[USAF]

Was the lighting as bad in person as it looked on TV?

Dimly lit.

Also pretty bad sight lines. I mean, it's a baseball stadium.

We got our "premium" tix through the U. Seated approximately even with the MN end zone line, lower deck. Tough to see half the field ( the half the entire 1st quarter was played in). I wanted to support the U, but in retrospect I should have used a reseller and got better seats.

Also, the 4 parachutists pregame were awesome, but opening the roof for those 20 minutes turned out bad.

 

[Word]

Dimly lit.

Also pretty bad sight lines. I mean, it's a baseball stadium.

We got our "premium" tix through the U. Seated approximately even with the MN end zone line, lower deck. Tough to see half the field ( the half the entire 1st quarter was played in). I wanted to support the U, but in retrospect I should have used a reseller and got better seats.

Also, the 4 parachutists pregame were awesome, but opening the roof for those 20 minutes turned out bad.

Did they possibly not use all the lights because they would have been in a bad location for football? You'd think a baseball stadium would have bright lighting.

 

[USAF]

Did they possibly not use all the lights because they would have been in a bad location for football? You'd think a baseball stadium would have bright lighting.

Dunno. I've been to multiple DBacks games and never felt it was dim. Last night did.