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Agreed. Especially now.

The part that still irks me is Penn State being the first Outback participant with a losing BG10 record. It diminishes the Outback Bowl's reputation in my mind. Regardless, Phoenix is still better than Nashville or New York in late December.

This bowl was the payback for being upgraded to the Citrus Bowl a few years ago.

It would not be cheaper. At 6 to 9 mpg and 3,300 miles round trip with no detours, you'd be using 400-500 gallons of gas round trip, so say $1,500 in gas alone. You'd have rental on top of that and they're [not] cheap, probably at least $2,000 per week. Add in night RV park fees during the AZ...

I didn't realize that the LV Bowl actually starts later on a Thursday night than the Phx bowl. ASU is probably a marginally better opponent than WV (neither are ranked), but the two bowls are pretty close in quality. Both WI and MN are favored to win by about a touchdown. 3 of the 4 fanbases...

LOL. I totally gapped that.

Interesting that airfare to PHX is much cheaper if you do Sat-Thur for a 4-night stay. Almost a decent price if you stretch that to a 5-day stay Fri-Thur. That still doesn't fix the rental car issue - apparently a nationwide COVID related problem.

LOL. Classic quip.

I'm guessing the Gophs were actually "snubbed" by two bowls, not four; the Outback and Las Vegas. As others have indicated, there was probably much behind the scenes wrangling over the last week. How else would the Strib correctly pick the "last" bowl in the selection process for the Gophs...

I'm curious if Purdue and Wiscy fans are upset that PSU, with 2 fewer BG10 games in the win column, jumped them.

PSU with a losing conference record. A first for the Outback. I get the Outback selecting either Wiscy or Purdue instead of MN, but a team with a losing conference record? I agree. There's more to this.

Nah. Gophs would have had to lose 2 more BG10 games to be attractive to the Outback committee.

One probably needs to be quadruple vaccinated and wear 3 masks in New York now, so there's also that.

' I'd say Minnesota had records commensurate with this bowl in prior years (.500 or slightly better). Such an odd placement.

I answered my own question. Penn State is the first team with a losing Big Ten record to ever play in the Outback. PSU in 2010 and Purdue in 2000 were both 4-4 and had the worst records until this year.

I hadn't thought of that. I wonder if this is the first time?

Placing myself in my 21-year-old self, if I had to pick from four no-name bowls during the winter in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Nashville or New York; I'd pick the first two. And yeah, I'm trying to rationalize things.

Honestly, I'm guessing the players would rather be in Phoenix than the cold in NY or even Nashville in two other no-name bowls.

Ish.

I didn't think there was any way a team could get jumped by so many other bowls to land at the lowest bowl selection spot for the conference. Weird. Granted, playing in the Pinstripe is actually a punishment not a reward, but the Guaranteed has a lower spot in selection.