Better to win bowl or go 7-5 and lose bowl?

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What is a more successful season?



I argued a few years back that 9-3 with a bowl loss is a better season than 8-4 with a bowl win.
I will continue to argue that though I’d like to win the bowl now, 7-5 with a loss to Georgia Tech would’ve been better than 6-6 with a win over GT
 

On the other thread, we learned that 6-7 with an UDFA on a practice squad is better than 7-6.
 

Interesting question. In general I would lean towards more regular season wins being the better outcome even if it means losing the bowl game but a lot of it also depends on who you play in the bowl. If it is a big upset in the bowl game then that might be better. In the grand scheme of things the records will look the same in the record book and people are unlikely to really care after a few years.
 

During the season, fans want wins to either go to a bowl or enough wins to go to a better bowl.

After the bowl game is announced, it becomes less important than all of the other games.

Fascinating
 

I don't think it matters. The only importance is whether the bowl game helps the team improve for next season.
The only time it matters is when you are playing for a national championship.
 


I guess I've always felt the bowl game is more of a exhibition in most cases, unless it's the Rose Bowl or CFP playoff.
You never know how seriously one team or another are taking it. Is one coach using it as a practice game for the following season?

I would take 9-3 with a bowl loss for 9-4 over 8-4 with a bowl win for 9-4. I would change my mind on this if my coach was 0-3 in Bowl Games however.
 

Unless it’s the CFP or NY6 the bowl games are meaningless.

I would take the better regular season record.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

If the "extra" regular season win were a conference win, then I would definitely take the B1G win. Otherwise, the bowl is on par with the other non-conference games. I have never understood the bizarre take that a bowl win that counts on the team's official record is somehow a meaningless exhibition.
 

That "it's an exhibition" or "it doesn't count" thoughts are just flat out wrong. Not sure anybody even was having this discussion before the last 2-3 years.

They all count against a team's final season record, and all individual records count too. If Ibrahim gets another 200 yards, Caughlin gets two sacks or Johnson catches 10 passes they will all be part of their 2018 season records.

Beating Georgia Tech will count a much as beating New Mexico State, though it will probably feel better. Don't think anybody was saying back in 2004 that the victory against Illinois State was very important but that victory over Alabama was just an "exhibition" game. Or that beating SW Texas State was better that beating #25 Arkansas in 2002.

The premise itself is kinda odd.

More wins are always better. Put an * next to a Georgia Tech win if it makes you feel better. Though nobody outside of Gopherhole will care about it.
 



This discussion is absurd. Folks are talking about a bowl game against a solid P5 program like it's a glorified Spring game. Meaningless and only to improve for the real games in the future. Judged by this standard, isn't every game meaningless? Are they all meaningless after you lose the first one? This type of attitude is incompatible with being a Gopher fan (and remaining sane). We're going to need to find joy in outcomes that aren't the national championship.

Winning the bowl means a lot. There's a token trophy and celebration, sure -- but it means more because it's the last one. It's the last serious football game several of our players will ever play in. It's the last memory of the team fans will have before buying 2019 tickets, 2020 recruits will have before considering the Gophers, donors will have for the next 8 months, etc. A win here would be huge for momentum in the offseason.
 

Some guy said:
What is a more successful season?



I argued a few years back that 9-3 with a bowl loss is a better season than 8-4 with a bowl win.
I will continue to argue that though I’d like to win the bowl now, 7-5 with a loss to Georgia Tech would’ve been better than 6-6 with a win over GT
Click to expand...

In general I would agree with your idea that 9-3 with a bowl loss is better than 8-4 with a bowl win. I think context is important though. It might depend on how difficult your regular season schedule was, who you beat, and who you end up playing in the bowl.
 

fmlizard said:
This discussion is absurd. Folks are talking about a bowl game against a solid P5 program like it's a glorified Spring game. Meaningless and only to improve for the real games in the future. Judged by this standard, isn't every game meaningless? Are they all meaningless after you lose the first one? This type of attitude is incompatible with being a Gopher fan (and remaining sane). We're going to need to find joy in outcomes that aren't the national championship.

Winning the bowl means a lot. There's a token trophy and celebration, sure -- but it means more because it's the last one. It's the last serious football game several of our players will ever play in. It's the last memory of the team fans will have before buying 2019 tickets, 2020 recruits will have before considering the Gophers, donors will have for the next 8 months, etc. A win here would be huge for momentum in the offseason.
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Absolutely agree. I like the use of the word "absurd." I think it is absurd that people discount a bowl game to the degree I'm reading here.

On Saturdays during the regular season, we are one of 12 to 14 Big Ten teams playing.

On Saturdays during the regular season, unless we are playing one of the top conference teams, our game is going to be relatively ignored.

On Saturdays during the non-conference portion of the season, we are not so likely to be playing an opponent as good as the one we will be playing in a bowl and we're definitely not going to be playing anyone on a neutral field.

On Saturdays during the regular season, we are likely to be televised on BTN or maybe FS 1.

On December 26th, we will be the only Big Ten team playing and we will be the first Big Ten bowl eligible team to play.

On December 26th, our game will be televised by ESPN or ESPN 2 (I don't remember which) during primetime.

On December 26th there will be lots of people with time on their hands and nothing much better to do than watch football. During the regular season people who don't work weekends often have to squeeze other obligations into those two days.


Finally, your last game is always the most important! That one has to tide you over for 8 months.
 

What's most important is that you have enough qualifiers in your evaluation criteria so that you can overstate the success of coaches you like, and diminish the success of ones you don't.
 



fmlizard said:
This discussion is absurd. Folks are talking about a bowl game against a solid P5 program like it's a glorified Spring game. Meaningless and only to improve for the real games in the future. Judged by this standard, isn't every game meaningless? Are they all meaningless after you lose the first one? This type of attitude is incompatible with being a Gopher fan (and remaining sane). We're going to need to find joy in outcomes that aren't the national championship.

Winning the bowl means a lot. There's a token trophy and celebration, sure -- but it means more because it's the last one. It's the last serious football game several of our players will ever play in. It's the last memory of the team fans will have before buying 2019 tickets, 2020 recruits will have before considering the Gophers, donors will have for the next 8 months, etc. A win here would be huge for momentum in the offseason.
Click to expand...

The number of bowl games has really cheapened the overall value of them in the minds of a lot of people. Don't get me wrong, still great to make a bowl game and obviously in any game you want the team to play well and win. But for the mid to lower tier bowl games there really isn't a lot riding on the game itself or the end result of that game.

We all want to see the Gophers play well and close the season with a win. But in the grand scheme of things, a win or loss against Georgia Tech doesn't really change the overall feel of the season. The important part, especially for a team with this much youth, was making a bowl game.
 

The goal should be to be 5-4 or better every year in conference. The rest will take care of itself. That would be 7+ victories every year.
 

Wanted to bring this thread back up.

for those of you who think Bowl wins are equal to regular season wins.

Does anyone honestly think
11-2 with a bowl win this year would’ve been a better season than 11-3 with a conference title loss and bowl loss?
 

Some guy said:
Wanted to bring this thread back up.

for those of you who think Bowl wins are equal to regular season wins.

Does anyone honestly think
11-2 with a bowl win this year would’ve been a better season than 11-3 with a conference title loss and bowl loss?
Click to expand...

Fair enough, if in this scenario the Gophers beat Wisconsin to win the West and we have an insane party on the field with the Axe in the snow. I would take that and a loss to OSU and Oregon in the Rose Bowl, instead of beating Tennessee in the Outback.

Most of the time, in all other Gopher seasons in my life, bowl wins are probably worth a little more than regular season wins because of the positive ju-ju they give to the whole offseason.
 


fmlizard said:
Fair enough, if in this scenario the Gophers beat Wisconsin to win the West and we have an insane party on the field with the Axe in the snow. I would take that and a loss to OSU and Oregon in the Rose Bowl, instead of beating Tennessee in the Outback.

Most of the time, in all other Gopher seasons in my life, bowl wins are probably worth a little more than regular season wins because of the positive ju-ju they give to the whole offseason.
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I agree with that. IMO beating Georgia Tech at the end of the year did more for the program compared to if we would have beaten Maryland last year and finished with the same record.


With this particular year, a win against Wisconsin would definitely have done more than winning our bowl game although I'd argue if we were to get matched up with Bama in the Citrus bowl, a win over them would do just as much if not more than a win against Wisconsin. But a Texas A&M or Tennessee win would not of course.
 

It's not a choice anyone actually gets. It's not like we can choose to lose this game in order to win a different game.
 

You win as many games as you can. More wins(10-11) mean more good things and more momentum for program. This year we will have 10 or 11 wins. That is huge for the program. 7-5 and winning a bowl game or even losing it doesn't mean much to me. We've been doing that every year since the 80's it seems.
 

A bowl game is a win... just a bit higher profile (depends on the bowl).... you want all those wins you can get.
 

For me personally I remember regular season records year over year for the gophers...I normally can't even remember who we play in certain bowl games yet alone if we win or not.
 

tmvander said:
For me personally I remember regular season records year over year for the gophers...I normally can't even remember who we play in certain bowl games yet alone if we win or not.
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Probably says something about our bowl games ...
 

Regular season > MOST bowls.

Big time bowl wins are significant, which is why they make t-shirts for them. I'd rather go 10-2 and win a rose bowl than go 11-1 and low a rose bowl. Call me crazy but thats just how I see it.

But regular season wins (especially conference wins) are more important than winning the Motor City Bowl or some other low tier game against a random, average opponent.
 

MennoSota said:
I don't think it matters. The only importance is whether the bowl game helps the team improve for next season.
The only time it matters is when you are playing for a national championship.
Click to expand...
It's all about those 15 extra practices.
 

It also depends on who the regular season win was against. If you're talking a trophy game, obviously that is different than say a game against Maryland or Rutgers which is different than say SW State Tech A&M College for the Blind University.

I think 99 seasons out of 100 (or more), fans would choose to beat Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan (or even PSU) over beating anyone in a Bowl game. But last year, I think I'd take losing to Maryland vs. losing to GT (all other things being equal, including Bowl destination and opponent). This year, getting to the B1G Champ Game and Rose Bowl AND either getting Floyd or keeping the Axe would have been the obvious choice vs. beating Tennessee or Alabama or Texas A&M.

The one big caveat from last year is that had the Gophers won that game against Maryland, they may have gone to a better Bowl against a better opponent, which may have made that exchange more palatable. But I think that win was really important for the team overall.
 


scools12 said:
Unless it’s the CFP or NY6 the bowl games are meaningless.

I would take the better regular season record.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Complete nonsense. Every game matters big or small. If people and potential recruits are watching.....then it matters. If it garners you attention going into the off season and into the next season IT MATTERS.

This meaningless bowl game idea is so stupid that I can't figure out why people even have the thought.

And why do the NY6 bowl games matter to you? Seems like if you aren't playing for the Championship....you are playing in a "meaningless" bowl.

As I mentioned in another thread....match the Gophers up with Alabama or Auburn....and that game is better than the Orange Bowl with default ACC team, Virginia.....or the Cotton Bowl featuring the best G5 team most likely.
 

RodentRampage said:
It's not a choice anyone actually gets. It's not like we can choose to lose this game in order to win a different game.
Click to expand...
True.
But the original question came from debating which season was better amongst different historical results
 

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