Bowl Projection

[masetobase]

Two things: The Big 10 pools payouts, so it is only the "traveling money" that varies for a program between bowls; The Alamo Bowl is being played January 2nd this year - not sure why.

I didnt know that the big ten pools there payouts. Do they do this between the whole big ten or only teams that make bowl games???

 

[Gopherprof]

Yeah I forgot about the bowl pooling. That's another reason I don't want another team in the Big Ten (11) unless it's one of the bigger schools athletically, financially, and academically. Nobody else will carry their own weight.

 

[McGopherFan]

Has the U returned any away game tickets?

If traveling of fans is an issue, MSUs fans did not want to travel a reasonable distance in the opening year of a fantastic venue. That has to day something????

I think if everyone has a place for a bowl eligible Big Ten team, then even a 6-6 Michigan is going to get chosen ahead of us - almost certainly by the Champs Bowl. I think Michigan State is the team we need to watch. Would the Alamo take a 6-6 MSU team over a 7-5 Gophers team even knowing that we beat MSU? Maybe, maybe not.

 

[wait!what?]

why does the Abowl dislike Minny so much?

 

[stevedave23]

The only team that the gophers would be picked ahead of is Northwestern.

Personally, I don't think the University should even welcome the bowl representatives to any gopher games. They will take the team that travels the most fans. End of story.

 

[GoAUpher]

The only team that the gophers would be picked ahead of is Northwestern.

Personally, I don't think the University should even welcome the bowl representatives to any gopher games. They will take the team that travels the most fans. End of story.

And how is that supposed to improve anything?

 

[Iceland12]

And how is that supposed to improve anything?

Nice.

 

[Jike Spingleton]

why does the Abowl dislike Minny so much?

Because of the perception that Minnesota fans won't travel to bowl games.

Part of this is true - we never brought many fans to our three visits to Nashville, despite a couple of marquee matchups with Arkansas and Alabama. But we had great turnouts in both of our Insight Bowl trips (in part due to the snowbirds already living in Arizona) and had at least as many fans as Oregon did at the Sun Bowl.

It's the old catch-22: fans want to go to a big bowl game (60% of my season ticket group has never been to a bowl, always waiting for a better game), but the only way to get there is to either have that breakout season (Pasadena) or to have a reputation like Wisky or Iowa. And until we have that breakout season, it doesn't seem likely our reputation will change.

Me? I'll always do my part by going to the bowl game, no matter where it's played. I hope more people do the same.

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

We'd better keep rooting against SCum (shouldn't be too hard). Cuz you know that if they finish bowl eligible the Alamo bowl will take the skunkbears over us in a heartbeat, regardless of record. I remember in 1999 after we beat PSU the Alamo bowl took Penn St, saying "we rarely get a chance to get a school like PSU to this bowl, and we know the Gophers will be open to us in future years". Yeah, right. I can't remember if PSU had a better record than us that year. I believe they did. And in '03 they took MSU over us despite us having a better record. Of course, MSU had beaten us (the week after we choked vs. SCum and then never got off the bus in EL).

The 5 things we need to do to get a decent bowl bid

1. Win the games we should win. Take care of business vs. Illinois & Sodak St.

2. At least be competitive vs. Iowa. We get drubbed 55-0 again and its "Hellloooo Detroit!" That said, we beat Iowa somehow we could actually get a NYD bowl.

3.Fill up the Bank. It always hurt us when the bowl selxn committees would visit the dome in November and see either 20,000 blue seats, or even worse, the place half full with fans wearing red or black.

4.Keep our fingers crossed against MSU and SCum. Both have at least one more L on their schedules (PSU/tOSU), but both also have some very winnable games

5.Root for Iowa. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that. But Iowa going to a BCS bowl moves us up a notch.

The interesting thing will be if we go to the Alamo bowl, can we claim that we've finally been to a January bowl game? or is it just a scheduling accident that this bowl is in 2010 this year?

 

[GoAUpher]

We'd better keep rooting against SCum (shouldn't be too hard). Cuz you know that if they finish bowl eligible the Alamo bowl will take the skunkbears over us in a heartbeat, regardless of record. I remember in 1999 after we beat PSU the Alamo bowl took Penn St, saying "we rarely get a chance to get a school like PSU to this bowl, and we know the Gophers will be open to us in future years". Yeah, right. I can't remember if PSU had a better record than us that year. I believe they did. And in '03 they took MSU over us despite us having a better record. Of course, MSU had beaten us (the week after we choked vs. SCum and then never got off the bus in EL).

The 5 things we need to do to get a decent bowl bid

1. Win the games we should win. Take care of business vs. Illinois & Sodak St.

2. At least be competitive vs. Iowa. We get drubbed 55-0 again and its "Hellloooo Detroit!" That said, we beat Iowa somehow we could actually get a NYD bowl.

3.Fill up the Bank. It always hurt us when the bowl selxn committees would visit the dome in November and see either 20,000 blue seats, or even worse, the place half full with fans wearing red or black.

4.Keep our fingers crossed against MSU and SCum. Both have at least one more L on their schedules (PSU/tOSU), but both also have some very winnable games

5.Root for Iowa. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that. But Iowa going to a BCS bowl moves us up a notch.

The interesting thing will be if we go to the Alamo bowl, can we claim that we've finally been to a January bowl game? or is it just a scheduling accident that this bowl is in 2010 this year?

The '03 situation was slightly worse in that not only did we lose to MSU but we lost at home, not in East Lansing (Gophersports.com erroneously lists EL on the schedule page but the box score has it right).

As to your last question...no, if we land in the Alamo we can claim a January bowl game, but not in a way that matters. Cap One, Outback? Matter b/c they are Jan 1...everything else. Nuh uh.

 

[MBAGuy]

The '03 situation was slightly worse in that not only did we lose to MSU but we lost at home, not in East Lansing (Gophersports.com erroneously lists EL on the schedule page but the box score has it right).QUOTE]

I'm 99% sure that game was at EL. I remember that because I didn't see it live, which would have been an anomaly. But I've had a lot to drink since then, so I'll leave the 1% margin for effect of brain damage.

 

[stevedave23]

And how is that supposed to improve anything?

It really wouldn't. It just irks me that the bowl games themselves have these "bowl representatives" that travel around watching games, being wined and dined by the schools while pretending that their experiences have any bearing on which teams they'll choose.

To make matters worse the local columnists never fail to write about it saying things like, "the Outback Bowl representatives were at the game on Saturday and they were very impressed with the gopher's performance."

It's just such a sham. I can't say I blame the bowls for choosing the team that travels more fans but just come out and say that. "We're going to choose the team that will bring the most people to our city." Done. Simple. Honest.

 

[GoAUpher]

I'm 99% sure that game was at EL. I remember that because I didn't see it live, which would have been an anomaly. But I've had a lot to drink since then, so I'll leave the 1% margin for effect of brain damage.

It was at home (screenshot from the media guide attached). The reason I recall is because of how quickly fans jumped off the bandwagon (62K at the Dome for Michigan, less than 40K for MSU).

 

[GoAUpher]

It really wouldn't. It just irks me that the bowl games themselves have these "bowl representatives" that travel around watching games, being wined and dined by the schools while pretending that their experiences have any bearing on which teams they'll choose.

To make matters worse the local columnists never fail to write about it saying things like, "the Outback Bowl representatives were at the game on Saturday and they were very impressed with the gopher's performance."

It's just such a sham. I can't say I blame the bowls for choosing the team that travels more fans but just come out and say that. "We're going to choose the team that will bring the most people to our city." Done. Simple. Honest.

Trust me, I don't disagree with you. It is a sham. Money rules but since this its amateur competition they pretend otherwise.

 

[Maximus]

Bruce Feldman at ESPN has Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl and Minnesota in the Insight Bowl against *gasp* Texas Tech.

 

[Hates Monikers]

We'd better keep rooting against SCum (shouldn't be too hard). Cuz you know that if they finish bowl eligible the Alamo bowl will take the skunkbears over us in a heartbeat, regardless of record. I remember in 1999 after we beat PSU the Alamo bowl took Penn St, saying "we rarely get a chance to get a school like PSU to this bowl, and we know the Gophers will be open to us in future years". Yeah, right. I can't remember if PSU had a better record than us that year. I believe they did. And in '03 they took MSU over us despite us having a better record. Of course, MSU had beaten us (the week after we choked vs. SCum and then never got off the bus in EL).

The 5 things we need to do to get a decent bowl bid

1. Win the games we should win. Take care of business vs. Illinois & Sodak St.

2. At least be competitive vs. Iowa. We get drubbed 55-0 again and its "Hellloooo Detroit!" That said, we beat Iowa somehow we could actually get a NYD bowl.

3.Fill up the Bank. It always hurt us when the bowl selxn committees would visit the dome in November and see either 20,000 blue seats, or even worse, the place half full with fans wearing red or black.

4.Keep our fingers crossed against MSU and SCum. Both have at least one more L on their schedules (PSU/tOSU), but both also have some very winnable games

5.Root for Iowa. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that. But Iowa going to a BCS bowl moves us up a notch.

The interesting thing will be if we go to the Alamo bowl, can we claim that we've finally been to a January bowl game? or is it just a scheduling accident that this bowl is in 2010 this year?

Have to keep an eye on Purdue, too. They play both Michigan and MSU (in addition to Indiana). If we want Michigan and MSU to lose, that means Purdue is likely winning. They have two Big Ten wins and probably would be taken ahead of us, but they need to win their final three to finish 6-6 overall. Best scenario is to have Purdue beat those two teams and choke it up against the Hoosiers in their final game.

 

[GoAUpher]

Have to keep an eye on Purdue, too. They play both Michigan and MSU (in addition to Indiana). If we want Michigan and MSU to lose, that means Purdue is likely winning. They have two Big Ten wins and probably would be taken ahead of us, but they need to win their final three to finish 6-6 overall. Best scenario is to have Purdue beat those two teams and choke it up against the Hoosiers in their final game.

I doubt Purdue gets selected ahead of us with our head to head win and a fan base that is no more likely to travel.

 

[Hates Monikers]

One thing I've learned as a Gopher fan is that, come bowl season, head-to-head victories for our guys mean nothing. Alamo (hates us) and Insight (been there twice in three years) would take Purdue ahead of us for sure.

 

[GoAUpher]

One thing I've learned as a Gopher fan is that, come bowl season, head-to-head victories for our guys mean nothing. Alamo (hates us) and Insight (been there twice in three years) would take Purdue ahead of us for sure.

I agree, but Purdue's fan base isn't know for traveling either. Alamo hates us because we don't travel. If the choice is between us and Purdue I think they take us.

 

[MrGopher]

If anyone from the Alamo bowl is reading this: I would love to visit Texas! If you select the Gophers, you can count on me and my group being there! They are nice places, for sure, but we are getting sick of Arizona and Tennessee!