Brian Bennett: If TCF isn't full of Gopher fans vs UW, Minn can't complain about bowl

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Bennett addresses the Gophers bowl position:

M.V. from Grand Rapids, Mich., writes: If Iowa finishes 8-4 and so does Minnesota, does the tie go to Iowa for beating Minnesota or does Iowa "traveling well" give them the go ahead? In all fairness the better bowl goes to Iowa no matter what. Wouldn't it?

Aaron M. from Purcellville, Va., writes: I'm starting to get upset with the perception of Gophers. Everyone seems to think that they are just an average football team, and that they don't deserve a good bowl because the fan base apparently doesn't travel well. Let's be real: Minnesota hasn't been to a halfway decent bowl game since 2003 when they went to the Sun Bowl and played Oregon. Michigan is self-destructing. Wouldn't the bowl gain more interest if they took the Gophers especially with Coach Kill's leave of absence? That should provide more storyline.

Brian Bennett: I can understand why Minnesota fans are worried. If we were just talking about merit, the Gophers would be in line for a really nice bowl destination right about now. But a lot of things go into bowl selection, including fan support and team momentum. If all things are relatively even, Iowa could very well get the nod over Minnesota because of its fan base. Michigan could do the same because of its brand name.

But the Gophers could also have momentum on their side, if they end up with six straight wins or five of their last six. The Jerry Kill story is a great one, and bowl games love that kind of positive publicity. So all of that is good news. Here's my main concern: Minnesota has yet to draw sellout crowds to its own stadium. Last week against Penn State, the announced attendance was 48,123, or more than 2,000 below capacity at TCF Bank Stadium, and there were even more empty seats than that, according to media reports.

I'm not sure what else Gopher fans are waiting for to get all the way behind this special team. If that stadium is not absolutely full next week against Wisconsin -- and not because of visiting Badgers fans -- then Minnesota can't complain if it gets passed over for a bowl slot.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/89034/big-ten-wednesday-mailbag-15

Go Gophers!!
 

As annoying as Bennett can be at times in this case he is not wrong. Problem is a lot of Badger fans scooped up their tickets quite a while ago so I would expect to see quite a bit of red in the stands unfortunately.

As for getting passed over, if it happens it happens, the only way the fan base can erase the no-show feeling that is out there would be by showing up in big numbers at whatever bowl game we end up in. Until that happens the perception is going to be there that we don't travel well because we have not proven otherwise.
 

I would be blown away if the stadium is not full for this game.
 

Bennett is dead on this time. One way or another, there should be zero empty seats for this game, season-ticket holders and students alike.
 

Ouch...the truth hurts. I fully expect the WI game to be rockin'. But PSU also should have been a sellout considering all the momentum and a "helmet" opponent.
 


I can't say I've done specific research but from what I hear, outside of the BCS bowls, almost all of these lesser bowls struggle with attendance. Then, if you add in the fact that the invited school is on the hook for the tickets whether they successfully sell them or not, I start to think that all this "Gopher fans don't travel well" nonsense is just an easy excuse to pass us over.
 

full stadiums of folks buying food/drink = win for the program regardless of the colors the people wear.
 

GopherHomer said:
I can't say I've done specific research but from what I hear, outside of the BCS bowls, almost all of these lesser bowls struggle with attendance. Then, if you add in the fact that the invited school is on the hook for the tickets whether they successfully sell them or not, I start to think that all this "Gopher fans don't travel well" nonsense is just an easy excuse to pass us over.
Click to expand...

What is the "real" reason, then?
 

at least there's no deer opener excuse. smh...
 




Hmm....me thinks a lot of you who attended the game really don't look around. My nephew was in the student section. He said he was packed in like a sardine. Bodies create heat. We sit in section 143, 20 yard line. Went up at the end of the first quarter for hot drinks and it was 2 deep in the mezzanine area. My wife went up at the start of the 4th and she came back and said: " My gosh you
should see all the people standing " So you're student, would you sit in the upper deck with a 25 mph wind biting at you, or would you cram yourself in the lower deck? Really a no brainer.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Hmm....me thinks a lot of you who attended the game really don't look around. My nephew was in the student section. He said he was packed in like a sardine. Bodies create heat. We sit in section 143, 20 yard line. Went up at the end of the first quarter for hot drinks and it was 2 deep in the mezzanine area. My wife went up at the start of the 4th and she came back and said: " My gosh you
should see all the people standing " So you're student, would you sit in the upper deck with a 25 mph wind biting at you, or would you cram yourself in the lower deck? Really a no brainer.
Click to expand...

I thought the student section looked really good overall against Penn State. It was the rest of the stadium that was a little disappointing, decent size crowd but the atmosphere was pretty muted probably somewhat due to the cold and wind and the fact that there was very little offense in the second half for either team.
 

GopherHomer said:
I can't say I've done specific research but from what I hear, outside of the BCS bowls, almost all of these lesser bowls struggle with attendance. Then, if you add in the fact that the invited school is on the hook for the tickets whether they successfully sell them or not, I start to think that all this "Gopher fans don't travel well" nonsense is just an easy excuse to pass us over.
Click to expand...

You are correct about the schools being on the hook for the tickets regardless but the bowls still want to see those tickets actually get used by the fan base. Beyond attendance at the game itself there is the local impact of the fans coming into the city where the game is held so the "Gopher fans don't travel well" stigma is a legit reason to pass us over. The thing of course that no one knows for sure is if they didn't pass us over would our fans show?
 



ruppertflywheel said:
Hmm....me thinks a lot of you who attended the game really don't look around. My nephew was in the student section. He said he was packed in like a sardine. Bodies create heat. We sit in section 143, 20 yard line. Went up at the end of the first quarter for hot drinks and it was 2 deep in the mezzanine area. My wife went up at the start of the 4th and she came back and said: " My gosh you
should see all the people standing " So you're student, would you sit in the upper deck with a 25 mph wind biting at you, or would you cram yourself in the lower deck? Really a no brainer.
Click to expand...

100% accurate. We sit in section 101 and anytime there are friends of our crew sitting in the opposite corner or towards the student section, they inevitably end up squeezing in by us because it's so much warmer - they tell us all the time, "it's 15 degrees warmer here". Most importantly, we're pretty protected by the wind. I haven't sat in the student section, but I'd imagine those upper deck seats and the corner towards the press box are the coldest spots to sit in the entire stadium - limited sun, and wind coming directly at you. Nip. Why wouldn't you do everything you an to squeeze in down below?

The people who need to show up are the folks with seats on the home side of TCF. Not sure if they're hanging out in the Club room or what, but everybody points the finger at the students when in reality, the seat back sections on the home side (especially in the upper deck) seem to be nearly as glaringly empty as the upper deck of the student section.
 


MNVCGUY said:
You are correct about the schools being on the hook for the tickets regardless but the bowls still want to see those tickets actually get used by the fan base. Beyond attendance at the game itself there is the local impact of the fans coming into the city where the game is held so the "Gopher fans don't travel well" stigma is a legit reason to pass us over. The thing of course that no one knows for sure is if they didn't pass us over would our fans show?
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I don't think it's that we don't travel well; it's that we're an unknown. For the bowls, do you go with a proven fan base like IA or MI, or do you take a chance on MN?

Other than the Alabama & Arkansas games where we basically played in their backyard, I actually think our fans have matched up pretty well with the opposing team's. Especially against TX Tech in AZ. IIRC, we have about as many fans as they did, if not a little more. Now we just need one of the bigger bowls to take a chance and let us prove ourselves.
 

It's funny to me that Bennett points out we don't travel well, but is it not a consensus media opinion that we've been basically terrible for forty years? So how does anyone really know if we'd travel to a good bowl game when we haven't been to one?

I thought we traveled pretty well to the UNLV game last year - I don't think 10K fans for a first game of the season against a dog team was too bad of a showing.
 

he just went for the cheap and ez.

NW may have full stadiums but public opinion has me believing otherwise.
 

The fans that complain about being cold are passive fans in my opinion. If you are on your feet moving and making noise it is a lot warmer! :)
 

We've always traveled well to Tempe. The meltdown game against Texas Tech we had twice as many fans attend the pre-game party where they had a area for Tech fans on one side and Gopher fans on the other side. We also had more fans at the game. Here's the thing. The snow birds " DON'T " buy their tickets through the U. The buy them through the bowl site or other ticket outlets. At the pre-game party I made it a point to ask where people bought their tickets. At least a third at the party bought them through other sources than the U. I talked with about 2 dozen fans. Houston is a sh-t hole. Lubbock, Texas is about a drive and a nine iron from Houston, so they brought between 20-25
thousand fans. If I remember correctly we sold around 3,000 tickets through the U including staff, etc. The Director of Bowl Operations ( her name escapes me ) was at the kickoff luncheon
at the Galleria. She told me that there was a huge contingent of transplanted Minnesotans in the Houston area and while they were somewhat disappointed in the number of tickets sold through the U, she thought Minnesota would have a pretty good turnout. I can only tell you what a member of the stadium security staff told me at halftime who is there for all the NFL games and he told me about
7-8 thousand fans in the lower sections. He didn't know about the upper level. For Houston, I thought that was decent.
 

TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
It's funny to me that Bennett points out we don't travel well, but is it not a consensus media opinion that we've been basically terrible for forty years? So how does anyone really know if we'd travel to a good bowl game when we haven't been to one?

I thought we traveled pretty well to the UNLV game last year - I don't think 10K fans for a first game of the season against a dog team was too bad of a showing.
Click to expand...

I think his point is that if you can't fill a small stadium in a city of over 3 million people, unless another team brings thousands of fans, you do not have a good fan following. And he is absolutely right. Who cares about hypothetical bowl trips and how many fans would travel hundreds of miles when they won't travel the 10 miles to see them play at home? Thats not a slight on the U it is just reality. Fill up the Bank every week and then you can start complaining about some 'bias' against Minnesota and the extent of the fan base. Until then people are going to judge the U and its fans by all the empty seats in a small stadium that they see every week.
 

bigdsrip said:
I think his point is that if you can't fill a small stadium in a city of over 3 million people, unless another team brings thousands of fans, you do not have a good fan following. And he is absolutely right. Who cares about hypothetical bowl trips and how many fans would travel hundreds of miles when they won't travel the 10 miles to see them play at home? Thats not a slight on the U it is just reality. Fill up the Bank every week and then you can start complaining about some 'bias' against Minnesota and the extent of the fan base. Until then people are going to judge the U and its fans by all the empty seats in a small stadium that they see every week.
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You nailed it.
 

If it's three years down the road and we're winning and still not completely filling the bank and selling our season tickets to the opposing teams then it's an issue. As stated above, the ship has sailed a bit this year as the Badgers are already going to have secured their tickets. Non-issue this year and whatever bowl we end up in is the bowl we end up in.
 

Is there any other sport where your postseason standing is dictated so heavily based on a committee's perception of how well your fan base travels?
 

Indi1006 said:
If it's three years down the road and we're winning and still not completely filling the bank and selling our season tickets to the opposing teams then it's an issue. As stated above, the ship has sailed a bit this year as the Badgers are already going to have secured their tickets. Non-issue this year and whatever bowl we end up in is the bowl we end up in.
Click to expand...

We need a couple good years. This year caught people by surprise. Next year is huge. If we finish strong we could be ranked to start the season and picked to finish top 4-5 in the Big Ten. That would go a long way to getting fans excited early on. Add to it that we play a TCU team, on the road, that will have some name recognition with people. We don't have WI or NE at home, but have potential huge games against Iowa & Ohio State. We will have to fill it up with Minnesotans.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Is there any other sport where your postseason standing is dictated so heavily based on a committee's perception of how well your fan base travels?
Click to expand...

No but there are no other postseasons that are 96% comprised of consolation matches that have no impact on anything.
 

Long-range forecast isn't good (32, ice in p.m.), so the fair-weather fans won't come out. ESPN Gameday folks won't want to deal with that, either. Empty seats for that game doesn't mean Gopher fans won't travel to a nice, warm spot to see their team finish with an 8-game win streak. (OK, blast me. lol)
 

TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
It's funny to me that Bennett points out we don't travel well, but is it not a consensus media opinion that we've been basically terrible for forty years? So how does anyone really know if we'd travel to a good bowl game when we haven't been to one?

I thought we traveled pretty well to the UNLV game last year - I don't think 10K fans for a first game of the season against a dog team was too bad of a showing.
Click to expand...

This is spot on. Minnesota fans will travel great to:
a) a great destination they'd like to go to, or
b) a major bowl game

There are examples of a) such as Vegas. There are no examples of b) in the last 50 years. El Paso and even Tempe are not that attractive to Minnesotans. Orlando, Tampa, Pasadena (!), Vegas, San Diego, are all places that Minnesotans would hit in droves. Do we travel like Nebraska? No, and we probably never will. But we can bring as many fans as Iowa to a top tier bowl OR to a great destination.
 

killme said:
Long-range forecast isn't good (32, ice in p.m.), so the fair-weather fans won't come out. ESPN Gameday folks won't want to deal with that, either. Empty seats for that game doesn't mean Gopher fans won't travel to a nice, warm spot to see their team finish with an 8-game win streak. (OK, blast me. lol)
Click to expand...

Weather.com say 29 for the high and 10% chance of rain. I have to make the call on the 6 year old coming with me.
 


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