norman dale
Lord, grant me one Rose Bowl
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Want to see the Gophers play in the the Rose Bowl game? Well, pray to the football gods but I think this will be the last year we will have a remote chance of playing in the Grandaddy of Them All!
With the recent announcement of the forthcoming FBS 12 team playoff setup the powers that be will not wait beyond 2023 to change the format. So, the 2021 and 2022 seasons will see the bowl alignments stay as they are now. Big 10 champion will automatically qualify for the Rose Bowl unless they are part of the 4-team playoff. As we've seen the recent past even a loss in the Big 10 Championship game will send a team to Pasadena if the eventual champion goes to the playoffs.
Best case scenario in 2023 and beyond is that the Rose Bowl hosts either one of the semi-final games or the national championship game itself. That would mean the Gophers would need to win a minimum of the one playoff game if they were a top 4 team, and more likely win 2 games (one of which could be at a top 4 home field) if they were an at-large selection.
Now where the first round of the playoff games are going to be played are most assuredly going to be at the top seeded teams home field. The quarterfinals...not yet set in stone. Maybe at the higher seeds home field, or a pre-determined neutral site, or wrapped up in the current bowl structure. Regardless of those logistics the Rose Bowl is going to host whatever playoff game that happens to fall on Jan 1 or Jan 2 of any given year without any tie-in to conference affiliation.
To wrap it back around to the Gophers I look the Rose Bowl as an possibility for only the next 2 seasons. Beyond that is only unpredictability unless they become a national powerhouse.
Given what the team has coming back for this year and the predicted losses next year on the offensive and defensive lines....it's 2021 or bust. For those of you dreaming of seeing the right shade of maroon painted in the Rose Bowl endzone in late December or watching the sunset over the Gabriel Mountains while sitting at the Rose Bowl game watching the Gophers play, this is your last chance.
With the recent announcement of the forthcoming FBS 12 team playoff setup the powers that be will not wait beyond 2023 to change the format. So, the 2021 and 2022 seasons will see the bowl alignments stay as they are now. Big 10 champion will automatically qualify for the Rose Bowl unless they are part of the 4-team playoff. As we've seen the recent past even a loss in the Big 10 Championship game will send a team to Pasadena if the eventual champion goes to the playoffs.
Best case scenario in 2023 and beyond is that the Rose Bowl hosts either one of the semi-final games or the national championship game itself. That would mean the Gophers would need to win a minimum of the one playoff game if they were a top 4 team, and more likely win 2 games (one of which could be at a top 4 home field) if they were an at-large selection.
Now where the first round of the playoff games are going to be played are most assuredly going to be at the top seeded teams home field. The quarterfinals...not yet set in stone. Maybe at the higher seeds home field, or a pre-determined neutral site, or wrapped up in the current bowl structure. Regardless of those logistics the Rose Bowl is going to host whatever playoff game that happens to fall on Jan 1 or Jan 2 of any given year without any tie-in to conference affiliation.
To wrap it back around to the Gophers I look the Rose Bowl as an possibility for only the next 2 seasons. Beyond that is only unpredictability unless they become a national powerhouse.
Given what the team has coming back for this year and the predicted losses next year on the offensive and defensive lines....it's 2021 or bust. For those of you dreaming of seeing the right shade of maroon painted in the Rose Bowl endzone in late December or watching the sunset over the Gabriel Mountains while sitting at the Rose Bowl game watching the Gophers play, this is your last chance.