RandBall: The 5-7 Gophers are going to a bowl game. What should we call it?

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BleedGopher

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Per RandBall:

Here are five other options after a long Monday morning of pondering such things:

The Readjustment Bowl: Per Fleck's description of this season after Saturday's 28-14 loss to Wisconsin. "I named it the readjustment year," Fleck said of the 2023 season. "There are a lot of things to adjust moving forward."

College Knowledge Bowl: If you haven't been paying attention and are wondering how on earth a 5-7 team will even get a bowl game invite, Randy Johnson has a good recap.

Culture Bowl: That 2015 team was coached first by Jerry Kill and then Tracy Claeys. Fleck and Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle talked about changing the culture of the program when Fleck took over in 2017, a sentiment that did not sit well with Kill. It's far-fetched to imagine Fleck's Gophers and Kill's New Mexico State team meeting in a bowl game given current projections, but if they do let's get the popcorn ready and call it the Culture Bowl.

Aloha Bowl: This used to be an actual bowl game before it became the Hawaii Bowl a couple decades ago, but I'm hoping they'll let us have it.

(Un)fair Catch Bowl: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is still mad about the invalid fair catch signal that upon further review nullified a punt return touchdown and gave the Gophers a 12-10 win over the Hawkeyes. But If not for that play and win in Iowa, the Gophers would be stuck on four wins and not even their college knowledge could save them.

www.startribune.com

The 5-7 Gophers are going to a bowl game. What should we call it?

We'll know the true identity of the bowl game the Gophers are headed to soon enough. In the meantime, a reader suggested we have a little fun with the process.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 








How about the “I am just like Kirk Ferentz and don’t know the rules either” bowl
 




Some guy said:
Why should a different team with a losing record be here instead of Mn?
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Yeah, people will get all bent out of shape about how we qualified for the game but there was a spot to be filled and somebody had to fill it.

Obviously we would all prefer to qualify in the traditional method by having a winning record but the players did well in the classroom and will end up being rewarded for it.

In the end I don't care where we end up or how we qualified. Those extra 15 practices will be very valuable for this team.
 

The "what-ya-do-in-the-classroom-matters" bowl. Let's give some credit to the players for putting in the effort in the classroom to be #1 out of all the 5-7 teams. IMO that's something we should be glad is happening, there are way too many college teams where academics are an afterthought (e.g., the Tarheels). That's also gotta mean something to the families of recruits - if you're a parent I'd think you'd want your kid to go to a program where they're going to get an education and a degree.
 

Ignoring that Navy will be 6-6 … they are right now 5-6.

Why is 5-6 not at least as good, if not better, than 5-7?? How does the math work on that?

And Navy likely has a better APR than the Gophers.


What a silly thing to make the rule specifically say 5-7. Should be any record with at least five wins, period.


Navy deserves the spot, any way you slice it.
 

Even if they lose … they would then be 5-7 and (I assume) with a better APR than the Gophers.

How’s the spot not Navy’s, no matter what???
 



Full Speed Ahead said:
The "what-ya-do-in-the-classroom-matters" bowl. Let's give some credit to the players for putting in the effort in the classroom to be #1 out of all the 5-7 teams. IMO that's something we should be glad is happening, there are way too many college teams where academics are an afterthought (e.g., the Tarheels). That's also gotta mean something to the families of recruits - if you're a parent I'd think you'd want your kid to go to a program where they're going to get an education and a degree.
Click to expand...
Yes !
 

MplsGopher said:
Even if they lose … they would then be 5-7 and (I assume) with a better APR than the Gophers.

How’s the spot not Navy’s, no matter what???
Click to expand...

Debatable about on the field, but the APR of Navy is considerably lower than the Gophers so the "no matter what" doesn't really hold. (65th for Navy vs 8th for MN).
 

What? I don’t believe that for a second.

I remember some bowl not that many years ago between Navy and BC where they had the two highest APR’s (or something academic) in the country and that was all they talked about for half the game.


You’re telling me SEC schools football players are smarter than Naval Academy football players?

How fake can it get???
 


That had to be Covid crap. Those are 2020-21 and 21-22 numbers.

No chance in hell. But whatever
 


MplsGopher said:
Ignoring that Navy will be 6-6 … they are right now 5-6.

Why is 5-6 not at least as good, if not better, than 5-7?? How does the math work on that?

And Navy likely has a better APR than the Gophers.


What a silly thing to make the rule specifically say 5-7. Should be any record with at least five wins, period.


Navy deserves the spot, any way you slice it.
Click to expand...
You should petition the ncaa to change the rules
Until then, they probably legally have to follow their own rules
 


Yes, covid sadly was an alternate reality.

You don’t really think SEC teams of kids taking remedial courses are better academically than service academies. You’re not that obtuse.
 

Some guy said:
Why should a different team with a losing record be here instead of Mn?
Click to expand...
Navy could end up with 6 wins after the Army Navy game. But bowl invitations will already have been extended by then.
 


Don't know about the nickname of the bowl, but if it is the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque versus NMSU and Ol' Jer, I suspect the crowd will be both big and raucous.
 

MplsGopher said:
What? I don’t believe that for a second.

I remember some bowl not that many years ago between Navy and BC where they had the two highest APR’s (or something academic) in the country and that was all they talked about for half the game.


You’re telling me SEC schools football players are smarter than Naval Academy football players?

How fake can it get???
Click to expand...
You don't understand APR, do you?

Which, come to think, isn't surprising.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, people will get all bent out of shape about how we qualified for the game but there was a spot to be filled and somebody had to fill it.

Obviously we would all prefer to qualify in the traditional method by having a winning record but the players did well in the classroom and will end up being rewarded for it.

In the end I don't care where we end up or how we qualified. Those extra 15 practices will be very valuable for this team.
Click to expand...
I agree with all of this. I actually like doing well in school being the tie breaker and being rewarded for that. At the same time, I will be annoyed when our coach starts yapping about bowl streaks. 🤷‍♂️
 




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