Shooter: Outback Bowl has its eyes on Gophers, will be at the game on Saturday

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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BleedGopher said:
per Shooter:

The Outback Bowl, which is Jan. 1 in Tampa, Fla., and played at the NFL Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium, will have a representative at Saturday's Minnesota-Penn State game at TCF Bank Stadium.

The Outback Bowl will not be in Minneapolis to scout Penn State, which is in the second season of a four-year NCAA bowl ban sanction.

http://www.twincities.com/gophers/ci_24456680/shooter-now-nchc-features-more-than-just-taste

Go Gophers!!
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Jacksonville, Orlando or Tampa? Great places to spend a Bowl Game Holiday. Beat Penn State, hammer the Badgers and play their best game of the season against MSU and the Outback Bowl would be a fine place to spend New Year's Day. Only a trip to California, after MSU loses to the Gophers and gets hammered by tOSU, would be sweeter. :cool:
 

Every single year in the past 20 where the paper starts yacking about what bowl is here to watch leads straight into losses. So I shudder every time they start up. Now most of that was during Mase's years where his teams pretty much always had a late season swoon. I'd love to play in the Capital One or Outback bowl this year. We need to just keep winning.
 

As Sparlimb said, It was a Mason tradition that whenever the clowns in the bright colored jackets showed up to one of our games, we'd crap the bed. This will be a good test to see if things really are different under Kill, or if it's "same as it ever was".

I agree with Sparlimb that we need to win on Saturday to have any chance at playing in Florida. The question is how well do we have to play in our last two games to keep a good bowl bid? We probably need to avoid getting rolled and/or embarrassed. No one probably expects us to beat MSU on the road (their D is that good), but we probably at least need to keep it close against bucky. Of course, a win would be better.
 

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
As Sparlimb said, It was a Mason tradition that whenever the clowns in the bright colored jackets showed up to one of our games, we'd crap the bed. This will be a good test to see if things really are different under Kill, or if it's "same as it ever was".

I agree with Sparlimb that we need to win on Saturday to have any chance at playing in Florida. The question is how well do we have to play in our last two games to keep a good bowl bid? We probably need to avoid getting rolled and/or embarrassed. No one probably expects us to beat MSU on the road (their D is that good), but we probably at least need to keep it close against bucky. Of course, a win would be better.
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Not sure the bowl reps being in town has anything to do with the teams performance. The fact of the matter is that bowl reps are at most late season Big Ten games involving bowl eligible squads because they want to get a look at the team and the fan base and also be treated like royalty by the respective schools' administration. Every bowl has multiple reps that they send around to various venues over the final month.

I don't know the pecking order for the bowls this year but in terms of the Big Ten we are going to have a tough sell jumping over some of the more heavyweight fan bases from teams that are likely to finish with very similar records to ours (Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa).
 


This is the kind of non-story that makes "Shooter" so utterly terrible. An Outback Bowl rep is probably at the Iowa-Purdue game this weekend, too.
 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>No Outback Bowl reps coming to watch the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> this week. But they're planning to attend the Wisconsin game on Nov. 23.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/398206443360239616">November 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 




BleedGopher said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>No Outback Bowl reps coming to watch the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> this week. But they're planning to attend the Wisconsin game on Nov. 23.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/398206443360239616">November 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
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Not terribly surprised by this. Much as we all love the winning streak Wisconsin is a far more likely target for the Outback bowl then us and I am sure they want to get a look at the # of fans that show up for a road game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Not terribly surprised by this. Much as we all love the winning streak Wisconsin is a far more likely target for the Outback bowl then us and I am sure they want to get a look at the # of fans that show up for a road game.
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Makes sense, so let's beat them at TCF and get in on the "Florida Bowl" sweepstakes!

Oh and for a "road game"? Somebody should tell the Outback Reps that the vast majority of Badger Fans attending that game will be from within a 30-40 minute drive to the stadium. Depending on traffic of course.
 

Iceland12 said:
Makes sense, so let's beat them at TCF and get in on the "Florida Bowl" sweepstakes!

Oh and for a "road game"? Somebody should tell the Outback Reps that the vast majority of Badger Fans attending that game will be from within a 30-40 minute drive to the stadium. Depending on traffic of course.
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In the end the bowl reps probably already know the order they will select teams that are available right now. For years now it has not been about the team that deserves it but rather the team most likely to sell the most tickets and bring the most revenue to the local area. Until our fanbase really shows up in force for a bowl game we are going to have the stigma of not travelling well to bowl games attached to us. It is one of those great chicken and egg things.

It will take a great bowl game to get the fans excited and motivated to attend but in order to get a great bowl game we need a fanbase that has proven it will get excited and attend.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Not sure the bowl reps being in town has anything to do with the teams performance. The fact of the matter is that bowl reps are at most late season Big Ten games involving bowl eligible squads because they want to get a look at the team and the fan base and also be treated like royalty by the respective schools' administration. Every bowl has multiple reps that they send around to various venues over the final month.

I don't know the pecking order for the bowls this year but in terms of the Big Ten we are going to have a tough sell jumping over some of the more heavyweight fan bases from teams that are likely to finish with very similar records to ours (Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa).
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+19

Too many GHers getting ahead of themselves here.
 

MNVCGUY said:
In the end the bowl reps probably already know the order they will select teams that are available right now. For years now it has not been about the team that deserves it but rather the team most likely to sell the most tickets and bring the most revenue to the local area. Until our fanbase really shows up in force for a bowl game we are going to have the stigma of not travelling well to bowl games attached to us. It is one of those great chicken and egg things.

It will take a great bowl game to get the fans excited and motivated to attend but in order to get a great bowl game we need a fanbase that has proven it will get excited and attend.
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Except for winning a Conference Championship, it's always been who will bring fans and buy tickets. That's nothing new or surprising. Neither is the idea that Minnesota Fans will need a January Bowl to get out of Minnesota.

It's just as possible after heading to the Rose Bowl for three straight years Wisconsin fans might not get to excited about following a (possibly) 9-3 team to a more "minor" bowl. Taking them might be a bigger gamble than you think. It's also more than possible that a 7-5 Iowa team, which doesn't have people fighting for tickets at Home, might not want to follow them down there. Bowl Reps are watching that too. Same thing with Nebraska, which didn't send a big contingent to Indy last year for the B1G Championship because they felt the Rose Bowl was a lock.

Wonder how they'd feel following Pellini to Jacksonville, Orlando or Tampa? Don't you think the Bowl Reps are thinking the same way?

Now Minnesota? Certainly wouldn't bet on them sending a ton of people to Texas or back to Arizona either. Wouldn't place much money on the Gophers "bumping" any of the above-mentioned squads from any Bowl in those states.

Michigan or Michigan State? It's not a long drive to Florida and many from Michiganders, even more than Minnesotans live in Florida. That would help both of them though MSU doesn't have a huge rep for traveling well either. Particularly if they'd lose their last two games.

Minnesota? End-up 7-5, 8-4 or even 9-3 and it could be "business as usual". However IF they win out, ending-up winning 6 in a row, beating NE, PSU, WI and MSU you don't think that people would travel from out of Florida to see them play or "Snowbirds" would head to Orlando or Tampa? Jacksonville may be "iffy" but the other two? Gopher Fans at the end of a "magic" season, heading to their first New Year's Day Bowl in 50 years?

You'd bet that the Bowl Reps wouldn't see the same thing?

"It's not personal Sonny, it's strictly business"
 

Iceland12 said:
Except for winning a Conference Championship, it's always been who will bring fans and buy tickets. That's nothing new or surprising. Neither is the idea that Minnesota Fans will need a January Bowl to get out of Minnesota. It's just as possible after heading to the Rose Bowl for three straight years Wisconsin fans might not get to excited about following a (possibly) 9-3 team to a more "minor" bowl. Taking them might be a bigger gamble than you think. It's also more than possible that a 7-5 Iowa team, which doesn't have people fighting for tickets at Home, might not want to follow them down there. Bowl Reps are watching that too. Same thing with Nebraska, which didn't send a big contingent to Indy last year for the B1G Championship because they felt the Rose Bowl was a lock. Wonder how they'd feel following Pellini to Jacksonville, Orlando or Tampa? Don't you think the Bowl Reps are thinking the same way? Now Minnesota? Certainly wouldn't bet on them sending a ton of people to Texas or back to Arizona either. Wouldn't place much money on the Gophers "bumping" any of the above-mentioned squads from any Bowl in those states. Michigan or Michigan State? It's not a long drive to Florida and many from Michiganders, even more than Minnesotans live in Florida. That would help both of them though MSU doesn't have a huge rep for traveling well either. Particularly if they'd lose their last two games. Minnesota? End-up 7-5, 8-4 or even 9-3 and it could be "business as usual". However IF they win out, ending-up winning 6 in a row, beating NE, PSU, WI and MSU you don't think that people would travel from out of Florida to see them play or "Snowbirds" would head to Orlando or Tampa? Jacksonville may be "iffy" but the other two? Gopher Fans at the end of a "magic" season, heading to their first New Year's Day Bowl in 50 years? You'd bet that the Bowl Reps wouldn't see the same thing? "It's not personal Sonny, it's strictly business"
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If we win out last 6 we will be playing for the B1G title. MSU will slip somewhere and we will pack Indy with a Rose Bowl berth on the line.

It all starts with beating Penn State though.
 

From today's ESPN chat, this is what we're overcoming when it comes to bowls:

DJ (Mpls )

When reading Bowl Projections, one thing that always seems to come up is Minnesota having a bad reputation for traveling fan support. In fairness, Minnesota hasn't played on New Year's Day in over 50 years and I believe that Minnesotans would flood any warm destination to a Bowl Game of more prominence. We had the largest fan support in our run to the NCAA Final 4 in 1997 (since taken off the books). Can Minnesota get past this reputation issue? Hoping for a Gator Bowl bid if we can knock off Penn St. this weekend!

Adam Rittenberg (12:03 PM)

DJ, some good points here. Ultimately, it's Norwood Teague's job to sell Minnesota to the bowl reps. I've had multiple bowl people tell me Minnesota travels worse than any fan base in the Big Ten, but part of that could be apathy about the bowls the Gophers have made. There's certainly some enthusiasm around the program right now, and a New Year's Day bowl would only enhance that. I don't think you can compare a Final Four to, say, a Gator Bowl appearance, but Minnesota will have opportunities to sell why it should go to a good bowl.
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