What a strange column. Reusse: How Gophers ended up playing in Phoenix just as mysterious as bowl game name itself

[Ope3]

You didn't think he tried to link Coach Brewster and Coach Fleck as similar coaches as he has done in the past. He has been doing that tangent and trying to link the two, Reusse has been doing this for years.

No, not at all.

I think he was saying the 2021 Gopher's deserved a better fate than the one's that previously competed in this Bowl. Additionally, while Reusse does not care for Fleck's persona (as many do not) he has stated repeatedly that there is no comparison at all between him and Brewster with respect to on the field results.

 

[MGGopher]

Blah, blah, blah. Just a bunch of speculation like we all do on GopherHole. No real facts, so it’s all opinion.

I’m moderately upset that Penn State passed over three teams with better records, and I think better teams, to get the more coveted Outback bowl game. They really should have had our bowl.

I'm still irked as well. Especially seeing how many PSU players are opting out, they really should've been in the GR Bowl. Would've probably been a competitive game. They struggle to run the ball so I'm guessing WV would've put up more of a fight. Screw the B1G and bowl selection process.

 

[jamiche]

Reusse implicitly gave PJ credit for not taking a crappy bowl invitation last year and noted the irony that the team still ended up in the worst bowl after having a pretty good year. He was basically critical of everything about the whole situation except PJ.
Everybody knows Reusse doesn't like PJ. Most of the folks on here assumed that he nailed him when, in this case, he didn't.
The team went to a football bowl game played in a baseball stadium where they didn't bother to close the roof to keep the rain from making a makeshift field even more dangerous for a game that started close to 10:30 on the east coast. Their opponent was sub .500 in league play in a lower tier league. The team, the program and the coach deserved better. The column was legit.

 

[NorCalGopher]

For a column posted at 1:30 AM I doubt that Coyle, the Big 10 office, Bowl Game reps et al were fielding phone calls for comments.

Damn, people. I am no Reusse apologist but try reading the column.

(1) This column was posted online as a lead-up piece at least a day prior to the game. Editors went back and added some game info after the fact. This is called a write-through in the business.
(2). A column is an opinion-based story. It requires no reporting. Only educated (sometimes not) opinions. This is fundamentally differentiates it from news reporting.
(3) While his columns are usually garbage, his point here (as tired as it is) is that the Gophers deserved a better bowl game.
(4) For those who STILL don't understand how Minnesota ended up in the GRB, follow the money. It's all about money. It is not about what teams "deserve" to play where. The Fiesta Bowl Organization owns this bowl, like ESPN owns many others. They place teams where TV ratings and ticket sales generate the most revenue. The Big10 splits all revenue among members.. End of story.

 

[hungan1]

I had to have a 3 minute conversation with my wife after she wandered in and asked, "Why are the Vikings playing now?"

Cannabis will do wonders to your vision sometimes.

 

[Stan]

A column written and posted on-line at 1:30 AM, I am not really expecting Jim Murray or Red Smith type prose.

If you think Pat wrote this column at 1:30am you don’t understand Pat. It was written days earlier and a few stats were added.

 

[hungan1]

Damn, people. I am no Reusse apologist but try reading the column.

(1) This column was posted online as a lead-up piece at least a day prior to the game. Editors went back and added some game info after the fact. This is called a write-through in the business.
(2). A column is an opinion-based story. It requires no reporting. Only educated (sometimes not) opinions. This is fundamentally differentiates it from news reporting.
(3) While his columns are usually garbage, his point here (as tired as it is) is that the Gophers deserved a better bowl game.
(4) For those who STILL don't understand how Minnesota ended up in the GRB, follow the money. It's all about money. It is not about what teams "deserve" to play where. The Fiesta Bowl Organization owns this bowl, like ESPN owns many others. They place teams where TV ratings and ticket sales generate the most revenue. The Big10 splits all revenue among members.. End of story.

Write-throughs are a sorry excuse for a lazy j@ck@ss columnist publishing an article at 1:30 AM.

Patrick meets his minimum clicks threshold. The Strib gets advertisement revenue. Yeah, it is all about the money everywhere.

 

[USAF]

The irrational STrib hate at GH is embarrassing.

 

[fmlizard]

The more winning seasons Minnesota has the better the “brand” gets and the more desirable of a bowl selection they are.

wisconsin and Penn State jumped the Gophers because of the near universal perception nationally that these are substantially better programs and better gets for the bowl.

Nevermind that Minnesota holds the most recent win in both series and finished 2 games above PSU in the standings. 98% of college football fans would still consider those teams better based mostly on historical reputation.

It’s a long journey to change hearts and minds. wisconsin still is considered well behind Michigan by most of America, even though that’s been false for most of the past 20 years.

 

[Ope3]

The more winning seasons Minnesota has the better the “brand” gets and the more desirable of a bowl selection they are.

wisconsin and Penn State jumped the Gophers because of the near universal perception nationally that these are substantially better programs and better gets for the bowl.

Nevermind that Minnesota holds the most recent win in both series and finished 2 games above PSU in the standings. 98% of college football fans would still consider those teams better based mostly on historical reputation.

It’s a long journey to change hearts and minds. wisconsin still is considered well behind Michigan by most of America, even though that’s been false for most of the past 20 years.

Agreed, winning and demonstrating the fanbase will travel helps them in the long run. Gopher fans showed up in Phoenix (as well as Boulder & Evanston).

Fans want a black and white answer as to why the Gophers didn't get the Outback bid. There isn't one. If they hadn't been there just 2 years ago, perhaps that would have been enough to overcome the brand factor.

After that, deciding on where the Big 10 teams went (Nashville, Vegas, Phoenix or NY) just doesn't seem to be a huge deal to me. Going forward with an expanding CFP, increasing player opt outs & coaching changes, these consolation Bowls are only going to diminish in stature. After the top 1 or 2 (beyond the playoff/NY6) just pick the destination out of a hat seems as good as a process as any.

 

[State of Football]

The Strib reminds me of the field they played on last night and PR is the organic fertilizer.

 

[Word]

Agreed, winning and demonstrating the fanbase will travel helps them in the long run. Gopher fans showed up in Phoenix (as well as Boulder & Evanston).

Fans want a black and white answer as to why the Gophers didn't get the Outback bid. There isn't one. If they hadn't been there just 2 years ago, perhaps that would have been enough to overcome the brand factor.

After that, deciding on where the Big 10 teams went (Nashville, Vegas, Phoenix or NY) just doesn't seem to be a huge deal to me. Going forward with an expanding CFP, increasing player opt outs & coaching changes, these consolation Bowls are only going to diminish in stature. After the top 1 or 2 (beyond the playoff/NY6) just pick the destination out of a hat seems as good as a process as any.

There are some here that claim the Gophers asked for the GR bowl so they could bring the bowl to all the retirees in AZ. No idea if there's much to that, but that would at least be one explanation as to how we dropped so far. Would be cool if our local press would ask a few questions to Coyle, etc. about that.

Personally I was hoping for Nashville just so I could drive there (plus warmer weather).

 

[Ope3]

There are some here that claim the Gophers asked for the GR bowl so they could bring the bowl to all the retirees in AZ. No idea if there's much to that, but that would at least be one explanation as to how we dropped so far. Would be cool if our local press would ask a few questions to Coyle, etc. about that.

Personally I was hoping for Nashville just so I could drive there (plus warmer weather).

Seems plausible, at the very least.

Also seems rational that Nashville wanted Purdue given the short trip from W Lafayette and that the Minnesota wanted no part of NY (weather, not much of a Gopher recruiting base, plus an easy drive for Terps fans).

 

[Word]

Seems plausible, at the very least.

Also seems rational that Nashville wanted Purdue given the short trip from W Lafayette and that the Minnesota wanted no part of NY (weather, not much of a Gopher recruiting base, plus an easy drive for Terps fans).

I agree that skipping NY is a no-brainer. And can see that Nashville would want Purdue.

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

The game ended at 12:30 am. This wasn't a feature or investigative article. It's essentially a blog.

Most sports columns (online) are whatever occurs to the author at the time it is happening, especially in this day in age in which usually they are not onsite.

This article was in the Star Tribune paper edition. It was not a blog.

 

[Ope3]

This article was in the Star Tribune paper edition. It was not a blog.

Today? Wow, good work on the Strib to still get it in the hard copy edition for the dozens of Gopher fans that still get it daily.

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

I read it online but it is the actual paper edition that I read. Sports section, page 2.

 

[DanvilleGopher]

That's fine. He had weeks to write and publish that column. It's not a "post bowl game" column.

Go Gophers!!

That's just it too; I think he actually wrote most of this column ahead of time. He probably had 2 versions written based on the outcome. Probably really wanted to publish the other version and was stuck with this one since they won.

 

[hello-world]

The irrational STrib hate at GH is embarrassing.

Most of the time they deserve it. Not this time.

 

[fanfromthevalley]

Cut the Strib sports section some slack here folks. My print edition, delivered at 5:30 AM has a full game story. If you get the hard copy paper, check the upper left hand corner of the front page of the sports section. Mine has 6 stars, which means they redid the section 6 times from the first press run. I'vr learned that little tid bit from tours of the Strib printing plant.

 

[DarthGopher]

Damn, people. I am no Reusse apologist but try reading the column.

(1) This column was posted online as a lead-up piece at least a day prior to the game. Editors went back and added some game info after the fact. This is called a write-through in the business.
(2). A column is an opinion-based story. It requires no reporting. Only educated (sometimes not) opinions. This is fundamentally differentiates it from news reporting.
(3) While his columns are usually garbage, his point here (as tired as it is) is that the Gophers deserved a better bowl game.
(4) For those who STILL don't understand how Minnesota ended up in the GRB, follow the money. It's all about money. It is not about what teams "deserve" to play where. The Fiesta Bowl Organization owns this bowl, like ESPN owns many others. They place teams where TV ratings and ticket sales generate the most revenue. The Big10 splits all revenue among members.. End of story.

Couldn't agree more. Outside of the CFP/NY6, these are nothing more than brand marketing 'events'. No different than any other event. Promoters are going to place their product where they can maximize ticket sales, merchandise sales and other auxilliary benefits.

The BIG implemented a process with the birth of the CFP. What it amounts to is spreading the brand around the country and sharing the love. The BIG as a brand is competing against the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12. When it comes to bowl season, the conference "circles the wagons". The inter-conference animosity and battles subside. It becomes about the BIG as a whole family unit. This is why the revenue is split among all members - even the ones not in a bowl game. Because there were a bunch of teams with similar records and profiles, it was our turn to man the GRB.

I can't stand Michigan, but I loathe the SEC even more. So I'll quietly root for the pointy M school to kick the crap out of Georgia. I hope all the BIG schools win their bowl games. Even, gulp, Wisconsin.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

for those who did not read the column-
part of the column was about the process under which the Gophers wound up in the #9 spot in the B1G Bowl pecking order - based on payout per game.

then, there was a history of the Bowl Game. If you missed it, this is the Bowl formerly known as the Insight Bowl. The Gophers played in the Insight Bowl 3 times and went 0-3, including two losses under Brewster. that was the Brewster to Fleck tie-in - "could Fleck win a game that Brewster lost Twice, and a game that basically got Mason Fired?" I.e., was there an "insight Bowl" Gopher jinx?

it was a preview of the bowl game.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

Damn right!

Announcers, to their credit, did mention it. Not just player safety, but the interception and it least 2 receptions didn't happen because of a player slipping. Who knows how many tackles and runs were affected.

(EDIT: Re-watching the game now. Hope none of those injuries were caused by that wet field)

I keep seeing this mentioned, but am not buying it whatsoever.

The field sucked because of the new sod that had just been laid the day before the game. It wasn't a disaster because it was exposed to some mild rain for 20 minutes prior to kickoff.

There was off and on light rain all day in PHX yesterday, nothing crazy. The field conditions would've sucked even if the the roof wasn't opened and closed pregame.

 

[Iceland12]

I keep seeing this mentioned, but am not buying it whatsoever.

The field sucked because of the new sod that had just been laid the day before the game. It wasn't a disaster because it was exposed to some mild rain for 20 minutes prior to kickoff.

There was off and on light rain all day in PHX yesterday, nothing crazy. The field conditions would've sucked even if the the roof wasn't opened and closed pregame.

Didn't see any sod coming up or giving way, which usually is a clue to that. Not sure why the announcers, who mentioned the rain often during the broadcast, wouldn't have mentioned the new sod giving way either.

So no, not buying that it was the sod alone.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

Didn't see any sod coming up or giving way, which usually is a clue to that. Not sure why the announcers, who mentioned the rain often during the broadcast, wouldn't have mentioned the new sod giving way either.

So no, not buying that it was the sod alone.

Will have to rewatch the game, was tough to see if sod was giving way from section 320. But we saw tons of dudes slip and fall in the 2nd half when the roof had been closed for 2+ hours so it wasn't due to wet sod.

Conditions were a joke regardless.

 

[jovs]

(4) For those who STILL don't understand how Minnesota ended up in the GRB, follow the money. It's all about money. It is not about what teams "deserve" to play where. The Fiesta Bowl Organization owns this bowl, like ESPN owns many others. They place teams where TV ratings and ticket sales generate the most revenue. The Big10 splits all revenue among members.. End of story.

Exactly, when the Gophers start putting 100k plus fans in the stadium for every home game they won't get passed over.

 

[Ope3]

Couldn't agree more. Outside of the CFP/NY6, these are nothing more than brand marketing 'events'. No different than any other event. Promoters are going to place their product where they can maximize ticket sales, merchandise sales and other auxilliary benefits.

The BIG implemented a process with the birth of the CFP. What it amounts to is spreading the brand around the country and sharing the love. The BIG as a brand is competing against the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12. When it comes to bowl season, the conference "circles the wagons". The inter-conference animosity and battles subside. It becomes about the BIG as a whole family unit. This is why the revenue is split among all members - even the ones not in a bowl game. Because there were a bunch of teams with similar records and profiles, it was our turn to man the GRB.

I can't stand Michigan, but I loathe the SEC even more. So I'll quietly root for the pointy M school to kick the crap out of Georgia. I hope all the BIG schools win their bowl games. Even, gulp, Wisconsin.

I agree with you on every word, except 1. Wisconsin. No can do.

 

[NorCalGopher]

Couldn't agree more. Outside of the CFP/NY6, these are nothing more than brand marketing 'events'. No different than any other event. Promoters are going to place their product where they can maximize ticket sales, merchandise sales and other auxilliary benefits.

The BIG implemented a process with the birth of the CFP. What it amounts to is spreading the brand around the country and sharing the love. The BIG as a brand is competing against the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12. When it comes to bowl season, the conference "circles the wagons". The inter-conference animosity and battles subside. It becomes about the BIG as a whole family unit. This is why the revenue is split among all members - even the ones not in a bowl game. Because there were a bunch of teams with similar records and profiles, it was our turn to man the GRB.

I can't stand Michigan, but I loathe the SEC even more. So I'll quietly root for the pointy M school to kick the crap out of Georgia. I hope all the BIG schools win their bowl games. Even, gulp, Wisconsin.

Definitely @DarthGopher. When you see Maryland in the Pinstripe Bowl and Purdue in the Music City Bowl, it ain't so difficult to figure out. You are spot-on regarding Big10 branding. There is a reason (media markets) they added Maryland and Rutgers and have no interest in schools like Kansas. If they could do it over again, I would bet the other member schools regret adding Nebraska.

 

[NorCalGopher]

Exactly, when the Gophers start putting 100k plus fans in the stadium for every home game they won't get passed over.

Well, that won't happen with the current stadium, but point taken. The bowl organizers and networks have a very thorough understanding of ticket sales models and which fan bases will travel. This is their business.

2021 Big10 Average Home Attendance:
Michigan: 108,598
Penn St: 107,371
Ohio St: 96,756
Nebraska: 86,173
Wisconsin: 73,466
Michigan St: 70,899
Iowa: 66,777
Purdue: 56,255
Minnesota: 46,995
Indiana: 46,925
Rutgers: 44,629

One of the ties between the Gophers and the GRB - aside from the UofM alums in Arizona - is Mike Nealy, a Roseville native and Gophers alum who is chief executive of both the Guaranteed Rate Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Randy Johnson reported this, Reusse didn't mention it.

 

[Word]

Well, that won't happen with the current stadium, but point taken. The bowl organizers and networks have a very thorough understanding of ticket sales models and which fan bases will travel. This is their business.

2021 Big10 Average Home Attendance:
Michigan: 108,598
Penn St: 107,371
Ohio St: 96,756
Nebraska: 86,173
Wisconsin: 73,466
Michigan St: 70,899
Iowa: 66,777
Purdue: 56,255
Minnesota: 46,995
Indiana: 46,925
Rutgers: 44,629

One of the ties between the Gophers and the GRB - aside from the UofM alums in Arizona - is Mike Nealy, a Roseville native and Gophers alum who is chief executive of both the Guaranteed Rate Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Randy Johnson reported this, Reusse didn't mention it.

Was surprised to see how high Purdue's attendance was. But their most expensive season ticket is $512. So under $100 per game (and it includes the "donation"). https://purduesports.com/sports/2018/7/2/football-ticket-info.aspx#seasontickets

So their best ticket is comparable to our zone 4 pricing (upper deck near the goal line/10-yard line).