Which is most important to you, personally?

[Mulligan]

My grandparents were big Gopher football fans even though they lived in South Dakota their entire lives. That was a very common thing back in those days you're referring to. South Dakota became a part of Nebraska's fanbase since then.

Guessing that's no longer true. The relatives I know from there are big Jackrabbit fans.

 

[Boomtime]

Beating Wisky and Iowa, for me. The "luster" of saying you played in the Rose Bowl is cool, but everything I've heard says attending is a huge letdown. Especially the area around the stadium.

And the Pacific Ocean is colder than hell in January.

 

[GoForGold]

Guessing that's no longer true. The relatives I know from there are big Jackrabbit fans.

Could be. I'd probably be a Jacks fan if I lived there.

 

[Cayman]

There's no way possible we go to the Rose Bowl but lose to one of Iowa or Wisc and/or don't win the Big Ten.

So I'll take: win out from here, and go to the Rose Bowl.


F the CFP

I’m pretty sure this exact scenario would have played out if Minnesota had beaten Wisconsin in 2019.

Loss to Iowa
Win against Wisconsin
Go to Indianapolis with 8-1 Big Ten record
Lose to Ohio State
Go to Rose Bowl with 11-2 record

 

[MirandaB]

Except that the Rose Bowl has been bastardized, I'd have to say Rose Bowl. I've witnessed wins against Iowa and Wisconsin. I want to be greedy and beat IA and WI and go to the Rose Bowl, when it's the CFP

 

[Otis]

Watch the Gophers win the B1G Championship in FULL BANANA!

 

[Some guy]

The Rose Bowl is dead to me.

It's not necessarily a big 10 champ.

It's not even necessarily going to include a big 10 team sometimes...

If we end up there and win it's a nice thing to mention but it only occurs because of timing / happenstance.

Everything else I worry about in the order that it will occur.

I would rather win the big ten and play in the fiesta bowl than get second in the big ten and play in the rose bowl

 

[salzie]

 

[Formo]

Which of these is most important to you, Gopher fans?

— Going to the Rose Bowl

— Going to the CFP

— Beating both Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season

Depends on the season.

Overall, Beating both IA/WI in the same year will almost always be number one with a bullet..

But in years like 2019.. Hitting up the CFP is an absolute number one.

Hate to say it, but the Rose Bowl lost it's sheen in the current state of CFB post-season for me.

 

[MGGopher]

CFP by a big margin for me. Having MN be one of the top 4 teams in the country? Yes please.
Rose Bowl is next and I don't care who MN beats or loses to in any given season if they end up short of the CFP but get a Rose Bowl bid. So that means of the choices given, beating Wisc and Iowa in the same season brings up the rear for me.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

The Rose Bowl is dead to me.

It's not necessarily a big 10 champ.

It's not even necessarily going to include a big 10 team sometimes...

If we end up there and win it's a nice thing to mention but it only occurs because of timing / happenstance.

Everything else I worry about in the order that it will occur.

Well, now I am not buying you a beer in Pasadena.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Well, now I am not buying you a beer in Pasadena.

Well that's my footman's job anyway...

 

[gopherjay]

The Rose Bowl is just another post-season exhibition game. Winning a national championship should be a LOT more important.

All bowls are exhibition games, that was and is the intent. The CFP is a farce with zero tradition for anyone. It lacks history and mystique and will never establish it. It is impossible to crown a champion.

 

[TruDomGopher]

Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl.

The last time Minnesota was in the Rose Bowl, I watched the game while wearing a diaper.
I'd like to get this done before I'm again watching a Gopher's Rose Bowl in a diaper.

 

[disco]

All bowls are exhibition games, that was and is the intent. The CFP is a farce with zero tradition for anyone. It lacks history and mystique and will never establish it. It is impossible to crown a champion.

It's possible, but the powers that be don't want to do it. But there are already a couple threads on that.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

AXE AND PIG.
AXE AND PIG
AXE AND PIG
AXE AND PIG

I believe one of my old coaching posts on here (not sure who it was directed at) went
Lose the Axe, lose the Pig, lose the Jug, lose your job.

With the changes in the Bowl and Playoff system, the Rose Bowl is not what it once was.

"going to the Rose Bowl" is supposed to mean the B1G Champ playing the PAC-12 Champ.

If it's the #2 or #3 team in the B1G playing the #2 or #3 team in the PAC-12, it is not "THE ROSE BOWL." it's just another game on January 1st.

With Iowa and Wisconsin, well, I turn to Conan and ask, "Conan, what is best in Life?"

Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

I rest my case.

 

[nsmike]

Beat Iowa and Wisconsin and a major bowl game is a given. We need to win the West to silence the naysayers, step one, towards national relevance. I don't think the CFP is obtainable this year.

 

[TurfGopher]

Beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season is my holy grail. Rose Bowl holds great symbolism but its not the same as it once was. CFP would be awesome but that's pretty hard to fathom, would likely have to go undefeated (beating Iowa and Wisco in the same season.)

 

[LakerFan]

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

This list makes me feel like Homer with a lotto ticket. I have so many choices I can't lose.

I honestly don't know. Last time the Gophers beat both Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season was 1990. I can barely remember that.

I have no idea what going to CFP or Rose Bowl feels like.

Any of the 3 would make me happy so at this point I have no preference.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Rose Bowl. That would almost have to mean we were B10 champs and probably beat both Wisconsin and Iowa that season.

 

[Dakota2]

Which of these is most important to you, Gopher fans?

— Going to the Rose Bowl

— Going to the CFP

— Beating both Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season

The first two (this year) both require No. 3.

 

[GringaGopher]

I think it's amazing we are having this debate. CFP for the players, coaches , fans and state. I , personally, really want to go to the Rose Bowl as I have been to all the others including the National Championship game.

 

[Denver_Gopher]

Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl.

The last time Minnesota was in the Rose Bowl, I watched the game while wearing a diaper.
I'd like to get this done before I'm again watching a Gopher's Rose Bowl in a diaper.

Right there with you

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Hmmm. . .this is a good question.

For me, #1 is probably the CFP. It would have been the Rose Bowl but a huge portion of that would be because the Big 10 Champ used to go to the Rose Bowl.

#1 for me is being a Big 10 champ and it's highly unlikely we go to the CFP without being Big 10 champion.

#2 is tough too. Lets say that we didn't win the Big 10 championship but still went to one of the big bowls. Would you rather have a season where you went 11-1, beat Iowa and Wisconsin and went to the Orange Bowl or a season where you went 10-2, lose to Wisconsin and go to the Rose Bowl?

I think i'd pick beating Iowa and Wisconsin. We can obviously think of hypotheticals where we are an average team and beat Iowa and Wisconsin, then I think the Rose Bowl would be higher.

Ultimately, I'll pick beat Iowa and WI.

 

[GopherVotary]

CFP. Full discloser: I'm been posting on this forum for a very long time. I was one that said that we shouldn't settle for where Glen Mason took the program. I got some people REALLY mad at me. One, he went by Bob39 I think, said it was people like me who got Mason fired. Yes, Brewster was a big swing and a miss but I was right in the longer run. I actually met Bob39 at a Senate hearing about funding the new Gopher stadium. He was a decent guy. I don't know whatever happened to him. I haven't seen him posting here for years.

Also, there was this guy who went by Wren. He was a Mason settler too. I actually met him too. He was a really nice guy. Many of us really got to know each other in the early days of this website. The Gopher Hole was just this rinky-dink website in the early days. I'm very impressed with how far it's come. Don't know what happened to Wren either.

Bob39 passed away a couple of years ago. Wren is still very much around, posting as imthewalrus.

Oh, and my priority remains a trip to Pasadena. I know it doesn’t mean what it once did, but it’s been my dream too long to change now.

 

[GoForGold]

Bob39 passed away a couple of years ago. Wren is still very much around, posting as imthewalrus.

Oh, and my priority remains a trip to Pasadena. I know it doesn’t mean what it once did, but it’s been my dream too long to change now.

Thank-you SO SO much for posting that. So sorry to hear about Bob39. I knew Bob39 battled cancer in the past. Hello imthewalrus if you are out there.

 

[UncleSam'sMisguidedChild]

Rose Bowl. I was ready to buy 3 tickets for my dad, my son, and myself in 2019 when it looked like the Gophers were going to come back against Iowa. It's a scratch I GOTTA itch now.

 

[RogueGopher]

I'll take 1 Pig or Axe win and be content wherever the seasons ends up at. Bragging rights over your rivals just means more than anything else honestly.
Everything else is just a bonus.

 

[Igor95]

Rose Bowl. It’s a life long dream to be there watching the Gophers.