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The Golden Goofs, at 5-7, are heading to a bowl game. They got the very last (82nd) spot in the 41 Bowl Games

Another example highlighting that 41 bowl games (this year) are way too many.

The story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:


Gophers will go to bowl game despite losing record after Hawaii wins on 51-yard field goal

Good grades, and some fortunate results, will result in the Gophers playing a postseason game after Wisconsin ended their traditional route to a bowl.

By Randy Johnson Star Tribune

NOVEMBER 26, 2023 — 12:26PM

It took until 1:25 a.m. Sunday, but the Gophers found out that they are going to a bowl game, even with a 5-7 record.

Hawaii's 27-24 victory over Colorado State — on Matthew Shipley's 51-yard field goal as time expired in Honolulu — prevented the Rams from reaching six wins to achieve bowl eligibility. That means the Gophers, who lost 28-14 to Wisconsin on Saturday, will get the last bowl spot because of their work in the classroom.

Because there are only 79 teams to fill the 82 spots in the 41 bowl games, teams with five victories that have the highest Academic Progress Rate scores can fill open bowl spots. The Gophers have a multiyear APR score of 992, the highest remaining among five-win teams. It's the route that the 5-7 Gophers of 2015 used to play in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.




There is a twist this year with the bowls and eligibility. The NCAA is allowing James Madison (10-1) and Jacksonville State (8-3) — teams that are in the transitionary period in their move from Football Championship Subdivision to Football Bowl Subdivision — to fill the first two open bowl spots.

As of 10 p.m. Saturday, there were left two spots to fill, and there were two 5-6 teams playing late with hopes to get to six victories. Cal reached that by hammering host UCLA 33-7, claiming the final 6-6 spot. Colorado State, which got a 70-yard touchdown pass and subsequent two-point conversion to tie the score 24-24 with 54 seconds left, couldn't finish off Hawaii and will sit at home during bowl season.

That result gave the last spot to the Gophers, and coach P.J. Fleck said after the loss to Wisconsin that Minnesota would play in a bowl game.

"We'll always accept a bowl bid — always," Fleck said after Saturday's game. "There's so many beneficial things to a bowl game. With practices, with development and, to be honest, we might be our best football team in a month if we get everybody back [from injuries]."

The Gophers' bowl destination will be announced Dec. 3, and the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit and Las Vegas Bowl seem to be their most likely destinations. Here are projections of the New Year's Six bowls, plus the other Big Ten games:

New Year's Six

Rose Bowl, national semifinal, Jan. 1, Pasadena, Calif.:
Michigan vs. Washington

Sugar Bowl, national semifinal, Jan. 1, New Orleans: Georgia vs. Florida State

Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz., Jan. 1: Oregon vs. Alabama

Orange Bowl, Dec. 30, Miami: Ohio State vs. Louisville

Peach Bowl, Dec. 30, Atlanta: Penn State vs. Tulane

Cotton Bowl, Dec. 29, Arlington, Texas: Texas vs. Missouri

Other Big Ten bowls

Citrus Bowl, Jan. 1, Orlando:
Iowa vs. Ole Miss

Music City Bowl, Dec. 30, Nashville: Wisconsin vs. Auburn

Pinstripe Bowl, Dec. 28, New York: Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech

Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Dec. 26, Phoenix: Maryland vs. Kansas

Quick Lane Bowl, Dec. 26, Detroit: Gophers vs. Northern Illinois

Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 23: Northwestern vs. Utah


I don't mind them playing in a bowl with five wins but they get the benefit of the 15 extra practices.
 
They discovered a bowl game that predates the Rose Bowl? Link?
No, but fun fact, while the Rose Bowl was played once in 1902 before taking a 14 year break, there was a bowl game in Havana for a few years starting in 1907 that would have been the first.
 
Yeah….like when there were more than 200 fans on the stands.
Holiday season. Only a couple weeks for fans to make arrangements. It's not surprising lower-tier bowls aren't well attended. Doesn't matter. Players like them, coaches like them, ESPN likes them, people watch them (or else ESPN wouldn't put them on), and local charities benefit. The more bowls the better!
 
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It should be the Invalid Fair Catch Bowl.

Story from yesterday's Minneapolis Star Tribune:


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.

By Michael Rand Star Tribune

NOVEMBER 27, 2023 — 11:07AM

We will know in a matter of days whether most prognosticators are correct in guessing that the 5-7 Gophers are headed to the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit on the day after Christmas as a reward (punishment?) for their season.

Other realistic options are still in play, but for now a reader thinks that we give this yet-to-be-determined bowl game an unofficial name. He suggested the "De-Flecktion Bowl," which you can parse as a pun on the name of Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck and perhaps a desire to have us look away from the four-game losing streak at the end of the season.

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."

Patrick Reusse and I had some fun with this, of course, on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.

Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins says "readjustment year" is dangerously close to Fleck's "Year Zero" description of his first season at Minnesota. Indeed, Year 7 shouldn't be a mulligan.

But the Readjustment Bowl does have a nice ring to it, and there are plenty of things for the Gophers to think about this offseason. Hopefully these extra practices getting ready for the Readjustment Bowl will help.

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.

Essentially, they were the first in line of the five-win schools because of their strong standing in the Academic Progress Rate rankings. They also used that route to reach (and win) the Quick Lane Bowl in 2015. If you can't beat them on the field, at least win in the classroom.

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.

It's a a nod to the Gophers saying goodbye to the Big Ten West and all the perks that went along with playing in that division, while also tipping the cap to Hawaii's last second field goal that knocked Colorado State out of the final bowl slot and gave it to the Gophers.

(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.


 
Guess I should have been more clear. The Rose Bowl was "the" bowl fans strived for. Now, fans strive for whatever bowl is hosting the CFP.
No, that's very clear.

(Dude, I'm giving you sh*t because you didn't know why the Rose is referred to as the Granddaddy of them all.)
 
when I was growing up in the '70s you had FOUR (4) bowl games on New Year's day, and they were all special (of courses Iowa was never in them, but that is another story)

then you had a handful of other bowl games played between Christmas and New year's, and they were pretty special too.

college football, like so many other instutions in american society, has been vitiated, prostituted, and bastardized so as to effect the pecuniary self-aggrandizement of the powers that be.
Yes I agree, but the fans of those two teams playing in the Whatever Product Bowl presented by Whoever do want to watch their team play another game. And there will be enough casual fans to tune in because they are fans of the same conference or it is natural rival playing and they want to see them get crushed.
 
when I was growing up in the '70s you had FOUR (4) bowl games on New Year's day, and they were all special (of courses Iowa was never in them, but that is another story)

then you had a handful of other bowl games played between Christmas and New year's, and they were pretty special too.

college football, like so many other instutions in american society, has been vitiated, prostituted, and bastardized so as to effect the pecuniary self-aggrandizement of the powers that be.
And I might really want to watch Jerry Kill's NMST team to see how he got them to piss pound Auburn.
 
The question is if the Gophs will have enough players to play.

They had around 46 players enter the portal today.

OK, kinda kidding but they had a bunch.
 
PJ is blaming NIL for his problems
I think the perception that his players love The Fleckster is wearing thin.

The mass exodus of guys the last few days kinda backs that up.

The problem isn't the players, it's the HC being a prick.
I'm watching to see if any of the assts leave.
Definitely problems in the TCs.
WHO HATES IOWA
 
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