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There’s a lot of confusion online about whether Navy can get eligible and I’m not seeing any clear answers. The NCAA has probably already contacted both MN and Navy, so hopefully that info gets shared more widely. Conventional wisdom is that bowls are free to select on 12/3 since many of the games happen in mid-December and need to start selling tickets. A bowl could hold a spot until 12/8 for Navy if they wanted (it happened like 15 years ago), but they don’t have to. That’s the assumption McMurphy is using.

I like this suggestion by a Redditor, though:

IMG_0003.jpeg
 

Local angle regarding the Cal/UCLA game; Bastian Swinney was finally getting some run at guard for Cal but left the game with an injury. Hope he’s ok, he’s a great kid.

Note to Gopher coaches; you better start paying attention to his brother, Meyer.
 

scools12 said:
This team has bigger issues to be addressed than getting an extra 15 practices in.
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I couldn’t disagree more with this. The 15 extra practices can’t hurt where the younger players are concerned, and the bigger issues on this team that need addressing, all revolve around the head coach and his football philosophy. Sitting at home and skipping extra practices will do nothing to address that issue.
 



College Football News' projections have MN playing UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl.

but - their bowl preview article includes this:

The one curveball potentially out there is for that last bowl opening. Navy is 5-6 and plays Army on December 9th - the bowls will be all decided then. If Navy wins, it's possible one bowl holds a spot open with 5-7 Minnesota - the highest-ranked five-win team based on APR, the Academic Progress Rate - getting another game.

How would MN get another game in that scenario?

either way, there seems to be a possibility - a slim one - that MN may not know its ultimate fate until after the Army-Navy game.
 

I really cannot understand how 15 extra practices will not be helpful? It's literally called "practice". The first word out of most people's mouths when they want to improve at something is I need more PRACTICE. I get that many of you are way down on the Gopher program and coaches. That's totally understandable. Maybe you believe the Gopher coaches are below average for the B1G and that is why they are losing, but they are still among the best in the country or they would have never made it to the D-1 level. These kids are young and learning. The one thing they absolutely can use more of is PRACTICE!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
College Football News' projections have MN playing UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl.

but - their bowl preview article includes this:

The one curveball potentially out there is for that last bowl opening. Navy is 5-6 and plays Army on December 9th - the bowls will be all decided then. If Navy wins, it's possible one bowl holds a spot open with 5-7 Minnesota - the highest-ranked five-win team based on APR, the Academic Progress Rate - getting another game.

How would MN get another game in that scenario?

either way, there seems to be a possibility - a slim one - that MN may not know its ultimate fate until after the Army-Navy game.
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Navy is not bowl eligible even if they win against Army so the Gophers are in no matter what. NCAA rules make it so any game after conference championship weekend does not count towards Bowl eligibility.
 





short ornery norwegian said:
when I was growing up, only a handful of the best teams in college FB went to Bowl Games. over the years, so many Bowls have been added that now, there is nothing special about making a bowl game.

in fact, many people see making a Bowl Game as a minimum requirement for a D1 team. if you don't make a Bowl Game, you are considered to be a below-average team or worse.

In my book, if a team can't win at least half of its games, it should not go to a Bowl. No exceptions, no making it through the back door. if there are not enough eligible FBS teams to fill all the spots, then either don't play the game, or invite FCS teams with winning records that didn't make the playoffs.
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Get rid of 11 bowl games. Problem solved.
 







GophersInIowa said:
So people that want to watch as many as possible can do so. And those that don’t want to, don’t have to. Win for everyone.
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Except I used to watch more Bowls when there were fewer of them. They felt like they meant something, were stand alone games, usually featured a matchup of Top 20 teams playing with the same roster and coaches that got them there.

Last year other than the Gopher's Bowl and Playoffs, I watched a grand total of 2. The Rose & Cotton, that's it.

Back in the day, I was psyched to watch the Holiday, Sun, Astro-Bluebonnet, Gator, Tangerine Bowls, whatever.

With the 12 team Playoff next season, the number of Bowls I will watch will drop to whatever the Gophers are playing in (if they qualify), probably nothing else.
 
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Former Gopher football player, Derek Burns, from the Gopher Gridiron podcast, just said the players like bowl games. I can't remember his reasoning as to why, but I think we can make educated guesses that it's a reward after the season, even a tough and disappointing one, and usually a sort of vacation with many of their buddies in a warm location. I don't think the kids should be punished by skipping a bowl because we're mad at the coaches or they didn't meet our expectations. These kids are already paid too little and bust their butts to entertain me. The Gopher players have proven to be generally good students and good people. I'm very happy to see them go to a bowl to once again, entertain many of us.
 

disco said:
This is direct from the Navy athletics website.
• Navy needs to beat SMU on Saturday to become bowl eligible. The Army-Navy game is after bowl selections are announced.

navysports.com

Navy Travels to Dallas to Battle 25th-Ranked SMU in Final AAC Tilt - Naval Academy Athletics

Navy and #25 SMU meet for the 25th time on the gridiron and for the 9th and final time as conference foes (SMU is moving to the ACC next year) when the two square
navysports.com navysports.com
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Via the WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/26/jmu-bowl-game-eligible/

"With one more bowl slot available, Minnesota could be positioned for the postseason despite a 5-7 record. Another NCAA bylaw regarding a shortfall of six-win teams puts the Golden Gophers at the head of the five-win line because of their top score in Academic Progress Rate for the 2021-22 season (via the AP).

“We’ll always accept a bowl bid — always,” Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck said after a loss Saturday to Wisconsin. “There’s so many beneficial things to a bowl game, with practices, with development. To be honest, we might be our best football team in a month if we get everybody back.”

At 5-6 following a loss Saturday to SMU, Navy could reach six wins with a win over Army on Dec. 9. However, that game will take place after the bowl matchups have been announced, and a spokesman for the Midshipmen said Sunday via email that they did not anticipate playing in a bowl this season. "
 


Seany said:
Via the WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/26/jmu-bowl-game-eligible/

"With one more bowl slot available, Minnesota could be positioned for the postseason despite a 5-7 record. Another NCAA bylaw regarding a shortfall of six-win teams puts the Golden Gophers at the head of the five-win line because of their top score in Academic Progress Rate for the 2021-22 season (via the AP).

“We’ll always accept a bowl bid — always,” Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck said after a loss Saturday to Wisconsin. “There’s so many beneficial things to a bowl game, with practices, with development. To be honest, we might be our best football team in a month if we get everybody back.”

At 5-6 following a loss Saturday to SMU, Navy could reach six wins with a win over Army on Dec. 9. However, that game will take place after the bowl matchups have been announced, and a spokesman for the Midshipmen said Sunday via email that they did not anticipate playing in a bowl this season. "
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There you have it. Been waiting for some kind of statement from one of the schools, and although this is about as unofficial as it gets, at least it’s something. Make your Christmas travel plans for Detroit everyone, lol.

As for there being too many bowls, Burns mentioned on his pod last week that the Mayo Bowl drew more viewers than the UNC-Duke basketball game at the same time last year. I haven’t fact checked that, but I absolutely believe it. People love CFB.
 

WaPo thing just says that it happens after the selection date, nothing more. It makes not even the slightest attempt to imply anything from that. Navy statement is like “well I guess we’re not expecting anything, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen”.

The NCAA postseason manual that SG posted back on I believe page 3 of this thread says nothing about requiring the criteria to be met on any date, and also says nothing about forbidding bowls from making contingent selections.

IF Navy wins, they are vastly more deserving of a bowl game than this Gopher team. Our NFL draft likely players wouldn’t even play, so Nubin and maybe BSF. Not sure if others.
 

MplsGopher said:
WaPo thing just says that it happens after the selection date, nothing more. It makes not even the slightest attempt to imply anything from that. Navy statement is like “well I guess we’re not expecting anything, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen”.

The NCAA postseason manual that SG posted back on I believe page 3 of this thread says nothing about requiring the criteria to be met on any date, and also says nothing about forbidding bowls from making contingent selections.

IF Navy wins, they are vastly more deserving of a bowl game than this Gopher team. Our NFL draft likely players wouldn’t even play, so Nubin and maybe BSF. Not sure if others.
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It gives criteria to be selected, which they won’t meet on the day teams are selected.
 

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