Bowl Politics...

[Sheffielder]

Glad we got Holiday...no complaints, but very interesting to see Iowa back in Tampa (Outback), where they played just two years ago.

As many of you know, the Big Ten is heading into the fifth year of a six-year cycled contract with many of our bowl partners, with whom we have agreements to send at least five different teams over the six-year stretch. It is interesting tot note that Iowa had been basically everywhere that was in the conversation for them this year (Outback, Pinstripte, Gator), except for Holiday...this had me very worried that if we didn't get Citrus, it was possible we'd get bumped all the way to Gator (where we haven't been in five years, so dumping us there would "benefit" the agreements and the quest for variety among the programs/destinations the most).

I believe Iowa and Northwestern both saw Holiday as our most desirable landing spot (if not Pasadena), so for us to get the nod over them, sending them back to a "repeat" bowl in a two-year period, probably says a lot for NU's attractiveness and for the role Phillips surely played in advocating for us. I believe we would have lost this one as recently as 5-7 years ago...nice to see the winds of change blowing favorably in our direction.

 

[FanatiCat]

This is better than Outback. We wouldn’t draw well there and I think we have a chance to show if we can draw well to a Cali bowl. I don’t think that Utah despite being ranked higher generates as much casual fan recognition as Oregon though.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

This is better than Outback. We wouldn’t draw well there and I think we have a chance to show if we can draw well to a Cali bowl. I don’t think that Utah despite being ranked higher generates as much casual fan recognition as Oregon though.

I’m happy to not have to face Hebert.

 

[NorCalCat]

Having the runners-up to each conference Championship seems like a no brainer for this game. Add to that we have tons of SoCal alumni who haven't had a local game since 1996, and Iowa fans will love to hook up their RVs to caravan to Florida, but would be unlikely to do the same for California. Everyone is a winner the way things sorted out.

 

[Hans81]

Glad we got Holiday...no complaints, but very interesting to see Iowa back in Tampa (Outback), where they played just two years ago.

As many of you know, the Big Ten is heading into the fifth year of a six-year cycled contract with many of our bowl partners, with whom we have agreements to send at least five different teams over the six-year stretch. It is interesting tot note that Iowa had been basically everywhere that was in the conversation for them this year (Outback, Pinstripte, Gator), except for Holiday...this had me very worried that if we didn't get Citrus, it was possible we'd get bumped all the way to Gator (where we haven't been in five years, so dumping us there would "benefit" the agreements and the quest for variety among the programs/destinations the most).

I believe Iowa and Northwestern both saw Holiday as our most desirable landing spot (if not Pasadena), so for us to get the nod over them, sending them back to a "repeat" bowl in a two-year period, probably says a lot for NU's attractiveness and for the role Phillips surely played in advocating for us. I believe we would have lost this one as recently as 5-7 years ago...nice to see the winds of change blowing favorably in our direction.

As an Iowa fan, I'm happy with the Outback Bowl over Holiday Bowl as it generally draws much higher TV ratings and is on ESPN rather than FS1. I also enjoy the Clearwater Beach / Orlando area.

 

[kaTNap]

As an Iowa fan, I'm happy with the Outback Bowl over Holiday Bowl as it generally draws much higher TV ratings and is on ESPN rather than FS1.

Enjoy the cowbells! They'll tell you that they never ring them when their opponent is on offense. That's what they *say*.

 

[willycat]

As an Iowa fan, I'm happy with the Outback Bowl over Holiday Bowl as it generally draws much higher TV ratings and is on ESPN rather than FS1. I also enjoy the Clearwater Beach / Orlando area.

Yup, guess Southern California is a slum. Gee who would want to go there? Guess not Io-a fans , as the trailer trip is just to long.

 

[CatManTrue]

Enjoy the cowbells! They'll tell you that they never ring them when their opponent is on offense. That's what they *say*.

That’s bull given my experience at the 2012 Gator Bowl.

This is better than Outback. We wouldn’t draw well there and I think we have a chance to show if we can draw well to a Cali bowl. I don’t think that Utah despite being ranked higher generates as much casual fan recognition as Oregon though.

Maybe not, but this game will always draw TV ratings and Utah fans were petitioning hard for this game. Hopefully we put more butts in the seats than the last two years, which featured Wazzu vs. Minnesota / Michigan State respectively.

 

[kaTNap]

That’s bull given my experience at the 2012 Gator Bowl.
.

You mean it's bull when they say they don't ring them? I was at the game too, so I agree that it's bull ... and if you watch the game highlights on YouTube, you can hear them ringing their dang bells when we have the ball.

 

[CatManTrue]

You mean it's bull when they say they don't ring them? I was at the game too, so I agree that it's bull ... and if you watch the game highlights on YouTube, you can hear them ringing their dang bells when we have the ball.

Yes I was agreeing with you. They rang those stupid bells every chance they had, but I learned how to tune them out and focus on my gnarly sunburn & the Cats victory in Jacksonville.

 

[Gladeskat]

As an Iowa fan, I'm happy with the Outback Bowl over Holiday Bowl as it generally draws much higher TV ratings and is on ESPN rather than FS1. I also enjoy the Clearwater Beach / Orlando area.

Enjoy the red tides!

 

[phatcat]

You mean it's bull when they say they don't ring them? I was at the game too, so I agree that it's bull ... and if you watch the game highlights on YouTube, you can hear them ringing their dang bells when we have the ball.

I'd rather listen to those bells for 3 hours nonstop than hear Rocky Top once

 

[kaTNap]

I'd rather listen to those bells for 3 hours nonstop than hear Rocky Top once

I'll raise you one ... I had to listen to drunk VOLZ fans singing Rocky Top on the plane back to Nashville ... over and over and ...

 

[olygopher]

Having watched Utah and the UW where my son goes to school, I seriously doubt Utah will score more than 10 points on the Cats and your good defense if they have their back-up QB still playing, just not much in big play threats on that team. They do have a good defense but this is a good matchup for NU. My brother is an alum so I always pull for the Cats when not playing the Gophers. Good luck and enjoy the Holiday Bowl.

 

[zeek55]

Having watched Utah and the UW where my son goes to school, I seriously doubt Utah will score more than 10 points on the Cats and your good defense if they have their back-up QB still playing, just not much in big play threats on that team. They do have a good defense but this is a good matchup for NU. My brother is an alum so I always pull for the Cats when not playing the Gophers. Good luck and enjoy the Holiday Bowl.

Good luck to the Gophers against Georgia Tech. Triple option is not fun to play against, but your coaches have a whole month to prepare.

And Minnesota played very well the last 3 weeks of the season; hope that carries over for you to the bowl game.

 

[Turk]

Glad we got Holiday...no complaints, but very interesting to see Iowa back in Tampa (Outback), where they played just two years ago.

As many of you know, the Big Ten is heading into the fifth year of a six-year cycled contract with many of our bowl partners, with whom we have agreements to send at least five different teams over the six-year stretch. It is interesting tot note that Iowa had been basically everywhere that was in the conversation for them this year (Outback, Pinstripte, Gator), except for Holiday...this had me very worried that if we didn't get Citrus, it was possible we'd get bumped all the way to Gator (where we haven't been in five years, so dumping us there would "benefit" the agreements and the quest for variety among the programs/destinations the most).

I believe Iowa and Northwestern both saw Holiday as our most desirable landing spot (if not Pasadena), so for us to get the nod over them, sending them back to a "repeat" bowl in a two-year period, probably says a lot for NU's attractiveness and for the role Phillips surely played in advocating for us. I believe we would have lost this one as recently as 5-7 years ago...nice to see the winds of change blowing favorably in our direction.

I thought the Outback bowl was ahead of the Holiday bowl? Either way, I can't imagine many NU fans at either place.

 

[CatManTrue]

I thought the Outback bowl was ahead of the Holiday bowl? Either way, I can't imagine many NU fans at either place.

Didn’t you mean to post this negative shot at NU under your Mr. Wickerpark handle?

 

[dillonpgp]

I believe Iowa and Northwestern both saw Holiday as our most desirable landing spot (if not Pasadena), so for us to get the nod over them, sending them back to a "repeat" bowl in a two-year period, probably says a lot for NU's attractiveness

According to the SD Union Tribune article announcing the selection, it was made very clear that while the bowl is happy to have Northwestern, Iowa was not an option.

Your larger point stands that the B10 is needing to do some hedging on team placement with the guarantees of different teams and running out of options.

Last year was the first year since the Holiday Bowl’s contract with ESPN expired. The 2017 Holiday Bowl (with MSU) got smoked in the ratings by the Alamo Bowl on ESPN. This year’s placement on NY Eve evening (in the eastern time zone) won’t help TV ratings in 2018. But SD is a great location to visit and easy to get around.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

I thought the Outback bowl was ahead of the Holiday bowl? Either way, I can't imagine many NU fans at either place.

C’mon Turk. Philips knows what he’s doing. SoCal alums haven’t had a game since the Rose Bowl. They will represent. Crowd in CA will exceed any crowd we’d have had in FL.

 

[zeek55]

C’mon Turk. Philips knows what he’s doing. SoCal alums haven’t had a game since the Rose Bowl. They will represent. Crowd in CA will exceed any crowd we’d have had in FL.

Yeah.

We got "passed" up by Florida bowls with two teams that we beat in recent bowls.

Pretty sure Phillips and the AD saw Holiday as the best bowl for us given that Kentucky and Miss State were the most obvious SEC choices for Citrus and Outback.

A matchup with ranked Utah in SD gives us a new opponent in the Western half of the country where we haven't played much recently.


This is a great outcome for us. We have a chance for a 9th win against a similar team to us that won the Pac-12 South and to finish ranked in front of lots of fans that haven't been to games recently.

 

[Just Gary]

According to the SD Union Tribune article announcing the selection, it was made very clear that while the bowl is happy to have Northwestern, Iowa was not an option.

Your larger point stands that the B10 is needing to do some hedging on team placement with the guarantees of different teams and running out of options.

Last year was the first year since the Holiday Bowl’s contract with ESPN expired. The 2017 Holiday Bowl (with MSU) got smoked in the ratings by the Alamo Bowl on ESPN. This year’s placement on NY Eve evening (in the eastern time zone) won’t help TV ratings in 2018. But SD is a great location to visit and easy to get around.

One thing that hurts playing the outback is that it competes against the citrus and the fiesta. Yes, fs1 has lower overall viewership than espn but we only compete against the taxslayer. Besides, I like the matchup against Utah versus a rematch against Miss State. We will have back to back California games given we open in Palo Alto next season. Time to drum up some California recruits. As far as being past over, it is about attendance and we will never be able to compete against Iowa. But I think NU is starting to get more national attention and a good reputation.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

One thing that hurts playing the outback is that it competes against the citrus and the fiesta. Yes, fs1 has lower overall viewership than espn but we only compete against the taxslayer. Besides, I like the matchup against Utah versus a rematch against Miss State. We will have back to back California games given we open in Palo Alto next season. Time to drum up some California recruits. As far as being past over, it is about attendance and we will never be able to compete against Iowa. But I think NU is starting to get more national attention and a good reputation.

Great point about those Cali recruits. Word is we’re on a couple of kids at Don Bosco.

 

[AtlantaCat]

Glad we got Holiday...no complaints, but very interesting to see Iowa back in Tampa (Outback), where they played just two years ago.

As many of you know, the Big Ten is heading into the fifth year of a six-year cycled contract with many of our bowl partners, with whom we have agreements to send at least five different teams over the six-year stretch. It is interesting tot note that Iowa had been basically everywhere that was in the conversation for them this year (Outback, Pinstripte, Gator), except for Holiday...this had me very worried that if we didn't get Citrus, it was possible we'd get bumped all the way to Gator (where we haven't been in five years, so dumping us there would "benefit" the agreements and the quest for variety among the programs/destinations the most).

I believe Iowa and Northwestern both saw Holiday as our most desirable landing spot (if not Pasadena), so for us to get the nod over them, sending them back to a "repeat" bowl in a two-year period, probably says a lot for NU's attractiveness and for the role Phillips surely played in advocating for us. I believe we would have lost this one as recently as 5-7 years ago...nice to see the winds of change blowing favorably in our direction.

Disclaimer is that I strongly suspected and wanted the Holiday, but how is this a selection advancement? Wouldn't the Outback pick before the Holiday?

 

[pawildcat]

One thing that hurts playing the outback is that it competes against the citrus and the fiesta. Yes, fs1 has lower overall viewership than espn but we only compete against the taxslayer. Besides, I like the matchup against Utah versus a rematch against Miss State. We will have back to back California games given we open in Palo Alto next season. Time to drum up some California recruits. As far as being past over, it is about attendance and we will never be able to compete against Iowa. But I think NU is starting to get more national attention and a good reputation.

Utah is a fine matchup, but I wouldn't have minded a go at Mississippi State again as they have a strong run, weak pass offense this season that would play to the strengths of our defense. Also always like a change to beat an SEC team.

 

[phatcat]

I'll raise you one ... I had to listen to drunk VOLZ fans singing Rocky Top on the plane back to Nashville ... over and over and ...

One thing about bowl games, it's very easy to develop an intense dislike for a new team due to fan behavior (Tenn, Auburn).

I'd like to think that most NU fans are NOT like that. We are pretty benign to the other fans