Birthday Bowl Game

I don't know what I'm more excited about for this New Year's Eve: My wife's birthday, or the Insight Bowl, featuring the 6-6 powerhouse Minnesota Gophers vs. 6-6 Iowa State. (Just kidding, honey...)

I recall a conversation two uncles of mine were having in 1977. The Gophers were invited to this new "loser bowl," as one of them called it. That was the inaugural (and now-defunct) Hall of Fame Classic, which they lost to Maryland, 27-17. This new bowl game had brought the total of college football bowl games to a whopping twelve.

In 1985, the Lou Holtz-led, 6-5 Gophers earned a trip to the Independence Bowl, which they won 20-13 over Clemson under coach John Gutekunst, who had replaced the Notre Dame-headed Holtz by the time the game was played. It was one of fifteen bowl games overall.

In 1986, the Gophers were again bowl-bound at 6-5, despite a 63-0 shellacking at the hands of Oklahoma, and an embarrassing non-conference loss to Pacific. The also now-defunct Pacific Tigers finished the year 4-7, losing its final five games, including two to three-win teams (the also also-now-defunct Fullerton State, and the Utah State Aggies). For more perspective, only the more recent loss to North Dakota State was worse in my lifetime, and the recent wins against North Dakota State and South Dakota State were about as bad.

The Butch-Nash-pep-talk-inspired upset win over Michigan that year saved the season, as did, perhaps, the addition of two more bowl games, bringing the total to seventeen. They lost to Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl, 21-14. I remember reading and wondering about where the integrity in the bowl system was headed.

In 1999, the Gophers finished 8-4, after losing to Oregon in the Sun Bowl. It was one of 23 bowl games that season. It was around this time that the prestige of bowl games had come to the point of schools defining successful seasons by whether they made it to a "New Year's" bowl game, presumably meaning one played on or after January 1.

This season, there are 34 bowl games. The Cyclones of Iowa State have lost a couple close ones, and they defeated Nebraska. They were also much more impressive in defeating NDSU (34-17) than the Gophers were in defeating SDSU (16-13, a game in which the Gophers' offense did not score a touchdown). I would assume that puts the Gophers in the role of the underdog.

Here's what I find especially funny about this bowl season: There are fourteen bowl games played on or after January 1. That's two more than all of the 1977 bowl season. What's more, some of those games are far less prestigious (e.g., Papa Johns, GMAC) than some of the pre-New Year games (e.g., Brut Sun, Champs Sports). The term "New Year's" bowl game has been rendered meaningless.

My wife is a former University of Minnesota varsity swimmer. I am a long-suffering Golden Gophers fan. So just as I did with my wife on her birthday last year, I'll be pulling hard for a Ski-U-Mah victory just before ringing in the New Year on Thursday. A bowl victory on my wife's birthday, followed by some Auld Lang Syne - does life get any better than that?

Rah!