This board is dead; I hate this time of year. So, here's a poll to maybe provide a topic for discussion. I personally think this will be a landslide, but let's find out.
Which would you prefer?
- Thread starter JackShephard
- Start date
7-5 regular season = trip to music city bowl versus some nobody
8-4 = Chikfila Bowl, *maybe* a shot at cotton, with a quality opponent.
8-4 = Chikfila Bowl, *maybe* a shot at cotton, with a quality opponent.
Yeah we may be in the Chik-fil-a bowl or, if the stars align, the Cotton bowl but we are guaranteed to lose that game. I think it would come down to who that extra SEC team was that we beat. For argument's sake lets say we should win the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ole Miss games. Is that fourth game Texas A&M/Auburn or Alabama/LSU? For me, I'd rather have the bowl win than beat either Texas A&M or Auburn, but I would rather have the 4th SEC win over Alabama or LSU than the bowl win.
I favor 7-5 and a bowl win--I'm beginning to like the lingeringfeeling of a bowl win (plus enjoying the trip there more), and possibly a 2 or more game win streak to end the season. Two seasons ago, I was much happier going to the Gator and beating Michigan than I would have been going to the Chick-Fil-A bowl and losing to Florida State (like South Carolina did). I also like State currently leadingthe NCAA in consecutive bowl wins at 5 (going back to the1999 season), and a bowl win extends that.
To pick an 8-4 regular season and a bowl loss, I would need some other qualifiers to go with it, like definitely beat OM, definitely beat Auburn,and maybe an upset over Arkansas, Bama, or LSU. To go 8-4 in the regular season by 'just' beating our 4 OOC and Kentucky/OM/Tennessee/Texas A&Mmight not be enough to take away the minor sting of a bowl loss.
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To pick an 8-4 regular season and a bowl loss, I would need some other qualifiers to go with it, like definitely beat OM, definitely beat Auburn,and maybe an upset over Arkansas, Bama, or LSU. To go 8-4 in the regular season by 'just' beating our 4 OOC and Kentucky/OM/Tennessee/Texas A&Mmight not be enough to take away the minor sting of a bowl loss.
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i'm aerodawg on this one, where does that extra regular season win come from? Depends on who it is before I take that one because I think a bowl win helps a lot with momentum going into crootin season etc
Not just this season. So 8-4 means at least 4-4 in the SEC which will always involve at least one good win.
It would be a step up for us to have more regular season wins and get to a better bowl game.
Would you rather finish with 2 losses in the regular season and miss a BCS game or finish with 1 loss in the regular season and lose a BCS game? See what I did there?
OK, an example a lot closer to home...remember the season where we got to the SEC Championship game and lost it? Wasn't that better than finishing 1 game short of the SEC championship game (like Sherrill did on a couple of other occasions).
See, I bet most of you don't know that a couple of times Sherrill was 1 game short of winning the SEC West. Yeah, nobody remembers that. "Almost" sucks.
I think having a better regular season and a chance for better things in the post season is just about always better than a less good regular season plus lower grade post season success.
Would you rather finish with 2 losses in the regular season and miss a BCS game or finish with 1 loss in the regular season and lose a BCS game? See what I did there?
OK, an example a lot closer to home...remember the season where we got to the SEC Championship game and lost it? Wasn't that better than finishing 1 game short of the SEC championship game (like Sherrill did on a couple of other occasions).
See, I bet most of you don't know that a couple of times Sherrill was 1 game short of winning the SEC West. Yeah, nobody remembers that. "Almost" sucks.
I think having a better regular season and a chance for better things in the post season is just about always better than a less good regular season plus lower grade post season success.
a 7-5 regular season means that out of games against auburn, UT, and aTm, we lost 2 of the 3 - and I am 17ing sick of losing to auburn.
Therefore.... We beat one of the following, Ark/Bama/LSU... But then we lose our bowl game.<div>Or.... We continue going "Even Stephen" in our schedule (no upsets either way) and then beat some CUSA shmuck in the Liberty bowl.
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</div><div>I gotta go with the first big SEC upset... Also, if we had that big upset (to make us 8-4), we'd probably be facing some stiffer bowl game competition that would be easier to swallow as a loss. A bowl loss to a good team in a cool venue would be way better (in my book) than going "Even Steven" 7-5 (no upsets, good or bad) and heading to Memphis to play some CUSA shmuck.</div></div><div>
</div><div>ETA: rearranged some things so that this post makes some sense/since/scents/cents.</div>
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</div><div>I gotta go with the first big SEC upset... Also, if we had that big upset (to make us 8-4), we'd probably be facing some stiffer bowl game competition that would be easier to swallow as a loss. A bowl loss to a good team in a cool venue would be way better (in my book) than going "Even Steven" 7-5 (no upsets, good or bad) and heading to Memphis to play some CUSA shmuck.</div></div><div>
</div><div>ETA: rearranged some things so that this post makes some sense/since/scents/cents.</div>
An eight win regular season in the SEC is a lot better. Plus, it means you played in a better bowl game with more money and prestige, generated much more excitement and momentum during the regular season, and put yourself in a position to finish with 9 wins. No comparison really.
just 17ing around with the ambiguity of original topic post... i actually just posted an extremely similar post to yours 2-3 replies earlier
Would you prefer to end the regular season with less wins in an effort to get an easier bowl opponent so it's more likely to end the season on a winning note?
If you are a sane person, your answer is "HELL NO".
You are over-thinking this question. Going 4-4 in the SEC is better for your program because it validates that you are competitive in your own conference. Finishing with a losing conference record, but winning against a weaker ACC/CUSA champ/etc. in a bowl game doesn't help that cause.
We've had a couple of bowl seasons, which is more satisfying than our Croom days. Our focus in the SECW should now shift from "not finishing last" to "finishing 3rd/4th".
If you are a sane person, your answer is "HELL NO".
You are over-thinking this question. Going 4-4 in the SEC is better for your program because it validates that you are competitive in your own conference. Finishing with a losing conference record, but winning against a weaker ACC/CUSA champ/etc. in a bowl game doesn't help that cause.
We've had a couple of bowl seasons, which is more satisfying than our Croom days. Our focus in the SECW should now shift from "not finishing last" to "finishing 3rd/4th".
They aren't always, but that's the idea. Thus, you should always prefer the better regular season, regardless of which side of the coinflip you end up on.