I doubt they get 8-10. More like 6-7 maybe. My worry is Billy is too nonchalant with this like he was with the Las Vegas bowl a couple years ago ago. He already scoffed at the extra practices as a really good thing.
I preferred a post Christmas Day bowl. Just my preference, and against an opponent that interests me (no G5 team interests me). One little correction- we have only missed one bowl in ten years (last year, 2023). Only other time we missed in like 30+ years was 2013 season (2014 bowl) under Muschamp.
I heard that as well. But…problem with this bowl game - it is less than two weeks ago. Counting tomorrow, it is 12 days away. Unlike a true road game, We likely travel to the destination a few days early - as we should as it is a fun experience for the players and there are media commitments and activities for the players. Taking this into consideration, I doubt there is a practice tomorrow at this point. So, the team gets to practice at most, in Gainesville, across 8-9 days. Plus a walk through. when Napier mentioned he wouldn’t use all 15 practices- I imagined something like the game would be Dec 30th-Jan 2nd. 3-4 weeks away and the team practices like every other day for a few weeks with like a max of ten practices or so. Now, more likely we get in 5-6. A little more than a normal week of practice. The young guys could’ve used more imo. also…for the players…the bigger the bowl the better the bag of goodies they get. For them…I’d like them to get the red carpet treatment of a bigger bowl. None of this is that big a deal. Just some personal preferences.
We also missed in 2017- Mac's last year. So 2014, 2017, 2023 were all misses. Glad we are going this year and I'm glad it's not the Las Vegas bowl.
Bowls are going to pick whoever can bring them the most visits(money) if given the choice. It is what it is, we just need to win.
Me personally I wanted a bowl game matchup that we can actually win. 8-5 looks better than 7-6. A game against let’s say Michigan would have put us in a really bad spot. It could undo all the goodwill Napier earned in November. Tulane without their QB yes please. Get that 8th win by hook or by crook.
