(01-02-2018, 04:03 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote:

(01-02-2018, 02:44 PM)mikesez Wrote: The human mind can be made into quite a remarkable fountain of excuses.  Now you're going to say Auburn wasn't trying.  I don't know.  The fans leaving the stadium looked pretty upset to lose.  I didn't get close enough to the players to see.  But I have to think that the players and coaches strongly wanted to end their season with a win and preserve the reputation of the SEC.

The human mind generally responds more positively to incentives.  UCF had a clear incentive of remaining perfect and finishing with an unblemished record.  What was Auburn's incentive?  A shiny peach bowl trophy?  Or to be the name that pops up when people 5 years from now can't remember who won the 2018 Peach Bowl and decide to google it?  It doesn't mean they weren't trying in the moment, but people in general get up for and prepare for events or tasks more so when they are incentivized to do so.  At any rate, going in this direction doesn't really interest me enough to continue so that will be the last I'll say on the subject of it being a meaningless game.  I'm happy to continue discussing the merits of hypothetical playoff systems, however.

Did you watch the game?  I can assure you Malzahn and that team did not want to lose and played hard.  I never saw Malzahn walk up and down the sidelines so much when watching him.  I'm sure a lot of it was I don't want to lose to a non power 5 school, but he had reasons to want to win.

It's not a meaningless game when a team is 13-0 with the potential of changing the NCAA football playoff system going forward.

I always find it funny when the Auburn's of the world lose a bowl game to a lesser team the argument quickly switches to well they didn't have any incentive.  Well if that's the case the players don't deserve a scholarship and the coach's shouldn't get paid.

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