I don't think you are necessarily mistaken, but I think the effect you are looking for has already been accomplished. With a win, and a bowl, the result would be reinforcement that if they work hard, even when things turn against them at times, they can still accomplish goals. With a win and no bowl the lesson is similar, that while they are close, they must work hard all off season to assure that they don't end up here again.

Whatever happens Tuesday, I think the season results for this season are far from what the team had hoped for, just as the results from 2005 and 2008 disappointed the team, and made the players work hard in the off-season for the following year.

Another similarity to 2005 is that few starters will be lost:
2005 - Wesley (RT), Cody(TE), Byrum(CB), Ream(DE), Miller (P)
2014 - L. Smith (WR), Cochran (WR), Kristoff (S), Ingol (S), Crutcher (DT), McLeod (DT), Davis (DT), Chapman (LS),

Even losing two starters at WR, plus Bradley, that position has tremendous depth and is not a concern. At Safety you similarly lose two starters, plus perhaps Carpenter as well, but with injuries, we've seen a lot of play from Devin Jones, Toran Davis, and Aaron Macer, plus next year we can presume that Blake Scipio and Quallen will return from injury, so Safety will be solid. At DT, you have more of a question mark, but you do have returning players in Purdum and Tautuaiki, plus younger players Aloese and Porter, and some new players in Frueauf and Stephens.

Back to your point, though, the most important thing for the team to do is just win, and then after that the bowls will fall where they will. Thanksgiving will be much more enjoyable if it includes a serving of thrashed Redhawk, with or without a bowl.

Edit - Fixed an error with regard to Davis

If the choice is between beating the Redhawks and a bowl my vote goes for beating the Redhawks. That is however not what you are choosing. Its a choice between beating the Redhawks and a bowl or beating them and not going to a bowl. I choose the former. We have a legit chance to win a bowl with the way this team is improving and a chance for a winning season.

+1

Who said it wasn't?

I thought that everyone was.

At this point in the season, however, there are only a few goals that are still achievable:
1. Beating Miami
2. Bowl game
3. 2d place finish in the MAC East

Since the last of these isn't much, the posts seem to focus on the first two, plus on looking forward to 2015.

You know I thought about that when I typed it but couldn't come up with the right word. Perhaps expecting would have been a better word although with the money that we have committed to our two highest interest sport, those in the business world would demand a higher return on investment.

What's reasonable about it? We are rising too, but you don't seem to acknowledge it in the least. [Alan, we aren't in a position to "demand" anything, but I don't know any fans here who don't want a MACC and who weren't very disappointed at our second half swoon against NIU that kept us from it.] Monroe, would you be keeping up this endless series of irrational posts if NIU had missed that FG in the waning seconds of the MACC? Is that the only thing that's driving your negativity and your incessant drumbeat?

Well the list of returns is long. Winning, in the MAC only NIU has won more. Bowling, in the MAC only NIU has been better. Attendance, looking good. Still no MACC, well, you know the thing about those "demanding" fans is if you give them something they want, they just want more. Never happy, ever see a demanding fan happy? I never have. Sad really. After the Buffalo game, a good win, were the demanding fans happy? The NIU contest, a great game all round, any demanding fans happy. Well anyway the fan base is building. There are Ohio grads who have seen more wins than loses, who can wear the green around the country and have folks recognize the Bobcat. So I would say the returns are there.

6-6 and no bowl is better than 5-7 and no bowl.

Muck Fiami.

Wow, Alan, you have baffled me. From your question, it seems clear that you do not believe a .500 season in a rebuilding year is satisfactory anymore. Now I have to ask, what has changed so that you now expect better than .500 even in weak years, and clearly much more in good years?

That isn't something you expected even as recently as a few years ago. In fact, I remember you arguing that football should be discontinued or dropped to FCS or lower, and that trying to win at football in Athens was an exercise in futility, and that all available resources would be better off devoted to other sports such as Basketball and Volleyball. What has changed your opinion so dramatically that you now believe that Football can and should be over .500 every year?

We spend a lot of time on this site talking about records and wins and losses. LC, how much is .500 really worth when potentially none of those wins are against top 100 teams?

Not necessarily, LC. While it is true that for every win there is a loss, you can have one team several games over .500 with 1 or more under .500.

Simple example, a 4-team league with each team playing each other once. Team A goes 3-0 and the other three teams go 1-2. Or the reverse, one team goes 0-3 while the other three teams go 2-1.