[CrazedZooChimp]

My vague memory is that there are only a portion of the bowls that can deviate from the exact order (maybe to Sun), but the lower ones have to follow the order. I also remember that exceptions are allowed in cases where a team was just recently in a Bowl (ie. we probably won't go to the Sun again, we were just there in 2016).

I think the plusses we have compared to Oregon would be that they have been to the Holiday (although not recently), and that Oregon's season is as much or more disappointing than ours. Remember, they were thinking they had a shot to win the conference too, and were at one point ranked as high as 12.

My understanding of the Foster Farms disappointment was that the bowl organizers expected a bump in attendance because Stanford was so close.  But it was Christmas break, so all the students were gone, and the fan-base was not bunched within convenient driving distance as with more local universities.  So there was no bump, and Maryland fans actually outnumbered the Stanford fans.  But, yes, as can be seen, the attendance numbers have flagged regardless of the participants.  If there was any other beef, I am unaware of the causes.

Hmm, that's not how I remember it. I remember there being basically zero Maryland fans at that game, and part of the problem with the game being that Maryland was a bad 7-5 who seemed pretty outmatched by us...

[CrazedZooChimp]

My vague memory is that there are only a portion of the bowls that can deviate from the exact order (maybe to Sun), but the lower ones have to follow the order. I also remember that exceptions are allowed in cases where a team was just recently in a Bowl (ie. we probably won't go to the Sun again, we were just there in 2016).

I think the plusses we have compared to Oregon would be that they have been to the Holiday (although not recently), and that Oregon's season is as much or more disappointing than ours. Remember, they were thinking they had a shot to win the conference too, and were at one point ranked as high as 12.

My understanding of the Foster Farms disappointment was that the bowl organizers expected a bump in attendance because Stanford was so close.  But it was Christmas break, so all the students were gone, and the fan-base was not bunched within convenient driving distance as with more local universities.  So there was no bump, and Maryland fans actually outnumbered the Stanford fans.  But, yes, as can be seen, the attendance numbers have flagged regardless of the participants.  If there was any other beef, I am unaware of the causes.

Hmm, that's not how I remember it. I remember there being basically zero Maryland fans at that game, and part of the problem with the game being that Maryland was a bad 7-5 who seemed pretty outmatched by us...