I listen to a sports talk show in Nashville almost daily as I commute to work. An occasional guest is a very long time follower of UT FB and, I believe, has some ties to their program. Many times over the years I have heard him say that he has analyzed the correlation between "going to a bowl' and "next season's performance". Point of the study was to determine if, indeed, the extra practices had any impact on how the team performed the following season. I don't recall if he gave the r or r-squared coefficient specifically (probably wouldn't on a sports talk show), but in his study there is little or no correlation between these two variables. Sample size was significant as he analyzed data from 25-30 years of bowl appearances.
so, based on at least one study, the extra practices theory is a bit meaningless (as a predictor of future success). Of course, there are many other variables that come in to play.
I am going to be bold here and make this prediction. We will NOT go to a bowl game this year BUT next year's record will be better. So, therefore, we can conclude that not going to bowl games is a better predictor for overall team improvement (if my prediction holds true).:wink: