I would be concern if the opposing team's players were "motivated" to play and VT's players had already "checked out" prior to kickoff because it would make me wonder what the opposing coaches said to their team to motivate them. Even though the bowl games don't mean as much as they once did, I do think winning a bowl game can still give the team motivation going into the next season especially if the team is returning a lot of the starters. A perfect example is VT winning the 1998 Music City Bowl. I do believe that type of scenario can still happen in today's environment.