(10-07-2013 11:13 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:07 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:04 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 10:43 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  Well there's another bowl I won't be attending. Right now the list of AAC games I'd attend is the Military, maybe St. Pete depending on the opponent, and the Access Bowl.

I think your being silly there. I don't mind traveling a reasonable distance to support my team in bottom tier bowl. Its usually not that expensive and its fun for a couple of days. The new line up will give ECU fans a number of good opportunities to do that.

For the western teams the opportunities are very limited. I have no intention of crossing the nation to see my team play a #7 CUSA team from a bench seat in an empty aluminum stadium. Unfortunately, for Houston, virtually all the bowl opportunities are on the east coast. I'll travel to those places when we play a P-5 opponent and likely stay home for the G-5 east coast bowl. Hopefully, we can maneuver around a Marlins/Boca/Bahamas birth during the next 6 years.

The only game that is really travel friendly for ECU is the Military Bowl in Annapolis. All others are 10+ hour drives

I thought most were within 8 hours. I agree, drives of over 8 hours tend to reduce the number of fans willing to travel because it starts getting out of the range that a large portion of the fan base is willing to deal with. At that point, most fans fly, and that reduces the number of people in the fan base that can easily afford to make the trip.

I think it all depends on the date of the bowl. Last year we went to the New Orleans Bowl on 22 Dec. I took the whole family. We left on 20 Dec, got a hotel in Georgia between Augusta and Atlanta. Drove the rest of the way the next day 21 Dec. Got dinner that night. Did a little sight seeing. Got up on 22 Dec and went to the game. Stayed in NO that night. Drove half way back on 23 Dec. Got home to Greenville on 24 Dec. Hit some bad weather on the way back. We expected to be back much earlier on Christmas Eve, got back around midnite. Would I do it again.................NO.......unless it was a bowl between Christmas and New Years and then MAYBE.

I gave up caring about AAC bowl lineup a while ago.

(10-07-2013 11:27 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  I gave up caring about AAC bowl lineup a while ago.

lol...smart man.

Why is anybody shocked by this? Just look at the lineup and average attendance numbers for this conference. Our best program has a 35k stadium, let that sink in for a minute. For the most part, this league is tiny private schools and commuter schools with tiny fanbases in comparison to the P5. Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, lol.... No offense to their programs but they aren't taking any fans anywhere. Bowls are a boondoggle in the first place. Good grief. The only one I really ever gave a damn about is the Access Bowl and where ever our champ is going.

I think they just need to split the P5 and the G5 already. Or make a 6th mega conference. This disparity is alarming. The G5 will never sniff the CFP at this rate.

(10-07-2013 11:53 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Why is anybody shocked by this? Just look at the lineup and average attendance numbers for this conference. Our best program has a 35k stadium, let that sink in for a minute. For the most part, this league is tiny private schools and commuter schools with tiny fanbases in comparison to the P5. Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, lol.... No offense to their programs but they aren't taking any fans anywhere. Bowls are a boondoggle in the first place. Good grief. The only one I really ever gave a damn about is the Access Bowl and where ever our champ is going.

Why is it a surprise? The only reason its a bit of a surprise is because the Pac-12 #8 really didn't have anywhere better to go. Simple as that. Still have no idea where they go. Poinsettia? Hawaii? Not alot left. The other surprise is that we apparently gave up all ownership interest in the bowl and really got nothing for it. We got a rotating slot in a crap bowl....biiiiigggg deal....we had a permanent slot in the New Orleans Bowl if we wanted it. Not really sure what all the expended effort in Miami was for---seems to have simply been nothing but a waste of time.

(10-07-2013 12:11 PM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think they just need to split the P5 and the G5 already. Or make a 6th mega conference. This disparity is alarming. The G5 will never sniff the CFP at this rate.

I think that's the answer (a 6th mega conference with an AQ slot in an 8 team playoff). Judging by the names on the selection committee, the G-5 is never getting a playoff slot under the new 4 team playoff system.

(10-07-2013 12:21 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 12:11 PM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think they just need to split the P5 and the G5 already. Or make a 6th mega conference. This disparity is alarming. The G5 will never sniff the CFP at this rate.

I think that's the answer (a 6th mega conference with an AQ slot in an 8 team playoff). Judging by the names on the selection committee, the G-5 is never getting a playoff slot under the new 4 team playoff system.

Yeah but I don't think you can just scrap the MWC and the AAC conference together. They will want to drop the dead weight, and there is no flag ship school that can carry a conference like that. It just seems highly unlikely that it would ever come to pass. There is not enough of a gap right now between the AAC/MWC and the other mid majors.

I think the four mega conferences is the more likely scenario, and the Big 12 is probably not going to outlast the ACC with their inexplicable decisions the last few years, like adding WVU. Still gonna be tight, but I think the Big 12 collapses, and you have 16-20 team conferences forming the new D-I. Each conference will have a mini-CFP between 4 clubs, and those four winners get in.

So basically the champion of the American will be playing the 7th best team in the ACC?? Well, we should be blowing them out every year...

At this point I'm just glad it looks like we will have six Yearly Bowls somewhere

(10-07-2013 11:53 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, lol.... No offense to their programs but they aren't taking any fans anywhere.

How many ECU fans were at the NOLA bowl last year...remind me again please?
Bowl attendance is a different animal from home game attendance.

(10-07-2013 01:44 PM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:53 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, SMU, lol.... No offense to their programs but they aren't taking any fans anywhere.

How many ECU fans were at the NOLA bowl last year...remind me again please?
Bowl attendance is a different animal from home game attendance.

IIRC we had about 10k

(10-07-2013 11:17 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:11 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:00 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 10:54 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  The Military Bowl is the premier bowl of the AAC. Let that sink in for just a moment.

If it turns out to be true, that would be dreadful.

At this point, I really can't imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be true. The Marlins Bowl was supposed to be the last great hope for a solid P5 matchup, yet it will not be. The Liberty is done. The Belk is done. The Pinstripe is done. The Russell is done. The next best game is Birmingham. Ugh.

Correct. Not only is the Marlins not a nice P-5 match-up. Its not even a good G-5 matchup. Its now a garbage bowl who will have at best an opponent from the following group---CUSA #7, MW #6, MAC#4, or SB #4. Very disappointing...

How many times did I say that the PAC would never play in any marlins bowl?? It's just like the people on here that wouldn't believe it when realistic posts predicted the tv package would be less than 10 million a year per team.....

So it's basically this:



Why the **** even bother?

(10-07-2013 02:10 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:17 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:11 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:00 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 10:54 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  The Military Bowl is the premier bowl of the AAC. Let that sink in for just a moment.

If it turns out to be true, that would be dreadful.

At this point, I really can't imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be true. The Marlins Bowl was supposed to be the last great hope for a solid P5 matchup, yet it will not be. The Liberty is done. The Belk is done. The Pinstripe is done. The Russell is done. The next best game is Birmingham. Ugh.

Correct. Not only is the Marlins not a nice P-5 match-up. Its not even a good G-5 matchup. Its now a garbage bowl who will have at best an opponent from the following group---CUSA #7, MW #6, MAC#4, or SB #4. Very disappointing...

How many times did I say that the PAC would never play in any marlins bowl?? It's just like the people on here that wouldn't believe it when realistic posts predicted the tv package would be less than 10 million a year per team.....

Right now the Pac-12 #8 isn't playing anywhere.

(10-07-2013 02:19 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:10 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:17 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:11 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:00 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  If it turns out to be true, that would be dreadful.

At this point, I really can't imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be true. The Marlins Bowl was supposed to be the last great hope for a solid P5 matchup, yet it will not be. The Liberty is done. The Belk is done. The Pinstripe is done. The Russell is done. The next best game is Birmingham. Ugh.

Correct. Not only is the Marlins not a nice P-5 match-up. Its not even a good G-5 matchup. Its now a garbage bowl who will have at best an opponent from the following group---CUSA #7, MW #6, MAC#4, or SB #4. Very disappointing...

How many times did I say that the PAC would never play in any marlins bowl?? It's just like the people on here that wouldn't believe it when realistic posts predicted the tv package would be less than 10 million a year per team.....

Right now the Pac-12 #8 isn't playing anywhere.

They'll work out a deal to play close to home in a minor bowl their fans can realistically go to. Poinsettia or New Mexico etc. Or they'll go back to their Hawaii Bowl days...Probably go to all of the above in a rotating arrangement.

(10-07-2013 02:25 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:19 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:10 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:17 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:11 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  At this point, I really can't imagine a scenario where it wouldn't be true. The Marlins Bowl was supposed to be the last great hope for a solid P5 matchup, yet it will not be. The Liberty is done. The Belk is done. The Pinstripe is done. The Russell is done. The next best game is Birmingham. Ugh.

Correct. Not only is the Marlins not a nice P-5 match-up. Its not even a good G-5 matchup. Its now a garbage bowl who will have at best an opponent from the following group---CUSA #7, MW #6, MAC#4, or SB #4. Very disappointing...

How many times did I say that the PAC would never play in any marlins bowl?? It's just like the people on here that wouldn't believe it when realistic posts predicted the tv package would be less than 10 million a year per team.....

Right now the Pac-12 #8 isn't playing anywhere.

They'll work out a deal to play close to home in a minor bowl their fans can realistically go to. Poinsettia or New Mexico etc. Or they'll go back to their Hawaii Bowl days...Probably go to all of the above in a rotating arrangement.

There will be no PAC#8. 1 team will be in the playoff and doubt the PAC will have 9 bowl eligible teams year in and year out.

We're paying the penalty for (A) being on the wrong side of the Power Conf line... (B) for being a brand new conference... © being the G5 conference the P5 have the most interest in seeing kept down. Possible (D) we have schools that don't draw so well. Before anyone points it out, I know full well my school is in that group these days...

Make, and win the access bowl, and everything else will be moot. Get in these other bowls, SUPPORT THEM, and win them... and that will lead to better days. Hate and abandon these bowl games, and see what happens.

In the end, we have this.... the access BCS slot, and probably 3-4 bowl games against P5 schools. I don't give a s**t if they are 6-6 P5 schools... BEAT THEM AND MAKE A STATEMENT. They very possibly could have shut us out of bowl games, but they did not. Take advantage of the opportunity.

EDIT: I forgot to mention flexibility. We very well may score an additional 'good' spot every year, if we have enough back up bowls. Be ready to pounce.

Not sure why all the angst over whether we get the P12 #8 team or not. Think about that. The 8th team out of 12, coming from the opposite coast? Geez.

And after we lost the Liberty Bowl try, it has been obvious the Military Bowl was going to be our best. It sucks, but it isn't a surprise. From the beginning, it has been obvious that the big bowls and the P5 were freezing us out, so whether Aresco was an idiot or a genius was irrelevant. We were getting about what we apparently got.

Beyond the major bowls, I don't think it matters where or who we play. The idea then becomes just going and having a good time. Nothing but exhibitions, anyway.

I agree about the New Orleans Bowl. Not sure why we didn't show interest. Maybe there was something behind the scenes we don't know about.

(10-07-2013 02:31 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:25 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:19 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 02:10 PM)billybobby777 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 11:17 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Correct. Not only is the Marlins not a nice P-5 match-up. Its not even a good G-5 matchup. Its now a garbage bowl who will have at best an opponent from the following group---CUSA #7, MW #6, MAC#4, or SB #4. Very disappointing...

How many times did I say that the PAC would never play in any marlins bowl?? It's just like the people on here that wouldn't believe it when realistic posts predicted the tv package would be less than 10 million a year per team.....

Right now the Pac-12 #8 isn't playing anywhere.

They'll work out a deal to play close to home in a minor bowl their fans can realistically go to. Poinsettia or New Mexico etc. Or they'll go back to their Hawaii Bowl days...Probably go to all of the above in a rotating arrangement.

There will be no PAC#8. 1 team will be in the playoff and doubt the PAC will have 9 bowl eligible teams year in and year out.

Now that is very likely as well....(that they don't work out a deal for an 8th team). But I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a partial tie in with the HOD or Ft Worth bowls either....