Let me rephrase. G5 bowls don't grow on trees. Ask the Sunbelt or MAC or Western. I'll bet they would go to to any bowl rather than stay home. We have the Hawaii and the Bahamas as destination bowls which was what the old bowls intended to do.

FWIW, Rice sold out its entire allotment of tickets when they played AFA in Armed Forces bowl in 2012. I believe they were one of only ~15 teams (out of over 60 total) that could make that claim. Owls also traveled well to NO Bowl. Proximity makes a difference. Last few years, Rice bowl travel much better than regular season attendance.

As a side, Rice won't go to Hawaii. They had chance in 2012 and declined. The inconvenience on families being apart for XMas (not all families can afford to fly to Hawaii as team does not pay for it) and cost to team (they lose money as payout does not cover team travel, hotel, etc. costs) are not worth the benefit of being only televised game on ESPN (national stage to yourself) and kids getting to go to Hawaii.

I think that winner of La Tech/Rice games gets the Big 10 match-up in HOD bowl and loser goes to Armed Forces. Both teams will travel well to DFW area.

(11-21-2014 02:15 AM)owl40 Wrote:  FWIW, Rice sold out its entire allotment of tickets when they played AFA in Armed Forces bowl in 2012. I believe they were one of only ~15 teams (out of over 60 total) that could make that claim. Owls also traveled well to NO Bowl. Proximity makes a difference. Last few years, Rice bowl travel much better than regular season attendance.

As a side, Rice won't go to Hawaii. They had chance in 2012 and declined. The inconvenience on families being apart for XMas (not all families can afford to fly to Hawaii as team does not pay for it) and cost to team (they lose money as payout does not cover team travel, hotel, etc. costs) are not worth the benefit of being only televised game on ESPN (national stage to yourself) and kids getting to go to Hawaii.

I think that winner of La Tech/Rice games gets the Big 10 match-up in HOD bowl and loser goes to Armed Forces. Both teams will travel well to DFW area.

So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

Trust me. As a Tech fan you take whatever bowl is offered. Being picky keeps your a$$ @ home and people rub it in your face for years. If Hawaii comes calling the administration will answer.

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

I have no argument with your comment about Rice needing to beat UTEP first. I interpret our AD's comments this week that Rice is lobbying for a spot in Fort Worth, if the Big 12 does not provide an opponent, especially if the AAC team there is Houston.

(11-21-2014 01:36 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

I have no argument with your comment about Rice needing to beat UTEP first. I interpret our AD's comments this week that Rice is lobbying for a spot in Fort Worth, if the Big 12 does not provide an opponent, especially if the AAC team there is Houston.

That's exactly what AD's do this time of year, try to position their football team to their best advantage. In 2010 UTEP would have been headed to the New Orleans Bowl but our admin wanted to go to the NM Bowl and the NM Bowl wanted UTEP. Proximity and all. The deal was worked out to everyone's advantage since UTEP took a lot of fans to Albuquerque and likely would have only taken a handful to New Orleans. Good luck to the Owls, just not this week.

(11-21-2014 01:36 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

I have no argument with your comment about Rice needing to beat UTEP first. I interpret our AD's comments this week that Rice is lobbying for a spot in Fort Worth, if the Big 12 does not provide an opponent, especially if the AAC team there is Houston.

I would love to see Rice play in Fort Worth. I'm only saying that when it's all said and done we go were we go. If it's Hawaii or nothing then it's Hawaii.

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 02:15 AM)owl40 Wrote:  FWIW, Rice sold out its entire allotment of tickets when they played AFA in Armed Forces bowl in 2012. I believe they were one of only ~15 teams (out of over 60 total) that could make that claim. Owls also traveled well to NO Bowl. Proximity makes a difference. Last few years, Rice bowl travel much better than regular season attendance.

As a side, Rice won't go to Hawaii. They had chance in 2012 and declined. The inconvenience on families being apart for XMas (not all families can afford to fly to Hawaii as team does not pay for it) and cost to team (they lose money as payout does not cover team travel, hotel, etc. costs) are not worth the benefit of being only televised game on ESPN (national stage to yourself) and kids getting to go to Hawaii.

I think that winner of La Tech/Rice games gets the Big 10 match-up in HOD bowl and loser goes to Armed Forces. Both teams will travel well to DFW area.

So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

That's not how it works. If the conference wants to put Rice in Dallas, they'll do it. And I won't blame them if they do. I really believe unless something happens with a secondary tie-in Tech or Rice is going to Hawaii. I won't be disappointed either way. If it's Dallas I'll go. If it's Hawaii I'll watch on TV and we'll get great exposure on ESPN in primetime being the only game on Christmas Eve night. And the players probably enjoy Hawaii more than Dallas.

(11-21-2014 01:58 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 01:36 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

I have no argument with your comment about Rice needing to beat UTEP first. I interpret our AD's comments this week that Rice is lobbying for a spot in Fort Worth, if the Big 12 does not provide an opponent, especially if the AAC team there is Houston.

That's exactly what AD's do this time of year, try to position their football team to their best advantage. In 2010 UTEP would have been headed to the New Orleans Bowl but our admin wanted to go to the NM Bowl and the NM Bowl wanted UTEP. Proximity and all. The deal was worked out to everyone's advantage since UTEP took a lot of fans to Albuquerque and likely would have only taken a handful to New Orleans. Good luck to the Owls, just not this week.

I remember that. Tech won 5 games that year and the word was if we had gotten our 6th WAC would trade our New Mexico spot to CUSA. UTEP would go to New Mexico and Tech would go to New Orleans.

(11-21-2014 03:42 PM)Saint Greg Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 09:37 AM)pilot172000 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 02:15 AM)owl40 Wrote:  FWIW, Rice sold out its entire allotment of tickets when they played AFA in Armed Forces bowl in 2012. I believe they were one of only ~15 teams (out of over 60 total) that could make that claim. Owls also traveled well to NO Bowl. Proximity makes a difference. Last few years, Rice bowl travel much better than regular season attendance.

As a side, Rice won't go to Hawaii. They had chance in 2012 and declined. The inconvenience on families being apart for XMas (not all families can afford to fly to Hawaii as team does not pay for it) and cost to team (they lose money as payout does not cover team travel, hotel, etc. costs) are not worth the benefit of being only televised game on ESPN (national stage to yourself) and kids getting to go to Hawaii.

I think that winner of La Tech/Rice games gets the Big 10 match-up in HOD bowl and loser goes to Armed Forces. Both teams will travel well to DFW area.

So what you are saying is that if your don't get the bowl you want you are gonna take your ball and go home? BTW, If Tech wins tommorow the Rice game is gonnna be meaningless. Tech will be Western Division Champs and deserves the right to go to whatever bowl they want excluding the one Marshall picks. Also you gotta beat UTEP before you start making demands about where you are going.

That's not how it works. If the conference wants to put Rice in Dallas, they'll do it. And I won't blame them if they do. I really believe unless something happens with a secondary tie-in Tech or Rice is going to Hawaii. I won't be disappointed either way. If it's Dallas I'll go. If it's Hawaii I'll watch on TV and we'll get great exposure on ESPN in primetime being the only game on Christmas Eve night. And the players probably enjoy Hawaii more than Dallas.

I said deserves the right. I think it would suck for Tech to win the division and go to Hawaii when a Bowl game in Dallas would be huge for both the fan base and recruiting. The best outcome would be for a 6-6 East team to go to Hawaii and for Rice to go to Fort Worth while Tech plays in Dallas.

I want Dallas but will take a bowl game any where I can get one.

(11-21-2014 04:28 PM)pilot172000 Wrote:  I said deserves the right. I think it would suck for Tech to win the division and go to Hawaii when a Bowl game in Dallas would be huge for both the fan base and recruiting. The best outcome would be for a 6-6 East team to go to Hawaii and for Rice to go to Fort Worth while Tech plays in Dallas.

Heart of Dallas is at 11 am on Friday, December 26. Armed Forces is at 11 am on Friday, January 2. Just my opinion, but that Dallas date looks like it gets lost in the Christmas shuffle, while Fort Worth might be more visible and more fan-friendly.

Do we actually think Armed Forces will take a CUSA team over a Pac 12? I don't think so.

If that one article was correct about CUSA having a backup with Armed Forces, then we would see Armed Forces Bowl logos on the CUSA bowl site.

(11-21-2014 04:58 PM)MTowho Wrote:  Do we actually think Armed Forces will take a CUSA team over a Pac 12? I don't think so.

If that one article was correct about CUSA having a backup with Armed Forces, then we would see Armed Forces Bowl logos on the CUSA bowl site.

Maybe the armed forces logo is there but it's camouflage

(11-21-2014 05:03 PM)Saint Greg Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 04:58 PM)MTowho Wrote:  Do we actually think Armed Forces will take a CUSA team over a Pac 12? I don't think so.

If that one article was correct about CUSA having a backup with Armed Forces, then we would see Armed Forces Bowl logos on the CUSA bowl site.

Maybe the armed forces logo is there but it's camouflage

Ha well done.

(11-21-2014 04:52 PM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(11-21-2014 04:28 PM)pilot172000 Wrote:  I said deserves the right. I think it would suck for Tech to win the division and go to Hawaii when a Bowl game in Dallas would be huge for both the fan base and recruiting. The best outcome would be for a 6-6 East team to go to Hawaii and for Rice to go to Fort Worth while Tech plays in Dallas.

Heart of Dallas is at 11 am on Friday, December 26. Armed Forces is at 11 am on Friday, January 2. Just my opinion, but that Dallas date looks like it gets lost in the Christmas shuffle, while Fort Worth might be more visible and more fan-friendly.

I'll take either but HOD offers a BIG10 Opponent and I couldn't pass up up a shot at at 6-6 Michigan or Iowa.

So, I'm looking at the worst case scenario for UTEP, which would be Marshall not getting the Access bid, and the standings ending up as follows:

Marshall 13-0
Louisiana Tech 8-5
Rice 7-5
Middle Tennessee 7-5
Western Kentucky 6-6
UTEP 6-6

UAB 6-6
Old Dominion 6-6

We have 5 slots, correct? UAB and ODU would be out because of their wins against FCS competition. Marshall not getting in would leave UTEP and WKU at the bottom for the fifth slot. What happens vis-a-vis those two? My guess is that they would try to get WKU east as a fill in and leave UTEP with the New Mexico Bowl.

Sorry if this has been previously rehashed.

(11-22-2014 04:59 PM)STexMiner Wrote:  So, I'm looking at the worst case scenario for UTEP, which would be Marshall not getting the Access bid, and the standings ending up as follows:

Marshall 13-0
Louisiana Tech 8-5
Rice 7-5
Middle Tennessee 7-5
Western Kentucky 6-6
UTEP 6-6

UAB 6-6
Old Dominion 6-6

We have 5 slots, correct? UAB and ODU would be out because of their wins against FCS competition. Marshall not getting in would leave UTEP and WKU at the bottom for the fifth slot. What happens vis-a-vis those two? My guess is that they would try to get WKU east as a fill in and leave UTEP with the New Mexico Bowl.

Sorry if this has been previously rehashed.

Is there a rule that states teams with all FBS wins will be taken over a team with a fcs win on its resume if there was a lack of slots? I don't feel good about our shot at a bowl game unless it's Hawaii since no team would bring fans due to expense and we are a fun team to watch

ODU would only be eligible with a shortage of teams. Same situation as Georgia Southern. UTEP, I feel, would get a nod over WKU & UAB because of fan base. We need Marshall to get that Access Bowl.

UAB still has to win an incredibly tough game at Southern Miss.

(11-22-2014 06:02 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(11-22-2014 04:59 PM)STexMiner Wrote:  So, I'm looking at the worst case scenario for UTEP, which would be Marshall not getting the Access bid, and the standings ending up as follows:

Marshall 13-0
Louisiana Tech 8-5
Rice 7-5
Middle Tennessee 7-5
Western Kentucky 6-6
UTEP 6-6

UAB 6-6
Old Dominion 6-6

We have 5 slots, correct? UAB and ODU would be out because of their wins against FCS competition. Marshall not getting in would leave UTEP and WKU at the bottom for the fifth slot. What happens vis-a-vis those two? My guess is that they would try to get WKU east as a fill in and leave UTEP with the New Mexico Bowl.

Sorry if this has been previously rehashed.

Is there a rule that states teams with all FBS wins will be taken over a team with a fcs win on its resume if there was a lack of slots? I don't feel good about our shot at a bowl game unless it's Hawaii since no team would bring fans due to expense and we are a fun team to watch

I'm fairly confident that that's the rule, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm sure someone here knows more than I do about the subject.