(12-06-2016 01:06 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(12-06-2016 12:58 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(12-06-2016 12:51 PM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(12-06-2016 12:20 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(12-06-2016 12:04 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Sorry that we impressed them...we will try to do worse next time.

Well if no one else gets a shot to impress 'them' then how is that going to work?

By the way, who is 'them'? The NO Bowl Committee?

They have to take whomever we place there. They hold few cards anymore. Just remove their 'first pick' slot and tell them if they don't like it, they're welcome to try to maintain certification. Or tell them.. The two bowls holding the top two picks....must pick the top two schools between them.

Pretty sure they've had a number of teams try to impress them. I have to ask what do you think you'd bring to N.O.?

The NO Bowl isn't listening to anyone but ULL. We didn't deserve to go there this year....but you guys didn't either. Period. No way App should have been rewarded for winning the conference with another trip to Montgomery. App should have been in that bowl.

Is a bowl slot just about rewarding an undeserving team because we're scared we can't fill a stadium? That's a 2005 era Sun Belt attitude. We've moved on. Our bowl selection process should too.

Look, effectively for every other team in the conference...there's only 4 slots. NO would take a 5-7 APR qualifying team from ULL over an 11-1 Texas State or Coastal or USA team. And that's a problem.

Which way do you want it? You wanted to send our champ to play a 6-6 USM? How would that loss look?

I'm fine with it. Because it preserves access to the bowls for all Belt teams.

The three bowls left for us are:

Montgomery: Small stadium with a far flung matchup. Okay. But if that's our 'reach' bowl, that's not an appropriate reward if a team wins the conference.

Orlando: Huge stadium further away than 3 other bowls. Sometimes you get to play UCF in their stadium. Ugh.

Arizona: We deserved that bowl this year, but its a crap bowl.

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Dollar General: Won't take us. Of course if we ever get an OCS, that will end - immediately. Because they can either stop discriminating against us, pay us a fortune to rent our stadium, move to another city (bye), or remain in an aging stadium that will never be upgraded and where they'll be the last tenant (The Senior Bowl will move to USA's stadium). Of course, they're fools to not see this coming. But they're pretty much snobs that don't see USA as legitimate. By the way, protecting USA might protect the DG Bowl too. Because eventually we will build that OCS. And when we do, USA - not the Sun Belt - will decide whether the DG Bowl is even allowed to rent our stadium. We are under no obligation to do so. And if this is the attitude of the DG or the Sun Belt, its actually better for us if we don't play ball.

New Orleans: Won't take anyone if ULL is available. Its a nice venue, is close, usually gives a matchup with a regional rival. There's no reason why we should be barred from it. Or that it should be the personal property of one team. Especially a team that has a combined 1 shared championship in the last 6 years, a period during which they've played in our 'first pick' bowl FIVE times. Every other team would be better off if we just told the NO Bowl "Thanks for the memories" and just found another bowl.

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FOR EVERY TEAM NOT NAMED ULL....Consider this scenario four years down the road.

1) USA has built a new 30k stadium on campus. Ladd is faltering. And USA now controls whether the DG stays at Ladd and if not, how much money they have to pay for rent. Do you think that they're going to screw USA over? Nope. Sure the Belt could get involved, but USA could just simply say...fine, put us in New Orleans instead. An OCS for USA turns the whole dynamic with the Belt bowls on its head. Without a protocol, USA would hold a ridiculous amount of power about where they, and by extension, others would bowl. More than ULL has now. And ULL, USA could probably blast you guys out of a NO Bowl you actually deserved to play in with that kind of power.

2) The conference hasn't moved to stop the BS with the NO Bowl and ULL.

3) USA goes 7-5, ULL 6-6. Three way tie at the top between Troy, App and stAte at 9-3 (Lets make stAte the CGC winner). Ok. USA goes to the DG, ULL goes to the NO, Troy goes to the Camellia, and stAte gets rewarded with a trip to fabulous Tucson as Conference chamption. And the same could be true for App too. And the same would be true for Texas State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, or Coastal. And God help Troy in such a situation if the Camellia uses the 'too close' thought process that the DG does.