RE: Texas State Fans
I actually took the time to read through this entire thread. Ive come to this conclusion:
If it is all just a business, why do they even put a limit on amount of games to win? I believe if it was up to the P5's they would just have all P5's go to a bowl game since those would bring in the largest ratings and crowds. Then the trickle down effect is all the G5's would now be known as FBS-Division 2. Which would then in turn lead to crappy tv deals and its ESPN3 for everyone.
I understand the argument for recruiting in Texas. But wevdont just compete with other schools when recruiting Texas. We compete with every P5 school out there for recruit. It's sad that I find it rewarding when we actually sign a 3-star recruit when most of the big schools probably "taking a gamble" on the kid. Would it be rewarding to tell the recruit of our success in bowl games? Absolutely! So while we are saying we have been bowl eligible the past 2 years, we have nothing to tell them about the game as we weren't invited. I fear this could become a trend. However, the biggest thing we are gonna miss are the 15 practices. It doesnt matter if we win or lose the bowl game. The big thing is you are practicing for another month (another spring ball) to prepare for next season.
Every most every team has been bowl eligible has been left out for the arguments I'm getting. The problem is that we have come to accept that. Next year we will have four bowls to qualify for. Also, next year we will have three extra teams that can be bowl eligible. It doesn't get any better. Why does being 8-4 or 9-3 have to be the norm for the Sunbelt to make a bowl but all other conferences, 6-6 is just fine?.
Attendance is an issue. I find it kind of sad that we are happy with Thursday night or Tuesday night games. Ya the game is on ESPN. But really, football is almost being forces on the general public every day of the week. NFL has Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. College is Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. High school is Thursday and Friday. I work with high football teams and frankly it was hard to keep my attention on those games when Texas State was playing. As much as I wanted to watch and cheer, I needed a break from football. Its like pizza. Its good and its enjoyable, but when it is forced on you for every meal, eventually you just want a bowl or cereal or a sandwich instead. Even those games when it was the only game on tv had crappy ratings. On Tuesday and Thursday games, it is hard for the alumni to make the trip, esp. for an 8:30 game at night. I live in Ft Worth so any week night game is out of the question for me to make the trip. I have friends that live in Austin who had to cancel their season tickets because half the home games were on week nights when they couldnt attend. We want to be there, but give us an opportunity to be there.
Lastly, we call this the funbelt. What's fun about it? Is it fun knowing that if you are in the running for an atlarge bid you are more than likely sitting at home? Is it fun knowing that CUSA probably has double the numbers of teams bowling than the Sunbelt does? It is fun knowing that other than ULL and ULM there are no true rivalries or that youve lost half your teams to other conferences and are pretty much the FCS transfer conference. And the way I see things, we will probably lose another member this offseason, and any school that gets that offer will take it because as much as we want to pump ourselves up and say we are better than other conferences, we arent. Thats why any team selected cant wait to leave, or why we have to play on week nights, or we dont get selected for bowl games except for the ones we have tie-ins to (in which having a 10 am kickoff is pretty pathetic cause most people wont even be awake when the game starts). We let the NCAA/ESPN/everyone else walk all over us, and we let them. We can complain, yell its not fair til we are blue in the face, and in the end it wont matter. Its hard to get a change when the only ones listening are the ones that are yelling. I fear this is a constant stalemate this conference is stuck in. If you are one of the lucky ones selected to get out, congratulations. If not, adopt the motto "Wait til next year" cause that is what every football season will end up being.
If you agree with this, you agree with it. If you don't, I really don't care. This is just me venting, but trying to be constructive in the same sense.
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