(02-27-2024 02:51 PM)pono Wrote: If you want to be D1 in football and are not Notre Dame or an academy you need a conference. No one else has made that work otherwise. This doesn't make great geographic sense for UMass but there is no G5 league in the Northeast/New England. Football is 4 away games in conf; you figure it out w a long bus ride or a charter. The hard part is all the other sports which have less resources and don't bring revenue.
At least now they know who they will play. That they will stay D1. If they continue to improve into a mid level MAC team they will go to bowls every other year. in MBB they haven't been to the dance in ages. A10 is good but has struggled just to get two bids in recent years. With VCU and Dayton positioned there, you've got to get through Davidson, St Bona, Loyola, Richmond, George Mason, Rhode Is, St Louis just to get onto the bubble. They will immediately be top 5 in men's hoops and have a better shot at a bid. They can build a great non-conf schedule around their old A10 faves and some regional teams of interest. If you are fighting for a conf title with a lot of wins and Akron or Toledo comes to town with a lot on the line it is still a big game. NIU or Ball St may not move the needle, but UMass is not packing em in for most of their schedule now.
All good points. It will work for them. In the NE, they can put together a nice BBall OOC schedule as Pono mentioned. Any other A10 opportunities? I am glad for the addition for BBall, for sure. A good coach and some transfer portal help can change FB fortunes quickly. I like how this expands the conference footprint. I wonder if any other NE schools are being considered.
Nick I am scratching my head about why you would only bring in the Bison and the jackrabbits in football only, their basketball teams have done well against other mid majors like UT, especially South Dakota State. MidnightBlueGold, Fargo is a growing city in North Dakota and the Bison could do well inside the MAC. They did beat down BGSU in football in Bowling Green not too lone ago.
(02-27-2024 07:34 AM)bdunrocket Wrote: Rockets fly into Bradley Int. It is half way between Springfield and Hartford. About 45 minutes from campus straight up 91. For me since I live out this way I will get to see
My Rockets on occasion.
OK, I've flown into Bradley and then driven north to Vermont. So UMass with their 17,000 seat football stadium that they can't fill is going to pay for all of their teams to fly all over the Midwest? I sincerely doubt that FB and BB attendance will go up with home games with teams that nobody knows anything about compared to long-term opponents.
How about in the not to distant future when MAC teams will be raided on a continuous basis so that fans won't ever be able to tell who will be on their team. I believe this will lead to an overall drop in attendance and loss of interest/revenue which will leave the MAC in a precarious situation.
We've been terrible for the past 10 years and yet with the win over Army we had ATTENDANCE: 14672. That's getting close and with some more wins, do see sellouts! We had terrible weather for the first 4 games as well. https://umassathletics.com/sports/footba...core/14829
(02-27-2024 07:34 AM)bdunrocket Wrote: Rockets fly into Bradley Int. It is half way between Springfield and Hartford. About 45 minutes from campus straight up 91. For me since I live out this way I will get to see
My Rockets on occasion.
OK, I've flown into Bradley and then driven north to Vermont. So UMass with their 17,000 seat football stadium that they can't fill is going to pay for all of their teams to fly all over the Midwest? I sincerely doubt that FB and BB attendance will go up with home games with teams that nobody knows anything about compared to long-term opponents.
How about in the not to distant future when MAC teams will be raided on a continuous basis so that fans won't ever be able to tell who will be on their team. I believe this will lead to an overall drop in attendance and loss of interest/revenue which will leave the MAC in a precarious situation.
We've been terrible for the past 10 years and yet with the win over Army we had ATTENDANCE: 14672. That's getting close and with some more wins, do see sellouts! We had terrible weather for the first 4 games as well. https://umassathletics.com/sports/footba...core/14829
Thanks for the link Steve. It looks like your coaching staff is pulling in a number of quality transfers. It seems UMass is pretty serious about improving the program. We are looking forward to seeing the Minutemen on the court, as mentioned earlier. Best of luck. Welcome.
(03-05-2024 02:26 PM)Springboromark Wrote: NDSU could kick some but inside the MAC !!!
Not sure that's true. The only DI team they've played since 2015 is Arizona in '21 and lost 31-28. They did play well. I think they beat UMinn prior to 2015 but didn't research it further. Many of the teams they defeat by 2 TD's UT would blow away. No true corollary to say how well they'd play in MAC. I'd suspect mid level. Hard to tell. They'd be a tough opponent. I'm not diminishing - them just not sure.
I don't think they add much to MAC. Not sure how #'s would work. I wonder if that's been analyzed?
(03-05-2024 02:26 PM)Springboromark Wrote: NDSU could kick some but inside the MAC !!!
Not sure that's true. The only DI team they've played since 2015 is Arizona in '21 and lost 31-28. They did play well. I think they beat UMinn prior to 2015 but didn't research it further. Many of the teams they defeat by 2 TD's UT would blow away. No true corollary to say how well they'd play in MAC. I'd suspect mid level. Hard to tell. They'd be a tough opponent. I'm not diminishing - them just not sure.
I don't think they add much to MAC. Not sure how #'s would work. I wonder if that's been analyzed?
Go Rockets!
They did beat Iowa in 2016. I'm guessing they have some trouble getting FBS games because teams see no reason to play them because they are so good.
(02-27-2024 07:34 AM)bdunrocket Wrote: Rockets fly into Bradley Int. It is half way between Springfield and Hartford. About 45 minutes from campus straight up 91. For me since I live out this way I will get to see
My Rockets on occasion.
OK, I've flown into Bradley and then driven north to Vermont. So UMass with their 17,000 seat football stadium that they can't fill is going to pay for all of their teams to fly all over the Midwest? I sincerely doubt that FB and BB attendance will go up with home games with teams that nobody knows anything about compared to long-term opponents.
How about in the not to distant future when MAC teams will be raided on a continuous basis so that fans won't ever be able to tell who will be on their team. I believe this will lead to an overall drop in attendance and loss of interest/revenue which will leave the MAC in a precarious situation.
We've been terrible for the past 10 years and yet with the win over Army we had ATTENDANCE: 14672. That's getting close and with some more wins, do see sellouts! We had terrible weather for the first 4 games as well. https://umassathletics.com/sports/footba...core/14829
Thanks for the link Steve. It looks like your coaching staff is pulling in a number of quality transfers. It seems UMass is pretty serious about improving the program. We are looking forward to seeing the Minutemen on the court, as mentioned earlier. Best of luck. Welcome.
Interesting that Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher attend the game in the link (31:30 mark in video). Perhaps 1 or 2 would be interested in our brass and MAC Commissioner had to say. You can skip the first 16 plus minutes. Bring a bucket of popcorn or puck bucket, whatever you like.
Ya, it's now the off season and revisiting this. Know epasnoopy and Nick in Cleveland have a puck bucket in hand. In a few years see a major stadium upgrade (40 minute mark in video).
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2024 07:14 PM by Steve1981.)
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