2016 game still open

[connsinfonia]

Any news on when we're going to fill the last 2016 spot on our schedule? Akron, Louisville (both in Huntington), and Pitt (in Pittsburgh) are current matchups. UK just scheduled NMSU, so there's only 25 other teams left who can fill the fourth OOC spot.

P5: Arkansas, Boston College, Florida, FSU, KState, Miami (Fl), Mizzou, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M, UNC, Vandy
G5: Army, Buffalo, BYU, EMU, NIU, Ohio, SMU, UCF, UMass, ULM, UNLV, Utah St, WMU

Any preferences or predictions (realistic or otherwise)? I'd like to see KState or UCF, but I'd be fine with anything relatively close, a P5 team, or a good G5 team.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

I think an FCS at home (which would give us 7 in Huntington) is likely.

 

[WV_Celt]

It's gonna be Ohio.

UCF would be a great game. NIU wouldn't be a bad regular season game (no bowl games, please).

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

BC, UNC or Vandy would be awesome. I'd like to have Army or BYU. UCF would be good as well.

 

[BT4373]

looks like Ohio would be a natural

 

[Herd Fever]

I would certainly look into the Miami series and see if we can restart it. Also I would be opposed to a 1 and done with either Florida or South Carolina because both schools are in rebuilding mode and beating those 2 would help us with instate recruiting. Home and Homes with Vandy and UNC would be good too

 

[MU42]

It's not Ohio or Miami (oh). We already scheduled games in the future with both schools and next year wasn't included so there is no way they are going to come back and fill in a year that was already skipped.

I heard that one of Hamricks goals was to have some years where we have 7 home games and 2016 and 2017 are both years where we can add a FCS school and have that. I hope he does it.

 

[WV_Celt]

Why would someone actually hope or wish for a game with an FCS school? So you have a chance to complain about the lack of butts in the seats? Or how weak the strength of schedule is and the perception that goes along with that?

I, for one, would be happy to not have The Herd at home if the team they are playing helps that perception in anyway possible.

 

[TDherd!]

We play two ACC teams next year, so I would be fine w a fcs team for a 7th home game. I would prefer to get a fbs team at home for a 7th game, but If we can't, I'd be fine w a fcs team if that means we get to see the herd seven times at home...

 

[HerdIrishfan]

Lol at people actually wanting to play a FCS team. If you want 7 homes games that bad why wouldn't you rather hope for us play Army or Buffalo or Umass at home instead? Makes no sense to just hope we get a FCS team as the 7th home game.

 

[herdit44]

Why would someone actually hope or wish for a game with an FCS school? So you have a chance to complain about the lack of butts in the seats? Or how weak the strength of schedule is and the perception that goes along with that?

I, for one, would be happy to not have The Herd at home if the team they are playing helps that perception in anyway possible.

our last 3 FCS games have drawn:

25,106 (downpour), season average: 27,461 (drew 23,711 for the cusa championship game)
26,317, season average 25,023
25,317, season average 24,896

plus, with louisville coming to the joan in non-conference play, western and middle both coming in conference play our season ticket sales will be pretty solid next year.

 

[RedParallax]

Lol at people actually wanting to play a FCS team. If you want 7 homes games that bad why wouldn't you rather hope for us play Army or Buffalo or Umass at home instead? Makes no sense to just hope we get a FCS team as the 7th home game.

There is literally zero difference in playing an FCS program vs the three you just laid out, from a perception and SOS standpoint.

 

[connsinfonia]

I would far and away rather see us play an away game than have a seventh home against an FCS. Sure, the seventh home game would be sweet, but I would rather have at least a somewhat interesting matchup - and there's no way we'll play the FCS teams that would provide that (ND State, Illinois, etc). And who's to say we couldn't get a seventh home against an FBS opponent? With Louisville and Pitt on the schedule, SOS won't be as much of a concern for scheduling. While I would certainly prefer a P5 or a good G5 (or Ohio), a seventh home against an FBS opponent would be pretty awesome.

Looks like Army has only scheduled four of their away games next year (including Navy). How awesome would it be to see them come to Huntington? Or a former CUSA member (UCF/SMU)?

 

[herdit44]

I would far and away rather see us play an away game than have a seventh home against an FCS. Sure, the seventh home game would be sweet, but I would rather have at least a somewhat interesting matchup - and there's no way we'll play the FCS teams that would provide that (ND State, Illinois, etc). And who's to say we couldn't get a seventh home against an FBS opponent? With Louisville and Pitt on the schedule, SOS won't be as much of a concern for scheduling. While I would certainly prefer a P5 or a good G5 (or Ohio), a seventh home against an FBS opponent would be pretty awesome.

Looks like Army has only scheduled four of their away games next year (including Navy). How awesome would it be to see them come to Huntington? Or a former CUSA member (UCF/SMU)?

i would guess, hamrick's priority list for that 7th game would be:

1. FBS at home
2. FCS at home
3. FBS on the road

 

[TDherd!]

I'm not hoping it will be an fcs, I hope it's a fbs team, but when scheduling one and done games at the Joan, it is usually a fcs school. Maybe we will be able to schedule a home and away w a fbs school for 2016 and 2017. Which would mean one of those years we would have 7 home games vs fbs teams.

 

[herdit44]

I'm not hoping it will be an fcs, I hope it's a fbs team, but when scheduling one and done games at the Joan, it is usually a fcs school. Maybe we will be able to schedule a home and away w a fbs school for 2016 and 2017. Which would mean one of those years we would have 7 home games vs fbs teams.

with our future schedules we could do road games in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022, so there is plenty of room for us to do a 1 for 1 with a FBS school, we'd get them here in 2016 and go there any of the next 3 years. getting them to play us is a different story...

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Lol at people actually wanting to play a FCS team. If you want 7 homes games that bad why wouldn't you rather hope for us play Army or Buffalo or Umass at home instead? Makes no sense to just hope we get a FCS team as the 7th home game.

Because having seven home games is a huge financial gain for the program.

And as another poster mentioned, Western Carolina versus Buffalo or UMASS is a wash in every way conceivable except we don't have to promise an away game to get an FCS school to Huntington.

Our OOC schedule is already solid next year with Louisville and Pitt.

 

[RedParallax]

Does Birdsong have another year of eligibility after this coming season? If so, think of 2016 and his senior year lining up an OOC schedule vs Akron, Louisville, Pitt, and another winnable P5 game (Boston College, UNC, Vandy) or a top G5 game (Utah State, UCF, BYU). We could have another potential 2014 with a much, much better OOC.

 

[herdit44]

Does Birdsong have another year of eligibility after this coming season? If so, think of 2016 and his senior year lining up an OOC schedule vs Akron, Louisville, Pitt, and another winnable P5 game (Boston College, UNC, Vandy) or a top G5 game (Utah State, UCF, BYU). We could have another potential 2014 with a much, much better OOC.

he has 2015 and 2016.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Does Birdsong have another year of eligibility after this coming season? If so, think of 2016 and his senior year lining up an OOC schedule vs Akron, Louisville, Pitt, and another winnable P5 game (Boston College, UNC, Vandy) or a top G5 game (Utah State, UCF, BYU). We could have another potential 2014 with a much, much better OOC.

Yep, Birdsong has two years of eligibility remaining. We should return somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-15 starters in 2016 and I agree with you that it sets up to be a big year for us.

 

[herdit44]

Yep, Birdsong has two years of eligibility remaining. We should return somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-15 starters in 2016 and I agree with you that it sets up to be a big year for us.

and i think with two p5s already on the schedule, it sets us up so that a fcs opponent at home wouldn't kill us, though a fbs program at home would be ideal.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

and i think with two p5s already on the schedule, it sets us up so that a fcs opponent at home wouldn't kill us, though a fbs program at home would be ideal.

I think everyone and their momma would prefer an FBS program but if a school like UMASS demands a 1-1 and someone like WCU will come to Huntington without a return game, it's a no-brainer.

 

[RedParallax]

I think everyone and their momma would prefer an FBS program but if a school like UMASS demands a 1-1 and someone like WCU will come to Huntington without a return game, it's a no-brainer.

I honestly don't know..... I think we, as a G5 program rebuilding national respect after the last 2 seasons, have got to do everything possible to beef up our schedules without making it "4 games vs SEC teams" level of unrealistic. We need to keep pushing on that ceiling of P5 programs we can realistically beat. In 2007, we wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell vs Louisville, Pitt, NC State, etc. That's not the case anymore - those are all realistic potential wins and we need to improve who we schedule accordingly.

With that being said, if we have the capability of scheduling a solid, realistically winnable game, that should take top priority, regardless of who else is on the OOC schedule. We should not be defaulting to "Eh, just get an FCS" going forward. Not with the improvements we've seen on the field the last 2 seasons.

 

[BT4373]

Consider YSU. They always brought some fans.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

If we can get a 7th home game, why not pay someone like BC extra coin to come play? Make it a 1-1 series where we go there at some point. The 7th home game obviously helps us financially, use that extra income to entice a better opponent to come. You'll obviously still make money as a result of a 7th home game - extra tix sales, concessions, etc. Win-win.

 

[herdit44]

If we can get a 7th home game, why not pay someone like BC extra coin to come play? Make it a 1-1 series where we go there at some point. The 7th home game obviously helps us financially, use that extra income to entice a better opponent to come. You'll obviously still make money as a result of a 7th home game - extra tix sales, concessions, etc. Win-win.

i'd love to play bc here...

but how much more would we draw for bc than we would for western carolina, or whomever? we'll get 25,000 - 27,000 for wcu, how many more butts in the seat would bc draw? even if you said 5,000 more, that's just $175,000 in extra ticket revenue (figuring $35/ticket) and concessions isn't that big of a money maker for us, if the extra 5,000 people spent an average of $15 on concessions we'd be looking at and extra $19,000 in concession sales (athletic dept's usually get 25%-30% of concession revenue)...if you add other small revenue sources, we'd generate an extra $200,000 or so for playing bc over wcu, for an athletic department like bc that is getting $25m a year or more in tv revenue, is $200,000 enough to entice them to play at a g5 school first?

 

[Herd Fever]

NO FCS at all. We need to try and push for a 1-1 with one of those 1A schools first and foremost but honestly I wouldn't mind a 1 and done with 1 of the SEC schools and challenge ourselves and tell the committee "Look we played 3 P5 schools, 2 on the road"

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

i'd love to play bc here...

but how much more would we draw for bc than we would for western carolina, or whomever? we'll get 25,000 - 27,000 for wcu, how many more butts in the seat would bc draw? even if you said 5,000 more, that's just $175,000 in extra ticket revenue (figuring $35/ticket) and concessions isn't that big of a money maker for us, if the extra 5,000 people spent an average of $15 on concessions we'd be looking at and extra $19,000 in concession sales (athletic dept's usually get 25%-30% of concession revenue)...if you add other small revenue sources, we'd generate an extra $200,000 or so for playing bc over wcu, for an athletic department like bc that is getting $25m a year or more in tv revenue, is $200,000 enough to entice them to play at a g5 school first?

I'd say we would draw 32-34K for a BC type program easy. Pay them above and beyond what you normally pay. You still make some extra revenue (maybe not much) and get to whip a P5 team at home. Thats a huge win-win as far as I am concerned.

 

[herdit44]

I'd say we would draw 32-34K for a BC type program easy. Pay them above and beyond what you normally pay. You still make some extra revenue (maybe not much) and get to whip a P5 team at home. Thats a huge win-win as far as I am concerned.

how would we make extra revenue if we're offering above and beyond what we normally pay? even at 34k, instead of 26k for fcs, we're looking at ~$325,000 in extra revenue, so we give how much of that to bc? keep in mind this is a program that is likely bringing in $70m a year in revenue, $325,000 is peanuts to them...

and i wouldn't count on whipping bc, they finished 7-6 last year, lost by 3 to 10-3 colorado state, lost by 4 to 10-3 clemson, and lost by 3 at 13-1 florida state on a last second field goal.

 

[Gochneaur645]

Hamrick has already said it's an FCS.

 

[Herd Fever]

Hamrick is obviously clueless on how the new rules of college football works. Playing an FCS school does NOTHING to help us. Its a wasted home game that wont be televised

 

[herdit44]

Hamrick is obviously clueless on how the new rules of college football works. Playing an FCS school does NOTHING to help us. Its a wasted home game that wont be televised

you're right! a team that plays a fcs school would never be in running for the access spot, except colorado state, utah state, memphis, marshall, east carolina...

how dare he waste home games where we draw over 25,000! i mean when we play in the cusa championship we drew so much more than that...oh wait...

 

[HerdIrishfan]

Hamrick is obviously clueless on how the new rules of college football works. Playing an FCS school does NOTHING to help us. Its a wasted home game that wont be televised

This. I think it's a joke some people are actually willing to play an FCS. The difference between an FCS and an FBS school is perception. So yes playing UMass or Army would look better than playing Western Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Carolina A&M State Tech or whatever other BS FCS school that people want us to play.

 

[HerdIrishfan]

you're right! a team that plays a fcs school would never be in running for the access spot, except colorado state, utah state, memphis, marshall, east carolina...

how dare he waste home games where we draw over 25,000! i mean when we play in the cusa championship we drew so much more than that...oh wait...

I think your missing the point. I don't think anybody is arguing that we should play an away game instead of a home game.

 

[Gochneaur645]

Hamrick is obviously clueless on how the new rules of college football works. Playing an FCS school does NOTHING to help us. Its a wasted home game that wont be televised

Norfolk State is televised.

I'm not a fan of FCS teams either, but I'm ok with it when we already have Pitt and Louisville. It's also extremely difficult to schedule somebody on such short notice.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

This. I think it's a joke some people are actually willing to play an FCS. The difference between an FCS and an FBS school is perception. So yes playing UMass or Army would look better than playing Western Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Carolina A&M State Tech or whatever other BS FCS school that people want us to play.

Good to see you back on HN, Irish. Where ya been?

Do you really believe the difference between a Western Carolina and Buffalo would be big enough for us to get left out of the Access Bowl? Because that's what I thought we were talking about. In a perfect world we would all love for an FBS team to be that 7th home game but I'm just not sure it is a reality.

 

[herdit44]

I think your missing the point. I don't think anybody is arguing that we should play an away game instead of a home game.

i think you guys are missing the point. the knock on our schedule last year wasn't that we played a fcs school, it was that we didn't play a p5 school. next year's schedule has two p5 opponents and a g5 opponent. it's the same exact schedule that colorado state had last year, you know the team in the driver's seat until their season finale for the access spot.

a schedule of two p5s, a g5, and a fcs school is really an ideal schedule. people hate playing fcs schools, but last year our fcs game outdrew the wku game and the cusa championship game.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Norfolk State is televised.

I'm not a fan of FCS teams either, but I'm ok with it when we already have Pitt and Louisville. It's also extremely difficult to schedule somebody on such short notice.

Exactly.

No one is over the moon about an FCS opponent but our schedule, especially if we want a 7th home game, dictates an FCS is our most likely option.

 

[Gochneaur645]

i think you guys are missing the point. the knock on our schedule last year wasn't that we played a fcs school, it was that we didn't play a p5 school. next year's schedule has two p5 opponents and a g5 opponent. it's the same exact schedule that colorado state had last year, you know the team in the driver's seat until their season finale for the access spot.

a schedule of two p5s, a g5, and a fcs school is really an ideal schedule. people hate playing fcs schools, but last year our fcs game outdrew the wku game and the cusa championship game.

I agree with you, but to be fair, Colorado State was never in the driver's seat since they lost to Boise in Week 2. I don't believe they were ever ranked by the committee, and it wouldn't have mattered if they were.

 

[Herd Fever]

I would rather play a 1 and done road game against a Florida and South Carolina. 1 and 1 with UNC, Vandy, BC, UCF, and BYU. And we should push for those options before we settle for an FCS school. You guys have to remember we already play UNCC and ODU which will bring down the schedule. We don't need another FCS opponent. And you bring up Colorado State but they don't have a single team on their conference schedule like UNCC or ODU. WE NEED!!!!! to have a 1A school home or away to fill that spot. Perception is reality in todays 1A football. I would rather play Buffalo then Western Carolina or a team of that ilk