Will lightning strike in a bottle once more for The Herd, maybe, but don't all bent out of shape when we don't live up to your extreme expectations.
It's unreasonable to expect a low budget mid-major to be in top 20
- Thread starter Herd-nificent
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It is difficult for smaller schools to consistently be in the Top 20 in college football. The big money is not there, the top players are not there, and even when a school does “catch lightning in a bottle” for that one special year, a bigger, richer school swoops in and takes their coach and the small school has to start all over again from scratch.
Louisiana, App State, and a handful of others laugh at this thought.
can we be top 5 like Cincinnati? Very hard, lightning in a bottle type thing. However, getting in the top 25 isn’t nearly as hard given our schedule. Wins attract votes. We play very few games in any given year where our opponent has significant advantages over us. It comes down to winning the games you are favored to win, which is a minimum of 7 a year for us, usually 8 or 9, then gut out a few wins against “equal teams” and hope for a win against the one team that is clearly advantaged. You can get ranked without the later.
can we be top 5 like Cincinnati? Very hard, lightning in a bottle type thing. However, getting in the top 25 isn’t nearly as hard given our schedule. Wins attract votes. We play very few games in any given year where our opponent has significant advantages over us. It comes down to winning the games you are favored to win, which is a minimum of 7 a year for us, usually 8 or 9, then gut out a few wins against “equal teams” and hope for a win against the one team that is clearly advantaged. You can get ranked without the later.
Are either of these schools in the Top 20 this year? Louisiana just lost their head coach to a bigger program. Let’s see how they do next year.
Sure it is possible for a small school to be ranked, but not on a consistent basis year after year. And it takes a substained winning streak to get a ranking, plus the first loss and you’re back to the long list of schools receiving votes.
I dont need to be top 20 every year to be happy, i want 9 and 10 win seasons year in and year out, cracking the top 25 and going 11-1 or 12-0 every few years, i want marshall to play for championships.
Posts like this are why Marshall will never return to the 90s and early 00s.
The all-or-nothing nature that we have apparently adopted as a fanbase is discouraging... Half of the posters on here expect 11-12 wins every year, league titles, major bowl games, etc... The other half remind the few in the middle how lucky we are that we can even play football with other FBS teams and to fondly remember the glory days of the mid-late 1990's because it was out "lightning in a bottle" moment of time.
At the end of the day, Marshall football is a program with a certain level of expectations and above all else most of us want to see a quality football product on the field. I can live with playing well and being beaten by a better executing opponent, that's life in any sport. What sucks is when we play poorly, get beaten by a bad team or blown out by a good one, and then get to read all of the comments about how consistent success isn't sustainable and we were already good for a decade 25-30 years ago so everyone should be happy with that.
Here is my honest assessment of how this season has played out, whether or not it meets anyones "extreme expectations" is up to them I suppose.
Navy -- Win -- 49-7 -- Played well on both sides of the ball.
NCCU -- Win -- 44-10 -- FCS gimme
ECU -- Loss -- 42-38 -- Choked in the second half, got conservative and lost to an even opponent.
App -- Loss -- 31-30 -- Lost a tossup, in a short week on the road against a G5 bell cow.
MTSU -- Loss -- 34-28 -- Pathetic showing, 6 turnovers, beaten by a team with less talent.
ODU -- Win -- 20-13 -- Another bad offensive game, came from behind late to beat a bad CUSA team.
N Texas -- Win -- 49-21 -- Played well on both sides of the ball, in Texas no less.
FIU -- Win -- 38-0 -- Played well on both sides of the ball. FIU looked like a high school team.
FAU -- Win -- 28-13 -- Played a pretty good game in stretches, slogged along in stretches.
UAB -- Loss -- 21-14 -- Good defense, poor offense, lost to a team of equal or more talent.
Charlotte -- Win -- 49-28 -- Slow start but got it rolling on offense. Defense did enough.
WKU -- Loss -- 53-21 -- Beatdown after Wells got hurt. We looked like a high school team in the second half.
At the end of the day, Marshall football is a program with a certain level of expectations and above all else most of us want to see a quality football product on the field. I can live with playing well and being beaten by a better executing opponent, that's life in any sport. What sucks is when we play poorly, get beaten by a bad team or blown out by a good one, and then get to read all of the comments about how consistent success isn't sustainable and we were already good for a decade 25-30 years ago so everyone should be happy with that.
Here is my honest assessment of how this season has played out, whether or not it meets anyones "extreme expectations" is up to them I suppose.
Navy -- Win -- 49-7 -- Played well on both sides of the ball.
NCCU -- Win -- 44-10 -- FCS gimme
ECU -- Loss -- 42-38 -- Choked in the second half, got conservative and lost to an even opponent.
App -- Loss -- 31-30 -- Lost a tossup, in a short week on the road against a G5 bell cow.
MTSU -- Loss -- 34-28 -- Pathetic showing, 6 turnovers, beaten by a team with less talent.
ODU -- Win -- 20-13 -- Another bad offensive game, came from behind late to beat a bad CUSA team.
N Texas -- Win -- 49-21 -- Played well on both sides of the ball, in Texas no less.
FIU -- Win -- 38-0 -- Played well on both sides of the ball. FIU looked like a high school team.
FAU -- Win -- 28-13 -- Played a pretty good game in stretches, slogged along in stretches.
UAB -- Loss -- 21-14 -- Good defense, poor offense, lost to a team of equal or more talent.
Charlotte -- Win -- 49-28 -- Slow start but got it rolling on offense. Defense did enough.
WKU -- Loss -- 53-21 -- Beatdown after Wells got hurt. We looked like a high school team in the second half.
We all want to win every game, but some folks think they could coach better, recruit better, fund raise better and have no idea of reality, therefore, they are always complaining. I hope they are big time financial supporters and not just the type who complain about everything in the personal life.
Honestly, I think we attract more votes than we should at times just because we are so dang gone loveable. I'll take the favoritism though.
Louisiana is ranked in the Playoff, AP and Coaches polls. App State is just outside the top 25 in the AP and Coaches.
Horse hockey. For one we are not even winning the conference. Two, you can lose a game or two with our schedule and very well be in the Top 20.
Wait until we get in the Sunbelt. We might be the 4th best team....in our division. We would likely have finished 4th in our division this year if all the teams were in the Sunbelt that are going. James Madison is going to be better than us going in if we don't improve. They know how to win and are used to it.
We need to step it up and stop this horse hockey talk. Marshall can crack the top 20.
Do you think it is easier for Purdue to get in the Top 20? Vanderbilt? Northwestern?
Wait until we get in the Sunbelt. We might be the 4th best team....in our division. We would likely have finished 4th in our division this year if all the teams were in the Sunbelt that are going. James Madison is going to be better than us going in if we don't improve. They know how to win and are used to it.
We need to step it up and stop this horse hockey talk. Marshall can crack the top 20.
Do you think it is easier for Purdue to get in the Top 20? Vanderbilt? Northwestern?
Mindsets of the fans being in the 90's and 00's is why Marshall will never advance.
Ask UTSA if they're still in the top 25 with 1 loss. They aren't. They dropped out of the three major rankings; CFP, AP, and Coaches Poll.
UTSA dropped out because CUSA is not good and beating a 4-win Illinois team isn't wowing anyone.
If UTSA wins this week they will be back in the rankings (currently second on the receiving votes list).
Houston, Louisiana, San Diego State are all G5 teams ranked with one loss.
I was referring to "under-funded" programs in the mid-major group as being hard to rank in top 20.
Our athletic budget does not compare well with many other mid-majors.
Our athletic budget does not compare well with many other mid-majors.
They got blown out by North Texas. That will do it.
Mindsets of those in the Schewey are why Marshall hasn't progressed. Too comfortable, let's accept us as we are, we don't need to grow the donor base. Good stuff.
Never said MU and Old Main (who actually would be more responsible for the donor base) are do8ng a bang up job, they aren't. In fact, the opposite.
I do hope Brad has some ideas to network MU in a much better way than the old people running the show, just hoping their kids and grandkids tell their friends about MU.
Agree. I read an article about Brad in the latest edition of Huntington Quarterly. I am more confident than ever he is the right person to lead Marshall. Very good read.
