Half filled stadiums come bowl time will probably common for most of the lower to mid tiered bowls, no matter the capacity.
Texas or not, if the choice is to play a Big 12 school or a MAC school in Florida, you take the Big 12 match-up.
Way too early bowl predictions
- Thread starter mubaseballking
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Half filled stadiums come bowl time will probably common for most of the lower to mid tiered bowls, no matter the capacity.
Texas or not, if the choice is to play a Big 12 school or a MAC school in Florida, you take the Big 12 match-up.
I agree on the Big 12 team aspect. Although I think a lot of people around here would be sad that WVU would never accept that bowl invite with Marshall as the opponent.
That said, most observers indicate that the South Carolina game is one that NC State blew! Those things sort of even out over a season.
while still waaaaay too early to be talking bowls, i would love to see the herd take on the wahoos from mr jefferson’s school
None would be contracted since CUSA gave up the Heart of Dallas this year. Of course, with conferences not being able to fill spots, anything can happen.
Wrong that there isn’t one with a cusa/big 12 matchup or wrong that anything can happen?
According to SB Nation, the CUSA bowl tie ins are:
New Orleans - Sun Belt
New Mexico - Mountain West
Boca Raton - THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!
St. Pete - THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!!
Bahamas - MAC
Heart O' Dallas - Big 12
Any further teams would be taken care of by the fact that most of the P5 have more slots than they generally can fill, CUSA would get the Liberty Bowl if either main league (SEC/Big12) cannot fill it, followed by other slots.
We had this discussion a few years ago. Correctly, IMHO, we took one of the Florida bowls over playing a 6-6 P5 team in Dallas before nobody. Several got their panties in a wad over it, but the same thing will happen if the situation arises, this year or any other year as long as this is the system.
In any event, it seems like the league has us penciled in to take one for the league and go to the Bahamas. It is what it is.
New Orleans - Sun Belt
New Mexico - Mountain West
Boca Raton - THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!
St. Pete - THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!!
Bahamas - MAC
Heart O' Dallas - Big 12
Any further teams would be taken care of by the fact that most of the P5 have more slots than they generally can fill, CUSA would get the Liberty Bowl if either main league (SEC/Big12) cannot fill it, followed by other slots.
We had this discussion a few years ago. Correctly, IMHO, we took one of the Florida bowls over playing a 6-6 P5 team in Dallas before nobody. Several got their panties in a wad over it, but the same thing will happen if the situation arises, this year or any other year as long as this is the system.
In any event, it seems like the league has us penciled in to take one for the league and go to the Bahamas. It is what it is.
We played Northern Illinois in front of nobody as well. When we have the opportunity to play a P5 in a bowl game we should take it, unless it’s a Boise State or BYU who has a national reputation. But other than them no G5 gives us any notoriety if we win.
As long as college football remains a perception league playing a P5 even a bad one over even a ranked G5 team is what we have to do to continually build our brand. The reason Boise State has the brand that it does has nothing to do with WAC or Mountain West championships. It’s wins over Oregon, Oklahoma, Oregon State etc. that built their program.
I hope if we go 11-1 or 10-2 and win the CUSA championship game our reward is better than a trip to the Bahamas to play Ohio U.
As long as college football remains a perception league playing a P5 even a bad one over even a ranked G5 team is what we have to do to continually build our brand. The reason Boise State has the brand that it does has nothing to do with WAC or Mountain West championships. It’s wins over Oregon, Oklahoma, Oregon State etc. that built their program.
I hope if we go 11-1 or 10-2 and win the CUSA championship game our reward is better than a trip to the Bahamas to play Ohio U.
I know that was the case, but about a month ago I read that they and Big 10 traded bowls. CUSA to Armed Forces vs Army. Big 10 to HOD vs Big 12
http://www.armedforcesbowl.com/our-game/the-matchup
I personally think the Bahamas bowl is absolutely at the bottom of the bowl food-chain. If CUSA says to Marshall "we're sending you to the Bahamas Bowl". How much push back would they get from the conference if Doc and MH said "thanks, but no thanks". Among other things It's a destination that our fan base and players families can not easily get to. Plus if you don't have a passport, you would definitely have to go the express procurement route. I renewed mine back in May, and it took every bit of 5 weeks to arrive.
That being said, could there be any legal ramifications associated with such a move, other than conference scorn? Are there CUSA bylaws that state that you have to go to the Bowl that the Borg sends you? And would CUSA lose that bowl slot for this year if a CUSA member team voluntarily declined to fill it?
That's nice, they don't even include the CUSA logo with a link to the conference homepage, like do the other conferences they're associated with on the Armed Forces Bowl website. Which means we probably gave up our highest payout bowl the HOD for a one year placeholder. I hate to be so knit-picky and negative, but this conference from a marketing and forward thinking stance, just seems to step in it at every turn. It reminds of the quote from the movie Braveheart. CUSA seems to always be "squabbling for the scraps from Longhank's table".
NIU was 11-2, beat the Illinois team we could have played, and was also touted by ESPN as more deserving of the access bowl bid. We had a point to prove, played the better opponent, and prove the point and then some by toying with them the entire game.
it doesn't work that way in CUSA. The schools get to pick their bowls based on where they finished. We likely won't finish low enough in the bowl pecking order to have to worry about the Bahamas Bowl.
Armed Forces Bowl has about the same payout for the conference as the HOD bowl so it would be a wash.
That would be the last place the league would send MU. They will only someone there that doesn't travel well. No way they pass up sending Marshall where they can bring the most fans. That's why most western bowls are out too.
Nobody gave a crap that we beat Northern Illinois. Nobody will ever give a crap that we beat Northern Illinois. Northern Illinois beat Nebraska this year. If Marshall played and beat Nebraska this week and played and beat Northern Illinois next week what team do you think Marshall would get more credit for beating.
I’m not saying it’s right I’m not saying it’s fair I’m saying in the perception game a 4-8 P5 school is a bigger win than a top 25 G5 school. It’s not even a debate.
I would rather play a P5 in front of 1 person than any non P5 in front of 50,000. No one who watches bowls cares about crowd size. They do it because its the only thing on TV, or they follow their bowl pickem, or they want to see an upset. People pay attention to upsets of big teams.
Don't know if a bowl against a power 5 "bottom feeder" would give us much "juice". A 5 or 6 loss team like Vandy, or maybe Indiana, or a Wake Forest, for example. The AAC, like it or not, has had at least 3 or 4 teams ranked so far this year: UCF, USF, Navy and Memphis. Even Houston has more stature right now in football than probably any CUSA team. Now nearly all of these teams, or all but 1, probably won't be in the "money" bowl this year, so at least a couple of them will be facing CUSA teams in bowls. A highly ranked Navy, or Memphis, or UCF/Houston, with their prior CUSA affiliation and MU rivalry, would give us as much or more "pub", etc., than the aforementioned "power" opponents, IMO.
Boca is most likely vs an AAC lower level Bowl eligible team
UVA is incredibly unlikely..........If MU wins CUSA look for ESPN to try and move up in AAC selection process.....and try to get a Mephis or Houston
not sure where information in this thread came from on Heart of Dallas, but I believe it is CUSA v. Big XII low pick..... much like a few years ago when we took Boca and Northern Ill over Heart of Dallas
UVA is incredibly unlikely..........If MU wins CUSA look for ESPN to try and move up in AAC selection process.....and try to get a Mephis or Houston
not sure where information in this thread came from on Heart of Dallas, but I believe it is CUSA v. Big XII low pick..... much like a few years ago when we took Boca and Northern Ill over Heart of Dallas
I only ask because it quite clearly says CUSA vs Army. I know how bowls and bowl eligibility work.
Army is 5-1 with home games coming versus 3-4 versus crap Temple, 2-4 Air Force, 4-3 Duke, 4-2 North Texas, and a not bad Navy. They should have six wins by Saturday. It won't be a problem for them to win one more game.
Illinois was shit and were beaten by NIU and had a crap record, while NIU were getting votes in the polls, and were pushed hard by ESPN for the access bowl bid. We played the best opponent and Illinois would have done anything to the perception of us. Also, the HOD game was played in crappy cold weather and I doubt their would have been more than a handful of MU fans their due to the location.
Nebraska is a stupid example as a beating a historical super power is always viewed as good, but Illinois has been crap for years and had a lower reputation than even we did in 2014.
You really honestly believe that to college football fans they think a win over Northern Illinois in a bowl game garners more notice and respect than beating Illinois. That’s insane! Nobody gives a sh!t about Northern Illinois. Everybody has heard of Illinois. When you are in Iowa or California or places nowhere close to WV and they see Marshall 24 Illinois 14 the reaction is wow Marshall beat Illinois.
Plus you later in your post say Nebraska is a dumb example when THIS year Northern Illinois beat Nebraska. So if we had the chance to play a crappy Bevraska in a bowl or a 10-: Northern Illinois with a win over Nebraska you now say Nebraska is who we should play? Even though Northern Illinois beat them this year????
You just admitted what I am arguing that perception is all that matters in college football. You don’t think beating a crappy Purdue team didn’t give us a lot more publicity than beating a good CUSA school? Purdue was awful but all people saw was wow Marshall beat a Big 10 team.
Shoot people give credit to Miami if Ohio barely losing their bowl game to a sub 500 SEC team. Perception is all that matters and the only perception is P5 programs and if we have a great record this year I hope we are smart enough to play a P5 school if we have the chance.
Plus you later in your post say Nebraska is a dumb example when THIS year Northern Illinois beat Nebraska. So if we had the chance to play a crappy Bevraska in a bowl or a 10-: Northern Illinois with a win over Nebraska you now say Nebraska is who we should play? Even though Northern Illinois beat them this year????
You just admitted what I am arguing that perception is all that matters in college football. You don’t think beating a crappy Purdue team didn’t give us a lot more publicity than beating a good CUSA school? Purdue was awful but all people saw was wow Marshall beat a Big 10 team.
Shoot people give credit to Miami if Ohio barely losing their bowl game to a sub 500 SEC team. Perception is all that matters and the only perception is P5 programs and if we have a great record this year I hope we are smart enough to play a P5 school if we have the chance.
Nebraska has a pedigree, have been national champions, and are a highly regarded program. By the way, Nebraska was the 3rd best team in the Big-10 in 2014 with a 9-4 record, so we certainly would have played them if they were the opponent. Illinois is an annual basement dweller in the Big-10, went 6-7 in 2014 with a losing record in conference, were only the 9th best team in that conference, and a team we wouldn't have gotten any credit for beating just like we didn't get credit for any of our other wins in 2014. NIU, was ranked in the top-30 in the polls, were ranked in the CFP like us, and had 11 wins. It was the better opponent in this case. You may not like it, but NIU was the best opponent the bowl matchups for our conference could give us outside of the access bid that wrongfully went to a 2-loss Boise St team that was nowhere near as good as us based on the statistics. By the way, a terrible Purdue team did nothing for the perception of us by season's end.
List of bowl eligible teams, CUSA:
Marshall.
(end of list)
Seriously, ODU and Middle, both of which I would have said would get to six wins have five losses. As does Rice, which is no surprise. Charlotte and UTEP are out, also not surprising. That leaves our next two opponents, the two directional Floridas. Both look good for a bowl, which is box office poison for the league. Western needs one win, but the easiest team it has left to play might be Vanderbilt. Surprising North Texas and, I'm rooting for them UAB have four wins, and UAB has games left with UTEP and Rice. They could make a bowl in their first year back. Great if they do. LTU seems like it will right the ship and be OK, UTSA as well.
Marshall.
(end of list)
Seriously, ODU and Middle, both of which I would have said would get to six wins have five losses. As does Rice, which is no surprise. Charlotte and UTEP are out, also not surprising. That leaves our next two opponents, the two directional Floridas. Both look good for a bowl, which is box office poison for the league. Western needs one win, but the easiest team it has left to play might be Vanderbilt. Surprising North Texas and, I'm rooting for them UAB have four wins, and UAB has games left with UTEP and Rice. They could make a bowl in their first year back. Great if they do. LTU seems like it will right the ship and be OK, UTSA as well.
You are correct!!!! CUSA has bowl in 2018 and 2019
This is what happens when you retire!!! Not in the loop on every decision, LOL
they would try their best to avoid....but if they don't have many options they don't have the clout to just sit home and avoid. they aren't squat.
My apologies if I am misinterpreting your post, but where do you see where CUSA is slotted to play in the 2018 and 2019 Armed Forces Bowl?
I see both sides of this debate.However, I would agree with Cali on this one. If our goal is to field a Top 25 team yr in yr out then I say we always play a P5 post season whenever we can. It doesn't matter if it is a lower tier school or not. People in positions of power will almost always value a win over Maryland, Purdue or even Ill over a post season win over a MAC school. Perception is very important today IMO.There is no way a reporter who votes in the AP from LA or Chicago says, " wow Marshall beat Ohio in the potato chip bowl"! They might say if we have a good season, " they played a avg SOS but they did beat a big 10 team in their bowl game". Imagine recruiting a kid from Fl and we say last year we beat FIU in the pizza bowl vs saying we beat Ill/ Maryland from the Big 10.
Perception is important, sometimes more important than reality... The perception of beating lets say a 7-5 Virginia team is better than beating a 10-2 MAC/Sun Belt champion. We can debate the fairness of that, but it is what it is... The AAC falls in the gray area because they have some good teams (UCF, Memphis, South Florida) but also a lot of garbage teams. Personally, I like beating AAC teams because I feel like that is the conference we should be in anyway and its fun to knock them down a few pegs from their unearned sense of superiority.
