ACC vs Big Ten - let's hear the excuses.

[Ldandy]

This year, that would give us 6 ACC teams, 4 B12 teams, 5 B1G teams, 6 Pac12 teams, and 7 SEC teams, for 28 bowl-eligible P5 teams. That's with G5 and FCS games contributing to the 8-game win total. If they split and play only a P5 schedule, then OOC games are as difficult as conference games, so 8 wins is equivalent to a .667 conference record. This year 3 ACC teams, 3 B12 teams, 3 B1G teams, 5 Pac teams, 4 SEC teams, or 18 total, achieved that.

So with a P5 split and your standards, we'd have 9 bowl games.

What's your point? Bowl Games used to be a reward for a great season. Now the majority are strictly made for TV exhibitions of terrible teams playing in empty stadiums. It may get to the point that ESpin has to pay people to attend some of these games so that it doesn't look so pathetic on TV.

If you want to include a few more teams then lower the threshold to 7 wins. Still far too low IMO, but the participation numbers would rise. Is asking a team to beat 3 stiffs OOC and go 4-4 in conference really that unreasonable? Who in their right mind would miss seeing a 6-7 Fresno State Team go to a bowl?

 

[John Greene]

To be honest, I had to read it a couple of times to figure it out. With all the trolls who've come here over the years telling us about our lackluster ticket sales for the Fiesta Bowl you can't really blame folks for being hyper sensitive.

"ask not for whom the bell trolls, it trolls for thee" ?

 

[whaler11]

In his defense the (...) follows games.

 

[Ldandy]

There are plenty of interesting matchups. They just haven't happened yet.

If the standard for holding a sporting event was as high as you've made it - you could cancel the season for a dozen NBA teams. At least schools try to win bowl games.

Dude I'm all for that. No one should ever have to be subjected to Sixers or Knicks Basketball.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Most schools are willing to eat the cost of accepting a lower bowl bid in exchange for 2-4 more weeks of practicing. Many teams use it to evaluate underclassmen and evaluate team for spring practice and the next season.

Plus it keeps the program's name in the news.

Only fans bemoan the cruddy locations and cost of face value tickets.

Fans know and bear the cost, staffs know and reap the value.

 

[businesslawyer]

I had never experienced schadenfreude until reading this and similar envious UConn threads regarding Rutgers in the B1G. Thanks guys.

Can I play Jeopady with this please? The question is, "What would we have to read if Rutgers Al wanted to show off his doctorate in pyschiatry?

 

[Ldandy]

Most schools are willing to eat the cost of accepting a lower bowl bid in exchange for 2-4 more weeks of practicing. Many teams use it to evaluate underclassmen and evaluate team for spring practice and the next season.

Plus it keeps the program's name in the news.

Only fans bemoan the cruddy locations and cost of face value tickets.

Fans know and bear the cost, staffs know and reap the value.

Pretty simple solution. Allow all teams to have 15 post season practices regardless of whether they made a bowl game or not. Everyone realizes that these additional practices are very valuable for player development, why shouldn't everyone have access to them? UCONN had a tough season, how much would these practices benefit some of your young players?

 

[pj]

What's your point? Bowl Games used to be a reward for a great season. Now the majority are strictly made for TV exhibitions of terrible teams playing in empty stadiums. It may get to the point that ESpin has to pay people to attend some of these games so that it doesn't look so pathetic on TV.

If you want to include a few more teams then lower the threshold to 7 wins. Still far too low IMO, but the participation numbers would rise. Is asking a team to beat 3 stiffs OOC and go 4-4 in conference really that unreasonable? Who in their right mind would miss seeing a 6-7 Fresno State Team go to a bowl?

I agree with you, your plan would make the regular season more meaningful and assure that every bowl game was at least somewhat entertaining.

My point was simply a continuation of my earlier post talking about how realignment and a future P5 split, if it happens, will have diminished interest in bowls. The loss of interesting matchups, e.g. MAC champ vs B1G middle-tier team which has regional interest (two local Midwest teams) and cross-level rivalries (can the better G5 teams compete with the mid-tier P5 teams?), and their replacement by e.g. an ACC middle-tier team vs B1G middle-tier team (thus duplicating the type of OOC matchups seen in the regular season) will make bowls less interesting. With a diminished field, the games become higher quality, but we'll be seeing the same teams over and over again.

Your plan gives us the playoffs/BCS bowls plus a few remaining matchups among 9-3 Louisville, 9-3 Duke, 8-4 Minnesota, 9-3 Nebraska, 9-3 Kansas State, 8-4 Oklahoma, 9-3 UCLA, 9-3 Arizona State, 8-4 USC, 9-3 Ole Miss, 8-4 LSU, 8-4 Auburn. Arrange those teams however you like. After we've watched the same teams, more or less, ten years in a row, will they still generate a large national audience? I'm doubtful.

 

[zls44]

UConn brought 10,000 fans to the EXACT SAME place on the EXACT SAME DAY OF THE YEAR against a WORSE OPPONENT.


end argument

 

[whaler11]

UConn brought 10,000 fans to the EXACT SAME place on the EXACT SAME DAY OF THE YEAR against a WORSE OPPONENT.


end argument

I drove it. Was it the day after XMas or 2 after. I can't remember.

While I am fine with mocking RU - you can't compare anyone in 2014 to even 2004 - it's fallen off a cliff nationally for the lower tier bowls.

Right around the time the matchups were announced I was helping someone schedule some holiday travel. You could not get anywhere from Hartford without paying huge dollars. New York, Boston and Prov were no better. The prices and iteneraries were insane.

 

[TRest]

Pretty simple solution. Allow all teams to have 15 post season practices regardless of whether they made a bowl game or not. Everyone realizes that these additional practices are very valuable for player development, why shouldn't everyone have access to them? UCONN had a tough season, how much would these practices benefit some of your young players?

It's not necessary when you treat the first 3 games of the season as exhibition games.

 

[Calamitous]

We've been fed a steady stream of nonsense involving fan support, markets, etc., etc., and those canards fall faster than Icarus the second they're tested. I was under the impression that a good fan base might actually want to travel further than an hour to see a bowl game.

You can watch 75% of the bowl games and see the same thing... empty seats. Unless you're ND, OSU, Michigan, Nebraska, PSU, FSU, Clemson, Oklahoma, Texas or the majority of SEC schools, you're not selling a game out. Right now Oregon, Louisville and some others seem to have decent traveling fanbases, but a few losing seasons might change that.

The reality is that the "big city" market phenomenom is a big sham. Winning and rabid fanbases are more important IMO. The SEC has the right model. Fot the B1G, the seats may be empty, but the B1G will make money off of their TV market, whether we like it or not.

 

[billybud]

Bowl games are now a made for TV production....all but one of the 38 is owned by ESPN.

Seats filled is an afterthought when more people then ever are tuning in on the TV's....as someone once suggested, the stadiums are becoming massive TV production studios.

 

[CTMike]

I drove it. Was it the day after XMas or 2 after. I can't remember.

While I am fine with mocking RU - you can't compare anyone in 2014 to even 2004 - it's fallen off a cliff nationally for the lower tier bowls.

Right around the time the matchups were announced I was helping someone schedule some holiday travel. You could not get anywhere from Hartford without paying huge dollars. New York, Boston and Prov were no better. The prices and iteneraries were insane.

Day after in the middle of a blizzard, depending when you left... Fun drive!

 

[Rocktheworld]

Detroit... the day after Christmas. Rutgers would have more fans if they played in the Military or Pinstripe bowls. UNC fans only show up for basketball games.

LMAO UConn played in the same location, in the same bowl, on the 27th (a Monday that year) against Toledo and attendance was 52k.

/thread

 

[pj]

LMAO UConn played in the same location, in the same bowl, on the 27th (a Monday that year) against Toledo and attendance was 52k.

/thread

But, Toledo travels better than UNC.

 

[Calamitous]

LMAO UConn played in the same location, in the same bowl, on the 27th (a Monday that year) against Toledo and attendance was 52k.

/thread

That's very commendable. FWIW, Toledo usually brings a good crowd to that bowl as they are 1 hour south of Detroit. Not saying UConn didn't or can't represent, but the Motor City bowl should be reserved for at least 1 MAC school to keep up good attendance.

The 2011 Fiesta Bowl, on the other hand, was heavily Sooner oriented. I wouldn't take offense to that, because Norman is a lot closer to Tempe than Storrs. UConn still had a decent showing if I remember

 

[Dooley]

The 2011 Fiesta Bowl, on the other hand, was heavily Sooner oriented. I wouldn't take offense to that, because Norman is a lot closer to Tempe than Storrs. UConn still had a decent showing if I remember

UCONN sold a little less than 3K of the school's allotment. Here is a picture taken of the UCONN sideline...

 

[Dooley]

The 2011 Fiesta Bowl, on the other hand, was heavily Sooner oriented. I wouldn't take offense to that, because Norman is a lot closer to Tempe than Storrs. UConn still had a decent showing if I remember

OU sold 5500 of their school's allotment. Here is a picture of the OU sideline...

 

[Dooley]

The 2011 Fiesta Bowl, on the other hand, was heavily Sooner oriented. I wouldn't take offense to that, because Norman is a lot closer to Tempe than Storrs. UConn still had a decent showing if I remember

Neither team sold much of their allotment for this game. But OU was bailed out by the B12, who covered all losses OU got hit with. The Big East, as we all know, did not bail out UCONN for the losses UCONN got hit with and, thus, UCONN became the butt end of BCS jokes throughout the country.

Both sidelines are filled into the 3rd deck with their fans. Both schools' fanbases knew that buying a ticket on StubHub for $10 (to get tickets the National Championship Game that year in Arizona, you had to buy a ticket to this one) would be MUCH cheaper than spending thousands through the school package.

My point is that both fanbases represented very well at the Fiesta. You're probably right that OU had more fans at the game than UCONN because of proximity, but the idea that UCONN only had about 3-5K fans (like some nitwits would like to believe) at this game is absurd, as you can see. But somehow, UCONN became the national punchline and poster child for poor bowl attendance.

 

[Rocktheworld]

That's very commendable. FWIW, Toledo usually brings a good crowd to that bowl as they are 1 hour south of Detroit. Not saying UConn didn't or can't represent, but the Motor City bowl should be reserved for at least 1 MAC school to keep up good attendance.

You're just grasping now.

 

[CoastAtlantic]

Congratulations to PSU and RU for their bowl wins. That BC-PSU was a good game, though.

 

[Sea Goat]

B C goes up in smoke - I'm good.

 

[Gfunk]

BIG finishes 5-1 against the official ACC this year, 2-0 in bowl games. Sadly, the BIG may not win another bowl this season, esp since they'll have no more games against the ACC.

BIG finishes 6-3 against the ACC-ND partial membership. I'll take a NW upset in South Bend over a ND win over a horrible Michigan team. And who expects Purdue to beat ND - without Drew Brees?

The BIG gets the last laugh as well, VT did not spoil OSU's playoff berth.

Anyways.

 

[Seaa Blue]

But at least they're better than B1G in their native sport of basketball (so they say)...

 

[pj]

But at least they're better than B1G in their native sport of basketball (so they say)...

This year they are better at the top with Duke, L'ville, Virginia ... but if Kentucky wins the title no one will remember they had some good teams.

 

[billybud]

Who will beat Kentucky? The Power Indexes say that they have an 80% chance against every remaining opponent.

 

[BoatShow]

They'll lose some BS SEC game to an Ole Miss or Auburn

 

[Gfunk]

This year they are better at the top with Duke, L'ville, Virginia ... but if Kentucky wins the title no one will remember they had some good teams.

I don't know if Va beats Md with a healthy Wells and Smortcyz, neither played during the ACC-BIG Challenge. And in the past when both played they beat Va more than not, including last year. Both are playing again.

Md may win the BIG in their inaugural season. They're pretty experienced, have some nice wins this season, and have excellent freshmen. Md basketball needed a new start. Well they got it.

I also won't be shocked to see Md beat Stanford in their bowl game.

But I do agree, as of now the BIG only has one elite team that already lost to Duke - but I'm curious to see a rematch between the two. Bo was outcoached on his home floor, that rarely happens again - rarely. I've seen this guy coach too much over the years to know adjustments and won rematches are part of his success.

I also agree, this year's top tier of the ACC will likely be forgotten if Ky wins it all. Still a lot of basketball left to be played, young teams have more to work into and injuries happen. Conference slates also start exposing personnel and coaching holes.

 

[btstimpy]

I don't know if Va beats Md with a healthy Wells and Smortcyz, neither played during the ACC-BIG Challenge. And in the past when both played they beat Va more than not, including last year. Both are playing again.

Md may win the BIG in their inaugural season. They're pretty experienced, have some nice wins this season, and have excellent freshmen. Md basketball needed a new start. Well they got it.

I also won't be shocked to see Md beat Stanford in their bowl game.

But I do agree, as of now the BIG only has one elite team that already lost to Duke - but I'm curious to see a rematch between the two. Bo was outcoached on his home floor, that rarely happens again - rarely. I've seen this guy coach too much over the years to know adjustments and won rematches are part of his success.

I also agree, this year's top tier of the ACC will likely be forgotten if Ky wins it all. Still a lot of basketball left to be played, young teams have more to work into and injuries happen. Conference slates also start exposing personnel and coaching holes.

Virginia has a 3-1 record against Dez Wells. His only win was in overtime the last game of the season last year after Virginia had already clinched the ACC regular season title and was looking forward to the post season. The only thing Dez Wells accomplished by missing that game this year was another loss on his resume to Virginia. That game wasn't close enough for Dez Wells or Evan Smotrycz to make any difference. That same overtime win last March is the only one Smotrycz has too.

Actually, Virginia is 7-1 against Maryland in basketball since 2011. There is a long list of other ACC teams Virginia has had to worry about before Maryland. Now we don't have to worry about Maryland at all unless ESPN continues to force them onto our schedule. But I agree that Maryland might win the Big Ten this season. Wisconsin would be the favorite at this point IMO.