starting to see a consistent message. hope it resonates

[kibblesnbits]

I'm sorry, but UCF is not a national draw. They may be some day and completely deserved everything they earned last year. That being said, no one outside of AAC and hardcore college football fans knew what UCF accomplished last year. If they had beat S. Carolina last year, they would have had a claim to the championship game. Yet, a one loss Auburn team still would have been selected to play FSU.

IMO - Baylor was a bigger draw than UCF the casual college football fan.

It is typical of the P5 apologists that they blame everything on UCF. However, as recently as 5 years ago Baylor was considered one of the lost causes of major college football. They are hardly a traditional team of interest for casual fans. As a private school in a region of public football powers, if they remain a player in major college football they should place a statute of RG3 in the center of campus.

 

[B1GOSU]

Another point to consider in all of this --- while UCF won the Fiesta Bowl and certainly deserved to win that game --- there is no way UCF would have ever been the handpicked opponent for Baylor if the BCS wasn't contractually obligated to give the AAC a spot in one of the BCS Bowls. If there could have been a handpicked opponent, it would have been a school from the Power 5.

That's kind of how I view the "Best team of the Group of 5" scenario. That team will get the game due to a contractual obligation that was simply hush money to the Group of 5 to let the Power 5 have what they want.

 

[pj]

I agree, to a certain point. The middle tier teams are similar in team strength. The bottom teams aren't. I believe that Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, and Rutgers are quite a bit better than Temple, Tulsa, Tulane, and Memphis.

upstater is comparing the bottom of the B1G to the top of the AAC. You are comparing the bottom of the B1G to the bottom of the AAC. Yes, if you paired up 1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc, the B1G would win every contest. But if you paired 1 in AAC with 6 in B1G, 2 in AAC with 7 in the B1G, etc through 9 in AAC and 14 in B1G, the AAC might win half or more.

 

[dayooper]

It is typical of the P5 apologists that they blame everything on UCF. However, as recently as 5 years ago Baylor was considered one of the lost causes of major college football. They are hardly a traditional team of interest for casual fans. As a private school in a region of public football powers, if they remain a player in major college football they should place a statute of RG3 in the center of campus.

Are you saying that UCF has a larger following nationally than Baylor?

 

[kibblesnbits]

Are you saying that UCF has a larger following nationally than Baylor?

No, but I am saying that Baylor is hardly more relevant on a a national scale than many up and coming G5 schools. The implication from the beginning was that the drop in ratings was due to UCF, when it was equally as likely to have been the result of featuring a small, private P5 school that most casual fans in this country couldn't place on a map and really don't care about.

 

[B1GOSU]

You also have to consider that the Fiesta Bowl is a major BCS Bowl. That will bring in X number of viewers every year no matter who the teams are. That game could have been Lafayette vs. Lehigh and still had a decent rating due to the fact that it is a New Years Day Bowl and isn't up against dozens of other games at the same time.


The P5 teams with huge followings are the difference between a decent rating and an outstanding rating for these bowl games.