https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington,_West_Virginia

Crickets? Let me make myself perfectly clear - I'd like to insert another word here but don't want to violate site rules. This post and my previous post have/had nothing to do with OU football. The whole feel good term of bowl eligible is a joke. Play .500 ball and you get to go to a bowl. Many on here through the years have commented on the watered down significance of that "accomplishment." Combine that with the fact that doing that in the weakest division in D 1 football and the significance of the accomplishment becomes even less. Colleges and universities, municipalities, and businesses have all become very good at self promotion using dubious measures. I find bowl eligible to be one of them. To quote Monroe, we should be bragging about championships not going to second and third tier bowl games.

Can't help but laugh at the above statement ... I think a more accurate comment would be that he threadjacked more than all other posters combined!

Actually, no.  With the tremendous increase in the number of bowls, many people over the years have commented on the watered down significance of making a bowl, which is much, much easier today than fifteen to twenty years ago. The accomplishment of being bowl eligible is fairly static. There is not all that much difference between being bowl eligible in 1965, 1975, 1985, or 2016.

Huh? "Bowl eligibility" is a fairly new concept that didn't exist in any of those years you quoted except 2016. Come on LC, you can do better than that unless you've hooked your car to Bcat2s train.

Sorry, it was late at night and I was cryptic. The following sentence I thought was relevant to our discussion: "As of the 2010 census, the metropolitan area is the largest in West Virginia. It spans 7 counties across 3 states, with a population of 365,419. Huntington is the second largest city in West Virginia, with a population of 49,138 at the 2010 census. The Huntington–Charleston TV market is the 64th-largest in the nation.[8]" According to this, the Huntington SMSA is the largest in the state, but the city proper is, as you stated correctly, the second largest. At any rate, it's not exactly rural, unless your frame of reference is NYC! :-) Seriously, this is a minor issue, I agree with your general point that our rural area is not a good excuse for any athletic failures we may have. I'm curious, what part of West Virginia are your from? I'm going to make a wild guess that you are a panhandler. Correct?

I get that many would prefer to go 12-0 one year and 0-12 the next rather than to go 6-6 both years. That wasn't the question. The question whether consistency is an achievement in its own right, or whether its just something "everyone can do". My point was that it's not simple, and that if it were, many other teams would have been able to do it, too, but not that many have been able to. Perhaps it's not an accomplishment that you care about, and again, I get that, but it's simply wrong to say that it should be automatic. It has been automatic, but only because Ohio has been consistently pretty good.

The statement "because we're in the MAC East, the other teams suck" is also not helpful, because that also implies that "because we are in the MAC East, we must suck". Yes, if Ohio State played an all MAC East schedule it would be an easy schedule for them, as a B1G team, but for Ohio, being in the MAC East, the other teams are peers, and over the long term Ohio can be expected to win perhaps half their games against them.

I would hope Ohio should strive to win "perhaps half their games" each year vs. the likes of

Kent
Akron
Buffalo
Miami
BG

That should be a minimum of 3-2 each year. I think we've built a program where that is a totally acceptable expectation. Anything less than that probably means they've had a pretty blah year.

As far as Ohio's all time records against the East, since I can no longer find a Media Guide on ohiobobcats.com, I pulled these off of Stassen.com
V. Miami 25-29-1
v. Kent 33-20-2
v. Akron 16-9
v. Buffalo 13-8
v. BG 21-32-1
That is a total of 109-98-4. That's a bit over 50%.

Of course, the above makes a classic statistical error. It includes the data you are trying to analyze (Solich's record) in the set of data used for the
baseline. If you exclude the Solich data, the historical long term records of Ohio versus other MAC teams are:
V. Miami 15-27-1
v. Kent 26-15-2
v. Akron 6-7
v. Buffalo 6-3
v. BG 16-25-1
Thus, the pre-2005 long term record was 69-77-4, somewhat under 50%.

Meanwhile, Solich's record against the various teams is:
V. Miami 10-2
v. Kent 7-5
v. Akron 10-2
v. Buffalo 7-5
v. BG 5-7
Total 39-21, a bit better than your 3-2 goal.

What I'm saying is this. You expect at least 3-2 against this group, not because that's Ohio's long term average, but because that is what Solich has done, and since he has done it, it has become your expectation. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that. I'm just saying to make sure you see what you have done, and why that is your expectation. I think that you are aware of this, though, because I note that you include the phrase "I think we've built a program where..".

The same thing applies to Alan's argument. He expects Ohio to be bowl eligible every year, and thinks it is not big deal, not because it is the historical norm, but rather because Solich has done it. Again, I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Alan having those expectations. I'm saying that Alan should recognize why he has them, and that, while they are reasonable for this place and time, they aren't reasonable for all MAC East teams, nor for Ohio for all times. I see nothing in Alan's posts, however, similar to your comment, that acknowledges that the expectation only fits because of what has been built.

bshot44: Are you from anywhere near Follansbee?

Yes, "bowl eligible" used to mean 7 wins, it now means 6 wins. Let's call it "bowl eligibility inflation." ;-)

Edit: I couldn't find earlier references to bowl eligibility, but I'm sure I remember this term being used back in the 1990s, but only by BCS schools.

Yes, that's true.