Hello all,

I'm a Bobcat football season ticket holder, loyal to the core. And celebrating another (potential 9 win season). And VERY glad we likely will be playing for a MAC title against a team NOT quarterbacked by Dan LeFevour.

So...why is it that I am just not that excited about the bowls and our potential matchups. I'm no fool, our 9 wins are great, but the Cats are hardly world beaters. In fact, this team probably doesn't finish 6-6 in C-USA. But when all we have to look forward to is playing also-rans like UL-Monroe or Troy just isn't exciting.

What's really odd is that, if other MAC teams are invited to bowls, they'll play big-name teams. Kind of like last year when Temple played UCLA.

I saw in one projection that Miami (who we crushed) could play Nevada. Yet we are stuck playing teams in a Sun Belt conference that is struggling to produce just TWO bowl eligible teams.

So I am forced between rooting for two distinct scenarios...
1) Hoping the Sun Belt IMPLODES, leaving a wave of 5-7 teams, forcing the bowl to choose another opponent (I saw Fresno State mentioned somewhere). Now, of course this could mean we get beaten (or slaughtered), but at least we will play a quality opponent on a neutral site - which is the best we can hope for considering the stinky out of conference home sked we will be seeing the next few years...
2) Hoping the Sun Belt COMES THRU and gets the two 6-6 teams eligible, giving us the best chance to actually win a bowl. Of course I thought a 6-6 Marshall team was going to be a cakewalk last year, but...

So what is the best option - getting the program their first bowl win, or playing top-flight competition?

I think the win against Georgetown has my mind spinning... 

Isn't it great that we can debate about which bowl would be the best for us to go to? Look back a few short years ago and try to imagine this kind of debate.

It doesn't matter though, beat kent.

Welcome aboard, B. Free.  Post more often.

Lloyd Free was my favorite player back in the day when I actually watching NBA basketball. 

These things are completely mutually exclusive. Having zero bowl wins does not correlate to your bowl opponent in a given year. That's just ridiculous to even speculate that we need to get this "monkey off our back" before we can start playing real teams.

Also know that the individual which refers to himself as Love, The is correct in stating that we all want updgraded OOC scheduling but that those of us who are more often more rational realize the limited economics of Peden's small seating capacity and the economics/ticket affordability of SE Ohio and the driving/distance factor for OHIO fans.

That is, Peden seats 25k, not 55k...locals around Athens are not inclined to pay $60 a ticket...and we are 65 miles from Columbus, more from Cinci and Cleveland and without a big fan base in West VA.  So, drawing Michigan State or Clemson or UWashington to Peden is not very likely.

Now a home game against MichState in Cleveland's stadium--that's a smart idea.

Welcome World. I agree with those on here that think a win against any team in a bowl is a great place to start. Of course I'd love to see a win over a marquee name and I'd also like to see a stronger OOC too, as mentioned, but in the end I don''t think it makes that big of difference. Look at OHIO and Toledo this year as an example-

Both schools have identical conference records, but Toledo gets the edge for having the tougher conf. schedule because they beat OHIO in the head to head and their only loss was to an undefeated NIU.

Now let's compare OOCs- OHIO had a cupcake OOC and went 2-2 with wins over FCS Wofford and 2-8 La Lafayette and losses to Big10 OSU and 4-7 Marshall. Toledo on the other hand,  had a very respectable OOC but went 1-3 with a win over Big10 Purdue and losses to 3-9 Wyoming and BCS schools Arizona and Boise State. 

So which OOC is better- 2-2 cupcake or 1-3 respectable? I think a lot of people would prefer to go 1-3 against the respectable OOC. But how do the voters see it, do they recognize that Toledo's 7-4 record has been tougher than OHIO's 8-3?

OHIO has received votes in the AP Top 25 (#36), Harris Interactive (#35), and Coaches Poll (#35). Meanwhile, Toledo hasn't received a single vote in any of the 3 polls. In the cbs120 OHIO is at #35 while Toledo is at # 58. Is it fair? probably not, but my point is this-  playing better opponents in a bowl or in OOC is nice, but in the end the only thing that matters is the number of Ws and Ls. A win is a win, is a win.

Come on Monroe, for as often as this dead horse has been beaten around here, couldn't you at least get the argument right?  No one is, or has ever suggested that we should be able to get teams the caliber that you are talking about to Athens.  Rather, the suggestion is that we should be able to occasionally schedule a home game every few years against the type of lower-tier, regional BCS conference opponents that most of the rest of the MAC manages to host.  We are talking about teams like Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, Purdue, Cincinnati, etc.  Given that from what I understand we've actually turned down home-and-home series with at least two of those teams in recent years, I fail to understand how one could argue that it is unrealistic to think that we would be able to schedule a home game against that level of opponent.  The opportunities are (or, at least, were) there, we have just decided to decline to grab them.

Nor do economics, seating capacity, or fan base size/demographics have anything to do with it.  A 1-for-1 against one of the aforementioned schools would actually cost us less than we are going to be paying for our home and homes with the likes of NMSU and Idaho, given that our travel costs would be lower.  And that is before you factor in the fact that we would undoubtedly sell at least a few more tickets to a home game against one of the BCS level opponents than against a non-marquee WAC team.

I'll be the first to admit that reasonable minds can differ on whether it is preferable to build a program by beating up on cupcakes vs. adding in an occasional game with a lower-level BCS opponent.  But the argument you are framing is dishonest and factually incorrect.

I really like the direction this program is moving in. The MAC has been known as a conference that any team can rise up and win like the Sun Belt. It looks that is changing at least in the East as dominant as Ohio and Temple have been in that division and with the largest East football budgets and the most experienced coaches I do not see them slowing down. The MAC East is becoming like the WAC where its becoming a given that the top teams will always take out the second tier. Ohio has won 5 in a row against Miami, 3 in a row against Akron, and 2 in a row against BG. With a third MAC East title in hand this season the program is no longer looking up to Miami and BG in the standings like it was for many years. That to me spells progress. 13-2 in the MAC over the last 2 years is progress. When was the last time that was done in the MAC with different starting quarterbacks in both seasons? Owning the in-state MAC schools looks like its going to be a yearly thing. The next step is for Ohio to own the non-conference schedule. A loss to Marshall is unacceptable. Tennessee, UConn, Rutgers, Penn State are games we need to win every time.  

The weaker OOC is not a bad move. Why not try to get a long term series going with a close by Sun Belt school like Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky? That sounds better than a steady diet of distant WAC schools and travel would be much easier. Then 1 SEC school on the road for a big cash payday. Minnesota, Rutgers, and Loisville are not normally good enough that win over them attracts attention. 

Wait, you mean the same Michigan State going to Central Michigan AND Western Michigan AND Eastern Michigan in the next 6-7 years?

I'm pretty sure you always have your facts straight, so maybe you just made an accidental error here.

That right there has me excited. Bowl opponet be damned. When has basketball ever made a top 25 podcast round up during the regular season.

Definitely, the directional schools only get visits from Michigan State because of the state relationship, and they'd never get a visit from Michigan (just like Ohio State will never visit any MAC school). However, I think Cincinnati or even West Virginia could be comparable to Michigan State for us and should be schools we could target to bring into Peden.