Bobcat Attack - Ohio Football - Schools with transfers continue to overachieve

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Topic: Schools with transfers continue to overachieve

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greencat

9/18/2021 3:23 PM

FCS Chattanooga Mocs (around 40 transfers) near miss at UK today. 26-22

UK bailed out by a late pick-6.

This trend is undeniable. Shop in the portal or lose out.

South Carolina, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mississippi State, Purdue.... all represented on the Mocs transfer list.

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Jeff McKinney

9/19/2021 12:38 AM

Do you think a high rate of using transfers is compatible with academics at Ohio? I'm not anti transfer, but I think it's easier to pull off at some schools than others.

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greencat

9/19/2021 12:33 PM

Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more

Do you think a high rate of using transfers is compatible with academics at Ohio? I'm not anti transfer, but I think it's easier to pull off at some schools than others.

There is a difference between a transfer from UNC, Virginia, Michigan, Purdue, etc. and a partial-at-best qualifier from SouthWest Prairie Remedial Junior College. If their schoolwork ability sucks, they can always go to WKU where the admission rate is nearly 100% (or at least was for a long time).

While not all transfers are going to be from Duke/Northwestern/Vandy/Stanford and the like, there are plenty that will be in the portal from schools academically similar to MAC state school. If a kid can do the school work at Georgia and was recruited by Georgia, he should be able to pass academic standards at another state school and probably be pretty good in football.

This also makes the "the MAC should go after TSU, etc" all the more comical.

Per US News & World Report:
Tennessee State University is ranked #299-#391 in National Universities.
Tennessee Tech University is ranked #277 in National Universities.
UT-Martin has a predicted graduation rate of 8%

As far as revisiting the WKU/MTSU thing:
Western Kentucky University is ranked #299-#391 in National Universities.
Middle Tennessee State University is ranked #288 in National Universities.

However in today's money hungry, merger crazy world... you have been to WKU's basketball arena and know it's D-1 worthy and I live in Rutherford County where MTSU is and know with certainty their athletic facilities are solidly D-1 mid-major as are UT-Chattanooga's but their football stadium is not on campus.

ut-Chattanooga football stadium:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJsdiMnXoAEYTTN.jpg

MTSU football stadium:
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2018/09/04/PMUR/946a0f...

Last Edited: 9/19/2021 12:43:54 PM by greencat

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OUcats82

9/20/2021 9:06 AM

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

I'll be curious to see how the high school recruiting landscape changes (if at all) once Cincinnati is in the Big 12. They may be able to pluck some more of the Ohio kids that in the past have gone to the Iowas, Kentuckys, etc. of the world more.

Given OSU's focus on more of a national recruitment strategy, I could see UC being in the mix for the best Ohio has to offer that is not wanted in Columbus.

Hopefully by this time, Ohio will be on better footing and the recruiting efforts will swing for the fences for the best talent so that there is a relationship in place when things don't work out for a player at XYZ school and they hop into the portal.

Names like Stover, Jackson, Bates, Scott, all came to Ohio after stopping somewhere else first (granted some were JUCO). Right or wrong, the Bobcats might get left behind if they aren't active in bolstering the roster this way.

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greencat

9/20/2021 12:16 PM

OUcats82 wrote:expand_more

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

The MAC should reconsider WKU and MTSU. They might not go, but it's worth a try. If Chattanooga was allowed the $$$ by the state to go to full D-1, it seems like they would want to be rivals with Appy State, Coastal Carolina, etc. Schools that are closer to them. But I don't think they will be allowed to make the move. They already dropped baseball so adding 20 more football schollies plus 20 women's schollies to stay Title IX compliant sounds like something that won't happen anything soon.

MTSU and WKU would be MAC-ready on day one.

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mf279801

9/20/2021 12:27 PM

greencat wrote:expand_more

OUcats82 wrote:expand_more

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

Could be wrong, but i seriously seriously seriously doubt that lack of interest by the MAC is the rate limiting step on WKU or MTSU joining the MAC

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greencat

9/20/2021 2:56 PM

mf279801 wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

OUcats82 wrote:expand_more

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

Could be wrong, but i seriously seriously seriously doubt that lack of interest by the MAC is the rate limiting step on WKU or MTSU joining the MAC

If the MAC could get Marshall back, that would create a level of interest on the part of WKU & MTSU. Throw in UAB and Charlotte, and you have a ready made MAC-South. AND... put the MAC into the Nashville, Charlotte, and Birmingham media markets all at once. It would be an epic coup.

What could swing it? The creation of a semi-serious MAC tv network. It might be tough to get sponsors other than "Banjo Minnow Lures" at first, but as soon as one of the MAC teams climbs up the rankings in football (and/or basketball), the sponsors will happen.

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OU_Country

9/20/2021 3:11 PM

Maybe it's just me, but I'd think that Charlotte and UAB would much rather be in the Sun Belt than the MAC. And they'd be a better fit.

If we're talking about a jump of conferences, and I'm all the rest of the G5, I'm thinking hard about two things:

1) the geography of my conference relative to my school. Travelling all over the country like C-USA does has to be expensive.
2) whether or not playing FBS football makes financial sense as things go forward. Keeping up with the Joneses is expensive, and seems like its getting more expensive every year.

Last Edited: 9/20/2021 3:12:04 PM by OU_Country

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mf279801

9/20/2021 3:11 PM

greencat wrote:expand_more

mf279801 wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

OUcats82 wrote:expand_more

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

Could be wrong, but i seriously seriously seriously doubt that lack of interest by the MAC is the rate limiting step on WKU or MTSU joining the MAC

What could swing it? A billionaire (or new Disney CEO) with a previously unknown affection for MAC sports

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greencat

9/20/2021 3:39 PM

mf279801 wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

mf279801 wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

OUcats82 wrote:expand_more

Both of those stadiums appear to be superior to nearly all MAC venues.

Could be wrong, but i seriously seriously seriously doubt that lack of interest by the MAC is the rate limiting step on WKU or MTSU joining the MAC

What could swing it? A billionaire (or new Disney CEO) with a previously unknown affection for MAC sports

The new Disney CEO is a Big Ten guy (Indiana and Mich. State degrees)

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner went to Denison, near Columbus.

However, putting a full-court press on Marshall would be step #1. The SunBelt would definitely be tough to beat out for Charlotte and UAB geographically but the doesn't mean give up on Marshall, WKU and MTSU. Those could still help form a MAC-South with Ohio and Fiami.

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Jeff McKinney

9/20/2021 3:53 PM

I think WKU and MTSU view themselves as southern schools, so I can't see them joining the MAC, although I think they'd be good competitively for the MAC.

I think Marshall to the MAC makes sense, but I never see that happening because Herdistan sees their current arrangement as superior in football. Also, there is significant opposition in the Ohio fan base. If travel becomes more of an issue for Marshall, I guess there is an outside chance.

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greencat

9/20/2021 4:34 PM

One side of C-USA stretches from West Virginia to Miami while the other side is mostly in Texas. Not sure how really "southern" that is compared to Georgia State (Atlanta), MTSU/WKU (Nashville area), etc.

I guess as a person who lives several exits off I-24 from MT (for the last 31 years), my view is that MTSU is no longer hard-core south and more of a school that strives to be recognized as more than just "southern."

But if the MAC can't get Marshall to return, getting anybody of value would be tough. As far as schools like Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana State, Chattanooga, etc spending what it takes to become full D-1, that is really a longshot. MTSU and WKU picked a good time to do it (as did Appy and a few others like Georgia St., Georgia Southern, South Alabama, etc. ) before it became cost prohibitive. But if the MAC is not willing to raid the south, it won't be able to expand unless the Temple/UMass etc want back in. All the D-1 new growth is definitely in the south.

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OhioCatFan

9/20/2021 11:13 PM

I agree with greencat that getting Marshall back would be the key to WKU and MTSU. And, unlike Jeff, I think that getting Marshall back is doable, as I've heard from some folks in Huntington that the administration is very concerned with two things -- the travel costs in the C-USA, and the long-term stability of the league. However, if they get invited to the American Conference, all bets are off.

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greencat

9/21/2021 2:11 AM

So Army plays Fiami, Ball State, WKU, and Georgia State this season in football. Highly interesting selection of mid-majors.

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GoCats105

9/26/2021 9:57 PM

Complete outlier, but Texas State didn't sign a single high school senior during the recruiting period and is relying on nothing but transfers. It's going very poorly.

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greencat

9/27/2021 2:23 AM

Texas State lost by single digits to Baylor who turned around and beat #14 Iowa State. It would be nice if the Bobcats anti-transfer roster could do something like that this season. Even a team having a worst-case-scenario season is having a better season.

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GoCats105

9/27/2021 9:00 AM

greencat wrote:expand_more

They also lost to FCS Incarnate Word and got blown out by EMU. Sounds like they're doing just about as well as our Bobcats.

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OhioBobcat

9/27/2021 9:39 AM

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

Complete outlier, but Texas State didn't sign a single high school senior during the recruiting period and is relying on nothing but transfers. It's going very poorly.

Excellent point. And I’m also not buying into this notion of schools with transfers continue to overachieve whatsoever. For every school you see that loaded up on transfers that just so happens to be doing well, you have one that did the same that isn’t. The MAC had a school for a number of years in Akron under Bowden that loaded up on really high-major transfers all the time, year after year, and it didn’t do anything for them. These were players no school in the MAC could have landed out of high school and they ended up at Akron. It never led them to much of anything and in fact, they continued to hover around the bottom of the MAC with them. Success isn’t linked to transfers, it’s linked to player development, execution, improvement, etc. Furthermore, Ohio actually does have a number of transfers itself. A starting LT from the P5 (Virginia Tech), a WR from the P5 (Vanderbilt), a kicker from the P5 (Oklahoma), a QB from the MWC (UNLV), and a number of JUCO’s. These guys aren’t exactly putting Ohio over the moon with them. I mean come on, one slow start to a season and some people are suddenly forgetting all the success over the last decade and change was mainly built on recruiting high schools players and developing them. Hell, some of the best guys Ohio has had weren’t even signees initially, they came to Athens as walk-ons. Sprinkling a bunch of transfers on a roster isn’t simply going to fix a team’s problem. In fact, in some cases, it adds a new problem that wasn’t there initially.

Last Edited: 9/27/2021 2:47:20 PM by OhioBobcat

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Alan Swank

9/27/2021 12:15 PM

Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more

Do you think a high rate of using transfers is compatible with academics at Ohio? I'm not anti transfer, but I think it's easier to pull off at some schools than others.

Not sure what you're saying here Jeff. Please explain.

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greencat

9/27/2021 2:31 PM

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

greencat wrote:expand_more

They also lost to FCS Incarnate Word and got blown out by EMU. Sounds like they're doing just about as well as our Bobcats.

Yet, Incarnate Word would probably blister Duquesne. Just saying.