JesseMartin

Sorry...didn't read your post before I put mine. Since it didn't mention HoD, I figured it was another one showing different projections.

My thoughts exactly. As much as I normally hate to see rematches in bowl games...it would have to be the 2nd biggest upset of our program to beat WMU. I could see that happening in a year or two, but I don't think it's anywhere near reasonable to hope for that this year.

According to this article on espn.com, if Navy wins, we play WMU and if Navy loses, we play Army: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18189507/conference-bowl-officials-considering-plans-navy-midshipmen-win-american-athletic-conference ETA: Note that if there are a bunch of upsets, this may change, but that's the plan as of now...both scenarios involve us in the Heart of Dallas

That looks more like needing to take a dump than impatience.

Arizona, Vegas and New Mexico are all ones I can make. But for the program, if there's a winnable opponent, I'd like to see either of the DFW options to get a huge crowd.

I'm not sure how far down they are...but if they lobby for us to go elsewhere, assuming there are enough APR spots for them to get a bowl, they could try to use their weight to have us go elsewhere...or even have us be their opponent.

I go every month or two to promote my art. Not many major sightseeing opportunities, but hang out on 4th and there's lots of good food and beer.

I was just looking at that on the ESPN scoreboard and realized when you said that that they weren't on this list.

No matter where Charlie ends up...this may be the best idea I've ever heard.

Exactly. First year coach takes a 1-11 team to a bowl because academics got us over the other cusp teams? Take it. I was mentally deabting this before Emmitt posted it...but a bowl is still a bowl. Even if we get crushed...knowing it's a stepping stone season and our academics got us in and there's growth coming is still more impressive than not being in a bowl at all.

So with the ASU loss...we need 2 more of these (and USA) to lose, yes?

I was thinking about the smashmouth style of play even when I was writing that...that's why I was really thinking 12 yards would probably be more likely if they were ever to change it. Still not likely to ever happen...I was just trying to think of what might be a way to temper the trend of these insanely high scoring games where the scores look more like basketball than football.

That's exactly why I wasn't too quick to chalk this up as a win.

I see what you did there.... Is their badass RB still out?

No kidding...I wonder how long before someone at UT implements some internal policies to chill everybody the hell out there. I would attribute their recent slide to that pressure as much as, if not more than, any of the other relevant factors.

If we base it on NDSU...yeah...they would beat most AAC (and probably most FBS) teams on any given weekend over the past few years. I was thinking about that, too...I wonder how long that goes on before the FCS begs the FBS to take them....

I know this is a topic probably better served in the offseason, but the NFL's change in placement for extra point attempts has gotten me thinking. Football has evolved quite a bit over the years, sometimes from changes in strategy or recruiting, and other times from rule changes. College ball sometimes reflects changes in the pros; at times, it's the other way around. Other times, rules remain disparate between the two. The main thing that got me thinking about this was how the use of the forward pass over the years has developed so many successful air attacks and such inflated scores in games with heavy offenses and little defenses...could we see 10 yards for each set of downs eventually become 12 or even 15? This could lead to a more balanced focus on defense after a couple of years of lots of overtimes with 0-0 or 3-3 after regulation. But if you compare average D1 scores now with those of eras past, as well as gained yardage, it appears that proficiency in forward passing has inflated scores to the point that 10 yards has become a very simple obstacle in comparison to what it was years ago.

I didn't want to make this a poll, because I don't think it's an easy answer. But here are my reasons for asking: 1. The American Airlines Association of Americans Conference was born from the ashes of the Big East. The BE's members were largely absorbed by other conferences, so the AAC was mostly comprised of up-and-comers from G5 conferences who were likely being considered in a major conference anyway. However, so many longstanding members left that it ended up looking like a "Power 5 in waiting" conference. So they could succeed together and become a power conference again, or... 2. Each member is on the cusp of an invitation to another conference. Well, maybe not all, but when you look at both basketball and football, you can make a case for most of them pretty easily. So my point is that it could be considered something of a stepping stone between G5 and P5, or the conference as a whole is kind of between the two. Weren't they still P5 their first year anyway? I just don't know what to think about their future. They tend to have rankings of top teams in FB around the same level as the Big 12. There's always talk of their members and/or coaches being pilfered by bigger conferences. They basically come off as a P5 conference in every way but that of being well-established enough. Sooo...win and be considered a big boy conference, or win and have each team taken by a big boy conference? Either way...don't they seem like they're sort of in between the 2 levels of FBS conferences?

I don't think we'll travel well to UTEP, even with a bowl game on the line, on Thanksgiving weekend. Albuquerque isn't terribly far to drive, and fares on Southwest may be decent, so for a bowl game, yes, I think we will travel better with an 8 hour drive than they would with a 13 hour drive, as well as with more alumni in the region. Both schools' alumni bases are heavily concentrated in their respective metro areas, but we do have more overall throughout the southwest. I would bet we bring at least 5000 more than them, likely more than that.

Note that I pointed out earlier that they showed up well at home...I'm talking about traveling fans...but I don't have the stats. When I've seen them on televised games it looks like they don't bring many. Their home attendance isn't much of an indicator of how many will actually travel for a bowl.

In a sense, you're both right. For those of us who are die hard fans, uniforms are extraneous chitchat on various levels of whether it was cool or worth the expense, but doesn't really matter in terms of our overall commitment. We do have to keep in mind that recruits and random members of the public thus far unaffiliated with us do care about that, though. And we're trying to bring them in, so every little detail helps, and this is one we've been missing out on.

In any situation where the conference has some pull, at the very least in convincing the schools, I would think that the combination best suiting a favorable net outcome would come into play. So when it comes to those of us at the low end of the bowl ranking order, you obviously want to keep teams as close to their region as possible for travel costs. However, if they don't have to defer to things like head-to-head or can convince the schools otherwise, with UTSA being fairly new and still growing their fanbase (though they showed up quite nicely in SA), I would expect UNT to travel better in the region, so I could see us getting the New Mexico Bowl (which I was hoping for all along anyway) and UTSA going to the Bahamas. More on that below.... That has come up before...I think they even had a couple of minutes discussing it on BTG. Players want to be in front of as many fans and friends as possible. If that's not an issue, then they would definitely go for a tropical option if the fan numbers are the same. That's why it makes sense for UTSA in the Bahamas if they hit 6 wins. They have a small and dedicated base for their growing program. It will be bigger in the future, but they aren't likely to travel many more to NM than to the Bahamas. We don't travel very well either, but do have a larger base in general, including nationally, and have slightly stronger name recognition from our previous periods of success, even though they have been rare in recent memory. I think the difference in potential ticket sales gives us Albuquerque if all else is equal. And I sure hope so!

I don't get how the Tulsa idea is so highly debated. Being a couple of hours closer to your hometown doesn't seem worth the risk of trying to rebuild at another G5. It's not like he's in Washington or something right now...they're not too far from family and he has a good gig with a good start. If he even had an offer from Tulsa after a year here and didn't replicate his performance as quickly as they would like, he would be SOL. Build one program for a few years and don't run off for every minor salary increase. Then hope for a much bigger shot to come along.

So Duke has one more shot...and I'm assuming even though NW has 5 wins, you're focusing still on the fact that even though they can already get in on APR, that one more win would remove them from the list and we would move up a spot, right?

I can't figure out how to add channels or anything. Grrrr.