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I am curious as to why the MWC would not be considered given its four year track record with the teams it did have. All the other conferences are not judged by the teams they lost, why would the MWC be looked at differently?

I am little confused by this post - UL only played one body bag game (Okie State) and they are definitely in a bowl game (New Orleans Bowl). I would not consider Arizona a body bag game. NT only had one (Bama)... FIU played one potential body bagger and won the game (Louisville), played another good team in UCF and beat them, they beat Akron on the road, and they should have beat Duke at home but lost in OT after giving up a huge lead. They finished OOC at 3-1. The only big offenders were FAU with 3 (Florida, Michigan State, and Auburn - to help pay for a new stadium), ULM with 3 (FSU, Iowa, TCU, Grambling - to make up for the lowest athletic budget in all of FBS), and Troy with 2 (Clemson, Arkansas, UAB, Navy). UL played Kent State, Nichols State, Arizona, and Okie State and went 2-2... NT had all winnable games in OOC except for Bama. Most teams only play one, maybe two body baggers these days unless they really need the money (FAU/ULM).

That is incorrect. The non-AQ's have to be in the top 16 to be considered, top 12 to be guaranteed, AND they have to win their conference. Both Houston and Boise were left out because they did not win their respective conferences. Either team could have (and in Boise's case - probably should have) gotten an at large bid... but it didn't happen. This might be a good thing, the big boys have not been happy about the little guys crashing their party every year. There has been a lot of talk about yanking that spot away from the little guys and opening up the BCS bowls to the top 3 through 10 teams, regardless of conference or championship, with one and two going to Title Game (in a new location - like Jerry World) and 3 through 10 going to Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, and Orange. Look at Arkansas this year - they are left out of a BCS game and finished in the top 10. How pissed would they be if Boise or Houston was in by "rule" (auto bid to a non-AQ that wins conference and finishes in top 12) and they were left out "by rule" (only 2 bids allowed per conference).

They did get left out, combination of their "newness", their loss to FCS team, and UCLA getting a waiver. Still - it is nice to have one MWC, one MAC, and one CUSA this year - last year is was all MAC teams.

Geez Louise there are a lot of bowls! Gildan New Mexico Temple vs. Wyoming Albuquerque, N.M. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Ohio vs. Utah State Boise, Idaho R+L Carriers New Orleans San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette New Orleans Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Florida International vs. Marshall St. Petersburg, Fla. S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia TCU vs. Louisiana Tech San Diego MAACO Las Vegas Arizona State vs. Boise State Las Vegas Sheraton Hawaii Nevada vs. Southern Miss Honolulu AdvoCare V100 Independence Missouri vs. North Carolina Shreveport, La. Little Caesars Western Michigan vs. Purdue Detroit Belk Louisville vs. NC State Charlotte, N.C. Military Bowl Toledo vs. Air Force Washington, D.C. Bridgepoint Education Holiday California vs. Texas San Diego Champs Sports Florida State vs. Notre Dame Orlando, Fla. Valero Alamo Washington vs. Baylor San Antonio Bell Helicopter Armed Forces BYU vs. Tulsa Dallas New Era Pinstripe Rutgers vs. Iowa State Bronx, N.Y. Franklin American Mortgage Music City Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest Nashville, Tenn. Insight Iowa vs. Oklahoma Tempe, Ariz. Meineke Car Care of Texas Texas A&M vs. Northwestern Houston Hyundai Sun Georgia Tech vs. Utah El Paso, Texas AutoZone Liberty Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt Memphis, Tenn. Kraft Fight Hunger Illinois vs. UCLA San Francisco Chick-fil-A Virginia vs. Auburn Atlanta TicketCity Houston vs. Penn State Dallas Outback Michigan State vs. Georgia Tampa, Fla. Capital One Nebraska vs. South Carolina Orlando, Fla. Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl Ohio State vs. Florida Jacksonville, Fla. Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio Wisconsin vs. Oregon Pasadena, Calif. Tostitos Fiesta Stanford vs. Oklahoma State Glendale, Ariz. Allstate Sugar Michigan vs. Virginia Tech New Orleans Discover Orange West Virginia vs. Clemson Miami AT&T Cotton Kansas State vs. Arkansas Arlington, Texas BBVA Compass Bowl SMU vs. Pittsburgh Birmingham, Ala. GoDaddy.com Arkansas State vs. Northern Illinois Mobile, Ala. Allstate BCS National Championship Game No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama Just curious - did the Ft Worth Bowl move to Dallas permanently? I thought that was a one year thing while Amon Carter was being renovated...?

untgirl, I re-read your post today. I would encourage you to e-mail Rick Villareal with your coaching concern. Even if the guest services room was off limits, the building houses people to provide "guest services" - so they should have walked you to something like one of the family restrooms (large room with a lock). There should be no reason why you would feel the need to leave and Rick should be able to address this with his staff.

There are several family bathrooms. You could use one of those for an unlimited amount of time and get some privacy... That is what the Mavs offer as well.

It was a pretty big outdoor festival. Bands are notoriously prima donnas but it seemed to work out great. It was really great to see people enjoying both. The sound was off for the game but it was there for those that didn't want to miss it. I could see a conflict if the crowd is cheering the baseball game during the football game but just having it on in the background might get people on the fence to come out and then they get sucked into the live game. Its just a thought...unusual circumstances call for unusual marketing.

I went to the Dallas Observer Showcase last night in Deep Ellum. Perfect example of how to enjoy both without having to choose. You have a crowd of people with mohawks and colored hair that came to see the Old 97's and The Toadies - and the festival was smart enough to bring in a portable jumbotron and played the game the entire time. We have two video boards at Apogee, no need to bring in a portable one. Play the Rangers game on the small one and turn our game into the biggest Rangers watching party in Denton. If the crowd in Deep Ellum can watch both (and cheer for both bands AND The Rangers) - all with last minute planning... we can easily turn the TV to the game and promote it as a Texas Sports Celebration. People will glance at the Rnagers game and the announcer can give score updates. There should be no reason to feel compelled to "choose" when both events can feed off of one another and possibly bring out an even bigger crowd. I would much rather watch two great sporting events in our palace than choose one over the other. Market the event and turn a potential negative into a positive.

Their stadium has a capacity of almost 50k. The sections that were sparse would have been full if they didn't have the grass seating. Great job by UL filling their stadium for a Sun Belt team and not complaining about the conference holding them back.

Why would the Belt want to be straddled with Idaho, San Jose, Utah State, Seattle, UTA, Denver, etc? Why not just cherry pick who we want and let the WAC become a basketball only conference (Boise and Air Force are rejoining the WAC for all sports except football). Idaho would be better off in the Big Sky. San Jose is questionable. USU screwed the Belt over, karma is a bitch. Cherry pick La Tech and UTSA. That brings the Belt to 12 with the addition of USA next year, keeps the conference somewhat regional, etc. If we were to do an alliance with anyone it should be the MAC - a scheduling and television agreement. They would have 12, we would have 12 - we could have our champ play their champ and try to finagle a BCS bid at some point down the road.

Big East votes to expand October 14, 2011 After a long and extensive conference call this afternoon, the Big East came up with a plan to to extend invitations to Air Force, Boise State and Navy in football only and Central Florida, Houston and SMU as full members according to Big East sources. The Big East's interest in Boise State was first reported in the Globe and Newark Star Ledger on Sunday. Also approved was a plan to increase the exit fees from its current limit of $5 million to ten million. But according to a Big East source, "nothing will happen this weekend'' because of a Big East by-law which requires a 72 hour period after any decision to allow the schools to digest the information which has been voted upon.' The plan that was approved was extensive. If it is implemented, Air Force, Boise and UCF are expected to accept the offer with the possibility of Boise and Air Force joining the conference as soon as next season, while UCF, Houston and SMU are more likely to join the conference for the start of the 2013 season. Also on the agenda was Temple. The debate over Temple revolved around whether to admit Owls, who were asked to leave the Big East in 2004, into the conference as a full member or only in football, but Villanova, which has contemplated moving from the FCS to the FBS level, presented a strong argument and blocked the Owls entry. If Navy chooses not to join, that could change. A Big East source said that Navy was not 100 percent committed but the Big East was optimistic that Navy would be part of the package. If Navy backs out, Temple could again be in the mix. Both Boise State and Air Force would move to the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports. Invitations should be extended to the schools early next week with an announcement of the new configuration expected to be made in New York next Wednesday at Big East basketball media day. The logistics of these moves is a complicated process since there could be a cross over period when the new schools begin Big East competition, while the two schools who announced last month they were moving to the ACC, work out the details of their departure. Big East officials have maintained that they will enforce the 27 month exit time table for any school that leaves, which means that the Big East football will keep its core group of 8 schools through the 2013 season. It is possible that the Big East could expand to 12 teams next season, which would make the league eligible to conduct a championship game, which is regarded as potentially financially lucrative, a key asset for the league which also must negotiate a new television contract in the next several months. http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/ex...votes.html

Thanks Flyer, I knew that there had to be a reason behind it. Is that lot in bad shape? I don't remember it being that big - but it seems like we could fit a couple hundred cars in there.

It is a long way - maybe not a mile but pretty close to it - because there is no direct route. You either walk up hill to N Texas Blvd and then over the highway - and then down the access road to the stadium... or you walk down to Bonnie Brae, under the highway - and then back up hill. Again, I have a green parking pass and am very lucky in that regard.. but there has to be a better way. When I exit for my parking, I see people with young children or are fans that are a little older and they look wore out. That is a heck of a walk...especially if you are carrying your stuff for tailgating over to the Hill. I did not mean to start the thread to complain - my real question is about the Denia "compromise" - how stuck are we with that decision? That old Radisson parking lot is just sitting there. It is University property and the athletic dept should have access to it 365 days a year. The police could set up so that people are not able to enter the neighborhood and only turn into the parking lot there. I think that it is made available for RV's on game day but it could be a really great cash lot (and bring in a nice stream of revenue). If someone is willing to pay $20 bucks to park at Sack and Save to walk over, they would easily pay the same amount to park there. Is it free to park at Fouts? For free parking, I agree - someone can walk. We pay for convenience.

Are we bound by the whole "denia compromise" - or is this something we can get out of? The parking situation needs to be addressed somehow - either with lots of signs directing traffic from exits BEFORE N Texas Blvd, or by telling Denia to just deal with it. Most people that drive to town, wait until they see the stadium and then look for a place to get off. As it is, the cops just wave you through and do not give directions. There are also no signs that explan where the cash lots are. People are hurting and want to buy general admission and park somewhere for a low price. Make the parking at Fouts $5 bucks if you are going to ask someone to walk a mile to the game and offer a shuttle (with big signs explaining how it works). Also - there should be tons of directions on the highway directing traffic to Fouts (for free or cash parking). If I didn't know Denton so well, I would have no idea how to get there. I am lucky enough to have a parking pass but for the regular joe that is taking in one game or two a year - we are going to push them away. Someone posted on here about driving up from Ft Worth and then giving up when trying to find a place to park. That is scary.

So there were 50 last time? I have a perfect view of the hill from our seats, there couldn't have been more than 100 people out there. If that. It was dead 2 hours before the game, it was dead 30 minutes before the game, it was dead (outside) during the game. Running off the very people that you are trying to attract inside is a stupid idea. Can't think of a single college that does that.

It doesn't really matter but I don't think that the WAC has ever had a tie in to the Sun Bowl. TCU went down there and guaranteed 20K tickets and that is how they got the open bid (when the major conferences could not fill their spot). They wanted to make a statement and show commitment - TCU has really been one step ahead of most non-auto bid schools for the past decade. They knew that they were going to have to earn their way back into the big boys club, they set out with that as their mission, and they did it - now they have two auto bid conferences fighting over them.

I think it is still being finished... so they probably haven't finished all the seat backs. They have another week or so and this video was probably taken about 2 weeks ago (it posted on Aug 29). As for our price - we bought during the recession. One of the only positives about the recession is lower pricing! We got a lotof bang for our buck! SMU built their stadium for a ridiculously low price.. and it is a mix between erector set and concrete.

Man, you guys are some proud Mean Green faithful! I am, too - that doesn't mean we cannot be happy for FAU. When you are in an ocean front area, you look at different amenities for your demographic target. We wanted a strong, concrete home - but these guys have watched UCF do really well with their erector set and went for aesthetics. We both spent about the same amount but we just spent it differently. Our stadium is incredible - and will age really nicely. Their stadium kind of "fits" for that area. The ocean breeze mixed with the high tone Boca Raton crowd - they had to pick their battles. The guys on the Belt board talk about the Boca fans as if they are snobs - they have valet parking at the Wal-Mart... so they catered to the demo and went for seat backs, decor, and 6,000 seats with access to mixed drinks at 4 different levels. They are trying to build an identity. Completely different situation from our's and both schools chose the right path in my opinion.

It is all seatbacks, they spent amost as much as us ($70 million) but in a different way. There is not a bench seat in the house. They also have 6,000 premium and priority seats (with access to drinkage) as opposed to our 1000 or so. If you watch the video - you can see the ocean from the suite level...the view of the ocean is cool but also the smell of the ocean will make that place unique. I am going to have to make the trip next year and check it out.

I hope that this has not already been posted. This is the finished product at FAU - they really went about it differently than us but they have a different demographic. I would not trade Apogee for the FAU stadium but it really fits them - especially given the ocean breeze/smell that will make it very unique. http://www.youtube.com/user/FAUSportsVideos#p/u/0/iwBBIcfOcZ8

Whoops, my bad. LOL. But I have been really impressed with the Belt pulling off those wins that would have escaped them in the past. Only one serious screw up, where we lost to an inferior team (WKU vs an FCS) - but with several new coaches the Belt looks pretty good this year. And attendance is up around the league, big time. I know that we should not settle for averaging 20k a game - but there are other conferences (i.e. the WAC) where teams are struggling to get 10K a game.

The Belt is winning OOC games left and right - the conference went 2-0 against CUSA today. It is also ranked higher than it has been for several years. Not sure how FIU could be considered fools gold, they are a young team that lost by 4 in a sold out stadium with a national audience and the freaking Goodyear blimp flying overhead. Never seen something like that for a Belt game before... MUTS beat Memphis, as they should. Troy beat UAB, as they should.

Hey Plummer, So you were able to get out of that gig this weekend or did you talk to some other IU alum? I hope you were able to make the game - great atmosphere for our first win ever! Steve

Current: With either TxSt or UTSA and La Tech: Or another option, add La Tech and Happy Appy (their BOR just voted to pursue FBS membership):