Wren Baker on Bowl Game Possibilities

VideoEagle · November 30, 2016

The Tech folks want to play a P5 team, pretty much any P5 team and pretty much anywhere. Reading their board, if there isn't a P5 team in the HOD and they can play one someplace else, their fans would rather go someplace else.

ETA: reading BB&B this morning and the fans have shifted from any P5 to Heart of Dallas against a Big 10 team. I thought the Big 10 wasn't going to have enough teams to supply on to HOD, but the Tech fans seem certain that it will.

Edited November 30, 2016 by VideoEagle

Arkstfan · November 30, 2016

2 hours ago, Harry said:

Great analysis but I'd think the Techsters would cry bloody murder if we got the HOD over them. They really covet access to DFW metroplex.

As they demonstrated when they derailed the WAC bowl plan in 2001 and screwed themselves with Indy, Tech isn't a dead on lock to do what is right for the conference nor themselves. But HOD is going to have bucket scrapings for a team unless ESPN works a deal. La.Tech wants DFW exposure there is likely to be a top G5 playing just over in Fort Worth in a better time slot that needs an opponent.

Eagle-96 · November 30, 2016

10 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

I think it was pretty big back in the 80's and 90's and is generally credited with helping start the goth genre of bowls.

Image result for the cure meme

untbowler · November 30, 2016

8 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

As they demonstrated when they derailed the WAC bowl plan in 2001 and screwed themselves with Indy, Tech isn't a dead on lock to do what is right for the conference nor themselves. But HOD is going to have bucket scrapings for a team unless ESPN works a deal. La.Tech wants DFW exposure there is likely to be a top G5 playing just over in Fort Worth in a better time slot that needs an opponent.

since UNT fans are scared of Navy, might as well send La Tech to play Navy and let UNT play Idaho or some opponent of lesser level. Would not want the team to maybe step and play better competition.

VideoEagle · November 30, 2016

11 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

As they demonstrated when they derailed the WAC bowl plan in 2001 and screwed themselves with Indy, Tech isn't a dead on lock to do what is right for the conference nor themselves. But HOD is going to have bucket scrapings for a team unless ESPN works a deal. La.Tech wants DFW exposure there is likely to be a top G5 playing just over in Fort Worth in a better time slot that needs an opponent.

These are the folks in 2012 that actually told the Indy Bowl committee to wait for La Tech to explore every possible other option before accepting the Indy Bowl. I can't imagine why the Indy Bowl wouldn't like that and moved on leaving La Tech to sit in Rust-on.

I'm not sure their fan base even knows the AFB even exists as there no mention of it anywhere as a possiblitily. And they still seem to think that somehow the B1G is going to send a team to HOD. I would say it's a good thing the fans aren't the one's making the choice, but it was the administration that caused the problem 2012.

Army of Dad · November 30, 2016

26 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

As they demonstrated when they derailed the WAC bowl plan in 2001 and screwed themselves with Indy, Tech isn't a dead on lock to do what is right for the conference nor themselves. But HOD is going to have bucket scrapings for a team unless ESPN works a deal. La.Tech wants DFW exposure there is likely to be a top G5 playing just over in Fort Worth in a better time slot that needs an opponent.

Does the oversized 10 have enough teams if they only get one team in the CFP?

ChristopherRyanWilkes · November 30, 2016

10 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

Does the oversized 10 have enough teams if they only get one team in the CFP?

No. Currently, and it should stay this way, the HoD bowl will not be against a Big 10 opponent.

Mickey · November 30, 2016

56 minutes ago, untbowler said:

since UNT fans are scared of Navy, might as well send La Tech to play Navy and let UNT play Idaho or some opponent of lesser level. Would not want the team to maybe step and play better competition.

I would have to disagree with you. Could it be that some fans want to be smart about what we are doing? We have a tiny bit of momentum, let's try to keep it. If all it took was not being "afraid" to compete in the Top 25, why wouldn't everyone do it? We should just schedule all non-conference games against Top 25 teams to show we aren't "afraid".

I can't think of one example of a bottom of CFb program that raised itself up by taking inferior talent and competing successfully against Top 25, immediately and regularly. Nobody likes losing at any level. If you are trying to build a program from the bottom of college football (that's where we are), you win first on a regular basis, then you worry about the level of your competition.

Right now, for us, beating sisters of the poor in the BFE bowl would be far better for the program than getting beat 70-0 in Greatest Bowl in The History of the World in front of 10 million UNT alumni (if you are going to get beat 70-0, do you really want a bunch of alumni in person watching that?).

southsideguy · November 30, 2016

1 hour ago, untbowler said:

since UNT fans are scared of Navy, might as well send La Tech to play Navy and let UNT play Idaho or some opponent of lesser level. Would not want the team to maybe step and play better competition.

So we should keep scheduling the bodybag games every year? I think we need to learn how to win and I don't think we need to play the sister's of the poor but teams on the same level as us is what we should be playing currently. Yeah I love to get to the point where we pull a big upset but right now we are not always beating the teams we should beat. Navy never punted against SMU. At the present time I do not think we are better than SMU.

GMG_Dallas · November 30, 2016

ESPN report says Navy could play the Cotton Bowl if they win the AAC title game. Hold your horses, folks.

51 minutes ago, Mickey said:

I would have to disagree with you. Could it be that some fans want to be smart about what we are doing? We have a tiny bit of momentum, let's try to keep it. If all it took was not being "afraid" to compete in the Top 25, why wouldn't everyone do it? We should just schedule all non-conference games against Top 25 teams to show we aren't "afraid".

I can't think of one example of a bottom of CFb program that raised itself up by taking inferior talent and competing successfully against Top 25, immediately and regularly. Nobody likes losing at any level. If you are trying to build a program from the bottom of college football (that's where we are), you win first on a regular basis, then you worry about the level of your competition.

Right now, for us, beating sisters of the poor in the BFE bowl would be far better for the program than getting beat 70-0 in Greatest Bowl in The History of the World in front of 10 million UNT alumni (if you are going to get beat 70-0, do you really want a bunch of alumni in person watching that?).

Navy is Top 25 but this isn't some SEC or Big 10 program who is bigger, faster, and stronger than you. Their system is rare in today's football and is hard to defend against. This year, Navy beat UConn (3-9) 28-24 and Tulane (4-8) 21-14. They didn't crush everybody. They're not going to bully you around the field. They just play smart and disciplined. You can beat a team like Navy with a sound gameplan and strong execution. That isn't always the case against the more consistent Top 25 teams. This is actually one of the few chances were a team like we have can compete with a Top 25 team because of who they are and how they got there. This is one of the few games you can play against a Top 25 team where you aren't going to lose because you will get dominated on the LOS. This is an opportunity to take.

untbowler · November 30, 2016

47 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

So we should keep scheduling the bodybag games every year? I think we need to learn how to win and I don't think we need to play the sister's of the poor but teams on the same level as us is what we should be playing currently. Yeah I love to get to the point where we pull a big upset but right now we are not always beating the teams we should beat. Navy never punted against SMU. At the present time I do not think we are better than SMU.

really Navy is a Bodybag game!?!?! Good grief expectations remain low.

If we are not better than SMU in fans views then why even go to a bowl then, other than to say look we got a participation award. Might as well turn down invites until we get an Idaho or the Navy JV team.

Ben Gooding · November 30, 2016

4 minutes ago, untbowler said:

really Navy is a Bodybag game!?!?! Good grief expectations remain low.

If we are not better than SMU in fans views then why even go to a bowl then, other than to say look we got a participation award. Might as well turn down invites until we get an Idaho or the Navy JV team.

Navy is not a body bag game. Not at all.

BTG_Fan1 · November 30, 2016

13 hours ago, wardly said:

Navy ranked in top 20. UNT about 150th. I don't see the attraction.

how we 150th out of 128 schools? lol

Best way to do this would be to do UNT vs Army, and Navy vs LATech... we can either play in the Armed Forces Bowl in FTW, and Navy vs LAT in HoD or we switch and they play in FTW and we play in HoD... Better match-ups and LAT I would think love to play someone ranked. Also, the Bowls get 2 matchups that are closer to each other this way.

Mickey · November 30, 2016

32 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

ESPN report says Navy could play the Cotton Bowl if they win the AAC title game. Hold your horses, folks.

Navy is Top 25 but this isn't some SEC or Big 10 program who is bigger, faster, and stronger than you. Their system is rare in today's football and is hard to defend against. This year, Navy beat UConn (3-9) 28-24 and Tulane (4-8) 21-14. They didn't crush everybody. They're not going to bully you around the field. They just play smart and disciplined. You can beat a team like Navy with a sound gameplan and strong execution. That isn't always the case against the more consistent Top 25 teams. This is actually one of the few chances were a team like we have can compete with a Top 25 team because of who they are and how they got there. This is one of the few games you can play against a Top 25 team where you aren't going to lose because you will get dominated on the LOS. This is an opportunity to take.

The games you reference were before the Air Force loss, after which they made changes and have been rolling since. Their only point total below 40 has been 28 in a win against Notre Dame.

I've seen us in person this year and I have seen Navy in person this year. They are bigger, stronger, faster than us. They play on a different level than we are right now. Our OL might weigh more, but that's not a great measuring stick.

im not saying it's a body bag game, I'm saying I wouldn't pick that matchup if we have a choice.

SSP · November 30, 2016

Here's my official prediction.

WE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE HEART OF DALLAS BOWL. Not sure about opponent but I am confident that HOD will do whatever they have to (unless they are made a trade offer that they can't refuse) to get us there.

So there. ?

MGNation92 · November 30, 2016

1 hour ago, SSP said:

Here's my official prediction.

WE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE HEART OF DALLAS BOWL. Not sure about opponent but I am confident that HOD will do whatever they have to (unless they are made a trade offer that they can't refuse) to get us there.

So there. ?

That would be optimal. Great location, easy travel, and I can guarantee this AD will do a 1000% better job of advertising and getting tickets sold

Wag Tag · November 30, 2016

2 hours ago, SSP said:

Here's my official prediction.

WE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE HEART OF DALLAS BOWL. Not sure about opponent but I am confident that HOD will do whatever they have to (unless they are made a trade offer that they can't refuse) to get us there.

So there. ?

Potential opponents?

SSP · November 30, 2016

1 hour ago, Wag Tag said:

Potential opponents?

Wouldn't be shocked to see Miss State after things get moved around.

Edited November 30, 2016 by SSP

kj86 · November 30, 2016

13 minutes ago, SSP said:

Wouldn't be shocked to see Miss State after things get moved around.

That would be outstanding. State has lots of transplants in these parts. An SEC team and one that also qualified on APR, that would be cool.

Army of Dad · November 30, 2016

Just now, kj86 said:

That would be outstanding. State has lots of transplants in these parts. An SEC team and one that also qualified on APR, that would be cool.

As an added bonus, even if we lose there's a decent chance they will have to vacate the win!

Wag Tag · November 30, 2016

22 minutes ago, SSP said:

Wouldn't be shocked to see Miss State after things get moved around.

Anybody else?? I am not up on how this works. Can't imagine Navy if they win out.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Wag Tag

DeepGreen · November 30, 2016

4 hours ago, SSP said:

Here's my official prediction.

WE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE HEART OF DALLAS BOWL. Not sure about opponent but I am confident that HOD will do whatever they have to (unless they are made a trade offer that they can't refuse) to get us there.

So there. ?

And I know exactly how this works.

emmitt01 · November 30, 2016

5 hours ago, SSP said:

Here's my official prediction.

WE WILL BE PLAYING IN THE HEART OF DALLAS BOWL. Not sure about opponent but I am confident that HOD will do whatever they have to (unless they are made a trade offer that they can't refuse) to get us there.

So there. ?

Awesome...especially because I already have 8 tickets to this game

Edited November 30, 2016 by emmitt01

Harry · November 30, 2016

ChristopherRyanWilkes · November 30, 2016

LaTech president says they want Heart of Dallas too. If they win, they will undoubtedly pick it. If they lose, there may be some politics involved. The conference might have to dangle the carrot of a better opponent elsewhere to coax them. I think there is an unspoken preference to teams with better records getting their pick over lower record teams.