Conference Attendance

NT80 · January 20, 2008

So the Sun Belt is the only 1-A football conference with basketball-only schools in its league, SUMG?

The Big East also has basketball-only schools.

Charter air flights (football) costs are determined by distance (fuel), not SuperSaver fares.

Ch. 4 sports tonight showed only scores and TV basketball highlights of uT, A&M, Baylor, Tech/OU, and one Metroplex team....TCU at Colorado State. No Smut highlights (home game) nor video from FAU (do they even have video?). Point is, our competition for local respect is not FAU and the rest of the SunkBelt, it is the Big12, TCU, and Smut, as it always has been. Think BIG (as in get us out of the SBC ASAP).

DallasGreen · January 20, 2008

And your last point echoes my thoughts, at least on one level..... we hear so much about Troy's big wins over (ultimately unranked and 5+ loss) Mizzou and Okie State over the years, and then this year we had the ULM win over Bama (@Bama, which is inarguably more impressive than Troy's wins), and how that's what NT needs... how that never happened for us (at least since winning at Tech) even in the good years, blah blah. This is where I couldn't disagree more. Sure, I'd love to knock off a big dog. Admittedly, it would be a lot nicer if we knocked off LSU or Texas instead of Mizzou or OkSt, but even still... if you do that and combine it with 4 or 5 losses or even with NOT WINNING THE BELT, and what have you gotten?? Not much. What did that Mizzou win 6 years or so ago really get Troy? Does anyone still recall that ULM beat Bama outside of Tuscaloosa? Sure, beating a "name" opponent once in a while gives us a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, but what does it really do for the program?
Point is, we can bitch and moan and whine about the Belt's ability and attendance all we want (even though it seems like some go on about how much better the Belt is now while some tear it apart), but we had better start winning games. I don't care if it's against Incarnate Word or FIU - we need wins. The only thing we need the big opponents for is a paycheck, and I get that it's a necessary evil -- but we're only going to gain traction in the college football world by consistently racking up wins, year after year.
If we had maintained our momentum after our run, and we could say now that we'd won the Belt say 6 or 7 out of 8 years, and were losing 1 or 2 (money) games a year -- can you concieve what a span like that would do for the program?? No one would care what the hell that schedule was... that's the kind of run that puts you on the map, that makes you go places. Not an early-season win once every four years against an Independence Bowl representative.

Very good point as our OOC schedule for 2008 guarantees at best 1-3 out of the gate. We have zero chance on the road at LSU or KSU and remember when Tulsa last came to Fouts. Only Rice in Houston gives us any chance at all for a win. Meanwhile TCU opens in Ft. W with SFA!!

stebo · January 21, 2008

The Big East also has basketball-only schools.
Charter air flights (football) costs are determined by distance (fuel), not SuperSaver fares.
Ch. 4 sports tonight showed only scores and TV basketball highlights of uT, A&M, Baylor, Tech/OU, and one Metroplex team....TCU at Colorado State. No Smut highlights (home game) nor video from FAU (do they even have video?). Point is, our competition for local respect is not FAU and the rest of the SunkBelt, it is the Big12, TCU, and Smut, as it always has been. Think BIG (as in get us out of the SBC ASAP).

Umm, did you not read? Yes - the football team charters flights. The non-revenue sports actually do use those "SuperSaver" fares. Football pays its own way, and the way of everybody else... so travel is indeed measured in terms of "cost" - not miles. Still, we do not have any other options other then the WAC and that is not an option. We cannot afford it and it would be a step backward. We also wouldn't be able to compete in it right now. And lets say that we do get better, our reward would be a bowl that none of us can travel to. Please refer back to every single post circa 2001. Why bitch about the Belt when it is our home? I just don't understand the rationalle. Why would you piss where you currently sleep? Makes zero sense.