Concept of playing a winnable Home opener in review

[Harry]

You get a good crowd, they have a great game to watch and you win leaving them wanting to come back for more. Imagine how neat it would be to do that to START the season like TCU did last night. I think after last night RV may want to consider doing this more often!

[gruu]

Agree...

[UNT90]

You get a good crowd, they have a great game to watch and you win leaving them wanting to come back for more. Imagine how neat it would be to do that to START the season like TCU did last night. I think after last night RV may want to consider doing this more often!

All for a winnable home opener.

Against a home opener against an FCS team.

[Mean Green Matt]

I don't understand what the big deal is about playing an FCS team. There were lots of ranked teams that played FCS teams this weekend. Go down this list for next week and it is happening again. The attendance was better than Indiana last year as well.

[NT03]

All for a winnable home opener.

Against a home opener against an FCS team.

Problem is we already have 2 road games lined up for next several years.

If we do have a home & home w/ any decent team, we will be looking at another 5 game slate in the future

Idaho , NMSU might be the only options other than an FCS opponent

[gruu]

All for a winnable home opener.

Florida A&M 13

OU 69

Savannah State 0

Florida State 55

Austin Peay 7

Virginia Tech 42

Grambling 0

TCU 56

Missouri State 7

Louisville 35

New Hampshire 7

Minnesota 44

Maine 3

Boston College 34

Webber State 13

BYU 45

Howard 0

Rutgers 26

Georgia State 13

Tennessee 51

Morgan State 34

Buffalo 56

Presbyterian 3

Georgia Tech 59

Tennessee-Martin 7

Northern ILL. 35

Eastern ILL 21

Western Mich. 52

Western Carolina 24

Marshall 52

Stephen F. Austin 0

SMU 52

UC Davis 13

San Jose State 49

[NT03]

Give me Grambling , Texas Southern or PV a&m to open the season every year. Nothing better than staring @ 1-0

[Mean Green Matt]

Give me Grambling , Texas Southern or PV a&m to open the season every year. Nothing better than staring @ 1-0

This. I'm not sure how people think playing an FCS team is below us when just about everyone else is doing it.

[UNT90]

This. I'm not sure how people think playing an FCS team is below us when just about everyone else is doing it.

It's not below us. The risk/reward and attendance hit are not worth it AT THIS POINT in my opinion.

[Mean Green Matt]

It's not below us. The risk/reward and attendance hit are not worth it AT THIS POINT in my opinion.

There is hardly any risk if you schedule a weak enough opponent, and I'm not sure where you are seeing the attendance hit.

[NT03]

There is hardly any risk if you schedule a weak enough opponent, and I'm not sure where you are seeing the attendance hit.

I think he means if we were to lose a game to a FCS our attendance would drop considerably

I understand his arguement , but I think if it's a SWAC school we should win 99/100.

Edited September 9, 2012 by NT03

[jdennis82]

Once the conference slate includes CUSA teams, this makes a lot of sense.

Even with ULM beating Ark last night, to the casual fan, the name recognition value of Sunbelt opponents and FCS schools is no different.

[shaft]

I hate FBS vs. fcs games, but it was the right thing to do.

22+ K had a good time last night and will likely translate into better attendance they rest of the year. Its what we need to do to grow the fan base and we shouldn't feel bad about it because everybody else does the same thing.

[MeanGreen61]

I hate FBS vs. fcs games, but it was the right thing to do.

22+ K had a good time last night and will likely translate into better attendance they rest of the year. Its what we need to do to grow the fan base and we shouldn't feel bad about it because everybody else does the same thing.

Others do it, so why not ? How do you think so many teams jump start their season records ? Savannah State seems to be a popular Big Six foe of choice this season & all three Metroplex teams hosted FCS schools this week.

[MeanGreenHoops]

Love the FCS home opener. Hope we do it every year. If want to be big time, do what the big time schools do,

[Legend500]

As a stratagem for gaining an early, if meaningless, win which will put butts-in-seats and generates a good storyline, it's absolutely the right thing to do. Texas Southern brought a band, dancers and a decent away crowd which is more than we can say for many Sun Belt - and even Mt. USA - teams.

That being said, it's killing the sport, is horrible for competition and is just not very sporting. An 11-1 record is meaningless if one of those wins comes against Little Sisters of the Poor - it's really just a 10-1 record. Play (and beat) a team which is actually on your level. It also deprives our team of a game against a minimally-competent opponent, making both fans and coaches wait until up-to a month into the season before we know whether our team is "good" or not. Finally, it's a big risk - ask the State of Colorado, for relatively minimal reward. I'm sure UTSA would much rather have played us then TAMUC.

If our team needs to schedule FCS teams to get good attendance and a good shot at a win, we need to join a conference which offers us those opportunities on a weekly basis - the Southland.

[H-towngreen]

That being said, it's killing the sport, is horrible for competition and is just not very sporting. An 11-1 record is meaningless if one of those wins comes against Little Sisters of the Poor - it's really just a 10-1 record. .

No, it's still a 11-1 record. No one looks back at the end of the season and says "well, they're really 10-1 bc they beat a lesser opponent" That's garbage. If OSU, FSU, Bama and everyone else does it then why shouldn't we? No one looked at Bama last season and said that they didn't deserve to be in the Championship game bc they beat Georgia Southern.

[UNTcrazy727]

I don't mind it as long as we have another good OOC home game to go a long with it.

[Green Mean]

For a program like ours I think the first home game of the year is probably the most critical game of the year in that you can set a big tone for people coming back and even when scheduling an FCS school or something everyone wants to see a winner.

[Cerebus]

We'll open next year at home hosting Idaho.

[smoothfresh]

Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky, etc... That is who K-State has opened up with recently and sold out every game. My point is not about the sell out, it's the point of your fans starting a new season by seeing their team win and then seeing in the paper their team is 1-0. This builds momentum. I walked out of Apogee last night with a smile on my face and I didn't give a &$%# that the win was against Texas Southern. Go ask Joe Fan and I'll bet he/she felt the same way.

[Legend500]

No, it's still a 11-1 record. No one looks back at the end of the season and says "well, they're really 10-1 bc they beat a lesser opponent" That's garbage. If OSU, FSU, Bama and everyone else does it then why shouldn't we? No one looked at Bama last season and said that they didn't deserve to be in the Championship game bc they beat Georgia Southern.

Actually, the BCS system does look back and take note of who played a FCS team. All 6 component polls grade an FCS win as a "draw" for the team. Now, if you're Alabama, you play plenty of games that can make up for that. If you're North Texas or SMU looking at the BCS system this year of the selection system in 2 years, playing an FCS could very well keep you out of championship (or high-end bowl) play at the end of the year. For the selection committee especially, a win over Idaho or UTSA will be much more impressive than one over Northeastern Rhode Island College of Mines and will make a difference at the end of the year.

We'll open next year at home hosting Idaho.

And this is totally fine. There's plenty of low-end FBS teams which we can beat without having to play Taylor Swift School for the Deaf.

Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky, etc... That is who K-State has opened up with recently and sold out every game. My point is not about the sell out, it's the point of your fans starting a new season by seeing their team win and then seeing in the paper their team is 1-0. This builds momentum. I walked out of Apogee last night with a smile on my face and I didn't give a &$%# that the win was against Texas Southern. Go ask Joe Fan and I'll bet he/she felt the same way.

...and there's no reason why you can't get the same momentum by beating up on someone your own size, unless you're afraid of Idaho and NMSU - which it seems like most of our fans are. As for Joe Fan's opinion, we don't exist for him anyway, and beating Prime Prep certainly won't help that.

Still haven't seen why the risk of losing to Incarnate Word is such a good thing to take on....

[MeanGreen61]

We'll open next year at home hosting Idaho.

Is this official or just rumored ?

[Mean Green Matt]

Is this official or just rumored ?

I think it's a .

[drex]

Only 12% of the people at last night's game know the difference between FBS and FCS. Hell, we could host a division II from Texas and most people would be happy with it.