Something to Ponder?

[Warthog]

To be honest, yes I had this same thought earlier. Financially speaking, we lose money going to bowl games (if we win the MACC). But if Ball State would get a BCS bid, we would get a lot of money for nothing. But, it is the MAC championship, so there is no way I would root for us to lose.

If we played Ball State the last game of the season and it had no impact on our division standing, then I think losing would be ok. Not that I would root for us to lose, just saying...

[gmartin]

Who voted for BSU?

Let's get 'em!!

If you must know I VOTED for Ball State because I would like to see someone from the MAC get notice in a big time game.

Does it mean I do not like BG. Far from it. I grew up in Bowling Green. I went to Eastwood HS. I am a current Falcon Club member, donating over 25,000K per year. Season ticket holder for Men's Basketball, Hockey and Football. When football season isn't around or when I am not working in the Colts locker room I am always supporting BG, through the good and bad.

I am just thinking what is best for our conference. We say it is hard to get big time schools to our football stadium. Have you looked at Boise schedule the next 10 years and for that matter the other schools in the conference. They are getting big time programs into their stadium and so are othe schools in the conference. I will always root for BG but this is a special season for Ball State and if they would make it to a BCS game or be in the Top 12 and have the chance to make it then I will put my BG allegience aside and for once root the opposition.

Now if Ball State were to lose to Western or Central then yes, of course I would want BG to win. I am looking at the conference as a whole for once and just not individually.

GO FALCONS and GO BALL STATE, make our conference look good.

[kdog27]

I totally understand what you are saying and agree with it, I just couldn't do it myself.

[tiznow]

BG of course. It would give us 2 wins over top 25 teams in the same year. The win would give BG nice exposure. Of course a lot of things have to happen first.

[hammb]

Recruiting edge? Your kidding right. We played in bowl games 2 of the last 3 years. Do you think losing to Tulsa by 60 points helped out recruiting. Also have to remember, if BSU goes to a BCS game, the MAC splits the 12 million dollar payout. BG would get about 1 million dollars from that game alone.

This is not correct. This is how the BCS money is divided up for BCS conferences, but there are different standards for non-BCS schools that crack the BCS bowl games.


The way it works is that the non-BCS schools get 9% of the BCS revenue just for existing (how generous of them!). If a non-BCS school gets into one of the games we get an additional 9% (YAY!). That money is then divided among ALL non-BCS conferences. The agreement is negotiated among non-BCS conferences, so there is no set in stone number. My guess is that the conference of the team that makes the game probably gets one of the 9% and the rest is divided up among the remaining conferences, at least that seems fair...there really are not set numbers for this that I can find. Then within the conference that money is divided however the conference sees fit. The only hard numbers I can find here is that Boise St. got 1/2 of their conferences payout (which ended up being $4.2 million for Boise) and the other half was divided equally among the other MWC schools when they played Oklahoma. Again that is not a hard-fast rule, but I think it's a fair basis for comparison.

So in a typical year the 9% will be split among the 6 non-BCS conferences. That money is then split equally among the MAC schools. So normally we would see .12% of the total BCS revenue. If we assume the above splits are correct seeing Ball State in a BCS game would get us .38% of the BCS revenue. So yeah, we would triple our BCS payout in that scenario, which sounds great. But using the figures from Boise State (no doubt they're higher now, but I'm not sure how much since most of this stuff is contracts, etc.) 4.5% was $4.2 million. That would leave another $4.2 million to be split 12 ways giving the other MAC teams $350,000 each. If Ball State fails to make the BCS we would still be pulling in $100,000.

I don't know about you, but $250,000 is not enough for me to root against BG. That is not life changing money there for our university. Hell, it's not as much as we'd make playing a singular game against Michigan, OSU, etc. What's even more disconcerting is that this current payout structure does NOT mention what happens if multiple non-BCS schools make the BCS bowl party. Ball State is currently ranked behind both Utah & Boise (and rightfully so, IMO). There is nothing set in stone, but I'm willing to bet that we won't be getting an additional 9% for every non-BCS team that makes a bowl. For that matter, there may be a rule that we aren't even allowed more than one non-BCS team in the bowl.


Basically my point is the money is not that great, so I would be rooting for BG. What's more, when you take a real close look at how the BCS payouts are structured it is done in such a way to ensure that no matter how many times non-BCS schools make these bowl games they cannot financially really benefit from this system. The revenue distribution is set up to make sure that the BCS conference schools (even those with awful football programs) make far more just by conference affiliation than we will even if one of our conference mates defies the odds to crash the party. Look at this way. You're hoping that BSU can make a game so that the other 12 MAC teams can split $4.2 million. This year the Big 12 will get 2 teams in. That revenue will likely result in those 12 teams splitting up $35-40 million. So yeah, the money is irrelevant to me.

[gmartin]

Well I guess Mark May was wrong again and so was Colin Cowherd. They both stated on yesterday, and one Monday, that the money was divided amongst the conference and he was rooting for Ball State this year because Boise don't need another big payout. He clearly stated, Mark May, that each school in the MAC after travel expenses were paid, that each school would receive about 1.1 million from BSU going to a BCS game.

Even though it isn't about the money I still feel Ball State in a BCS game, or a chance at a game outweighs my hope for BG pulling off the upset. (Thats assuming both BG and BSU wins out, and Buffalo beats Akron)

I feel Ball State in a BCS game will do more for our conference than us pulling off the upset. Call me crazy and not supporting our team but looking further down the road in years to come with scheduling and exposure.

[hammb]

Well I guess Mark May was wrong again and so was Colin Cowherd. They both stated on yesterday, and one Monday, that the money was divided amongst the conference and he was rooting for Ball State this year because Boise don't need another big payout. He clearly stated, Mark May, that each school in the MAC after travel expenses were paid, that each school would receive about 1.1 million from BSU going to a BCS game.

Even though it isn't about the money I still feel Ball State in a BCS game, or a chance at a game outweighs my hope for BG pulling off the upset. (Thats assuming both BG and BSU wins out, and Buffalo beats Akron)

I feel Ball State in a BCS game will do more for our conference than us pulling off the upset. Call me crazy and not supporting our team but looking further down the road in years to come with scheduling and exposure.

Unless something has changed since last year they're wrong. I did find that Hawaii last year got a slightly larger ($4.4 million) payout for their game than Boise did, but it was still the typical 18% divided among all non-BCS schools in a way they deem fit. Of course May & Cowherd are probably not aware of this rule, because it's not something they like to publicize. The BCS conferences do a good job keeping it hidden how badly they're screwing over the non-BCS schools.

Hell, if it wasn't for the anti-trust suit we wouldn't even get the automatic bid concessions we now have.

You're entitled to your opinion, and I could be inclined to agree with you if it wasn't the MAC championship game. A meaningless conference game? I would definitely be rooting for the good of the conference. It's going to take more than BSU getting into a BCS game for me to root against BG in the conference championship game though.

That said, if we were matched up with Ball State I'm pretty sure we'd get shellacked. Ball State is a far better team than we are in our current state, that's pretty obvious. So, I suppose sometime around the 4th quarter of that beatdown, I could take the BSU going to a BCS game as a consolation prize, but I wouldn't be rooting for it.

[Falcon137]

Ball St. flat out does not deserve a BCS bid. They have beat 0 good teams. Their 2 big wins so far are against Navy (6-3) who is down this year and a horrid Indiana (3-7) team.

They will have 0 wins over the top 25 unless Central or Western sneaks in. Does anyone really think Ball St. is one of the top 8 teams in the country?

If they ran the table with a schedule like BG had @ Pitt @ Boise vs Minnesota they would have an argument, but they played 1 team from a BCS conference and 0 that are currently in the top 25 of the BCS.

[kdog27]

Ball St. flat out does not deserve a BCS bid.

Sure they do if they meet the criteria. If they are in top 12 and Utah and Boise St lose. Why shouldn't they be there? They did all they could do.

There are plenty of BCS teams who have gotten BCS bowls they didn't deserve. (Notre Dame, Pitt) Why should it go to another one of them?

[Falcon137]

Ball St. flat out does not deserve a BCS bid.

Sure they do if they meet the criteria. If they are in top 12 and Utah and Boise St lose. Why shouldn't they be there? They did all they could do.

There are plenty of BCS teams who have gotten BCS bowls they didn't deserve. (Notre Dame, Pitt) Why should it go to another one of them?

So they deserve to because a couple teams before them without great credentials made it? They haven't even played anyone who has been in the top 25 at any point in the season. I just don't see how you can justify it.

[Falconfreak90]

Even if Ball St. runs the table, they will get the shaft. Utah and Boise St. still have the inside track on BSU. That being said, if Utah and Boise were to stumble, opening the door for BSU, the only way I'd pull for BSU would be if BG wasn't in their way.

There it is. I will NEVER root against BG....period. BG always comes first. IF BG isn't in the MACC, I will be a rider on the Cards bandwagon and root for them to roll...but not against the Falcons.

[kdog27]

Ball St. flat out does not deserve a BCS bid.

Sure they do if they meet the criteria. If they are in top 12 and Utah and Boise St lose. Why shouldn't they be there? They did all they could do.

There are plenty of BCS teams who have gotten BCS bowls they didn't deserve. (Notre Dame, Pitt) Why should it go to another one of them?

So they deserve to because a couple teams before them without great credentials made it? They haven't even played anyone who has been in the top 25 at any point in the season. I just don't see how you can justify it.

Ball State doesn't make the rules. If they go 13-0 and the computers and polls say they are good enough, then why shouldn't they go? You would rather see a school like Illinois from 2007, Notre Dame in 2006, Florida St in 2005, Pitt in 2004, and I could keep on going. None of those schools did anything more impressive then Ball St. except belong to the right conference or just be Notre Dame. Why should only those schools get to go to noteworthy bowls?

No they have not played anyone in the top 25. They can't do anything about that. All they can do is play the games that have been put in front of them and to this point they have done a fine job of it.

I don't expect Ball St. to end up in a BCS bowl game. Too many things need to happen at this point, but if they do go they have earned it.

[bgsufalcon24]

After Central beats Ball State next week none of this will matter.

+1 Seemingly nobody is giving the Chippewas a chance in this game. Why? Ball State got crushed at home by CMU a year ago, and this game will be in Mount Pleasant. The Chips haven't lost a meaningful MAC game since god knows when. IMO, Ball State will have to play a near-perfect game to leave Kelly/Shorts Stadium with a win next Wednesday night.

@ Falcon137 - Navy is down this year? At 6-3?!!! Since when has Navy EVER been so good at football that 6-3 qualifies as a "down" year???

[Strouse]

As much as I would love to see a MAC team bust into a BCS bowl game, I cannot, for any reason, even with a gun to my head, go against BG. They have been my team for the last 4 and a half years and will be my team for the rest of my life. The question I have though is that if we get there and play against BSU, Brandon normally has this team up and ready for any top 25 team, but not for MAC teams...so it'll be interesting to say the least...

either way...
one game a time guys, one game a time

BEAT Da BULLS!!

[daspollak]

Recruiting edge? Your kidding right. We played in bowl games 2 of the last 3 years. Do you think losing to Tulsa by 60 points helped out recruiting. Also have to remember, if BSU goes to a BCS game, the MAC splits the 12 million dollar payout. BG would get about 1 million dollars from that game alone. The money is split evenly after all travel expenses have been taken out. You say it may be the only time you will get a chance to see BG in a bowl game. This may be the ONLY CHANCE EVER a MAC school will play in a BCS game. Ball State is #14 right now. I see 6 more upsets coming in the upcoming weeks, more once the Big 12 and SEC tournaments come around. Ball Sate, if they win out, in my estimate will move up to #8. Top 12 get a chance at the BCS, top 6 guarantee. But I am saying if BALL STATE winning the MAC Championship would put them in the Top 6 BCS teams would you want BSU or BG to win.

Who would recruits rather play for? Teams that can get to bowl games, or teams that never make it. Look the game stung, but in the long run it will help in recruiting. "We have a team that can make a bowl game, but you can make us extra special. Why not come to Bowling Green, we need you." Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Also, BG would not get as much money as you might think. The non-BCS school has to split that money with all the schools that are not in the BCS. Our conference would get a little more than the rest, but you're looking at 100k maybe. The system sucks, but the BCS did this to keep any non-BCS schools from being able to rise up to elite status.

If you're a BG fan, you root for your team. I don't care if it eliminates Ball St. from a shot at the National Title. I pulling for the Bulls tonight, and for BG to finish this season strong.

Go BG and Roll Along!