Bowl Season

[MarkL]

Two non conference notes.
1. As for more evidence the MAC should have taken WKU and MTSU, both won their bowl games. MTSU was down all kinds of players due to injury and still beat a MAC bowl team at full strength. WKU meanwhile absolutely thrashed App State who I think spent some of the season nationally ranked. The MAC really should have more aggressively pursued those two. I know it came down to MTSU finances but if the conference made itself more attractive, the finances would have taken care of itself via alums. Hell, maybe just take WKU and wait for the right 14th member. Alas, that ship has sailed.
2. Texas A&M backed out of their bowl game against Wake Forest due to covid. Any room for a 4-8 MAC team to play? In all seriousness this is a bizarre year and I hope the NCAA told a few 5-7 teams to be on standby should teams be forced to not play.

[mbenecke]

Two non conference notes.
1. As for more evidence the MAC should have taken WKU and MTSU, both won their bowl games. MTSU was down all kinds of players due to injury and still beat a MAC bowl team at full strength. WKU meanwhile absolutely thrashed App State who I think spent some of the season nationally ranked. The MAC really should have more aggressively pursued those two. I know it came down to MTSU finances but if the conference made itself more attractive, the finances would have taken care of itself via alums. Hell, maybe just take WKU and wait for the right 14th member. Alas, that ship has sailed.
2. Texas A&M backed out of their bowl game against Wake Forest due to covid. Any room for a 4-8 MAC team to play? In all seriousness this is a bizarre year and I hope the NCAA told a few 5-7 teams to be on standby should teams be forced to not play.

I saw last night that Rutgers (5-7) is going to play Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl.

[Schadenfreude]

Two non conference notes.
1. As for more evidence the MAC should have taken WKU and MTSU,

Middle Tennessee ultimately said no.

Hell, maybe just take WKU and wait for the right 14th member.

I agree with this. Get North Dakota State or tack on Massachusetts in football only until we settle on a full 14th member.

Alas, that ship has sailed.

I don't think the ship has sailed. I think Western Kentucky is still interested. Their athletic director said this last month:

“I know that there’s certainly some uncertainty among our fans with how much Conference USA has changed and I know a lot of them – I could tell – became increasingly excited about the opportunity to join the MAC, as were we, but this is just one chapter in the book. It’s not the final chapter in the book. There will be a lot of great reading ahead,” WKU director of athletics Todd Stewart said in an interview with the Daily News. “Stay with us and there will be a lot of exciting times coming up.”

He also said:

“If we had been invited to join the MAC, we would have said yes. If we’re invited to join the MAC down the line, then I think the answer to that would probably be yes, because if it makes sense today, then I think it’s safe to assume it would make sense down the line,” Stewart said. “But all that being said, we’re in Conference USA right now, Conference USA’s been good to us for the seven-plus years we’ve been in it and that’s what we have to focus on.”

https://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/ ... 9d68e.html

[MarkL]

Bowl updates...
- Finally the MAC got some wins. Miami beat North Texas and Western Michigan just slaughtered Nevada.
- Central Michigan was scheduled to play Boise State. Broncos are out due to covid. CMU might end up going to El Paso instead and play in the Sun Bowl against Wazzou as Miami (FL) is also out due to covid. Seems fair except for CMU fans who already bought tickets and booked travel to Arizona.

[mbenecke]

Bowl updates...
- Finally the MAC got some wins. Miami beat North Texas and Western Michigan just slaughtered Nevada.
- Central Michigan was scheduled to play Boise State. Broncos are out due to covid. CMU might end up going to El Paso instead and play in the Sun Bowl against Wazzou as Miami (FL) is also out due to covid. Seems fair except for CMU fans who already bought tickets and booked travel to Arizona.

As far as the CMU situation goes:

While it sucks for sure for fans that have already booked travel, the payout for the Sun Bowl is nearly $4M more than the Arizona Bowl, and they’d get to play on CBS instead of YouTube/Barstool sports.

So I think it’s a no-brainer for the athletic department to go for it.

[zete]

So CMU fans will fly to Arizona then drive 300+ miles to the Sun Bowl. Seems like too much of a hassle to see a game that may become lopsided quickly.

[BillyLP]

Bowl updates...
- Finally the MAC got some wins. Miami beat North Texas and Western Michigan just slaughtered Nevada.
- Central Michigan was scheduled to play Boise State. Broncos are out due to covid. CMU might end up going to El Paso instead and play in the Sun Bowl against Wazzou as Miami (FL) is also out due to covid. Seems fair except for CMU fans who already bought tickets and booked travel to Arizona.

As far as the CMU situation goes:

While it sucks for sure for fans that have already booked travel, the payout for the Sun Bowl is nearly $4M more than the Arizona Bowl, and they’d get to play on CBS instead of YouTube/Barstool sports.

So I think it’s a no-brainer for the athletic department to go for it.

That's a great deal for CMU. Are bowl payouts distributed throughout the conference? Might be a little boost to all of the schools. Aren't most MAC bowl payouts around $500-700k?

[Schadenfreude]

Are bowl payouts distributed throughout the conference?

Last time I checked was around the time Marshall left the MAC, but I believe they are, at least on paper. Team get an allowance for reasonable bowl game travel expenses and related expenses and are obligated to sell a certain number of tickets. Any remaining profit (or loss, I suppose) is spread across the league.

It should be said that the bowls aren't really about making money for the MAC (or other Group of Five conferences). It's about showcasing the universities on national television and giving our players the same postseason opportunities other FBS programs are getting.

A Sun Bowl payout, even if reduced from its normal value, could certainly help a bit.

[TommyG]

Outside of the biggest bowls any team would be lucky to break close to even. Those payouts pay for travel and are reduced if you don’t sell a ticket allotment. Which 99% percent of teams don’t. The MAC doesn’t like to talk about it because people would question playing is shitty bowls if you’re losing $200k+. Flip side is the argument that the national tv exposure is worth it…I personally think that is extremely overrated for most bowl games.

[Flipper]

Clawson's Wake Forest team thumps Rutgers in the I forgot what they call it bowl to finish the year at 11-3. Nicely done, DC

[mbenecke]

Clawson's Wake Forest team thumps Rutgers in the I forgot what they call it bowl to finish the year at 11-3. Nicely done, DC

Nice Gator Bowl win for them!

I didn’t realize it initially, but Clawson’s Wake team this year had seven (!) sixth-year seniors starting.

[Falco_peregrinusana]

So CMU fans will fly to Arizona then drive 300+ miles to the Sun Bowl. Seems like too much of a hassle to see a game that may become lopsided quickly.

Yeah…. Got lopsided early, most people probably would not have expected that CMU was the dominant team. Some boneheaded plays kept WSU in the game but the chips were the better team. Good for them and a good win for a mediocre Mac team against a mediocre power 5 team.

[MarkL]

Good win by CMU. Still the best MAC non conf win this year is BG over Minnesota (9-4). And if you watched the Minnesota bowl, you saw a big man TD. Awesome play.

[BGSU33]

Good win by CMU. Still the best MAC non conf win this year is BG over Minnesota (9-4). And if you watched the Minnesota bowl, you saw a big man TD. Awesome play.

The MAC's best non-conference win this year was Western Michigan's win over Pittsburgh. I'd put BG's win over Minnesota #2 though.

[MarkL]

Good win by CMU. Still the best MAC non conf win this year is BG over Minnesota (9-4). And if you watched the Minnesota bowl, you saw a big man TD. Awesome play.

The MAC's best non-conference win this year was Western Michigan's win over Pittsburgh. I'd put BG's win over Minnesota #2 though.

Yes you're correct. Forgot about that one. MAC beat the ACC champ. Very impressive.