Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Just spent a few moments scrolling through their board.

Wow. Those are some very angry football fans there.

The venom is being spewed in every direction based on them getting what they're describing as the MAC's worst bowl bid. The conference, of course, is bearing the brunt of it "what has the MAC done for us" "we get no respect from the MAC" "let's dump the MAC" and so on. Of course, we caught some static for getting a "better" bowl. Our bowl bid and Marshall's bowl bid seem to really be sticking in their craw.

I mean, I can see them being upset that they didn't get their choice of bowls and I think they have, in fact, been screwed several times (but then, so has the MAC), but - geesh - they are going to a bowl.

I would love to have their bowl. Honestly, I've always considered the GMAC to be the worst bowl of them all.

Sounds like a bad case of bowl envy!Blah,Blah,Blah!
Grow up and live with it NIU.The Excitement that is Falcon Football heavily outways anything that the Huskies can bring to the table.
Even thuogh it is not the bowl I personally wanted(I can't get off work to attend,********,insert your own expletives here)I think we got the most attractive of all MAC bids.

Yeah. One line I saw quite a bit yesterday was the MAC's supposed "Michigan/Ohio bias."

If that's the case, Marshall's achievements in this league are even more remarkable in retrospect.

No question, we got the better bowl. And no question, they beat us on the field. But, ultimately, the GMAC made the choice. Not Rick Chryst.

And the differences between are programs are pretty subtle. If college football fans fans pitched a fit every time they were "slighted" in this way, no one would never hear the end of it. This sort of thing happens every year in the big conferences.

On the bright side, cooler heads will prevail. When Northern Illinois left the MAC the last time, folks there were talking like they'd be in the Big 12 in a few short years. They ended up in the old Big West playing teams like Nevada and Southwest Louisiana State.

It was a 15-year nightmare.

That mistake won't be made again. That's why, as soon as a few NIU fans began wondering if the Huskies were a candidate for Conference USA, the administration said, publicly: No, absolutely not.

BGSUfanatUT wrote:I would love to have their bowl. Honestly, I've always considered the GMAC to be the worst bowl of them all.

The Silicon Valley Bowl is weak. It has never sold out... not even for Fresno State-UCLA. And the worst part for the Huskies is that they will be matched up there against Troy... a solid program, but not one that sends the heart a-racin'.

We drew a much more interesting opponent in Memphis, a program with a lot of fan support that is headed in the right direction. Mark my words, Memphis will join the Big East football schools in a few years.

And the GMAC is a strong bowl. It generally sells out 40,000-seat Ladd Peebles Stadium.

In 2002-03, these bowls drew substantially less than that:

New Orleans (19,024)
Tangerine (28,562)
Las Vegas (30,334)
Hawaii (31,535)
Humanitarian (30,000 and change. In fairness, this is capacity)
Silicon Valley (10,142)
San Francisco (25,996)

And there are a couple others that were a hair under or over (Music City, Seattle, Insight.com) that I didn't bother to list.

Incidentally, the Motor City exceeded 50,000 in the last two years.

The MAC's two bowls are actually very good ones when you look around the country. The only non-BCS bowl that is clearly stronger than ours is the Liberty Bowl.

Schadenfreude:

A few fans mentioned the Big East ... I think they were being serious.

Agreed that it's not the MAC's "fault" that they didn't get the GMAC bowl. The G-MAC folks seem to like their game wide-open and are looking for more of a video-game type of result. Personally, I love NIU's offense; good ol' smash-mouth football with an efficient passing game. But it's tough to beat the sheer entertainment value of BG's offense.

NIU wasn't going to get the MCB, because they weren't in the championship game.

NIU wasn't going to get the GMAC bowl for the reason mentioned above.

NIU wasn't going to get the Independence Bowl, because they didn't want a rematch.

NIU could have gotten the Fort Worth Bowl. But is playing in Fort Worth against - *ugh* - Cincinnatti really all that much better than playing a much-hyped Troy team in sunny San Jose?

They have a legitimate gripe in that if Clemson and South Carolina hadn't both acted like a bunch of thugs that NIU probably would've been left sitting at home. They seemed to think Marshall would've gotten the additional MAC bid over them. Of course, I'd like to think it would've been BG, but ...

Best Bowl??? I think each bowl has it's advantages, but it's really more about matchups than the actual bowl. Had NIU drawn a more exciting opponent, this would have made for a better bowl. We got the GMAC based on the match up of 2 exciting offenses. I find nothing wrong with going to the San Francisco area and I personally think this is much better than the MCB in "snowy/cold" Detroit. At least they have the advantage of a climate that allows you to enjoy other activities, such as Pep Rally. At MCB, the only activity worth going to is the game (indoors). From CollegeFootballNews...

26. Silicon Valley Bowl, Dec. 30, ESPN2 11:00… Troy vs. Northern Illinois
No one is going to watch on TV and there might be 15 people in the stands, but getting to a bowl game is an extremely big deal to these two programs. This is a big moment for the Sun Belt getting a second team in the post-season, while Northern Illinois is happy to get a long-deserved bid. Don’t expect too much offense.
Stars of the show: Northern Illinois RB Garrett Wolfe, Troy DE Demarcus Ware
The knee jerk, off-the-cuff initial prediction: Northern Illinois 23 … Troy 13

If it had been Bowling Green versus Fresno State, I would have been happy.

Oh yeah ... forgot to respond to that ...

I think we drew a GREAT bowl. In fact, while the MAC has only two bowl tie-ins, they are both solid.

Schadenfreude made excellent points. Both have drawn exceptionally well. Both seem well organized. Both seem to have captured the hearts of the locals.

NIU did draw a clinker of a game. This will be the last Silicon Valley Classic. But it IS a bowl game.

BelieveNBG: As someone who doesn't live in the area, Noah and I had a ball in Detroit last year - the Ford Museum, the Automotive Hall of Fame ... there were several things on my "To Do" list that we just couldn't get to. Not that I wouldn't have minded warmer weather ...

BelieveNBG wrote: At MCB, the only activity worth going to is the game (indoors).

Hello...$5/$10 Hold 'em at Motor City or Greektown!

1987Alum:
My point is that while there are things to do in Detroit, these things aren't sponsored Bowl events. The advantage of the GMAC bowl will be the Mardi Gras Parade, Fireworks, Pep Rally, tailgate party, etc. The Silicon Valley bowl also has a Pep Rally, tailgate party, and I believe other events. They can have these types of events because of the warm weather. While the MCB has some nice events for the teams, they should look into having more events for the fans.

BelieveNBG:

Agreed. The weather is an impedement, but it's certainly working from a strong base.

This is written somewhat selfishly since we live less than three hours from Ford Field. Nevertheless I feel the MCB is the best possible Bowl for BG and the MAC at this point in time. Normally this is a MAC-Big 10 matchup and it really doesn't get any better than that. Almost without exception a great crowd is insured. Just think--51000 for Northwestern vs. BG last year and NW isn't known as one of the Big 10's best traveling groups. How about Michigan State or Ohio State? It's not even necessary to mention the TV ratings with a Big 10 team there. Think about it.

1987alum wrote:Schadenfreude:

A few fans mentioned the Big East ... I think they were being serious.

I have heard from a few people that this is a possibility. Not sure how serious but just looking at "outside" info that we all are privy to they have started to draw really well, it is a perceived Chicagoland media market, and the Big East is becoming weaker. . . Stayed tuned to see if there is any more on this as conferences realign in the next few years. . .

Just curious as to why you believe the GMAC is the worst of them all? Also, thanks to the other posters for the kind words about our bowl. We can't wait to show Y'ALL a great time in our city. Also, thanks for not bit%^&$ about the lack of hotel rooms in Mobile like the UM fans are doing. Y'all seem content about coming down. That's why I always pull for the MAC teams in Mobile. They come down to Mobile, enjoy everything and whup up on the CUSA teams. Very easy to please!