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Of the 38 bowls this year the BG vs S. Alabama ranks dead last. Toledo game was ranked #36.

That's about as low as you can go. Still think there are about 12 too many bowl games.

Really no surprise, with the MAC now not being able to play any P5 schools outside of the access bowl, these games have less meaning than they already did.

jpfalcon09 wrote:Really no surprise, with the MAC now not being able to play any P5 schools outside of the access bowl, these games have less meaning than they already did.

What meaning do any of the bowls have besides the playoff games? Lose and it's, see they can't even beat a mediocre power team. Win and it's, so what they beat a mediocre power team?

One of the best games outside the New Year's Day games is the NIU v Marshall game. I still enjoy watching and rooting for the MAC and conference bragging rights.

Yahoo ranks our Bowl #32 while ranking Toledo's #34. They have NIU-WeAreMarshull at #10.

I'll be tuned in whether it was ranked #1 or dead last. And besides is there anything more meaningless than arbitrary opinion rankings of matchups of teams that the people ranking probably have not seen play this season?

The fact this is USA's first bowl game in just a few years existence and is a short drive from their campus is more compelling than a lot of the bowls ranked ahead in whatever poll you are looking it.

Falcon137 wrote:

jpfalcon09 wrote:Really no surprise, with the MAC now not being able to play any P5 schools outside of the access bowl, these games have less meaning than they already did.

What meaning do any of the bowls have besides the playoff games? Lose and it's, see they can't even beat a mediocre power team. Win and it's, so what they beat a mediocre power team?

One of the best games outside the New Year's Day games is the NIU v Marshall game. I still enjoy watching and rooting for the MAC and conference bragging rights.

I'm interested in exciting matchups. Typically the bowls put together teams you wouldn't normally see schedule each other for non-conference games. I'm going to root for the MAC as well, but I'm a little let down that the best the MAC is going to be able to get in most bowl seasons is the CUSA winner.

The rankings came from Mark Schlabach of ESPN. Mr. Schlabach is the guy who ghostwrote the Duck Dynasty books, and given his college football writing it's unclear exactly how his presence benefitted those offerings. In the cited article he states that "the committee provided us with two compelling semifinal games and a potentially memorable national championship game in the first season of the four-team playoff." Potentially memorable? Way to go, committee!

The fact that ESPN, the network televising the game in prime time, permits such gratuitous and dim-witted attacks on its own broadcast content is unsurprising given how they turned the MAC Championship game into a three hour promotion for the Kansas State/Baylor game with the action on the field treated as secondary. They led the broadcast with talk of the rankings and almost missed plays in the first quarter because they couldn't get their graphics showing K-State/Baylor statistics off the screen quickly enough.

There's a reason these games are organized, scheduled and aired. People watch them. People care about them, and it's infuriating to see the MAC's official media "partner" for the next 10 years treat MAC teams as shabbily as they do.

With all due respect...who gives a s**t what some ESPN, YAHOO, GOOG or CFN bozo thinks about these bowls and their "ranking"? As someone else ably pointed out...apart from the playoff bowls none of them matter in the scheme of things. Do you hoinestly think anyone in America not affilaited with the schools involved is going to say "I'm marking that UT/AR State match up pn my calendar, but not the BGSU/USA game"?

We're fodder...no better or worse than most of our peers

ESPN has found a formula where they make money off the minor bowls and use them to promote their bigger games.

The Bowls themselves make money with what they receive from ESPN, sponsors, and the tickets they sell and force the teams to sell.

Unfortunately, the mid major teams lose out, because their usually buying their own ticket allotment. They also have to pay for travel, coaches bonuses, AD bonuses etc. We'll lose at least a $200,000 on this fiasco when it's all said and done.

Personally, I think this is just another example of the NCAA letting things get out of control and why NCAA Football continues to destroy mid major D1 schools entire departments.

I'll watch the game, but let's be honest....Our game from a national perspective is a bad matchup. Two average mid major teams that aren't playing well....all our game will be is the EsPN 5th string announcers talking about other bowl match ups and other ESPN programming.

I really don't care much for the kickoff time of this game. 815? At least put it in the afternoon where there is a chance for good weather and warm temperatures.

gmartin wrote:Of the 38 bowls this year the BG vs S. Alabama ranks dead last. Toledo game was ranked #36.

That's about as low as you can go. Still think there are about 12 too many bowl games.

Where? By whom?

This was the opinion of one ESPN.com writer. Whatevs.

The writer also, rightly, had high praise for the Marshall-Northern Illinois matchup in Boca Raton. But Marshall is apparently still being Marshall. We will all be Huskie fans that day, I suspect.

http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-football/ ... -the-point" target="_blank

Very little interest in this game within the city limits from what I've been able to tell. Most people buzzing about OSU and Urban M.

zete wrote:Very little interest in this game within the city limits from what I've been able to tell. Most people buzzing about OSU and Urban M.

I have no doubt that this is true, and two things come to mind: how boring that all they can think about is OSU and how sad that they are so detached from their own community's football team.

mscarn wrote:

zete wrote:Very little interest in this game within the city limits from what I've been able to tell. Most people buzzing about OSU and Urban M.

I have no doubt that this is true, and two things come to mind: how boring that all they can think about is OSU and how sad that they are so detached from their own community's football team.

Visit every other town in Ohio with a MAC school and you'll encounter the same issue.

jpfalcon09 wrote:

mscarn wrote:

zete wrote:Very little interest in this game within the city limits from what I've been able to tell. Most people buzzing about OSU and Urban M.

I have no doubt that this is true, and two things come to mind: how boring that all they can think about is OSU and how sad that they are so detached from their own community's football team.

Visit every other town in Ohio with a MAC school and you'll encounter the same issue.

And any other state that has power 5 schools and powerless 5 schools.