MAC had good showing & attendance last night, etc.

[BGSU33]

Ball State gave Boston College a hard-fought game (19-11) in front of a BSU record crowd of 23,718. Good job by the BSU community and students.

Western Michigan cruised to an easy 42-0 victory over I-AA Tennessee-Martin in front of 21,000 plus.

Eastern Michigan topped Buffalo in a high-scoring affair 37-34 in front of 17,000 plus. The Eagles are now all alone in first place in the entire MAC.

Side Notes: Southeast Missouri State (BG's next opponent after OU) was crushed by Southern Illinois, 42-3. SIU is one of the best I-AA teams in the country this year.

If BG doesn't pull in an attendance figure better than what EMU did last night for its game against SMSU, it will be disappointing.

Northwestern's kick Brian Hoffman miss FIVE (yes, 5!) field goals last night, including two in OT, in a 48-45 loss to TCU.

Utah beat the crap out of A&M and looked great in the process.

[Flipper]

Utah will be playing on New Year's Day. Urban Meyer is the real deal.
Gregg Brandon is no slouch either. How lucky have we been to have these two guys come along when the program was scraping the bottom?

[MotorCityChamps]

now if our hoops program could find another urban meyer life would be good!!!!!

[Lord_Byron]

If BG doesn't pull in an attendance figure better than what EMU did last night for its game against SMSU, it will be disappointing.

They had free admission for anyone under 17 and NEVER understimate the drawing power of the San Diego Chicken. . .

[Schadenfreude]

I think we'll break the 20,000 mark without a sweat. I'm not worried.

[bgbrandon]

We wouldnt have to worry about our attendance if we got these cupcakes off of our home schedule , I know its all about money but we need to quit playing D1-AA teams. BTW, does anyone know if we are required to play D1-AA teams? Is there any advantage to this? I know the bigger conferences dont play D1-AA teams..
Any help on this topic would be great

[1987alum]

To be honest, the SEMO game was my first choice for this year's road trip. First, the weather is likely to be good, which I appreciate as my age progresses. Second, it's a likely win, which I appreciate after making the trip with my son.

[FalconKing]

After we win in Norman this weekend, we can expect a sell out for next Saturday. ::Grin::

Get your tickets now!

[Schadenfreude]

BTW, does anyone know if we are required to play D1-AA teams? Is there any advantage to this? I know the bigger conferences dont play D1-AA teams..
Any help on this topic would be great

We schedule cupcakes because it is tough to lure I-A schools to Perry Stadium. We just don't produce enough revenue during home games to lure many other I-A schools here.

Usually, the I-AA schools can be lured here for $75,000 or so. That's peanuts: Oklahoma will be cutting us a check for $500,000 for this weekend.

Bottom line: If we didn't sign up a I-AA school to come to Bowling Green, we'd be playing that game on the road somewhere.

Now, after this season, we are in pretty good shape for the next three. We'll host Temple, we'll have Wisconsin at Cleveland Browns Stadium, and home games against Wyoming and Boise State are settled (forget the years off hand).

But it's never easy -- and it doesn't help that we are now good on the field. Given a choice between Bowling Green and Buffalo, a lot of programs will choose Buffalo because they pose less of a challenge.

Finally, don't kid yourself: Big conferences do play I-AAs. The Big Ten tends to avoid it -- in part because they can. MAC teams abound in this region.

But other conferences aren't in that position.

This weekend will see:

Murray State at Connecticut
Appalachian State at Wyoming
Idaho State at San Diego State
Northern Iowa at Iowa State
Florida A&M at Illinois
Western Illinois at Nebraska
Virginia Military Institute at Ohio
Western Kentucky at Kansas State
Samford at Georgia Tech
William & Mary at North Carolina
Georgia Southern at Georgia
Richmond at North Carolina State
Northwestern State at Louisiana-Lafayette
Northern Arizona at Arizona
Florida Atlantic at Hawaii

[Flipper]

Let's not forget that we HAD a 1A game lined up with South Florida but they stiffed us so they could schedule another home game (with a 1AA team no less).

[BGSU33]

We'd better have over 20,000 if we beat OU - rain or shine. Last year after we opened the season 2-0 after beating Purdue, we only had 13,000 and some change for our next game. Granted, it was also a I-AA team (Liberty), but still.

[professorjackson]

yeah, we're all sick of playing I-AA teams but it's nobody's fault but the big boys who won't play BG ontheir own turf. Same crap in basketball with the so-called "mid-major" I root for. With all their billions you'd think the NCAA could pony up the difference in payouts to make these games happen. What's that you say? the NCAA is the playting of the big boys? D'oh!

All faculty and staff get free handfuls of tix for the September 11 game, so there'll be a crowd.

[1987alum]

Schadenfreude:

Awesome post. Thanks for the schedule work, there, it really illustrates the point.

[hammb]

Schadenfreude:

Awesome post. Thanks for the schedule work, there, it really illustrates the point.

I think this is a really bad year to have a 1-AA school on the schedule, and yes I know about our trouble getting 1A teams into BG, but with our MAC sched this year it just stinks.

I was looking over our schedule this year and it's really pathetic. There are only 2 home games that I am really psyched about right off the bat: Western & Marshall. Why is it that we have to play a 1AA team the same year that 2 of our MAC home games are Ball St & EMU. NO disrespect to those programs, but they don't really make me real psyched up right now to go watch the games. I still will be there, but you get my point. We are the die hards, we're at every game. The fact that we play the better MAC games on the road and have the lesser thought of teams at home is not going to bode well for this season's attendance figure. Neither will the fact that we play so many road games early leaving the home games for the worse weather months.

Last year's home sched was awesome, even with the 2 patsies. Too bad this year's doesn't stack up

[Lord_Byron]

There are only 2 home games that I am really psyched about right off the bat: Western & Marshall. Why is it that we have to play a 1AA team the same year that 2 of our MAC home games are Ball St & EMU. NO disrespect to those programs, but they don't really make me real psyched up right now to go watch the games.

Two words will solve the MAC issue: Eastern Divsion.

Give me OU/Miami/Kent on the sched every year (with Toledo like we did) and the MAC sched improves dramatically, if only from an interest perspective.