Bleeding Orange wrote:I guess this thread got me thinking about why we are playing these games? Are we playing them because we want the money, or are we playing them because we want to prove to the rest of the country that we too are DI programs and that the BCS isn't legitimate?
I think it is important for us to play Big Ten teams (and similar caliber opponents) for several reasons. I think most Bowling Green fans like it. I think the players like it. The money is usually pretty good.
But, perhaps most importantly, it quietly sends a signal to our fans and emerging fans that we belong on the same field with these teams and expect to compete at this level (despite the pregame poor-mouthing our coaches tend to do to cover their butts).
Granted, the Falcons may not always play effectively on these fields. But by being on that field, it sends the signal that we expect to win our share of these games. (And, by God, we have won our share lately).
Thinking back to when I was a freshman at Bowling Green... there were probably two main cues that told me Bowling Green football was legitimate and worthy of me junking my previous allegance to Michigan:
1. The 1988 Miami game. We had a good crowd that day -- 20,000-plus -- and as the PA announcer was reading scores from the Big Ten and elsewhere across the country, it really felt like what was happening there at Doyt Perry Stadium was a legitimate part of the larger tapestry that is college football.
2. That winter, when I saw first hand that we routinely played Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Ohio State at BGSU Ice Arena -- and expected to win these hockey games. (Michigan and Michigan State were tough games, but we tended to split these series. Ohio State and Notre Dame were routinely humiliated at BGSU Ice Arena back then.).
One cue that was missing, incidentally: Matching up with the Big Ten in football. We didn't play a Big Ten team the whole time I was in college, and there had only been four meetings before I got there. The only national championship caliber programs we played in my four years were West Virginia and Texas Christian.
Much more so than today, Bowling Green and the MAC were locked in this strange nether world between divisions I-A and I-AA. Big Ten fans allowed us no respect at all. Unless you were there, it is hard to understand how far the MAC has come since then.
I think playing the Big Ten more often is part of that.
It hurts getting humbled by a Big Ten team. But the alternative is to be written off and have people assume we would be humbled -- which in some ways is an even more poisonous idea than actually seeing it happen.
Some of you young 'uns may also not appreciate what a big deal it was back in 1992 to land a game at Ohio State. The Buckeyes had not played another Ohio school since 1935. It was a foreign idea to many people that Bowling Green belonged on that field.
But ABC made it a regional telecast -- the first for the MAC in many years -- and the Falcons played very well that day (We outgained them, for instance; they beat us by intercepting Erik White four times, usually in the red zone). Overall, that game was a nice boost to our program.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that a Big Ten team has not truly humbled us in five years. We've done well in these games. I think they are worth playing.
What follows is a list of nonconference games we have played since 1970. I'm not sure it adds a whole lot to this post, but I was interested, so I looked it up:
1970: Utah State, Dayton, West Texas A&M, Marshall
1971: East Carolina, Marshall, Texas-Arlington, Xavier, Dayton
1972: Purdue, San Diego State, Marshall, Dayton, Tampa
1973: Syracuse, Dayton, Marshall, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois
1974: East Carolina, Dayton, Marshall, Arkansas State, Southern Mississippi, San Diego State
1975: Brigham Young, Southern Mississippi, Dayton, Southern Illinois, Texas-Arlington
1976: Syracuse, San Diego State, Southern Illinois, Tennessee-Chattanooga
1977: Grand Valley State, Iowa State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Hawaii, Long Beach State
1978: Villanova, Grand Valley State, Southern Mississippi
1979: Iowa State, Kentucky, Southern Mississippi
1980: Richmond, Long Beach State, Kentucky
1981: Baylor, Michigan State
1982: Long Beach State, North Carolina
1983: Fresno State, Brigham Young
1984: Richmond, Oklahoma State
1985: Kentucky, Akron
1986: Minnesota, Washington
1987: Penn State, Youngstown State, Arizona
1988: West Virginia, Texas Christian, Youngstown State
1989: East Carolina, Akron, Tulsa
1990: Cincinnati, Virginia Tech
1991: West Virginia, Cincinnati, Navy
1992: Ohio State, Wisconsin, East Carolina
1993: Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Navy
1994: North Carolina State, Navy, Cincinnati
1995: Louisiana Tech, Missouri, Temple
1996: Alabama, Temple, Central Florida
1997: Louisiana Tech, Ohio State, Kansas State
1998: Missouri, Penn State, Central Florida
1999: Pittsburgh, Tennessee Tech, Central Florida
2000: Michigan, Pittsburgh, Temple
2001: Missouri, Temple, Northwestern
2002: Tennessee Tech, Missouri, Kansas, South Florida
2003: Eastern Kentucky, Purdue, Liberty, Ohio State
2004: Oklahoma, Southeast Missouri State, Temple
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