2006 schedule

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:15 pm

Apparently, the MAC (read OU) needed help adjustung their schedule. We agreed to put our game with Boise State off for a year to give the conference as much flexibility as possible.

The conference is supposed to provide us with some
"benefits not realized by other conference members", but we don't know what they are.

I think that the constructon of the Sebo Ceter may hae contributed to our limited home schedule. The Doyt's a big construction site this year....that has to create some liability concerns.

I'm still not a real happy camper....but ....whatever

bgsufalcon24 · Post by **bgsufalcon24** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:00 pm

Well, I guess Temple won the standoff. Ultimately I don't disagree with trading Boise State for Temple this season, because essentially we traded an almost sure loss for a win. We'll kick their asses anyway like we did the last 2 years we've faced them. But gosh is our schedule back loaded. Probably our 4 tougher conference games this season are all at the end, with Central Michigan, Akron, Miami, and Toledo. The way the schedule works out this year I think I'll get to go to some road games too this year, like Toledo and Akron, maybe Ohio although that is somewhat of a haul from BG.

I don't know who said that our road games would be the key this season, but that is so right. We play three cupcakes in EMU, Fuffalo, and Kent at home, which barring a huge upset means we will go 3-0 at the Doyt heading to the Miami game. The road games are tougher, but we were road warriors last year, going 4-0 in the MAC. If that happens again this year, chalk us up for a MAC Championship.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:04 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:Also, I'd trade a home game at the Doyt for a game in Cleveland with a Wisconsin-caliber opponent every season if need be. This remains a brilliant move by Krebs.

Think about it: One game at Wisconsin for one game with them in Cleveland?

We got a steal fellas. It is perhaps the best contract any MAC team has ever gotten with a team of Wisconsin's caliber.

And it's a real opportunity to build our program by building new interest in Cleveland.

Schad, I have to disagree with you here. Every season? No. Furthermore, MAC teams have hosted Big 10 teams in their own stadiums, so I don't really think its the best contract any MAC team has ever gotten from a team of Wisconsin's caliber. (And that includes Purdue and Iowa, not just Indiana).

Why don't we see how it works, first? There's a lot to be proven on our end before its a steal.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:59 pm

orangeandbrown wrote:Schad, I have to disagree with you here. Every season? No. Furthermore, MAC teams have hosted Big 10 teams in their own stadiums, so I don't really think its the best contract any MAC team has ever gotten from a team of Wisconsin's caliber. (And that includes Purdue and Iowa, not just Indiana).

When I say caliber, what I really mean is "rich sugar daddy behemoth with little incentive to play on the road."

Look at average home attendance last year in the Big Ten, ranked by how they draw on a national scale. It strikes me is a pretty good barometer of program revenue and an excellent barameter of their incentive to play on the road:

1. Michigan: 110,915
3. Ohio St.: 105,017
4. Penn St.: 104,859
13. Wisconsin: 82,551
20. Michigan St.: 75,183
21. Iowa: 70,585
26. Purdue: 62,996
43. Minnesota: 49,025
45. Illinois: 47,852
60. Indiana: 39,536
73. Northwestern: 32,527

The teams in bold have played in MAC stadiums. The others have not, to my knowledge.

Wisconsin draws like a Texas, a Florida State, an Alabama or a Notre Dame. Granted, they don't have that kind of tradition. But, financially, they appear to be in that league.

Iowa is more of a Nebraska, a Clemson, a Virginia Tech or a Washington.

That's why I think this is a huge get for us.

Not only that: I'm pretty sure most of the other deals that have brought Big Ten teams to MAC stadiums have been two-for-one deals, like the ones Bowling Green worked out with Pittsburgh and Missouri.

This deal strikes me as more favorable -- if we can make it work. That leads me to...

Why don't we see how it works, first? There's a lot to be proven on our end before its a steal.

Good point. Krebs and Brandon both said it at the Cleveland Browns lockerroom preview: This is creative, and we have to prove we can pull this off.

I'm hoping they do.

One other thing: I get where you are coming from on all this, and I'm not advocating moving games to Cleveland that we can pull off in Bowling Green.

Take the future home game with Minnesota: I sure as heck hope we can make that work in Perry Stadium, as has been announced. Looking at Gopher home attendance (which resembles a Texas Tech, a Colorado, a Texas-El Paso or a Mississippi State), I'm optimistic. Minnesota is no Wisconsin.

But I do think this Wisconsin game in Cleveland was a masterstroke. I doubt we could make the financials work in Doyt Perry Stadium. This was the only way to make it happen.

And if there's an opportunity to do this again with a program that can't realistically be brought into Perry Stadium but could work in Cleveland... a Notre Dame, a Nebraska, a Michigan State for example... then I'd absolutely jump at that chance to do it.

(Again, assuming we can pull this next game off without soaking in red ink).

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:28 pm

Schad, fair enough.

A couple points:

Those attendance figures in many cases are as much a measure of stadium size as actual drawing power, since games are generally sold out. Having said that, we certainly do not get Wisconsin to the Doyt. I would question, though, if a 2-1 with the one at the Doyt wouldn't be a better deal than this one, which is 2-none. While closer, Cleveland Stadium is no more our home field than Camp Randall.

As a better example, if we played Michigan State at Ford Field, would we still count that as a home game?

I will admit this...I would feel a lot better about this game if the Boise game had been replaced with a real home game.

Falcons4Life · Post by **Falcons4Life** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:35 am

I think the problem with having the games in cleveland, is that there will be as many badger fans as falcon fans. Cleveland is loaded with alum from Wisky who are jumping at the chance to not travel at least 4 hours to see their team somewhere!

That having been said, a good game at the CBS would be one where we truly would have a fan advantage....aka not notre dame or msu....say for example a cough cough Florida, or NC State...something like that that doesnt have the base in cleveland!

Just food for thought

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:42 am

orangeandbrown wrote:I will admit this...I would feel a lot better about this game if the Boise game had been replaced with a real home game.

I suppose we would be bitching up a storm if we were playing Western Illinois.

But it is easy to see now why that would be more fun than no home game at all.

MACMAN · Post by **MACMAN** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:47 am

Would be nice if we could talk OSU into playing us at the Neutral site (ROFLMAO)in Cleveland...

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:53 am

MACMAN wrote:Would be nice if we could talk OSU into playing us at the Neutral site (ROFLMAO)in Cleveland...

I suppose most of us would end up with decent seats... rather than being broken up and shoved into the corners.

We sold out our allotment last time and had to ask for more. I think more than 8,000 people bought tickets for that game from BGSU

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:24 am

Schadenfreude wrote:
orangeandbrown wrote:I will admit this...I would feel a lot better about this game if the Boise game had been replaced with a real home game.
I suppose we would be bitching up a storm if we were playing Western Illinois.

But it is easy to see now why that would be more fun than no home game at all.

actually, I differ a little from most people on this issue. I would prefer W. Illinois to a Temple Road Game. Just my opinion.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:30 am

Schadenfreude wrote:I think BGSU33 makes some good points.

The fact that our home schedule is front loaded with weak teams ought to help attendance and get us looking good out of the gate.

That's good.

I like playing Miami late in the season on ESPN2 for what could be all the marbles in the East.

That's good.

I like the fact that we will, for the foresseable future, have a late season home game with either Miami or Toledo.

That's good.

Also, I'd trade a home game at the Doyt for a game in Cleveland with a Wisconsin-caliber opponent every season if need be. This remains a brilliant move by Krebs.

Think about it: One game at Wisconsin for one game with them in Cleveland?

We got a steal fellas. It is perhaps the best contract any MAC team has ever gotten with a team of Wisconsin's caliber.

And it's a real opportunity to build our program by building new interest in Cleveland.

Sure, four games at the Doyt isn't great.

But two other things to think about:

1. From Brandon's perspective, holding off on the Boise State game for a year makes sense. He clearly felt like our noncon schedule was too challenging. Why not wait until next year for this game, when our team may be stronger? When the opportunity to do so came up, I can't blame BGSU for going along with it.

2. I think it's tough to assume we are just bending over and taking it from the league office without knowing exactly what we might get in return. Grant, though one of his sources, has intimated that we might be getting very little. But we don't know that.

For instance, it seems some of these Big Ten/MAC games might be getting managed through the MAC. Does sucking it up and playing at Temple and solving a league problem now mean we might get a better scheduling opportunity down the line that brings a Big Ten team to the Doyt? I don't know. But if that were the case, I'd take it.

All in all, this could have been a lot worse. Try to imagine how angry we'd be if we had four home games at the Doyt and were playing a one and done at Madison.

SF,
That is a great post. I need to learn to sit back and view all things instead of jumping the gun. After reading your post, I feel a lot better about this sked than at first. I still don't like only 4 games at the Doyt but life isn't always fair.

Thanks for providing sound reasoning.

GO FALCONS!!!

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:31 am

orangeandbrown wrote:
actually, I differ a little from most people on this issue. I would prefer W. Illinois to a Temple Road Game. Just my opinion.

Same here.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:37 am

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:
orangeandbrown wrote:
actually, I differ a little from most people on this issue. I would prefer W. Illinois to a Temple Road Game. Just my opinion.
Same here.

I think most of us would.

But, if we were playing Western Illinois and the Temple thing was never a possibility, I'm sure plenty of us would be bitching. That's where I was going with that.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:05 am

Schadenfreude wrote:... if we were playing Western Illinois and the Temple thing was never a possibility, I'm sure plenty of us would be bitching. That's where I was going with that.

Exactly.

San Diego Falcon · Post by **San Diego Falcon** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:11 pm

quote:
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Originally posted by Jacobs4Heisman:

quote:
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Originally posted by orangeandbrown:

actually, I differ a little from most people on this issue. I would prefer W. Illinois to a Temple Road Game. Just my opinion.
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Same here.
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I think most of us would.

But, if we were playing Western Illinois and the Temple thing was never a possibility, I'm sure plenty of us would be bitching. That's where I was going with that.

I would have been very happy with Western Illinois, Tiffin, Dayton, or Ashland at home versus playing at Temple. Yes, we're going to smash Temple; however, my concern is how worn down this young team might be when it plays its most important games in Nov against the top MAC teams, after having to make these extra road trips.