Is it just me...

[Beaker]

QUOTE: "Personally, I feel like I have greater reasons beyond the field of play to hate Miami, some of them social and economic. With Toledo it basically boils down to geography and the fact that their city is a dump, which incidentally is also true about Akron and Buffalo. That doesn't mean I don't feel good kicking the sh*t out of the Rockets though.

EDIT: I also think the decision to move this game away from the last week of the season was a BAD move. This is a game that players, coaches, and fans get up for no matter when it is played, and no matter what the records are. We basically sold this game out every time from 2001 through 2007, and Toledo's crowds were just as big over that same span, but the crowds just haven't been as big, and frankly haven't been as engaged in the game since then.

Very few opponents draw crowds to the Doyt in November. Toledo does. Miami does too to a lesser extent. Nobody else does. Hell, we had a game against Kent with the division on the line last year in perfect weather and it only drew 16k. I would guess that other universities in the MAC see the same trend. That's the biggest reason why rivalries should be played in the final week of the regular season.[/quote]
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Absolutely right. Move it back to the last game. Screw the PC crowd and call it the Battle for the Redskins Peacepipe Northwest Ohio's largest outdoor cocktail party I-75 Shootout. Of course, it might be tough fitting on that onto a trophy

I can understand the general populace of college football fans who aren't directly affilitated with either school to be a little down on this rivaly, given that the recent games have been more lopsided with one school or the other having down years. That said, ESPN has enough football knowledgeable folks working there to know that both teams are strong this year and this has the makings of a great battle. Shame on them for not carrying this game on tv. If anything, hopefully that will mean a few more butts in seats than there would be if it were televised.

[RangerRocket]

EDIT: I also think the decision to move this game away from the last week of the season was a BAD move. This is a game that players, coaches, and fans get up for no matter when it is played, and no matter what the records are. We basically sold this game out every time from 2001 through 2007, and Toledo's crowds were just as big over that same span, but the crowds just haven't been as big, and frankly haven't been as engaged in the game since then.

Disagree. I believe the stretch of day after Thanksgiving games hurt the rivalry and it has not recovered as a result. Students go home over the Thanksgiving weekend. Many of them never attended a UT-BG game during that stretch. Without them involved carrying on the rivalry it starts to fade.

(Plus the fact that we've whipped your AZZ's the past three years... and will again this year!!!)

GO ROCKETS!!!

[footballguy51]

And Rump Ranger finally appears. Took long enough!

[bgsufalcon24]

EDIT: I also think the decision to move this game away from the last week of the season was a BAD move. This is a game that players, coaches, and fans get up for no matter when it is played, and no matter what the records are. We basically sold this game out every time from 2001 through 2007, and Toledo's crowds were just as big over that same span, but the crowds just haven't been as big, and frankly haven't been as engaged in the game since then.

Disagree. I believe the stretch of day after Thanksgiving games hurt the rivalry and it has not recovered as a result. Students go home over the Thanksgiving weekend. Many of them never attended a UT-BG game during that stretch. Without them involved carrying on the rivalry it starts to fade.

(Plus the fact that we've whipped your AZZ's the past three years... and will again this year!!!)

GO ROCKETS!!!

I think we have to consider the last week games in two different categories.

1.Games played on Tuesday before Thanksgiving (ie: 2004-2006)
2.Games played on Friday after Thanksgiving (ie: 2007-2009)

I think the big mistake was moving the game out of the midweek and agree completely that the students no-show when it is played on the day after Thanksgiving. They no-showed at our stadium twice in a row in 07 and 09, can't say much about 08 because I wasn't there but I would assume the same occurred at the Glass Bowl. 2007's overall attendance was still pretty good, but by 09 it had dwindled quite a bit. Historically speaking, day after Thanksgiving games just don't draw well at BG.

The 2005 game was nearly sold out, pretty much on the backs of the students who filled up half the west end of the Doyt by themselves. Playing the game on Tuesday may not have been ideal for the out of towners who wanted to come, but it did wonders for the student population and didn't really hurt the townies either because the game didn't start until 7:30 or 8 and a lot of people don't work the day prior to Thanksgiving anyway.

(Full disclosure, the announced attendance for the 2005 BG/UT game was around 18k, but that's bullsh*t, because it was standing room only across the whole stadium except in the top corners on the east side. BGSU had a SERIOUS problem with undercounting its attendance in 2005, and the Toledo game was the prime example)

Oh, and we're going to beat you up Saturday. GO FALCONS!!!

[BG71]

Here are reported attendance figures:

October 11, 1980 Saturday Toledo 23,196
October 24, 1981 Saturday Bowling Green 21,250
October 23, 1982 Saturday Toledo 31,369
October 8, 1983 Saturday Bowling Green 33,527
October 6, 1984 Saturday Toledo 26,913
November 16, 1985 Saturday Bowling Green 28,110
November 15, 1986 Saturday Toledo 22,226
October 17, 1987 Saturday Bowling Green 17,100
September 24, 1988 Saturday Toledo 22,627
October 14, 1989 Saturday Bowling Green 22,612
October 13, 1990 Saturday Toledo 29,761
October 19, 1991 Saturday Bowling Green 27,333
October 17, 1992 Saturday Toledo 24,409
October 2, 1993 Saturday Bowling Green 29,210
October 15, 1994 Saturday Toledo 31,416
October 21, 1995 Saturday Bowling Green 21,011
October 5, 1996 Saturday Toledo 26,100
October 25, 1997 Saturday Bowling Green 22,695
October 17, 1998 Saturday Toledo 27,991
October 2, 1999 Saturday Bowling Green 23,918
November 22, 2000 Wednesday Toledo 26,531
November 23, 2001 Friday Bowling Green 26,483
November 30, 2002 Saturday Toledo 25,331
November 29, 2003 Saturday Bowling Green 29,724
November 23, 2004 Tuesday Toledo 31,981
November 22, 2005 Tuesday Bowling Green 17,438
November 21, 2006 Tuesday Toledo 23,917
November 23, 2007 Friday Bowling Green 18,926
November 28, 2008 Friday Toledo 11,264
November 27, 2009 Friday Bowling Green 14,075
Novmber 17, 2010 Wednesday Toledo 22,071
October 15, 2011 Saturday Bowling Green 22,408
September 15, 2012 Saturday Toledo 28,115

The day after Thanksgiving games were 3 of the 5 lowest attendance figures since 1980.

[transfer2BGSU]

Since TU fans have some concern about our attendance and they constantly bash us about our attendance, I found two numbers to be interesting -

33,527 and 11,264

[jpfalcon09]

Since TU fans have some concern about our attendance and they constantly bash us about our attendance, I found two numbers to be interesting -

33,527 and 11,264

I was at the game where Toledo drew 11,264 and it was not only terrible weather but both teams were having really down years. It was also the last game Gregg Brandon ever coached at BG. You can definitely see though how playing this game either early in the season or on Black Friday really killed attendance. I really hope the league office moves this game back to a Tuesday night at 8pm the week of Thanksgiving.

[Falcon Commander]

Looks like the Students are getting fired up . . .

http://twitter.com/FalconFanatics1/stat ... 32/photo/1

HA HA HA

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Looks like the Students are getting fired up . . .

http://twitter.com/FalconFanatics1/stat ... 32/photo/1

HA HA HA

Yeah the rivalry is no where near down or lacking passion from the people on facebook and twitter that I know

[Flipper]

Love the rivalry...dislike TU. Went there for two qtrs. and it was the most depressing six months of my life. I t was like listening to Joy Divison's "Closer" LP a continuous loop.

The rivalry was more intense in the early 80's...that 33k crowd in 1983 was nuts...seeing the goalposts carried down Wooster in 1985 is one my all time favorite things, but it's still THE game you look to every year. In fact, that little three way thing we had with NIU and TU in the early 2000's to determine the winner of the West was almost as much fun as bacon.

[mscarn]

Part of it has to do with the head coaches.

Meyer really got things going and I vaguely recall a near-brawl when Amstutz and his crew were standing on the Falcon at midfield during warm-ups. Brandon was never one to say much and Clawson is almost professorial.

Amstutz was easy to lampoon but was careful to avoid disparaging BG in the media and was actually quite respectful in his remarks as Campbell is today. Little Timmy purposely went out of his way to be as much of an a** as possible but predictably skipped town fast, causing many in Toledo to dislike him almost as much as we do now.

[Falcon137]

The rivalry has been kind of lackluster since '05. Both schools have produced some pretty bad football.

'06 neither team was very good.
From 07-09 BG took them to the woodshed 3 straight times.
From 10-12 Toledo has pretty much controlled BG.

Each school had their rebuild job at different times. Couple that with students missing out on a bunch of games when they moved the game, I think it lost some pop for awhile.

2 years ago there was a good, energetic crowd at the Doyt. And last year the Glass Bowl was sold out, with tons of BG folks there.

I hate Toledo. But, I've been on and around their campus. I just feel bad people for their alums and students that they had to go / are going there.

[BGSU33]

Since we can't seem to beat Toledo anymore, I would just assume end our cross-divisional tie-in with them because we are strapping ourselves with a damn loss every season now doing it. I'd rather have a tie-in with EMU at this rate. Toledo with be going for a 5th straight win in he series next year which has NEVER happened in the entire history of this "rivalry."

[h2oville rocket]

Can't say that the rivalry hasn't slipped a little but that's the case with almost every university. Students have too much other stuff to do and its too easy to catch the game on TV or on-line while you are doing something else. Still, 21,000+ came out on a fairly lousy day at a strange time to watch and most of them stayed to the end to see a very entertaining game. the alternating thunder from the various sides as the two team's fortunes ebbed and flowed showed that there's still some juice in the rivalry. I've seen BG play some other close games against some other schools and there was nothing like the intensity in the stands. This game was everything college football should be and for those who opted out because the rivalry is tarnished", well, you missed a heck of a game.