Self-proclaimed "BCS expert" Jerry Palm has us playing in the HOD bowl against Iowa.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...redictions

That would be great if it were the case, but I still have a tough time believing projections that show North Texas playing in another bowl besides the Dallas Bowl (if they don't win the conference championship). ESPN's got North Texas in the Dallas Bowl and us in St. Petersburg. Although not sure if the five C-USA bowls other than the Liberty Bowl have any particular pecking order in terms of selection.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/bowls/projections

There is no pecking order outside of the Liberty Bowl, and technically, I believe I've heard the Liberty Bowl also doesn't have to take the champion, though in reality they always do. It's Liberty gets 1st pick, and then the conference works with the rest of the bowls to distribute the rest of the eligible teams.

(11-11-2013 02:57 PM)NYNightOwl Wrote:  Self-proclaimed "BCS expert" Jerry Palm has us playing in the HOD bowl against Iowa.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...redictions

How about his Arizona State v Texas in the Holiday Bowl.

(11-11-2013 02:57 PM)NYNightOwl Wrote:  Self-proclaimed "BCS expert" Jerry Palm has us playing in the HOD bowl against Iowa.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...redictions

Will Middle Tennessee travel well to Honolulu?

I think the point is no one travels well to Hawaii.

(11-12-2013 11:21 AM)texd Wrote:  I think the point is no one travels well to Hawaii.

You have to wonder at what point there will stop being a Hawaii bowl, especially if Hawaii cannot become bowl eligible.

It seems silly to have a team spend all that money to fly there when very few of their fans will make the journey. In comparison, having a Bahamas bowl makes a lot more sense.

Hawaii for West Coasters is actually pretty easy... and there will be lots of tourists there anyway, plus the Navy and locals who like football enough to watch good games, regardless.

It is indescribably more easy to get to Hawaii than Cancun, much less the Bahamas from California

(11-12-2013 12:08 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Hawaii for West Coasters is actually pretty easy... and there will be lots of tourists there anyway, plus the Navy and locals who like football enough to watch good games, regardless.

It is indescribably more easy to get to Hawaii than Cancun, much less the Bahamas from California

True, but December is the absolute worst time of year to go to Hawaii, with prices at their tourest-trap highest. It's virtually impossible to get a good deal on airfare or hotel at that time.

(11-12-2013 12:08 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Hawaii for West Coasters is actually pretty easy... and there will be lots of tourists there anyway, plus the Navy and locals who like football enough to watch good games, regardless.

It is indescribably more easy to get to Hawaii than Cancun, much less the Bahamas from California

The distance between LA and Hawaii, and LA and the Bahamas is 2,479 miles to 2,514 miles.

The cost of a roundtrip ticket for both (on the same date range this christmas) is ~$1100 and ~$800.

Being that the difference in distance from LA to both is negligible, the price to the Bahamas as compared to Hawaii is cheaper, and that over half the country becomes closer to the Bahamas as you move further east, I would say that my original point that having a bowl in the Bahamas as compared to Hawaii makes more sense.

It's not that I think there should be a bowl in the Bahamas, I just really don't think there should be a bowl game in Hawaii.

JD has kindly compiled 11 bowl projections for Rice & UH.

Our potential destinations are all over the map (literally):

• Heart of Dallas Bowl vs Iowa (3)
• Hawaii Bowl vs San Diego State, Utah State or Boise State
• Military Bowl (Washington, D.C) vs North Carolina or Boston College, and
• Beef O'Brady Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) vs. Ohio, Toledo or Boston College
  

All 11 pundits have Houston going to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, however. The Coogs' opponents would be Georgia Tech (6), Duke (3), North Carolina or Maryland.

(11-14-2013 03:54 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  JD has kindly compiled 11 bowl projections for Rice & UH.

Our potential destinations are all over the map (literally):

• Heart of Dallas Bowl vs Iowa (3)
• Hawaii Bowl vs San Diego State, Utah State or Boise State
• Military Bowl (Washington, D.C) vs North Carolina or Boston College, and
• Beef O'Brady Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) vs. Ohio, Toledo or Boston College
  

All 11 pundits have Houston going to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, however. The Coogs' opponents would be Georgia Tech (6), Duke (3), North Carolina or Maryland.

Crossing my fingers for Heart of Dallas bowl (or Beef o' Brady's for selfish travel reasons).

I don't think the Hawaii/Military bowl do us or our fanbase any good. But being able to play a P-5 team in Dallas on New Year's Day would be great. We had a great turn out last year for the Armed Forces Bowl, and I would only expect that turn out to increase if it was on a holiday against a P-5 team.

Rice either needs to root heavily against North Texas (allowing Rice to sneak into the Liberty Bowl picture) or root heavily for North Texas (opening up the Heart of Dallas Bowl for Rice if UNT goes to Liberty).

More succinctly, the better bowl scenarios for Rice occur with a team from CUSA West winning the league title, and all less desireable scenarios involve a team from CUSA East winning the title.

(11-12-2013 01:15 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(11-12-2013 12:08 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Hawaii for West Coasters is actually pretty easy... and there will be lots of tourists there anyway, plus the Navy and locals who like football enough to watch good games, regardless.

It is indescribably more easy to get to Hawaii than Cancun, much less the Bahamas from California

The distance between LA and Hawaii, and LA and the Bahamas is 2,479 miles to 2,514 miles.

The cost of a roundtrip ticket for both (on the same date range this christmas) is ~$1100 and ~$800.

Being that the difference in distance from LA to both is negligible, the price to the Bahamas as compared to Hawaii is cheaper, and that over half the country becomes closer to the Bahamas as you move further east, I would say that my original point that having a bowl in the Bahamas as compared to Hawaii makes more sense.

It's not that I think there should be a bowl in the Bahamas, I just really don't think there should be a bowl game in Hawaii.

First of all, Hawaii isn't close to anywhere. It's the most remote set of islands on the planet... but the connections between the West Coast (esp. California) and Hawaii are strong. Many Californians vacation in Hawaii and even own second homes there.

The Hawaii Bowl is quite acceptable to many West Coast fanbases. Certain Big 10 programs from the snowbelt travel well to warm tourist locations, so I can see the Hawaii Bowl working out for programs like Wisconsin or Iowa. Their fans make a holiday out of it, and of course, the Hawaiian tourist industry is the primary mover behind the Hawaii Bowl. The bowl timing is crap (just before Christmas), but I think the idea is to get fans over to Hawaii before the tourist rush that starts just after Christmas.

Getting to Hawaii from the West Coast has gotten more expensive recently due to a less airfare competition resulting from 1) airline mergers and bankruptcy (Aloha Airlines no longer exists) and 2) the decline of Hawaii as a trans-Pacific refueling stop. Airfare to Hawaii was once relatively affordable (given the distances) because most jets on trans-Pacific routes had to refuel in Hawaii. Nowadays, trans-Pacific flights can cross the Pacific without stopping to refuel, so the airline market to Hawaii has become considerably more limited. Hawaii, however, is still a major destination from California and the West Coast.

Hawaii also has the infrastructure to support a bowl. Locals in Hawaii go to football games, which may not be the case in the Bahamas. Aloha Stadium is quite a big stadium that might as well be used for a bowl, while I don't think the Bahamas has any major stadium. A bowl in the Bahamas might grow more important over time, but I think they need to get a decent place to host the game first.

Precisely the point, BAO. Good post.

Hawaii already has tens of thousands of Military and other US Citizens who like to watch football... not to mention the tens of thousands of vacationers, mostly from the west coast who are there at that time already. They don't care if Rice brings fans or not... so long as they can get teams that the locals want to see... and as you mention, the ties to the west coast are strong.... meaning the teams they watch are west coast teams and then of course the "names" regardless of whether or not they are good that year. I suspect our time with Hawaii in the WAC would serve us well for the bowl.

Bahamas would mostly have to bring most people in for the game... I can't imagine there are more than a few thousand locals who care about US football... so it is ALL ABOUT who you can bring.

(11-14-2013 04:13 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Rice either needs to root heavily against North Texas (allowing Rice to sneak into the Liberty Bowl picture) or root heavily for North Texas (opening up the Heart of Dallas Bowl for Rice if UNT goes to Liberty).

More succinctly, the better bowl scenarios for Rice occur with a team from CUSA West winning the league title, and all less desireable scenarios involve a team from CUSA East winning the title.

Now's not the time to root for UNT. There are still five games that matter that give Rice the chance to play to go to Memphis. There's only one or two games where I'll root for the Eagles - their bowl game, and, if worse comes to worse, the CUSA championship game... if they were to have to win the latter on the road, so be it.

Thomas Robinson Stadium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robinson_Stadium Wrote:Thomas Robinson Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium currently has a capacity of 15,000 people, but has the ability to be expanded to hold 30,000 people.

I saw another note that indicated it could be expanded to 23,000. Apparently it's being constructed by a Chinese construction company, which is somewhat interesting.

(11-14-2013 10:44 PM)I45owl Wrote:  Thomas Robinson Stadium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robinson_Stadium Wrote:Thomas Robinson Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium currently has a capacity of 15,000 people, but has the ability to be expanded to hold 30,000 people.

I saw another note that indicated it could be expanded to 23,000. Apparently it's being constructed by a Chinese construction company, which is somewhat interesting.

Nice

Seats look a long way from the playing field. I guess I'm spoiled by 40 years of watching games at HRS.