I thought it was great.

How many times do you get to see a player break an NCAA career record? For those not aware, Khalil Mack, a projected top 10 choice in the NFL draft, set the career "forced fumbles" standard.

I'm sure if they had the option for just that game, they would bury it on a Saturday. Which is the bigger problem? An empty stadium on TV on Tuesday or having your marquee NIU/Toledo game buried on espn3? I don't know how you fix one without creating the other.

That could easily been Cincinnati 15 years ago . Things change . It takes a commitment from the top . It wasn't THAT long ago Big Ben was throwing TDs at Yager in front of a full stadium .

As a local rival you love to hate 'em but you never wanna see this.

I still can't believe how fast Miami went from being a top 40 program and one of UC's most difficult non-conference games to one of the worst programs in FBS. I love watching my Bearcats beat Miami but I wish that program had a pulse and a fan base. I could say the same thing about their basketball program too. I one of those UC fans that liked when UC played Miami and Dayton every season on the basketball court.

Think they have to do it to get exposure. As long as no one plays more than one weeknight home game a year. I think two games a night is for two reasons:
1) You've got a better chance of getting 1 good game; and
2) You need to have more than two teams not playing on Saturday if you are going to do it again the next week without disrupting everyone's schedule. T/W games require you to be off the Saturday before and Saturday after.

They do need to continue to have a couple Saturday games or they get totally forgotten when more fans are watching.

(11-20-2013 10:47 AM)bullet Wrote:  2) You need to have more than two teams not playing on Saturday if you are going to do it again the next week without disrupting everyone's schedule. T/W games require you to be off the Saturday before and Saturday after.

That is a good point.

(11-20-2013 12:17 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  I love having the option to enjoy some MACtion on ESPN...but Love and Honor knows the cost.

Attendance tonight: 9,895

Yup looks about right.

Yes, but it is the pic B4, after or what time during the game, just sayin"

Somebody on Miami's board said they have a season ticket base of 2,000-3,000. Even with 3,000, are they saying nearly 7,000 more tickets were sold for this game? Sounds (and definitely looks) fishy.

(11-20-2013 11:13 AM)Wilkie01 Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 12:17 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  I love having the option to enjoy some MACtion on ESPN...but Love and Honor knows the cost.

Attendance tonight: 9,895

Yup looks about right.

Yes, but it is the pic B4, after or what time during the game, just sayin"

2nd Quarter

Marcus French ‏@marcuspfrench 12h
@LanceMcAlister did you see the crowd for the Miami v Buffalo game in Oxford tonight? Yikes! This is from 2nd Q. pic.twitter.com/rnaDrQqTkI

That crowd looks like the 2001 Thanksgiving Day when AState ended the Joe Hollis era.

Now our fans come unhinged complaining about poor support when we have 20,000 for a cool wet November night.

(11-20-2013 11:37 AM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 11:13 AM)Wilkie01 Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 12:17 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  I love having the option to enjoy some MACtion on ESPN...but Love and Honor knows the cost.

Attendance tonight: 9,895

Yup looks about right.

Yes, but it is the pic B4, after or what time during the game, just sayin"

2nd Quarter

Marcus French ‏@marcuspfrench 12h
@LanceMcAlister did you see the crowd for the Miami v Buffalo game in Oxford tonight? Yikes! This is from 2nd Q. pic.twitter.com/rnaDrQqTkI

It would have to be very early 2nd quarter. Scoreboard says 0-0, and where the players are on the field looks like it's just before Buffalo scored its first TD, a 1 yard TD pass with 14:20 left in the 2nd quarter.

IMO the game times ought to be set to accommodate the people who buy tickets and sit in the stands, so the games should be on Saturday at a starting time friendly to fans -- but that ship has sailed. Almost every program is willing to take whatever TV gives them, and then just cross their fingers and hope that people still go to the stadium.

FWIW, I enjoy watching the MAC football games....as compared to the rest of what I consider total garbage on tv. I am not much on basketball. Whether there are 5 MAC fans in the stadium or 50,000, I am going to watch,

(11-20-2013 12:17 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 12:05 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Yes, it's terrible. But let me reply with this question: how many fans would show up at your school for a Tuesday night game in November if your team is winless and coming off two straight 4-8 seasons? Probably a lot more, but it would still suck relative to the level of play. Case in point: Washington State, an AQ school that could be bowling this year, drew only 20,000 for a weeknight game against a ranked Arizona State team. I don't recall anyone criticizing the Pac-12 for that one.

Bottom line is that losing will always keep fans away and winning will bring them back. In 2003 Miami averaged over 25k per game, we'll get around 20k again if we can put a few decent seasons put together.

We averaged 75-80 during an 0-11 season.

I feel your pain man.

Not the same scenario as a Mac school

1) sc is a state flagship school
2) you don't play on Tuesdays
3) you get 4 sec home games and Clemson every other year
4) you don't play MAC schools at home in cold weather

I understand why teams play a mid-week game to get the exposure, they might not get otherwise. The problem is when you have multiple conference games on the same mid-week night it lessens viewership and thus exposure. Boise was the poster child for playing mid-week games to get exposure, but the WAC rarely scheduled any other conference games the same day to allow the two schools playing to get the maximum exposure. If I were the MAC or any other G5 conference I would limit the number of times a team plays mid-week to no more than two. The best attended football games are on Saturday, and the money goes directly to the athletic budget. Having too many mid-week games limits attendance and revenue to athletic budgets, but an occasional mid-week game will help get smaller schools exposure.

(11-20-2013 01:48 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 12:17 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 12:05 AM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Yes, it's terrible. But let me reply with this question: how many fans would show up at your school for a Tuesday night game in November if your team is winless and coming off two straight 4-8 seasons? Probably a lot more, but it would still suck relative to the level of play. Case in point: Washington State, an AQ school that could be bowling this year, drew only 20,000 for a weeknight game against a ranked Arizona State team. I don't recall anyone criticizing the Pac-12 for that one.

Bottom line is that losing will always keep fans away and winning will bring them back. In 2003 Miami averaged over 25k per game, we'll get around 20k again if we can put a few decent seasons put together.

We averaged 75-80 during an 0-11 season.

I feel your pain man.

Not the same scenario as a Mac school

1) sc is a state flagship school
2) you don't play on Tuesdays
3) you get 4 sec home games and Clemson every other year
4) you don't play MAC schools at home in cold weather

What he also failed to mention is the well known fact that for the vast majority of it's existence the South Carolina fans simply came for the party rather than the football game.

The bottom line is that TV money funds a lot of what the MAC football teams do, and the exposure helps a lot in recruiting. Playing these games on ESPNU on a Tuesday sure as hell beats Saturday games on ESPN3. Playing a Saturday game would have caused us to draw a marginally larger crowd, but not enough to make much of a difference. Besides, on the rare occasion we get a premier matchup with a good crowd it looks great for the MAC. As we've seen the past few years, conferences are often judged by their best teams instead of their weakest, so putting up with matchups like Miami-Kent State is okay when NIU-Ball State is just on the other channel.

(11-20-2013 02:23 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The bottom line is that TV money funds a lot of what the MAC football teams do, and the exposure helps a lot in recruiting. Playing these games on ESPNU on a Tuesday sure as hell beats Saturday games on ESPN3. Playing a Saturday game would have caused us to draw a marginally larger crowd, but not enough to make much of a difference. Besides, on the rare occasion we get a premier matchup with a good crowd it looks great for the MAC. As we've seen the past few years, conferences are often judged by their best teams instead of their weakest, so putting up with matchups like Miami-Kent State is okay when NIU-Ball State is just on the other channel.

How so? Against the Sun Belt? An empty stadium doesn't help you recruit against another MAC team. I think Miami's academic rep would actually be a better recruiting tool.

(11-20-2013 02:53 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 02:23 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The bottom line is that TV money funds a lot of what the MAC football teams do, and the exposure helps a lot in recruiting. Playing these games on ESPNU on a Tuesday sure as hell beats Saturday games on ESPN3. Playing a Saturday game would have caused us to draw a marginally larger crowd, but not enough to make much of a difference. Besides, on the rare occasion we get a premier matchup with a good crowd it looks great for the MAC. As we've seen the past few years, conferences are often judged by their best teams instead of their weakest, so putting up with matchups like Miami-Kent State is okay when NIU-Ball State is just on the other channel.

How so? Against the Sun Belt? An empty stadium doesn't help you recruit against another MAC team. I think Miami's academic rep would actually be a better recruiting tool.

It won't do much for Miami, talking about TV exposure to our recruits is putting lipstick on a pig. However, you can bet that Rod Carey told his recruits to turn on ESPN2 to see them play Ball State in front of a good crowd (for MAC standards). It's not a major recruiting tool, but one that could make some impact if the recruit is interested and the school is in the right situation.

I will admit that I am a college football junkie. As a result, I love these games. I also feel bad that it can hurt the local attendance.

I have no idea if sacrificing fans in the seats is worth the TV exposure overall, but if they are going to put them on TV, I am going to watch it.