4-0 vs BGSU over the past 4 years.

Or

0-4 vs NIU over the past 4 years.

I know which one I feel strongest about. I absolutely despise NIU with every thread of my being. Almost as much as I despise OSU. It's hard to maintain a rivalry when all that is at stake is a trophy named after a barrel ridden interstate. With NIU, there is elation on one side, and desperation on the other after every contest.

So I ask you, who's the rival now?

Both are rivals. As fun as it has been to beat BG, we haven't had a MAC title in a decade. NIU has been the obstacle to that goal. Though both games do still have the rivalry feel to it, the Huskies are a more important victory at the moment.

(11-22-2013 10:43 PM)tjt1980 Wrote:  4-0 vs BGSU over the past 4 years.

Or

0-4 vs NIU over the past 4 years.

I know which one I feel strongest about. I absolutely despise NIU with every thread of my being. Almost as much as I despise OSU. It's hard to maintain a rivalry when all that is at stake is a trophy named after a barrel ridden interstate. With NIU, there is elation on one side, and desperation on the other after every contest.

So I ask you, who's the rival now?

Not even close. 1-11 is marginally acceptable in football if the 1 is BG. I am on Cloud 9 when we beat BG in either hoops. Our twenty plus year domination of BG in swimming makes me want to dance. Watching our freshman down-the-line runners smoke their varsity in x-country always leaves me with a contented feeling. NIU is that team we used to beat every year in football. When they visit Savage we can expect 4,000, including 12 from NIU. When BG comes we can figure on 6,000. NIU shows up as a blip on the radar once every Fall. Their guys are mostly pretty cool and respectful. BG alums haven't shown up here much lately but if they ever beat us in anything again I'm sure they will. How anyone can consider someone a rival based on one sport is beyond me. BG is our rival.

(11-22-2013 10:43 PM)tjt1980 Wrote:  4-0 vs BGSU over the past 4 years.

Or

0-4 vs NIU over the past 4 years.

I know which one I feel strongest about. I absolutely despise NIU with every thread of my being. Almost as much as I despise OSU. It's hard to maintain a rivalry when all that is at stake is a trophy named after a barrel ridden interstate. With NIU, there is elation on one side, and desperation on the other after every contest.

So I ask you, who's the rival now?

BG is the hated rival, NIU is merely a nemesis (as Marshall once was) that has stood between UT and the MACC game for 4 years in a row now. Therefore, IMO NIU has been the bigger problem for UT recently, but that doesn't make them a rival (according to my idea of what a rival should be).

In 2010 and 2011 had UT lost to BG but defeated NIU, UT would have still won the west tiebreaker and gone to the MACC because both years UT only had 1 MAC loss (to NIU, of course). However, for the past 2 years UT has regressed losing to both NIU and Ball State so a loss to BG with a win over NIU would not have given UT the MACC game in 2013 (and maybe not in 2012 either).

To me every year the primary goal should be to win a MAC Championship and to that end I would have gladly swapped NIU with BG in UT's won/lost column in 2010 and 2011 if I could have----of course going undefeated in the MAC as NIU has now for 2 years is much more preferable than losing any MAC games.

T-Town is right. So, I would prefer to have been 4-0 against V
BOTH BG and Northern.

A successful season starts with a win over BGSUX.

If you look at the four years prior to our current losing streak to NIU, you'll see we lost four years in a row to both WMU and CMU. I was not liking those two for a while. And how many times has Ball State wrecked a perfectly good season for us? If the question is would I rather beat NIU or BGSU, no doubt I'll take a win over BG any day. I don't care if it's a football game, a blood drive, toys for tots... I want to beat BG at everything. Now if you're asking if I'd rather win a MACC or beat BG, I guess I'd have to go with a championship.

I can't pick one.

BGSU is our historic rivalry, primarily due to it's nearby location.

When you start talking about a championship, that could by anybody. Recently, it just happens to be NIU. Prior to that it was CMU who was eatin' our cake.

Like Saban instills at Alabama, we have to take care of what we do. For the last several years somebody else has been doing that better than we have. It has taken a long time to ascend from the depression our football program descended into and we're not out yet. Recruiting appears to be getting a little better. We don't need a Jordan Lynch. All we need is the talent we're now getting and the discipline and precision that Ball State plays with. Hopefully Coach Campbell can figure out what it takes to make that happen.