I wonder why Conf USA did not ask USL to join the conference instead of Florida Intl or Old Dominion? The brought out the fans in the New Orleans Bowl.

Yep.. BoB Bowl has to be one of the worst bowl games. Bad/sterile atmosphere, bad stadium, nobody attending, a couple teams each year w/ zero in common and nothing gained for either of them to win, etc.
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This seems like a good time to start a running list of 2013/4 Bowl Attendance figures:

Dec 21-
New Orleans - 54,728
Famous Potato - 21,951
Las Vegas - 42,178
New Mexico - 27,104

Dec 23-
Beef 'o' Brady - 20,053

The St. Pete's stadium certainly had an odd configuration: The third-base-side baseball stands were end zone seats, and were essentially empty. Outfield seats were also empty, save for several rows of temporary seats/desks parallel to the sideline that looked like they might be for the media etc.

The only stands with substantial numbers of fans were those seats along the first-base line ... which were largely invisible to the ESPN cameras. When the cameras did turn around to show these fans, most seemed to be from ECU, with at least one section in Ohio green.
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I can't believe there were 3-5K at Boise actually at the game. You can tell what ESPN thinks of the game by starting it near dusk.

Running list of 2013/4 Bowl Attendance figures:

Dec 21
New Orleans - 54,728
Famous Potato - 21,951
Las Vegas - 42,178
New Mexico - 27,104

Dec 23
Beef 'o' Brady - 20,053

Dec 24
Hawaii - 29,106

(12-24-2013 04:12 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I can't believe there were 3-5K at Boise actually at the game. You can tell what ESPN thinks of the game by starting it near dusk.

The stat sheet said attendance was 29,106. The ESPN announcer said 28,000 tickets were "distributed". Maybe not all of the folks with tickets made it to the stadium from the Waikiki kiosks.

ESPN cameras never showed the crowd on the shady/press-box side of the field. I'd expect most of the people would have been there. There were very few on the sunny side that was frequently in the camera's view.

(12-25-2013 12:05 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(12-24-2013 04:12 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I can't believe there were 3-5K at Boise actually at the game. You can tell what ESPN thinks of the game by starting it near dusk.

The stat sheet said attendance was 29,106. The ESPN announcer said 28,000 tickets were "distributed". Maybe not all of the folks with tickets made it to the stadium from the Waikiki kiosks.

ESPN cameras never showed the crowd on the shady/press-box side of the field. I'd expect most of the people would have been there. There were very few on the sunny side that was frequently in the camera's view.

My original comment was regarding the Potato Bowl in Boise...but similar comments certainly could be made for the bowl in Hawaii. I do agree that most were probably on the shade side of the field but the endzones were amazingly bare indicating not much interest among the walkup crowd.

(12-25-2013 10:04 AM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(12-25-2013 12:05 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(12-24-2013 04:12 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I can't believe there were 3-5K at Boise actually at the game.

The stat sheet said attendance was 29,106. The ESPN announcer said 28,000 tickets were "distributed". Maybe not all of the folks with tickets made it to the stadium from the Waikiki kiosks.

My original comment was regarding the Potato Bowl in Boise...

Do'h!! Can't believe I saw Boise and thought Hawaii!

(I'll have to ask Jerry Outlaw about the true attendance at the Famous Potato Bowl.)

A couple of the lower ranked top-25 teams (Fresno State and Northern Illinois most prominently) have now lost their bowl games. Fresno lost to USC (who was ranked 26th in the AP poll) so that's probably a wash. But if a couple more teams lose (Georgia, Duke, Notre Dame, etc.), there might be an opening for Rice at the very end of the top 25 with a win next week.

(12-27-2013 08:42 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  A couple of the lower ranked top-25 teams (Fresno State and Northern Illinois most prominently) have now lost their bowl games. Fresno lost to USC (who was ranked 26th in the AP poll) so that's probably a wash. But if a couple more teams lose (Georgia, Duke, Notre Dame, etc.), there might be an opening for Rice at the very end of the top 25 with a win next week.

Bowling Green also lost (they were getting votes).

There will be 35 bowl winners. Even if they constitute the top 35, it will still be tough to make the top 25 out of 35. A memorable game would help a lot.

(12-27-2013 09:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  There will be 35 bowl winners. Even if they constitute the top 35, it will still be tough to make the top 25 out of 35. A memorable game would help a lot.

Disagree, as a number of those winners will have 4 or 5 (or even 6) losses to their record. Should the Owls win, we will almost certainly end the season in the Top 30, and will likely crack the Top 25 in at least a couple polls.

(12-27-2013 09:55 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 09:48 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  There will be 35 bowl winners. Even if they constitute the top 35, it will still be tough to make the top 25 out of 35. A memorable game would help a lot.

Disagree, as a number of those winners will have 4 or 5 (or even 6) losses to their record. Should the Owls win, we will almost certainly end the season in the Top 30, and will likely crack the Top 25 in at least a couple polls.

Hope you're right. Let's win first, then see what happens. I think this is one time the margin of victory is a big factor.

Marshall's coaching staff is doing them no favors today. They are running the ball at will, and yet are trying to throw the ball nearly every down. Then they have punted on 4th and 1 or 2 several times from Maryland territory. Frustrating to watch.

(12-27-2013 05:15 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Marshall's coaching staff is doing them no favors today. They are running the ball at will, and yet are trying to throw the ball nearly every down. Then they have punted on 4th and 1 or 2 several times from Maryland territory. Frustrating to watch.

Well Doc didn't fare well in his 3rd/4th short calls against us so I think he went ultraconservative today. Marshall was clearly the better team today. Congrats to the Herd.

Meanwhile hundreds of people in the stands today it appears from the early look at Reliant at kick off.

Marshall beats Maryland 31-20 in the Military Bowl.

Interesting it appears the Texas Bowl is being played on last week's Texans turf and not the plastic turf they use for UH and HS.

(12-27-2013 06:09 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(12-27-2013 05:15 PM)RiceFootball2K5 Wrote:  Marshall's coaching staff is doing them no favors today. They are running the ball at will, and yet are trying to throw the ball nearly every down. Then they have punted on 4th and 1 or 2 several times from Maryland territory. Frustrating to watch.

Well Doc didn't fare well in his 3rd/4th short calls against us so I think he went ultraconservative today. Marshall was clearly the better team today. Congrats to the Herd.

Meanwhile hundreds of people in the stands today it appears from the early look at Reliant at kick off.

100s? Maybe dozens?

In a game where any points may be enough to win, Syracuse attempts a fake FG inside the 25 and comes up short. Wow.

On the positive side, a late arrivng crowd now is definitely into the 100s!

(12-27-2013 06:42 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  In a game where any points may be enough to win, Syracuse attempts a fake FG inside the 25 and comes up short. Wow.

On the positive side, a late arrivng crowd now is definitely into the 100s!

Having some fun with MK on twitter about his having to cover this titanic match up. He basically said he wasn't disturbing people with tweets since no one in Houston really cared.

Looking at the Syracuse side before kickoff.


Gopher side.

My brother is at the game with his youngest son. Bought the tickets at face value too, the poor guy.