(03-29-2014 11:14 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  
If you check the history we have done as well as anyone against them. Including beating Bear in his last game at home. If you want to be the best, you gotta play the best.

Those days are LONG gone. Hell, even the Alabama-LA Monroe days are long gone.

Alabama wouldn't even bother scheduling you if it weren't completely obvious that you were going to get destroyed.

(03-29-2014 07:55 AM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  

(03-28-2014 11:59 PM)Sirloin Burger Wrote:  I would have dropped NSU for Alabama.
A lot of current FBS programs have been torn a new a-hole by the Crimson Tide so no big deal.

Stopping Alabama on a possession would have been worth the trip to Tuscaloosa. Getting a first down on Alabama would have been worth it. Just seeing ODU on the same field with the legendary Crimson Tide would have been worth it even if we did get our asses handed to us.

^this^

Many years ago I went to a Cajun/Bama game, in Tuscaloosa I believe it was, and Brian Mitchell was our quarterback. He was a top-quality athlete out of a small town near Baton Rouge, and played for many years in the NFL with the Redskins and later Philly.

Anyway, if I recall correctly, we lead at halftime, even led at the end of the third quarter. We played 'em heads-up and battled like we belonged on the field with them. That day, we did.

Bama eventually took the lead and when they did, a roar arose from the stadium that I'd not heard the entire game. It was nothing short of amazing how the Cajuns had silenced about 90,000 fans to that point.

After the game many Bama fans told us that by the end of the 3rd quarter, they thought we were going to win the game. Honestly, I thought we were too.

In the end, we fell short. They were a far superior team but it was worth the airline flight, the cost of the tickets, etc. I'll never forget the experience of seeing my Cajuns lined up head to head with Bama and giving them all they wanted on a beautiful fall afternoon.

I enjoy Marshall playing anyone, anywhere, and anytime. In 2003 or maybe 2004 we played at #9 Ohio State and mike Nugent had to kick a record 55 yard FG to win and end the game and then we played at #3 Georgia and basically dominated the whole game but ended up losing 10-3 or something like that. Point being we easily could of if not should of won those games and to many they were "payday" games but the way I look at it is that it's a game so play them. The only annoying thing is when the power 5 schools talk about their supposed dominance yet 95% of those games are played at their stadiums.

(03-29-2014 06:56 PM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 03:57 PM)EagleX Wrote:  I always liked playing at Bama when I was in school. The wimmins were hot, and the sympathy sex was awesome.

Now there goes a man in his right mind.

When I was in college at Marshall we had some epic away games.
AT Clemson, Michigan State, North Carolina, #1 Florida, Ohio State, Georgia, and several others I don't remember but I went to all of them and the ladies were always one of the best parts! Especially in Gainsville!!!

alabama has scheduled USM since 05. Since the Shula years, any wonder why they have you scheduled now. It ain't all about tradition. Even their ooc away games against P5 schools are on neutral ground. As fas playing um and ms, funny how some of your fan base still feel some need to prove how much better you are then them. So it must mean something to beat the sec's doormat.
The deal is ODU had a schedule already set and it gives them a better chance to 1) become bowl eligible and 2) beat a P5 opponent. ODU could catch ua slipping, like Ga St or La-Mo, but until Saban gets tired like bryant sr did i dont see it happening.

Alabama-ULM type games ended when ULM beat them. Now, their scheme is to schedule teams like Eastern Michigan, Idaho, and San Jose State in hopes of annihilating them and gaining an all-important +1 to the wins column. When you're in a conference that has schools like UF, UTK, and UGA, you don't need to play UTEP or USM to have a good SOS/RPI/whatever.

(03-30-2014 05:52 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Alabama-ULM type games ended when ULM beat them. Now, their scheme is to schedule teams like Eastern Michigan, Idaho, and San Jose State in hopes of annihilating them and gaining an all-important +1 to the wins column. When you're in a conference that has schools like UF, UTK, and UGA, you don't need to play UTEP or USM to have a good SOS/RPI/whatever.

No, that's not why they tried to schedule ODU. It's because ua was trying to help a young program. And ODU is throwing away a golden oppurtunity of rescheduling their calender to have a long shot at ua. Think of all the sympathy sex the Monarchs are throwing away by declining to play ua.

(03-30-2014 05:00 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 11:14 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  
If you check the history we have done as well as anyone against them. Including beating Bear in his last game at home. If you want to be the best, you gotta play the best.

Those days are LONG gone. Hell, even the Alabama-LA Monroe days are long gone.

Alabama wouldn't even bother scheduling you if it weren't completely obvious that you were going to get destroyed.

unseemly comment, considering that the 1 in 1-23 is you . . . .

(03-30-2014 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 05:00 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 11:14 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  
If you check the history we have done as well as anyone against them. Including beating Bear in his last game at home. If you want to be the best, you gotta play the best.

Those days are LONG gone. Hell, even the Alabama-LA Monroe days are long gone.

Alabama wouldn't even bother scheduling you if it weren't completely obvious that you were going to get destroyed.

unseemly comment, considering that the 1 in 1-23 is you . . . .

Glad you mentioned that. That fact illustrates my authority to speak about teams that suck. Most UAB Football fans are experts on the subject.

(03-30-2014 07:20 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  We like to think small time at USM

Some of you do.

(03-30-2014 07:20 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  and don't mind being compared to Jackson State and Alcorn State with our scheduling strategy.

I mind, although I've never heard the comparison before. We play, like, one FCS team every five years, if that.

(03-30-2014 07:20 AM)nastybunch Wrote:  We think winning one out if fifteen is wonderful and like being called a "giant killer", instead of winning our conference and bowl games.

Here's a thought for you: it's not necessarily a coincidence that 0-12 and 1-11 happened at the same time everyone else was leaving the conference. I'll always believe that those defections took the wind right out of our kids' sails. Football is largely psychological.

Had we been among the anointed teams during the 2012 season, I think Alford, Johnson, Buckley, etc. would have attained better results, and that much-despised crew might actually be figuring out how to defend the AAC championship in 2014. It's not like any of them have fallen flat on their faces anywhere else.

(03-30-2014 06:39 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 06:28 PM)EagleX Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 05:00 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 11:14 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  
If you check the history we have done as well as anyone against them. Including beating Bear in his last game at home. If you want to be the best, you gotta play the best.

Those days are LONG gone. Hell, even the Alabama-LA Monroe days are long gone.

Alabama wouldn't even bother scheduling you if it weren't completely obvious that you were going to get destroyed.

unseemly comment, considering that the 1 in 1-23 is you . . . .

Glad you mentioned that. That fact illustrates my authority to speak about teams that suck. Most UAB Football fans are experts on the subject.

well played, mr. demiveeman. well played.

(03-30-2014 06:54 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  Football is largely psychological.

B S!

Football is size, strength, speed and athleticism.

(03-30-2014 08:34 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 06:54 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  Football is largely psychological.

B S!

Football is size, strength, speed and athleticism.

c'mon....does anyone think andre has a clue about sports....

he can make a decent point on occasion, but that guy doesn't have one athletic bone in his body....

I on the other hand, tangoed with Carmody's youngest son (chris) on a cyo trip back in the day....in other words, fists were thrown on both fields of play....

yep, the Bear was so scared of USM back then....or now......or in the future.....

"largely psychological" could be the funniest thing I've read on this board relative to football....

The SEC always has their 1-AA week every year towards the end of the season. The rest of college football plays the 1-AAs usually in the first month, bt the SEC schedules them late to avoid those late season losses and the subsequent drop in the polls that comes with a loss. So other teams around the nation suffer loses during the last couple weeks while the SEC basically gets a free pass week where every school jumps in the polls.

It's pretty funny that people are talking about "having nuts"...knowing that the only reason their AD's schedule these games is for a paycheck to add to the budget. And honestly nobody cares if you "play them close", if you beat them (which you wont) then you'll get recognition, otherwise you just end up as that team on Sportscenter with highlights of them scoring 12 TD's on you. They raked ODU over the coals for weeks after that 80-20 drubbing at North Carolina... now everyone seems to think it'd be a good idea to go ahead and play Bama.

Sometimes you just have to use your common sense. Even if you beat one of them, it'll just be "they're having a bad year"..you'll get press for a week and then it's old news. I'm yet to see any G5 team translate a win over a P5 team into getting 5 star recruits on a regular basis. Just call it what it is, a check.

(03-31-2014 06:47 AM)AlwaysSunny Wrote:  It's pretty funny that people are talking about "having nuts"...knowing that the only reason their AD's schedule these games is for a paycheck to add to the budget. And honestly nobody cares if you "play them close", if you beat them (which you wont) then you'll get recognition, otherwise you just end up as that team on Sportscenter with highlights of them scoring 12 TD's on you. They raked ODU over the coals for weeks after that 80-20 drubbing at North Carolina... now everyone seems to think it'd be a good idea to go ahead and play Bama.

Sometimes you just have to use your common sense. Even if you beat one of them, it'll just be "they're having a bad year"..you'll get press for a week and then it's old news. I'm yet to see any G5 team translate a win over a P5 team into getting 5 star recruits on a regular basis. Just call it what it is, a check.

This...

(03-31-2014 06:47 AM)AlwaysSunny Wrote:  It's pretty funny that people are talking about "having nuts"...knowing that the only reason their AD's schedule these games is for a paycheck to add to the budget. And honestly nobody cares if you "play them close", if you beat them (which you wont) then you'll get recognition, otherwise you just end up as that team on Sportscenter with highlights of them scoring 12 TD's on you. They raked ODU over the coals for weeks after that 80-20 drubbing at North Carolina... now everyone seems to think it'd be a good idea to go ahead and play Bama.

Sometimes you just have to use your common sense. Even if you beat one of them, it'll just be "they're having a bad year"..you'll get press for a week and then it's old news. I'm yet to see any G5 team translate a win over a P5 team into getting 5 star recruits on a regular basis. Just call it what it is, a check.

presumably (almost certainly), if you are good enough to beat alabama, you are good enough to run the table in your conference. the win against the p5 validates (for lack of a better term) the other wins on your schedule. these things just aren't seen as one-offs. it's a game on a 12 game schedule.

in trying to justify your preference to not play alabama, you are trying to assert that there is no connection between winning (at all) and recruiting. and that's silly.

(03-29-2014 10:23 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  We as a school are no short of funds to drag ourself into a man slaughter like this which is what usually happens to programs in their infancy which are very less prepared. Okay people talking about making a name going against big heads what kind of name did GaSt made when they played bama last year.

No name at all. These games make no sense most of the time and usually show a weakness in Athletic Leadership. Bama in 2010 made sense. It was our first year and it was a Thursday Night game on ESPNU to cap the first season. Playing Bama again was stupid. This year we have Clemson and Washington. Why? Most fans cant afford the trip to Seattle and its two guaranteed beat downs for payment with no return game.Good for ODU for not being Saban's taxi squad. If Bama needs another game so bad why dont they schedule Louisville or Central Florida. Not as much fun when they punch back.

Interesting discussion with some great points on both sides. It is a rare situation where you can clearly see reasoned arguments for different opinions and totally understand why those you disagree with think they way they do. The only thing I'll add is that I expect NCST to buy out the game @ ODU in 2015, which makes this a little more complicated in my mind.

(03-31-2014 09:03 AM)panama Wrote:  

(03-29-2014 10:23 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  We as a school are no short of funds to drag ourself into a man slaughter like this which is what usually happens to programs in their infancy which are very less prepared. Okay people talking about making a name going against big heads what kind of name did GaSt made when they played bama last year.

No name at all. These games make no sense most of the time and usually show a weakness in Athletic Leadership. Bama in 2010 made sense. It was our first year and it was a Thursday Night game on ESPNU to cap the first season. Playing Bama again was stupid. This year we have Clemson and Washington. Why? Most fans cant afford the trip to Seattle and its two guaranteed beat downs for payment with no return game.Good for ODU for not being Saban's taxi squad. If Bama needs another game so bad why dont they schedule Louisville or Central Florida. Not as much fun when they punch back.

Exactly bro. Good luck this season.

(03-30-2014 09:21 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 08:34 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  

(03-30-2014 06:54 PM)AndreWhere Wrote:  Football is largely psychological.

B S!

Football is size, strength, speed and athleticism.

c'mon....does anyone think andre has a clue about sports....

he can make a decent point on occasion, but that guy doesn't have one athletic bone in his body....

I on the other hand, tangoed with Carmody's youngest son (chris) on a cyo trip back in the day....in other words, fists were thrown on both fields of play....

yep, the Bear was so scared of USM back then....or now......or in the future.....

"largely psychological" could be the funniest thing I've read on this board relative to football....

Oh, OK. All that size / strength / speed stuff you said doesn't explain a lot of crap we've seen lately: the failure of Battery Boy, the fact that we were better after DeAndre Brown left, the success of Austin Davis.

Really, what I should have said was that football is a game of motivation. You've got to want to do the backbreaking work that's required. Sure, there are a few natural talents like Kenny Stabler, Favre, or Barry Sanders who would succeed regardless... but they're one in a million.