Projections for UCF are all over the place. This week I’ve seen:

Pop Tarts Bowl vs Miami

Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Northwestern

Birmingham Bowl vs Troy

Independence Bowl vs Coastal Carolina


I vastly prefer the first two.

(11-13-2023 06:00 PM)Kruciff Wrote:  I'm so happy to be here, last week was just what we needed. I was on record writing off this season, but now I think the chances of missing a bowl are the same as the chances of winning out.

If we manage to make it to 7-5, 8-5 with a favorable bowl matchup, that's about as good of a year one as you can ask.

Texas Tech though, no reason at all to overlook them in any sort of fashion. We're gonna have our work cut out for us, in a hostile environment. No way we repeat what we did to OSU

Good luck, Lubbock isn't an easy place to get to or play at. Also, if you make the trip, keep your head down when they start throwing tortillas.

(11-13-2023 06:56 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  Projections for UCF are all over the place. This week I’ve seen:

Pop Tarts Bowl vs Miami

Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Northwestern

Birmingham Bowl vs Troy

Independence Bowl vs Coastal Carolina


I vastly prefer the first two.

I could care less about the matchup. Beggars can't be choosers.

UCF isn't bowl eligible yet. If we are lucky enough to become bowl eligible. 7-5 or 6-6 teams shouldn't demand premium bowl matchups.

If you want a better bowl matchup, win more games in the regular season.

The Pop Tarts Bowl is one of the better offerings and I don't see a 7-5 or 6-6 team getting the nod with UCF being lower in the standings. Guaranteed Rate Bowl for a 6-6 or 7-5 UCF team might be more likely, and you'd be going to Phoenix. That Birmingham Bowl prediction is also a bit nutty because it's not a Big 12 tie-in.

Such projections are not set in stone anyway. They need to get a sixth win first before they can even talk about the postseason.

(11-14-2023 10:19 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  The Pop Tarts Bowl is one of the better offerings and I don't see a 7-5 or 6-6 team getting the nod with UCF being lower in the standings. Guaranteed Rate Bowl for a 6-6 or 7-5 UCF team might be more likely, and you'd be going to Phoenix. That Birmingham Bowl prediction is also a bit nutty because it's not a Big 12 tie-in.

Such projections are not set in stone anyway. They need to get a sixth win first before they can even talk about the postseason.

the "standings" don't have anything to do with it. The Bowls "select" any teams that they want when their turn to select come up. They do not have to select by standings, and typically don't. More often they use other criteria such as matchup (who they can get as an opponent), proximity (location), fan reputation for traveling, when the last time your team was in said bowl, etc.

The bowls are about making money by getting fans in the seats, and interest generated. They will focus on getting more local (near) teams selected for easy fan travel, and/or interest in a regional matchup.

(11-14-2023 10:39 AM)CaliforniaCowboy Wrote:  

(11-14-2023 10:19 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  The Pop Tarts Bowl is one of the better offerings and I don't see a 7-5 or 6-6 team getting the nod with UCF being lower in the standings. Guaranteed Rate Bowl for a 6-6 or 7-5 UCF team might be more likely, and you'd be going to Phoenix. That Birmingham Bowl prediction is also a bit nutty because it's not a Big 12 tie-in.

Such projections are not set in stone anyway. They need to get a sixth win first before they can even talk about the postseason.

the "standings" don't have anything to do with it. The Bowls "select" any teams that they want when their turn to select come up. They do not have to select by standings, and typically don't. More often they use other criteria such as matchup (who they can get as an opponent), proximity (location), fan reputation for traveling, when the last time your team was in said bowl, etc.

The bowls are about making money by getting fans in the seats, and interest generated. They will focus on getting more local (near) teams selected for easy fan travel, and/or interest in a regional matchup.

I didn't know that. I was under the assumption that they were tiered.

Learn something new every day. In that case, I could totally see UCF staying put in Orlando.

(11-14-2023 11:07 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  

(11-14-2023 10:39 AM)CaliforniaCowboy Wrote:  

(11-14-2023 10:19 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  The Pop Tarts Bowl is one of the better offerings and I don't see a 7-5 or 6-6 team getting the nod with UCF being lower in the standings. Guaranteed Rate Bowl for a 6-6 or 7-5 UCF team might be more likely, and you'd be going to Phoenix. That Birmingham Bowl prediction is also a bit nutty because it's not a Big 12 tie-in.

Such projections are not set in stone anyway. They need to get a sixth win first before they can even talk about the postseason.

the "standings" don't have anything to do with it. The Bowls "select" any teams that they want when their turn to select come up. They do not have to select by standings, and typically don't. More often they use other criteria such as matchup (who they can get as an opponent), proximity (location), fan reputation for traveling, when the last time your team was in said bowl, etc.

The bowls are about making money by getting fans in the seats, and interest generated. They will focus on getting more local (near) teams selected for easy fan travel, and/or interest in a regional matchup.

I didn't know that. I was under the assumption that they were tiered.

Learn something new every day. In that case, I could totally see UCF staying put in Orlando.

I hope not. If you went over to UCF's Rivals board and polled the fans there, I would bet the majority of them would want to go to a bowl outside of Orlando. Maybe that would change depending on the opponent, who knows. There's no question, though, that a lot of our fans were not as enthusiastic when, in 2016, we found out we were going to the Cure Bowl at the Citrus Bowl stadium. I think most UCF fans wanted to go to another city for the bowl game.

Having said that, I would not be surprised if our fans were ignored and we did end up in Orlando again this bowl season.

EDIT: Just realized that the Pop Tarts Bowl is in Orlando. If that prediction about us playing Miami (FL) comes true, everything I just said likely goes out the window. LOL

(11-13-2023 06:56 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  Projections for UCF are all over the place. This week I’ve seen:

Pop Tarts Bowl vs Miami

Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Northwestern

Birmingham Bowl vs Troy

Independence Bowl vs Coastal Carolina


I vastly prefer the first two.

That's my preference as well, but also I wouldn't be unhappy with playing either Troy or Coastal Carolina. At this point, if we become bowl eligible, I just want to beat whatever team we play by at least 1 point.

(11-14-2023 11:07 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  I didn't know that. I was under the assumption that they were tiered.

Learn something new every day. In that case, I could totally see UCF staying put in Orlando.

Here is the Bowl selection information from the B12 Site... also, towards the bottom, it also lists who the possible opponent might be fore each bowl (e.g., Pac 12 team, SEC team, etc.)

https://big12sports.com/news/2019/5/23/211718886.aspx

(11-14-2023 11:25 AM)Golden Jedi Knight Wrote:  Having said that, I would not be surprised if our fans were ignored and we did end up in Orlando again this bowl season.

EDIT: Just realized that the Pop Tarts Bowl is in Orlando. If that prediction about us playing Miami (FL) comes true, everything I just said likely goes out the window. LOL

I hear ya.... most OSU fans are not in a big hurry to return to Orlando, since we still have that bad taste of butt kicking in our mouths, but a game against Miami or possibly Notre Dame might revive some interest in a relatively quick turn around trip to Disney World.

I mean the biggest thing from the bowl game is extra practices, at least in our situation. If we even manage 6 wins.

(11-14-2023 12:07 PM)muckdawg24 Wrote:  I mean the biggest thing from the bowl game is extra practices, at least in our situation. If we even manage 6 wins.

exactly.... it gives the coaches a leg up on evaluating the freshmen and kids that did not get to play much.

and probably most importantly, it gives the kids a mini-reward for all of their efforts over the grueling and difficult season. It's a final "celebration game" for players, parents and fans to party and thank the players who might be graduating or not returning.

This is a game for the players more so than the fans.

(11-14-2023 10:19 AM)BnG_Jacket Wrote:  The Pop Tarts Bowl is one of the better offerings and I don't see a 7-5 or 6-6 team getting the nod with UCF being lower in the standings. Guaranteed Rate Bowl for a 6-6 or 7-5 UCF team might be more likely, and you'd be going to Phoenix. That Birmingham Bowl prediction is also a bit nutty because it's not a Big 12 tie-in.

Such projections are not set in stone anyway. They need to get a sixth win first before they can even talk about the postseason.

Oklahoma was 6-6 and played there last year. And I’m sure the bowl would 100% want UCF playing there over say, Iowa State or Texas Tech.

(11-14-2023 08:40 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  Oklahoma was 6-6 and played there last year. And I’m sure the bowl would 100% want UCF playing there over say, Iowa State or Texas Tech.

every year is different. Last year TCU was in the playoff and KState got the Sugar bowl. So 2 of the top teams were off the slate early. Texas went to the Alamo Bowl. Tech went to Houston, and Baylor went to Ft.Worth. Either team could have been selected, but neither travel all that well (OU does).

PopTarts is the 3rd (if no playoff teams) to pick, and 3 top conference teams were already selected last year.

I don't think that we'll have that this year, and the PopTarts will have a plethora of teams to select from (almost all of the teams currently tied for 2nd).

Granted there are a couple of games left to be played, but I'll be shocked if UCF is selected for the PopTarts bowl. While they are free to select whomever they choose, it is one of the better paying bowls, and would be an absolute slap to face of the B12. IMHO.

(11-15-2023 09:49 AM)CaliforniaCowboy Wrote:  

(11-14-2023 08:40 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  Oklahoma was 6-6 and played there last year. And I’m sure the bowl would 100% want UCF playing there over say, Iowa State or Texas Tech.

every year is different. Last year TCU was in the playoff and KState got the Sugar bowl. So 2 of the top teams were off the slate early. Texas went to the Alamo Bowl. Tech went to Houston, and Baylor went to Ft.Worth. Either team could have been selected, but neither travel all that well (OU does).

PopTarts is the 3rd (if no playoff teams) to pick, and 3 top conference teams were already selected last year.

I don't think that we'll have that this year, and the PopTarts will have a plethora of teams to select from (almost all of the teams currently tied for 2nd).

Granted there are a couple of games left to be played, but I'll be shocked if UCF is selected for the PopTarts bowl. While they are free to select whomever they choose, it is one of the better paying bowls, and would be an absolute slap to face of the B12. IMHO.

From the bowl’s perspective, a potential UCF vs Miami matchup would bring in wayyyy more revenue than any other realistic matchup they could hope for. UCF would certainly want it too. Not sure if Miami would, probably not.

(11-15-2023 02:51 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  From the bowl’s perspective, a potential UCF vs Miami matchup would bring in wayyyy more revenue than any other realistic matchup they could hope for. UCF would certainly want it too. Not sure if Miami would, probably not.

oh boy.... are we going to have to deal with this attitude forever?

frankly you have now way of knowing who the potential teams may be, and whether or not UCF could entice "way more revenue". IMHO, more of the football viewing public would tune in for a matchup of ranked teams.

(11-16-2023 10:44 AM)CaliforniaCowboy Wrote:  

(11-15-2023 02:51 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  From the bowl’s perspective, a potential UCF vs Miami matchup would bring in wayyyy more revenue than any other realistic matchup they could hope for. UCF would certainly want it too. Not sure if Miami would, probably not.

oh boy.... are we going to have to deal with this attitude forever?

frankly you have now way of knowing who the potential teams may be, and whether or not UCF could entice "way more revenue". IMHO, more of the football viewing public would tune in for a matchup of ranked teams.

I mean it’s just not really debatable that UCF vs Miami is a much more appealing matchup for everyone involved than some random Iowa State vs Syracuse matchup. A ranked matchup would be the only way they might take another team.

(11-16-2023 09:06 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  I mean it’s just not really debatable that UCF vs Miami is a much more appealing matchup for everyone involved than some random Iowa State vs Syracuse matchup. A ranked matchup would be the only way they might take another team.

perhaps that scenario would not be debatable, but I SAID two ranked teams, not random teams.

(even Iowa State vs Miami, for example) (although random ISU still has a shot at the Sugar bowl, and/or the Alamo (both more prestigious)

are you guys even bowl eligible yet?

Don't bowls typically prefer to take out of town teams because of the hotel rooms, restaurants, everything else that out of town fans bring. My understanding is that ticket sales typically aren't a issue (although butts in seats can often be).

(11-17-2023 10:18 AM)tcufrog86 Wrote:  Don't bowls typically prefer to take out of town teams because of the hotel rooms, restaurants, everything else that out of town fans bring. My understanding is that ticket sales typically aren't a issue (although butts in seats can often be).

A narrow measure of the welfare generated by a bowl game is the revenue it generates. A broad measure concerns the entertainment delivered to viewers of the game. These are of course connected, since more viewers mean more advertising revenues, and so TV networks pay more for more widely watched games.

Typically the bowl are independent of the local municipalities, and are private enterprises - so they don't really care about hotels, restaurants or other local businesses. ESPN Events owns 13 bowl games.

Cities like hosting bowl games because they help attract tourism and gain exposure on national TV. Some even provide funding for them. This year, the city of Birmingham is paying ESPN $550,000 to help fund the ESPN-owned Birmingham Bowl, which is title-sponsored by jewelry retailer Jared

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