I hope this thread doesn't go the wrong way...........
Anyway, C-USA is going to have a conference championship game starting in 2005. The winners of the East and West Divisions will play each other. The game will be hosted by the team that has the better win percentage in conference play.
What does eveyone here think about that? I am glad we are moving to a neutral field in the MAC. I personally think that the better team in C-USA might not be the host school for the conference championship game because I can see the East teams knocking each other off at least once and I can see a West team going through undefeated even though they might not be as strong of a team.
To me, if you aren't going to go with a neutral field you should switch hosts each year between the East and West winner.
rocketfootball Wrote:The game will be hosted by the team that has the better win percentage in conference play.
What does eveyone here think about that? I am glad we are moving to a neutral field in the MAC.
I think we should have done it by best winning percentage all along.
I'm not arguing against a neutral site, though. This is the year to try it.
Neutral field is the ONLY way to be fair and objective. Believe me, as a Bronco fan, we are still pissed about 1999 & 2000. :mad:
CUSA better hope that the team that hosts has a strong fan base, because with our spread out geography, it'll be difficult for the visiting team (likely to be from the east) to get large number of its fans to the game. The notable exceptions are Memphis and Southern Miss, which both sit on the western edge of the eastern division.
99Tiger............at least by playing at a campus site, you are guaranteed a decent (if not very good) crowd. With C-USA being so far-flung, a neutral site could've been a disaster. Even with the MAC being fairly compact (geographically), there is more risk in a neutral site (in terms of attendance). But, by knowing the site you can market the game and location year round.
Detroit is a pretty good central location for the MAC, but selfishly it's not very good for my school, Miami, as our alumni base in Detroit is not that strong and it's very tough for our students (and alumni) to get to Detroit on a Thursday night with what is likely to be a couple week's notice. (Hopefully, they'll run buses up from Oxford and give the students an excused absence Friday from classes).
Again, with C-USA's geography, I think they made the safer choice in going to a campus site.
ex Cincy Kid Wrote:Detroit is a pretty good central location for the MAC, but selfishly it's not very good for my school, Miami, as our alumni base in Detroit is not that strong and it's very tough for our students (and alumni) to get to Detroit on a Thursday night with what is likely to be a couple week's notice. (Hopefully, they'll run buses up from Oxford and give the students an excused absence Friday from classes).
Miami did one whale of a job getting fans to Bowling Green last year.
Detroit is only an hour or so farther.
BrewtownBronco Wrote:Neutral field is the ONLY way to be fair and objective. Believe me, as a Bronco fan, we are still pissed about 1999 & 2000. :mad:
What does your team choking away a 23 point lead or your coach whoring himself out during championship week have to do with a neutral site?
I know, Scha, but even if we take the same 3-4K to Detroit, it won't be on someone's campus this time around. BG had a total crowd of 25K, and I presume a tad over 20K were BG fans..........so, how many BG fans will be at Ford Field on that Thursday night vs. that 20K in your home stadium. 10K? 15K? Even the same 20K plus? I dunno, but I worry about it. Of course with marketing there is obviously a plan to get casual college football and other MAC fans in SE Michigan to the game. Hope it works!
Stick4489 Wrote:BrewtownBronco Wrote:Neutral field is the ONLY way to be fair and objective. Believe me, as a Bronco fan, we are still pissed about 1999 & 2000. :mad:
What does your team choking away a 23 point lead or your coach whoring himself out during championship week have to do with a neutral site?
Jesus, Stick. Does he have to draw you a picture?
As we all know, Stick, football is a game of emotion and momentum..........it's highly doubtful (at least to me) that the Herd can make up 23 points like that unless they're at home and feed off of the home crowd. And besides, do you maintain that the Broncos just choked, or maybe instead Marshall played great in the 2nd half and deserve some credit for the comeback?
ex Cincy Kid Wrote:As we all know, Stick, football is a game of emotion and momentum..........it's highly doubtful (at least to me) that the Herd can make up 23 points like that unless they're at home and feed off of the home crowd. And besides, do you maintain that the Broncos just choked, or maybe instead Marshall played great in the 2nd half and deserve some credit for the comeback?
Both.
Marshall played great in the comeback. But Western let them back in the game.
Same with the ECU game in the GMAC Bowl.
A tad bit of intellegent coaching on how to sit on a lead, without shutting down the offense, probably hands Marshall the loss in both of those games.
Marshall playing just half decent in the first half of either of those games though, and there would have been no need for a miracle comeback. Meanwhile, ECU and WMU played great, which made Marshall's first half play look that much worse.
Is that like since the MCB being in Det, who will actually go. Well, about 45k. Ford Field and the MAC will have interest in this event, so I'm sure the pushing will be there.
ex Cincy Kid Wrote:I know, Scha, but even if we take the same 3-4K to Detroit, it won't be on someone's campus this time around. BG had a total crowd of 25K, and I presume a tad over 20K were BG fans..........so, how many BG fans will be at Ford Field on that Thursday night vs. that 20K in your home stadium. 10K? 15K? Even the same 20K plus? I dunno, but I worry about it. Of course with marketing there is obviously a plan to get casual college football and other MAC fans in SE Michigan to the game. Hope it works!
Well since Toledo is going to win the West this year, you won't have to worry about how many BG will bring up to Ford Field.
There are a fair number of Rocket fans that live in Southern Michigan like me, and Ford Field is only about a 15 minute longer drive than the Glass Bowl is so I don't see a problem there. I also think that the crowd will be good because of local interest and some of those directional Michigan schools might have fans there just so they can see what a conference championship game is like..........Well, WMU already knows, but CMU and EMU are probably wondering what it is like. :D
eCK...I guess what I was trying to hint at is that if UAB hosts the championship game and their attendance is similar to what it has been (I'm allowing for improvements), then the game will look bad...even with any expected CG attendance boost. CUSA is banking on the home team bringing a lot of fans because the visitors ain't gonna be able to bring many.
Take the problem you mentioned of travelling from Miami to Detroit...now possibly multiply that distance by as much as 5-6 times and you get the task CUSA is possibly facing. What if ECU and UTEP happen to play int he CG...it doesn't matter where it is, it'll pretty much only be a home crowd (made even worse by the fact that you can hardly fly between the two schools).
I was somewhat hoping that Memphis would be a permanent location, because the game would be virtually assured of being close to a sellout every year...but then the champion (unless they just happen to be BCS bound) would return roughly 3-4 weeks later. Plus, the CUSA basketball tourney is going to be in Memphis for at least the first few years and our commish (
) has indicated that it will stay in Memphis as long as we want it.
I'm glad we're having a CG...I'm just hoping that we can get enough of a crowd to make it not look like a joke.
Could someone please explain why the MACC is on a Thursday?
If there are no games on Friday (and Full House has been cancelled) the MACC should be played on a Friday. Playing on Friday should help increase attendance.
Mike...Go Herd!!!
herdinchicago Wrote:Could someone please explain why the MACC is on a Thursday?
If there are no games on Friday (and Full House has been cancelled) the MACC should be played on a Friday. Playing on Friday should help increase attendance.
Mike...Go Herd!!!
ESPN shows hockey on Fridays.
As if they'll have a season. :rolleyes:
Hockey...
Do people still watch Hockey?
Hopefully Chicago will get an NHL team.
Mike...Go Herd!!!
Stick4489 Wrote:BrewtownBronco Wrote:Neutral field is the ONLY way to be fair and objective. Believe me, as a Bronco fan, we are still pissed about 1999 & 2000. :mad:
What does your team choking away a 23 point lead or your coach whoring himself out during championship week have to do with a neutral site?
Stick, that was just mean
herdinchicago Wrote:Could someone please explain why the MACC is on a Thursday?
If there are no games on Friday (and Full House has been cancelled) the MACC should be played on a Friday. Playing on Friday should help increase attendance.
Mike...Go Herd!!!
Thursday is a better night for college football on TV. Always has been.
99Tiger Wrote:eCK...I guess what I was trying to hint at is that if UAB hosts the championship game and their attendance is similar to what it has been (I'm allowing for improvements), then the game will look bad...even with any expected CG attendance boost. CUSA is banking on the home team bringing a lot of fans because the visitors ain't gonna be able to bring many.
Take the problem you mentioned of travelling from Miami to Detroit...now possibly multiply that distance by as much as 5-6 times and you get the task CUSA is possibly facing. What if ECU and UTEP happen to play int he CG...it doesn't matter where it is, it'll pretty much only be a home crowd (made even worse by the fact that you can hardly fly between the two schools).
I was somewhat hoping that Memphis would be a permanent location, because the game would be virtually assured of being close to a sellout every year...but then the champion (unless they just happen to be BCS bound) would return roughly 3-4 weeks later. Plus, the CUSA basketball tourney is going to be in Memphis for at least the first few years and our commish ( ) has indicated that it will stay in Memphis as long as we want it.
I'm glad we're having a CG...I'm just hoping that we can get enough of a crowd to make it not look like a joke.
Held on a home field, you'll be assured of at least a decent crowd. And working up to a neutral field is the best plan for the mid-major type conferences where travelling with 30K is not possible.
The MAC is at the stage to roll out a neutral field. But IMO we had to work our way up to it by establishing it with consistent crowds on campus.