...I will be very surprised. S Miss looked awful tonight against a very mediocre Utah club. I know, I know, they played good defense, but S. Miss' QB made bad throw after bad throw, and the S. Miss offense kept making stupid mistakes. IMO, neither team could have won either division of the MAC this year.
Marshall should roll in C-USA. Really. TCU doesn't play D. Houston? Not in Marshall's league. Tulsa? Don't think so.
[quote="herdya"] [quote="Rocky"] I don
Actually, i believe their morotorium on props ends this year, so let 'er rip, Bobby!
Oh boy golly, let's shift another thread to Marshall's NCAA infractions. :snore:
Is that all some of you guys think about?
:rolleyes:
Now a thread on how bad CUSA is would be quite another matter...
I am not going to argue that CUSA is better than the MAC this year, because it isn't. The MAC had a great year, one that people will be talking about on message boards 20-30 years from now. Probably the best ever. The MAC has maxxed out, there is nowhere to go but down from this year. Roth., Harris, and Marshall are gone. The MAC will regress to its natural level it has been accustomed to over the past 50 years or so. Those who think otherwise are living a pipe dream.
Southern Miss is a good program as are many others in CUSA. They lost to a good Utah team. You see CUSA has to play tougher games overall in bowls than the MAC does. Beating up on Loserville and Northwestern is not that impressive in the grand scheme of things.
CUSA will improve and get better. Marshall will help it in much the same way it has the MAC over the past 7 years. The bar will be raised in CUSA like it was in the MAC.
The season is over and I can already see the MAC bar moving down ever so slightly.
HerdKixButt Wrote:I am not going to argue that CUSA is better than the MAC this year, because it isn't. The MAC had a great year, one that people will be talking about on message boards 20-30 years from now. Probably the best ever. The MAC has maxxed out, there is nowhere to go but down from this year. Roth., Harris, and Marshall are gone. The MAC will regress to its natural level it has been accustomed to over the past 50 years or so. Those who think otherwise are living a pipe dream.
Care to wager on this?
BG, Toledo and CMU look to be on an upswing.
Akron and Kent could be too.
Miami typically doesn't drop off much. NIU had enough problems this year, that they may be as good or better next.
BSU and WMU are question marks, but could rally soon.
Figure out a good metric and let's see if you're really willing to put up.
Marshall is leaving for 2 reasons:
Bobby can get higher pay
Bobby won't get is ****** kicked as often.
I will say however, that this is not a "mediocre" Utah team. You're as good as your record, and Utah is pretty darn good. The MWC is no weak conference.
[QUOTE]Marshall is leaving for 2 reasons:
Bobby can get higher pay
Bobby won't get is ****** kicked as often.
:withstupid:
Bobby is 88-17 since becoming head coach at Marshall in 1996.I don't think he is to worried about getting his a$$ kicked.
DrTorch Wrote:Marshall is leaving for 2 reasons:
Bobby can get higher pay
Bobby won't get is ****** kicked as often.
Got a good laugh from that one! Marshall is 53-9 in MAC play since we rejoined the conference and 73-17 overall during that time.
If he won't get "is" ****** kicked as often when we leave....gee, I'm all for it.
:rolleyes:
DrTorch Wrote:HerdKixButt Wrote:I am not going to argue that CUSA is better than the MAC this year, because it isn't. The MAC had a great year, one that people will be talking about on message boards 20-30 years from now. Probably the best ever. The MAC has maxxed out, there is nowhere to go but down from this year. Roth., Harris, and Marshall are gone. The MAC will regress to its natural level it has been accustomed to over the past 50 years or so. Those who think otherwise are living a pipe dream.
Care to wager on this?
I don't believe it's the type of thing you can wager on.
We'll just have to wait a few years and see how things go.
Saying that C-USA is a better fit for Marshall is one thing; saying that the MAC is on it's way down is another.
The only way that the MAC is hurt is by losing a good football program in Marshall. This year was a year of great exposure (record number of TV games, big wins, etc...) for the MAC. Many MAC programs are now recruiting players and areas that they never had access to before. By all accounts, we've picked up a third bowl. And, as pointed out above, a number of programs that had poor years this year are certainly going to improve. CMU, BSU, and WMU come to mind right away.
And thinking that the loss of Roethlisberger means that Miami is going to be down is as silly as when people said Marshall was going to be bad without Moss/Pennington. Remember, Herd Davidians, you DIDN'T SCORE A TOUCHDOWN AGAINST US THIS YEAR. Almost our entire defense is back. We've got almost all our receiving corps back, and we've got three VERY GOOD running backs coming back, including a 1,000 yard runner from 2002. While we're losing three O-linemen, two others who started this year are ready to step in, and several others received quality playing time. Josh Betts is more than capable of leading this team, as he has gotten playing time and has ben in the system for three years. Heck, Betts threw for 6000 yards in HS and almost 3,000 yards his senior year. Then again, he might be beaten out by Mike Kokal by the end of the season. You Kent guys might remember his father, Greg, who played at Kent and went on to play in the NFL for the Jets and the Saints.
Anyway, the cupboard is far from bare in Oxford -- and I believe that goes for Toledo, BG, NIU, and Akron, as well. And if the quality of play continues to be good (which it will) attendance won't be a problem for most MAC schools.
Why you Herd Davidians wish the demise of a conference which helped put you back on the map is beyond me.
Saw a graphic during the Nebraska game the other day. Guess which coach has won the most games since 1997? :D
As for the rest, there seems to be two polar opposites on this board. The first group thinks the MAC will be better than the SEC in just a couple of years. The second group thinks the departure of the Herd will leave the MAC just slightly ahead of the SBC. Both are wrong.
The MAC faces some serious challenges if the attendance rule is enforced. After the loss of the Herd and the Kaniggits, if a single team loses I-A status, the MAC loses its divisions and loses its championship game.
That being said, here's my 3-5 year assessment of each program (minus Marshall and CFU):
1. Akron - The absolute worst facilities in all of college football. Apathetic locals make the situation worse. Don't look for the Zippers to ever be more than a middle of the pack team. In moderate danger of losing I-A status.
2. Ball State - Consistently mediocre and should remain so but not in any danger of dropping from I-A.
3. Buffalo - Terrible and not getting better. The move to I-A was a bad move and they are in very serious danger of dropping.
4. BUGS - Historically and recently have fielded good teams. Lousy location makes it difficult to fill the stadium but not in danger of dropping. Great potential to become a power in the conference.
5. CMU - See Ball State.
6. EMU - A complete lack of fan support brought on by lousy teams and, to be charitable, an apathetic athletic administration. The not so charitable viewpoint would be downright hostility toward football. Unless they can change things and in a hurry, EMU is not long for I-A.
7. Kent - Suffers from too many schools in too small of an area. Great overall sports programs but an average football program with Cribbs (the best athlete in the MAC) and a lousy football program without him. Unlike EMU, Kent appears to have made at least a modest committment to remaining I-A. They could make some noise if coaches continue to recruit hard. Regardless, unless they can start getting a few thousand more people to show up, Kent will lose their I-A status as well. But, of EMU, Buffalo and Kent, I see Kent as the school that's more likely to make it.
8. NIU - Good program, good location, good coaching. Should be a contender for many years.
9. Ohio - Lots of tradition coupled with an amazing ability to go from great coaches to lousy coaches and back again. Could be a contender for the East on a regular basis if they can get a good coach and make the financial committment to hold onto him.
10. Miami (OH) - Consistently good program. Should be in the hunt for the title every year and indeed, have finished 2nd to Marshall every year since the Herd's return (until this year obviously). Will experience a drop off in play without Ben but will pick up again in 2005.
11. Toledump - Good fan base and a long tradition of winning. Decent program before Amstutz but he has built on that and the Rockettes are consistently one of the top teams in the MAC. Shouldn't change in the foreseeable future.
12. WMU - A program with a good tradition of excellence that's experienced a few years of inconsistency. Personally, I think the Broncos need some changes at the top but they are not in any danger of dropping.
I think Kelly will have CMU competing for titles in very short order. I also am impressed with what I see out of Hoke at BSU. I think both those programs will be far better than mediocre in the near future -- that's the only issue I take with your post.
I don't think anyone sees the MAC being better than the Big 10 -- I just think we'll be right on par with the MWC.
I really do believe that Marshall will dominate C-USA, though. Maybe not next year, but once the Prop machine gets rolling again, "Nelly bar the door"!
Dodo Wrote:Remember, Herd Davidians, you DIDN'T SCORE A TOUCHDOWN AGAINST US THIS YEAR.
Who did Darius score it against then?
Oh, that's right. My bad. The carnage got so bad that your fake punt and failed two-point conversion escaped me.
The point is, the same defense that held Marshall to six points is back.
Dodo Wrote:I think Kelly will have CMU competing for titles in very short order. I also am impressed with what I see out of Hoke at BSU. I think both those programs will be far better than mediocre in the near future -- that's the only issue I take with your post.
I don't think anyone sees the MAC being better than the Big 10 -- I just think we'll be right on par with the MWC.
I'm withholding my judgement on Hoke at this point - he did no better with good young talent than Lynch did in '02 with younger good talent. He did have the benefit of the ultimate BSU wammy - playing Toledo in Muncie.
I know very little of Kelly, but he is an intriguing hire. I like seeing schools hire guys that actually have some coaching experience, rather than the recent trends of hiring young coaches that haven't been around very long.
WMU has too many resources to not be in the hunt. Darnell's shopping spree a few years ago set back that program a little, but it'll be hard to keep it down.
MAKO Wrote:Saw a graphic during the Nebraska game the other day. Guess which coach has won the most games since 1997? :D
Did he have to get his program on probation to get there?
HerdKixButt Wrote:Beating up on Loserville and Northwestern is not that impressive in the grand scheme of things.
Good thing that Loserville program is moving up and out of C-USA -- that will certainly improve things....
Dodo Wrote:Oh, that's right. My bad. The carnage got so bad
That's what we've been saying all these years after winning the East time after time.