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I was off the mark. There will be six MAC teams falling below the 15,000 mark when the regular season concludes: Ball State (14,710), Akron (13,812), Central Michigan (13,683), Eastern Michigan (11,260), Kent State (10,546) and Buffalo (9,414, the only four-digit figure in I-A).

That
SAHerdFan Wrote:And that gives the schools a pretty good reason to remove themselves.
You're welcome to remove yourself from this forum at anytime. I don't see many folks begging you to stay. :wave:
SAHerdFan Wrote:I was off the mark. There will be six MAC teams falling below the 15,000 mark when the regular season concludes: Ball State (14,710), Akron (13,812), Central Michigan (13,683), Eastern Michigan (11,260), Kent State (10,546) and Buffalo (9,414, the only four-digit figure in I-A).
It is disheartening to see Ball State and Central Michigan slip below 15,000.

Next year shouldn't be a problem for those schools, though. I believe Ball State hosts either Boston College or Missouri. Central Michigan hosts Western Michigan.

Buffalo hosts Syracuse, too.
Thats why I despise this board , you post facts and get attacked ..
because lord knows college football is all about what happens in the stands and parking lots and has nothing to do with what is on the field. :rolleyes:
you despise this board because you make a disingenuous post that is, at its heart, is smack, and people call you on it.

Tell me again: if CON-doa is such a great destination, why are half the schools bailing?

(and yes, the MAC has attendance issues. I won't deny that. But at least it is not made up of a bunch of disparate schools that will stab each other in the back at the first chance they get. Oh wait...now I see what Marshall has in common with the CON-doa schools.....)
SAHerdFan Wrote:Thats why I despise this board , you post facts and get attacked  ..
I despise attendance smack and passive-aggressive knucklehead Herd fans.

If you hate the board, leave.
On a positive note, four MAC teams also made the list of greatest IA improvement in attendance (% wise) vs. the last 5 year average.....those were BG, Miami, NIU and Akron.

Certainly the MAC has attendance issues (doh!), but it keeps being brought up (mostly by Herd fans) as a "screen" in an attempt to downplay the successes of the conference this year ex the Herd. Also, next year you get to count "butts in seats", and I think they'll be some creative ways that KSU and EMU are able to get their attendance up. Still, I think it's reasonable to conclude that a couple of MAC programs may be in trouble with the attendance rule.

P.S. Some schools like CMU have very good fans, and are still hovering aorund 15K despite years of poor records on the field..........if they start winning once in awhile they will change.
P.P.S. Will TCU be next on the "let's leave C-USA hit parade"?

Guest

"CON-doa" is perfect. 04-bow
Oddball Wrote:"CON-doa" is perfect. 04-bow
I can't claim it. I believe someone else on here named it that first. I just happen to agree with you -- it is a great name! :-D
If/when the NCAA attendance requirements go into effect, I expect all but a couple of the MAC schools to "make the cut." There is no doubt in my mind that when these schools put their full energy into getting butts in the seats, they will be able to do it.

In any case, this attendance rule is capricious -- a few bad years for any given program, or a few weekends of bad weather, could drop just about any program out of I-A. I think the first schools to get dropped will sue, and they will win.

If you make the scholarship and facilities commitment to be I-A, you should be allowed to be I-A. I don't think it should matter if you play in front of 10 fans.
DevilGrad Wrote:I despise attendance smack and passive-aggressive knucklehead Herd fans.

If you hate the board, leave.
If you took it as smack then I apoligize , didn't mean it that way ...
Most people here are slamming MU for leaving the MAC and I
was just trying to show just one of the reasons why , other than
more money. If Miami or Toledo or whoever would be leaving I
would say more power to you and good luck. Nothing wrong with
trying to better yourself by gaining more money....
All of us know that the MAC has serious issues with regards to attendance. Still, there are a lot of positives to build on, mostly that the level of play in the MAC has never been higher and at the very least, is on par with the best of the non-BCS leagues, the Mt West Conference.

Also, several MAC teams have set major attendance marks this season, which is encouraging. The final point is that of Miami, BG & NIU, they prove that when you win, fans will come. They did a few years ago when WMU was winning MAC West divisional titles. Look at UCF getting few fans to speak of. Is that because of the MAC, or because they are losing? Obviously, the latter.

If Marshall goes a decade or so of losing seasons, your attendance would be similiar to Kent State's, EMU's or Buffalo as well. In the MAC, like many college football programs, if you win, people will show. If you don't especially over a long period of time, they won't. That's the deal.

I wish you well in C-USA. If I was a Marshall season ticket holder, I would be just giddy about those upcoming battles with Tulsa, UAB, Rice & SMU. Spending nearly $2 million to join football programs like that just doesn't make much sense to me, but then again, I didn't make that decision.
Vandelay Wrote:I wish you well in C-USA. If I was a Marshall season ticket holder, I would be just giddy about those upcoming battles with Tulsa, UAB, Rice & SMU. Spending nearly $2 million to join football programs like that just doesn't make much sense to me, but then again, I didn't make that decision.
Thanks for the well wishes , Won't be no different than playing Buffalo ,
Kent State , Akron & E Michigan , except MU will have more of a cash flow.

Coach Pruett has never had a problem with the compitition in the MAC.
I didn't make the decision either and hopefully the ones who did could
see the advantage ...
I think it's less about playing SMU et al. than it is about playing Southern schools. I get that. I also think they will have a better shot at a bowl game every year, especially now that the MAC has gotten so much stronger, competitively. Even with three bowl games, Marshall might have a tougher time getting one of those three bids in the coming years. Plus, I'm sure the Herd fans would rather travel to Shreveport than Detroit or Indy.
ALthough I'm not a big proponent of these attendance regs, I do think that it's understandable that when you recruit players they would like to play to packed stadiums, even if they are in smaller venues. No one likes to see 6,000 fans at a DIA football game, and I think it could be a legitimate reason to want to change leagues. I hope the schools with poor attendance can continue to improve, but realize that if you're not winning, they "will not come". Winning a BG and NIU has certainly resulted in vastly improved attendance, has't it?

The reason I don't lose too much sleep over these regs is that: 1) in the end I think they'll have minimal impact on the MAC; and 2) if we lose a couple of programs, that may in fact strengthen the MAC and allow more rivalry games..........the only negative is the possible loss of the MACC, although I'd argue so long as we only lose 1 or 2 programs, we could probably replace them.
OK, eCK. Then please explain to me how the number of fans who watch a COLLEGE football game has to do with being allowed to compete on the highest level with STUDENT ATHLETES. I just don't get it. The scholarship and financial commitments, I understand, but saying that people in Akron have to go to games at the Rubber Bowl in order for the student athletes to compete at I-A...it just makes no sense to me. It's another example of how the NCAA has lost sight of it's true mission - the student athlete.

I'm not so naive as to think that in a society where money matters (and I wouldn't want it any other way), that money won't matter in college sports. However, for money to be the absolute driving force in collegiate athletics...that is just plain wrong. By this logic, the NCAA should get rid of D-I Cross Country because no one goes to watch the meets (BTW, the NCAA Cross Country national championships are being held today). That would be lunacy, yet this is exactly what the NCAA is arguing with football attendance.
DoDo, re-read my post...........I only saying that it's understandable if a program prefers to change conferences because attendance is low, I'm not saying that I'm necessarily in favor of any attendance regs for IA football. I am conflicted about what would be best for the MAC, as I would like to see us play our best MAC rivals most years, and have not been in favor of some of the later additions to the conference. Perhaps the "evil" side of me sees the attendance regs as a "means to an end" to get us to a smaller, more competitive conference. I hope you will foregive for that self-serving thought. :chair:
Now that Lee Owens has met his rightful demise, I don't wish ill on any programs still in the MAC. I'd like to see all of them pack in the fans and contribute to our strength of schedule when we beat them.
I could understand using attendance figures as one gauge if the affected schools actually were in line to share in all the money doled out, but we don't.

For the record, NIU proved what a MAC team can do with attendance when successful - we set a season record for overall attendance and set our single-game attendance record three times this season.
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