Anyone know if bowls can trade teams; not now but when it came time to make an official announcement?
It seems to me, if they could and they actually communicate with each other, at least one "trade" would have occurred.
To wit: both the Motor City and Las Vegas Bowls are pitting teams who played each other during the regular season. What would have been so hard about sending Purdue to Vegas and UCLA to Motown? Another alternative would have been to send the Purdue to Boise in exchange for Georgia Tech.
I particularly like the latter option, as the Spoiled Boilers are bitching to such an extent most of their (posting) fans say they wouldn't go to Detroit if their lives depended upon it. It has also been reported one of their players posted on his facebook that the team should have declined the bowl offer. Being sent to the Great White North to play on the Blue Turf would have been perfect.
I have a feeling the Motor City folks wanted a Big Ten team so much (remember, Northwestern is the only one to have played in the MCB), they didn't have a problem keeping Purdue. In spite of it being a rematch, this game just might sell out; hey last year's game of CMU vs Middle Tennessee drew around 52K.
I hope CMU beats them silly.
Like if you were fans of a BCS team, even one as marginal as Purdue, you'd be excited about the prospect of traveling to Detroit for this game instead of going to the warm weather bowl sites to play a fellow mediocre BCS team instead of a team you already throttled once this year? Seriously. What is compelling about this game or location for Purdue fans? They have absolutely nothing to gain. They just got dumped on by being the last Big 10 team in. If you were Purdue fans, you'd feel the same way. This is a stupid matchup. Whether the bowl people, the MAC or the Big 10 are to blame, I don't know, but they blew this one.
Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea or one that couldn't have been avoided? I think we have to call it like it is or it may well happen again.
Actually most of the Purdue posters are not even mentioning it being a re-match. They are moaning about having to play in Detroit and having to play a MAC team. Finishing 8th in the Big Ten, maybe they expected Cancun?
Besides, almost ANYONE who follows the bowl progression saw this as a possibility. I repeat, WHY DIDN"T A TRADE OF TEAMS occur? Certainly those scholarly higher-ups in West Lafayette could have made such a suggestion.
Probably because we could have done it ourselves and didn't. BSU or BGSU could have easily been slotted to play in the MCB. Not that it would have made Purdue any happier...but there would be more general interest in the game. The catch is both BGSU and BSU are happier playing where they are, which brings us back to the Detroit thing again. It's just not a destination many people aspire to. I'm sure the locals enjoy it very much, but Toronto and Mobile both sound like more fun to the average fan.
MAC office should have enough foresight to wait for B-10 selections. GMAC would have took MAC champion. I cann't believe CM would bring that many more fans than BG. I tought the Motor city bowl was attended by MAC fans in general.
axeme Wrote:Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea
I do.
It will sell tickets.
And I have zero sympathy for pampered players of privilege crying about where they get to play in a bowl game. Zero.
I'd love to see the Chips find a way to run up the score on those whiners.
templefootballfan Wrote:MAC office should have enough foresight to wait for B-10 selections. GMAC would have took MAC champion. I cann't believe CM would bring that many more fans than BG. I tought the Motor city bowl was attended by MAC fans in general.
you are not serious are you? Last years game broke the motor city bowl attendance and that was vs a sun belt team. This season with a big 10 program attendance will be higher. CMU fans came out last year, there will be more this year.
UCLA refused to give up taking a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl, from what I heard, even though the Pac-10 office wanted to switch them and California, in the Armed Forces Bowl, to prevent having a rematch. The Rose Bowl picking undeserving Illinois to force a B10-P10 game, rather than working a trade with another BCS bowl to get a good team, also played a role in this as Arizona State got screwed out of the BCS and every Pac-10 squad got unexpectedly pushed down a spot in their bowl order.
The Big Ten bowls could have also worked together better to prevent a Boilermakers-Chippewas rematch. I do not see why the Motor City Bowl could not have tried to convince the Insight Bowl to let them have Indiana and take Purdue instead. We know Michigan State wanted no part of the Motor City Bowl, but they also could have gone to the Insight Bowl, while Purdue or Indiana went to the Champs Sports Bowl instead. The bowls never work together in order to make better games for the fans.
Schadenfreude Wrote:axeme Wrote:Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea
I do.
It will sell tickets.
And I have zero sympathy for pampered players of privilege crying about where they get to play in a bowl game. Zero.
I'd love to see the Chips find a way to run up the score on those whiners.
I can't think of a worse matchup for this game, given the teams that were available for it.
You really think this is better than Purdue vs. BG or BSU?
Or CMU vs. any other Big 10 team?
Really? If so, I can't imagine why.
I know the parties involved have to make lemonade out it now, but...
So many comments and/or jokes. So little time. *SIGH*
Quote:one of their players posted on his facebook that the team should have declined the bowl offer
Must have been
Garrett Bushong.
I thought that the Mobile bowl got first choice of MAC teams this year, so the Detroit folks' hands were somewhat tied. One suspects they'd rather have the more local team anyway. Nobody in the MAC is going to fill Ford Field with their own fans; the way that bowl is going to draw a crowd is to find teams that casual fans in the Detroit area (read: Michigan and MSU fans) are willing to plunk down a few bucks to check out live.
Also, from the bowl officials' point-of-view, they're still better off with Purdue (and a rematch) than one of two out-of-region teams that just fired their coaches. The Purdue folks will ***** and moan and many will stay home, but a couple of thousand will show up, and that's far more than I'd expect for either UCLA or Georgia Tech. (C'mon, think about it. The only two people who fly from LA to Detroit voluntarily are Jeff Daniels and Kid Rock.)
OTOH, as a general matter, being a Purdue fan is punishment enough, and having to go to Detroit to celebrate your eighth-place finish in the Big Ten and season-ending loss to Indiana may just be piling on.
Krocker Krapp Wrote:I do not see why the Motor City Bowl could not have tried to convince the Insight Bowl to let them have Indiana and take Purdue instead.
Who's to say the MCB didn't make every effort to avoid the rematch?
BGSUalum1987 Wrote:Krocker Krapp Wrote:I do not see why the Motor City Bowl could not have tried to convince the Insight Bowl to let them have Indiana and take Purdue instead.
Who's to say the MCB didn't make every effort to avoid the rematch?
If the Motor City Bowl did make every possible effort to avoid a rematch ... and the other Big Ten games selfishly rebuffed them ... that would just make my last sentence ...
the bowls never work together in order to make better games for the fans ... ring truer than ever.
axeme Wrote:You really think this is better than Purdue vs. BG or BSU?
It's not a better matchup for us, the folks who will watch on TV.
But it will sell more tickets. And, therefore, in that sense, it is a better matchup. From Ken Hoffman's point of view, Central Michigan was the best pick he could make.
Quote:Or CMU vs. any other Big 10 team?
No question, any other Big Ten team would be preferable. But it wasn't an option. The other bowls got to pick first. The Motor City had to pick Purdue.
I'm sure that if Central Michigan had beaten Purdue earlier this season, rendering them 6-6, the Motor City would have gone in another direction. In that scenario, Hoffman could also have looked at Iowa and Northwestern. (And I would think he would have picked Iowa).
That wasn't the scenario. Purdue was the last available 7-5 team, so they had to be picked.
What surprises me is that the Insight.com Bowl actually
wanted Indiana. Usually this sort of thing comes down to the ability to travel. Does Purdue really travel worse than Indiana? Seriously? That idea surprises me.
I read on Purdue's board that they didn't travel really well to their last bowl destination but the Insight is taking a chance on Indiana.
The fans will have to travel to Tempe, AZ and IU hasn't been in a bowl since 1993 so I don't know how they can even guess how many people they'll bring.
IU is bowl hungry....they would've been a better choice for the MCB, but alas, surprisingly, they were taken before Purdue. In the end, despite the rematch, CMU will still probably put more butts in seats, but I think BG-Purdue or BSU-Purdue would've been a better match-up. ( and I think IU would've traveled much better than Purdue to the MCB....PU fans obviously won't be getting fired up about this bowl destination).
Purdue travels well... when they've played in a New Year's Day game (Outback, Citrus Bowl, Rose Bowl, etc.) They did not travel well to Orlando last year for the Champs Bowl, nor did their repeat Sun Bowl visits do that well.
I can't blame the Insight Bowl for taking the school in Bloomington over Purdue... the former is much more fired up about going 7-5 and to a bowl game than the fan base that has been to bowl games 9 of the last 10 years and for whom 7-5 is viewed as a disappointment. I think Eye You has a significant alumni contingent in Arizona, too.
From a personal standpoint, I'd have loved for BSU to get a crack at Purdue in the MCB (and it would have saved me some dough, too, as I have a couple good friends in the Detroit area that I could have stayed with, allowing me to forego hotel costs). But I'm perfectly happy with our bowl match-up, and plan on going regardless. If Ball State made a bowl game nearly every year, I probably wouldn't have the same enthusiasm for the trip.
It all comes back to money. It doesn't really matter who was going to the MCB out of the Big Tweleven. The MCB needed and wanted Central because they will put the most butts in seats. Over 52k last year against MTSU. With Central vs. Big Tweleven it's pretty much a guaranteed sellout. Not so much with BSU or BG. Also Central didn't want any other bowl. If they went to the GMAC they'd lose money, same with IB. This way they can take a bus to Detroit, play at FF where they're 3-0 in bowl games and championship games, and actually make money rather than lose it. As MAC champs they pretty much have their choice of where they go. As long as Central is bowl eligible and either MAC champs or in the MACCG they will continue to go to the MCB as it makes the most financial sense for both parties.