CSNbbs

I really think the BE should keep this bowl but I would like it if the Gator Bowl official weren't biased against certain Big East team

On the years ND doesn't go this will become the UL/WVU bowl. The gator bowl has taken VT/WVU/ND almost every year


I hate the fact that Pitt/SU may never be invited to this bowl againno matter our record. New schools like UC,Uconn will learn first hand when the Gator selects a 8-3 UL/WVU over your 9-2 Husky/Bearcats

Quote:On the years ND doesn't go this will become the UL/WVU bowl. The gator bowl has taken VT/WVU/ND almost every year

-- Then Syracuse and Pitt need to build a traveling fan base....bowl officials don't like half empty staduims...and untill that changes the VT/WVU/ND/gator bowl relationship will continue only UL fills in for the Hokies


Jackson

The Gator will look at Liberty Bowl attendance. The LB has been around for a while, maybe around 1960 I believe. Their top 2 crowds ever were when Ole Miss played there, which makes sense since the Rebels only have a 1-2 hr drive to Memphis.

The LB's #3, #4, & #5 all time crowds are when UofL played in the game. They were far and away the top 3 crowds for the decade the bowl has been associated with CUSA, despite that other schools are phyiscally closer to Memphis than UofL. Taking 25,000-30,000 down there every year builds a reputation.

I think SU travels better then Pitt/BC but I would still like to see the Gator branch out just a little


Maybe SU/Pitt/BC "screwed thereselves" but Rutgers,UC,Uconn should have a fair shot too at the Gator


I was very upset when SU went 9-2 and got snubbed by Gator bowl for a less deserving VT team






*USF* is a lock for Gator

PusherT Wrote:New schools like UC,Uconn will learn first hand when the Gator selects a 8-3 UL/WVU over your 9-2 Husky/Bearcats

I'd love to have to worry about that

Trust me many in Upstate new york were upset by that in 2001 leading to a Big East rule change "1 game rule" . UC going 9-2 will be a very good team deserving of the Gator/Sun bowl same goes for any Big East team

PusherT Wrote:UC  going 9-2 will be a very good team deserving of the Gator/Sun bowl  same goes for any Big East team

Actually, we HAVE been snubbed with an 8-3 record once. It was 1993, the pre-BCS/conference tie-in days. UC was an indy, and here's how it played out:

1993 Season Results
Overall Record: 8 - 3
Date Opponent Result
Sep. 4th, 1993 Austin Peay 42 - 10 W
Sep. 11th, 1993 at Bowling Green 7 - 21 L
Sep. 18th, 1993 Miami (OH) 30 - 23 W
Sep. 25th, 1993 at Syracuse 21 - 24 L
Oct. 2nd, 1993 at Tulsa 22 - 15 W
Oct. 9th, 1993 at Vanderbilt 7 - 17 L
Oct. 16th, 1993 Ball State 44 - 12 W
Oct. 23rd, 1993 at Toledo 31 - 24 W
Oct. 30th, 1993 Memphis 23 - 20 W
Nov. 13th, 1993 at Houston 41 - 17 W
Nov. 20th, 1993 East Carolina 34 - 14 W

Not exactly murderer's row as far as quality wins, but what really killed our bowl chances was complete crap attendence. I guess we were coming out of an awful 1980's decade where we won less than 40 games, and no one was used to attending games. At least that's the excuse you'll hear.

Interesting that we didn't play UL that year. I think that's when they were pissed at us for leaving the Metro.

This isn't a Gator Bowl thing, really. Every bowl is looking for the most tickets sold. Evolution of the college football landscape simply has placed the BE in a rough spot to capitalize on their assets.

A lot of schools have the distance issue when it comes to connecting with bowl games. Pac 10 rarely travels east of El Paso, MWC couldn't handle Memphis, and so on. If you looked at all the northern 1-A schools you'll also find that the BE members have some of the smallest enrollments compared to their Big Ten and northern Big 12 counterparts. Avg. Big Ten full time undergrad enrollment is near 30k, IIRC. Easy to understand why they can sell more tickets when the likes of Syracuse and UConn have about 20-24k total enrollment, or when the Metro schools have smaler ratios of full-time students.

Syracuse, Pitt and Rutgers will do fine once they (re)establish major football programs, and once the BE defines itself as a conference the fan base will stabilize and develop a true hard-core following. When the BE has established an identity for the fans to rally around they'll do better at supporting even lower tier bowls. It may never equal that of the SEC, but it will be enough to attract and sustain quality postseason contests.

CollegeCard Wrote:The Gator will look at Liberty Bowl attendance. The LB has been around for a while, maybe around 1960 I believe. Their top 2 crowds ever were when Ole Miss played there, which makes sense since the Rebels only have a 1-2 hr drive to Memphis.

The LB's #3, #4, & #5 all time crowds are when UofL played in the game. They were far and away the top 3 crowds for the decade the bowl has been associated with CUSA, despite that other schools are phyiscally closer to Memphis than UofL. Taking 25,000-30,000 down there every year builds a reputation.

This is one area ECU could help the Big East in retaining and gaining bowls. This is what we brought to the Peach and Liberty. (Both are 700-900 miles away)

Atlanta-Peach Bowl 25,000 allotment sold
Memphis- Liberty Bowl 14,000 allotment sold

They should have bowl games up North in the Domes

StillJonesing Wrote:This is one area ECU could help the Big East in retaining and gaining bowls. This is what we brought to the Peach and Liberty. (Both are 700-900 miles away)

Atlanta-Peach Bowl  25,000 allotment sold
Memphis- Liberty Bowl 14,000 allotment sold

For as bad as their team has been on the field this decade, no one that knows college football can doubt that ECU has some dedicated fans attendance wise. I believe they were 3rd or so in CUSA attendance the last few years only behind UofL and Memphis. This despite that teams with double the number of yearly wins in several of the years drew half as many fans and have to resort to excuses like Single A baseball games and car shows taking away fans.