I'm not going to dwell on the negative media stuff here, but rather focus on how we made it to the promised land of college football.

1) Northern Illinois had a GREAT year. 12-1 with the loss by one point. That's a great resume.

2) Kent State's GREAT 11-1 regular season enabled NIU to further rise in the polls and computer rankings.

3) KSU and Toledo each defeated then unbeaten teams from the Big East, which was absolutely necessary for this outcome to even occur.

4) Ohio's shocking victory over Penn State in Week One got the ball rolling for the MAC and it just kept going all season long.

5) Wins over AQ teams by Ball State, CMU, and WMU further helped both in the computer ratings and voter awareness of league strength.

NIU, it's your BCS berth, but the vast majority of the MACtion Nation is with you. Not only for conference pride, but in fact the quality of play by so many teams in the league aided in making this mathematically possible.

A few other quick thoughts:

The reason NIU is the first non AQ-team to make a BCS bowl with one loss was this year's strength of the MAC. Three other teams were in the Top 25 this season! That's also a good reason why NIU didn't blast every team it played.

If Kent would have beaten NIU in the MACC, they would have been the MAC team going to a big bowl. Amazing!

MAC voters didn't overrate NIU in their rankings. NIU finished #15 in the Coaches Poll, with MAC coaches ranking them 14, 14, 15, 17, and 21. So most everyone else thought NIU was ranked where they belong.

Once Sooner fans get over the shock of not getting a BCS bid, they will likely say, "Wait, what? We are playing A&M in Jerry's World just down the road? Hell, yeah!"

(12-02-2012 11:33 PM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  I'm not going to dwell on the negative media stuff here, but rather focus on how we made it to the promised land of college football.

1) Northern Illinois had a GREAT year. 12-1 with the loss by one point. That's a great resume.

2) Kent State's GREAT 11-1 regular season enabled NIU to further rise in the polls and computer rankings.

3) KSU and Toledo each defeated then unbeaten teams from the Big East, which was absolutely necessary for this outcome to even occur.

4) Ohio's shocking victory over Penn State in Week One got the ball rolling for the MAC and it just kept going all season long.

5) Wins over AQ teams by Ball State, CMU, and WMU further helped both in the computer ratings and voter awareness of league strength.

NIU, it's your BCS berth, but the vast majority of the MACtion Nation is with you. Not only for conference pride, but in fact the quality of play by so many of teams in the league aided in making this mathematically possible.

A few other quick thoughts:

The reason NIU is the first non AQ-team to make a BCS bowl with one loss was this year's strength of the MAC. Three other teams were in the Top 25 this season! That's also a good reason why NIU didn't blast every team it played.

If Kent would have beaten NIU in the MACC, they would have been the MAC team going to a big bowl. Amazing!

MAC voters didn't overrate NIU in their rankings. NIU finished #15 in the Coaches Poll, with MAC coaches ranking them 14, 14, 15, 17, and 21. So most everyone else thought NIU was ranked where they belong.

Once Sooner fans get over the shock of not getting a BCS bid, they will likely say, "Wait, what? We are playing A&M in Jerry's World just down the road? Hell, yeah!"

Spot on, NIU did not get this BCS bowl invite in a vacuum.

I agree. The reason the NIU-haters are b*tching is because it's a directional school going to a BCS bowl. They're missing the bigger picture. If they didn't go to a BCS bowl, they wouldn't be arguing about their ranking. Sure, they'd say "Ehh, I'd say #17, #20..." or whatever. But the ranking itself isn't the real issue to them.

Their real issue is they're going to a BCS bowl, because they're directional. Who cares where they come from? If they are legitimately ranked by computers & humans in combo to be #15, guess what? You can't b*tch about their ranking by no more than a position or two.

Given that, how can you argue that if you're ranked within the Top 16, and you are ranked HIGHER than an AQ-Conference Champ, that you still shouldn't go but let the lower-ranked AQ-Conf Champ go? If your argument is "Well, they still aren't as good..." Then why are they ranked higher?!

Louisville is ranked #21, in a conference that is (arguably) not as good as the MAC. And you have unranked Wisconsin. If you say "Well, Wisconsin IS better though" -- then why aren't they ranked higher?! You could say that with a team that's differed by a couple spots... but not 6 spots really (NIU vs Louisville) or over 10 spots (NIU vs Wisconsin).

Complaining about NIU getting in automatically? Complain about the *2* teams ranked below them getting in automatically. It's Wisconsin or Louisville that kicks Oklahoma out -- *NOT* NIU.

I don't hear people saying NIU should *REPLACE* Louisville or Wisconsin as an auto-bid. I hear them saying NIU kicks Oklahoma out. That is actually *FALSE*, and that's not just my opinion. NIU was not an invite. They were AQ as a team. And ranked higher than Wisc & Louisville.

Don't forget going 4/5 in last year's bowls. I think that helps too.

(12-02-2012 11:33 PM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  I'm not going to dwell on the negative media stuff here, but rather focus on how we made it to the promised land of college football.

1) Northern Illinois had a GREAT year. 12-1 with the loss by one point. That's a great resume.

2) Kent State's GREAT 11-1 regular season enabled NIU to further rise in the polls and computer rankings.

3) KSU and Toledo each defeated then unbeaten teams from the Big East, which was absolutely necessary for this outcome to even occur.

4) Ohio's shocking victory over Penn State in Week One got the ball rolling for the MAC and it just kept going all season long.

5) Wins over AQ teams by Ball State, CMU, and WMU further helped both in the computer ratings and voter awareness of league strength.

NIU, it's your BCS berth, but the vast majority of the MACtion Nation is with you. Not only for conference pride, but in fact the quality of play by so many teams in the league aided in making this mathematically possible.

A few other quick thoughts:

The reason NIU is the first non AQ-team to make a BCS bowl with one loss was this year's strength of the MAC. Three other teams were in the Top 25 this season! That's also a good reason why NIU didn't blast every team it played.

If Kent would have beaten NIU in the MACC, they would have been the MAC team going to a big bowl. Amazing!

MAC voters didn't overrate NIU in their rankings. NIU finished #15 in the Coaches Poll, with MAC coaches ranking them 14, 14, 15, 17, and 21. So most everyone else thought NIU was ranked where they belong.

Once Sooner fans get over the shock of not getting a BCS bid, they will likely say, "Wait, what? We are playing A&M in Jerry's World just down the road? Hell, yeah!"

(12-02-2012 11:52 PM)toddjnsn Wrote:  I agree. The reason the NIU-haters are b*tching is because it's a directional school going to a BCS bowl. They're missing the bigger picture. If they didn't go to a BCS bowl, they wouldn't be arguing about their ranking. Sure, they'd say "Ehh, I'd say #17, #20..." or whatever. But the ranking itself isn't the real issue to them.

Their real issue is they're going to a BCS bowl, because they're directional. Who cares where they come from? If they are legitimately ranked by computers & humans in combo to be #15, guess what? You can't b*tch about their ranking by no more than a position or two.

Given that, how can you argue that if you're ranked within the Top 16, and you are ranked HIGHER than an AQ-Conference Champ, that you still shouldn't go but let the lower-ranked AQ-Conf Champ go? If your argument is "Well, they still aren't as good..." Then why are they ranked higher?!

Louisville is ranked #21, in a conference that is (arguably) not as good as the MAC. And you have unranked Wisconsin. If you say "Well, Wisconsin IS better though" -- then why aren't they ranked higher?! You could say that with a team that's differed by a couple spots... but not 6 spots really (NIU vs Louisville) or over 10 spots (NIU vs Wisconsin).

Complaining about NIU getting in automatically? Complain about the *2* teams ranked below them getting in automatically. It's Wisconsin or Louisville that kicks Oklahoma out -- *NOT* NIU.

I don't hear people saying NIU should *REPLACE* Louisville or Wisconsin as an auto-bid. I hear them saying NIU kicks Oklahoma out. That is actually *FALSE*, and that's not just my opinion. NIU was not an invite. They were AQ as a team. And ranked higher than Wisc & Louisville.

Very good points. These people want to ***** about #15 because it isn't a household name instead of bitching about the 2 ranked behind them. The whole FBS/BCS system is soooooo stacked against us, that we played by their rules and stole a seat at their precious table is aqwesome. Every bowl season brings us unqualified teams going to bowls over what they deserve, and we see some ridiculous blowouts but these clowns are quick to point out a few when it was the non-AQ schools. I hope NIU goes to South Beach and stomps FSU.