What screwed Middle Tennessee was the Beef O Brady Bowl taking Ball State. I have no idea why a game in Florida wanted a school from Indiana over a school from the South, but their decision caused a chain reaction that led to 6-6 Central Michigan sneaking into the Detroit Pizza Bowl, not Karl Benson.

(12-03-2012 02:05 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  What screwed Middle Tennessee was the Beef O Brady Bowl taking Ball State. I have no idea why a game in Florida wanted a school from Indiana over a school from the South, but their decision caused a chain reaction that led to 6-6 Central Michigan sneaking into the Detroit Pizza Bowl, not Karl Benson.

Beef O Brady's has a secondary tie in with the MAC. Nothing we or the SBC can do about that.

What screwed MT is the fact that Benson approved for ULL to go ahead and accept the New Orleans Bowl invitation a few weeks ago. He did this behind GoDaddy Bowl backs and it ticked them off. Therefore, they would not release ASU to play in Liberty Bowl. If Benson would have just told ULL to wait until yesterday and discussed it with the GoDaddy Bowl, ULL would have still received the N.O. invitation and Ark. State would have been able to go to Liberty Bowl (where they wanted to be) and we would have been in GoDaddy. All 5 SunBelt teams would have been invited to a bowl. Instead, Benson became egotistical and screwed it up for everyone. Not only did he burn bridges with MT, but he burned them with Ark State as well. Not looking good for this crap commissioner.

Heard today that MT moving to C-USA for play in 2013 is now the #1 priority for us. I also know that Benson received several hundred emails from MT fans demanding an explanation. Not just to the fans, but to the coaches and, more importantly, the players. Maybe he will man up and actually deliver. However, I doubt it. Thank God we are leaving the SunBelt soon. I now see why the WAC went to sh*t.

(12-03-2012 10:31 AM)RaiderDoug Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 10:13 AM)Hell_Blazer Wrote:  La tech and mtsu this is what the public thinks about us

LaTech shot itself in the foot trying to avoid having to play ULM.

MT getting left out is why CUSA can always have any SBC team it wants with a simple phone call. The SBC's tie ins are a joke, the commish is a joke.

The biggest crap sandwich is the fact that the MAC got all of it's bowl teams in over ours, including at least one which was 6-6.

Actually, that seventh bowl bid for the MAC was kind of good luck on their part. You can blame La Tech for that. And NIU getting in the BCS. Since the MAC had a bowl partner that had a 'kind of local' team at 6-6 for one of its contractual bowl slots and was willing to work with the MAC, they were able to take advantage of the I-Bowl being p'd off at La Tech to switch Ohio to that bowl and then work it so the only remaining bowl team available in their conference had a contracted slot. Without La Tech refusing the I-Bowl, CMU wouldn't be bowling. Ohio would have been in the Pizza Bowl. Benson couldn't have taken advantage of that situation because there was already a Belt team in that bowl.

But MTSU would have still been left out in that case. WKU was getting the Pizza bid over MTSU. WKU worked them.

I think the real jerks in this were the Military Bowl officials, who started asking for incentives. I think the NCAA should get involved to stop that practice before it gets out of control. Quickly.

Its entirely possible that the CUSA will lose a bowl berth as they gain 2 members. These battles over final bowl slots are going to get ugly. And probably expensive unless the NCAA steps in and puts a stop to it.

(12-03-2012 05:59 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  What screwed MT is the fact that Benson approved for ULL to go ahead and accept the New Orleans Bowl invitation a few weeks ago. He did this behind GoDaddy Bowl backs and it ticked them off. Therefore, they would not release ASU to play in Liberty Bowl. If Benson would have just told ULL to wait until yesterday and discussed it with the GoDaddy Bowl, ULL would have still received the N.O. invitation and Ark. State would have been able to go to Liberty Bowl (where they wanted to be) and we would have been in GoDaddy. All 5 SunBelt teams would have been invited to a bowl. Instead, Benson became egotistical and screwed it up for everyone. Not only did he burn bridges with MT, but he burned them with Ark State as well. Not looking good for this crap commissioner.

Heard today that MT moving to C-USA for play in 2013 is now the #1 priority for us. I also know that Benson received several hundred emails from MT fans demanding an explanation. Not just to the fans, but to the coaches and, more importantly, the players. Maybe he will man up and actually deliver. However, I doubt it. Thank God we are leaving the SunBelt soon. I now see why the WAC went to sh*t.

The Go Daddy bowl ultimately RELEASED stAte. But the Liberty Bowl refused both La Tech and stAte once Iowa State became available.

You are correct, however, that both the Belt AND the MAC tried to screw over the Go Daddy folks. The Go Daddy Bowl will not allow any more 'early bids' by contracted bowls in the future without their permission. The MAC tried to send the team that was their pick (Kent) off to Boise and fob off their 5th place team when the Go Daddy gets second pick this year from the MAC.

Even if you were staying in the Belt, you probably would have been left out this year. Here's why.

1) WKU was able to work the Pizza Bowl people. Especially after you guys cra_pped the bed in the championship game.
2) Go Daddy was taking stAte or ULL. Or being traded for a high profile team.
3) I-Bowl wanted a local matchup. They got ULM.
4) The New Orleans Bowl wanted ULL. They jumped the gun, they wanted them so badly.
5) The Military Bowl took $$$ from SJSU, thus taking a bid off the table. They also were ranked (which came up late in the year - kind of snuck up on people.
6) The Liberty was going to take Iowa State when they became available.

You got outworked by WKU's Athletic Department. And beat by geography. I wish it had worked out better for you guys (the Belt would have gotten the money you would have made in the game) but thats how it went down.

And finally, its not Benson's fault we don't have a ton more bowl slots in year 1.5 of his tenure. Bowl agreements are done years in advance. This was set up years ago when the MAC cleaned Wright Waters' clock on the secondary agreements.

MTSU absolutely shanked Georgia Tech this year...and gets left out. That's a huge friggin deal.

Long live CUSA. MTSU, go undefeated, and I hope Georgia Tech wins the ACC, cuz I want to see you destroy that program.

NCAA football has gone to the dogs....

In the NCAA there are the haves and the have nots. Unfortunately the WAC and SBC are the have nots. CUSA is quickly becoming a have not conference. We better shore up some bowl tie-ins after 2013 or we'll be in the same boat.

I love the idea of CUSA poaching a smaller bowl and moving it to San Antonio. The Alamo bowl has come a long way since its inception. SA is a desirable location and can support a second bowl game. FYI there is zero chance we get the Alamo Bowl. They have PAC12-BIG 12 tie ins with 6.3 Mil payouts. Way above the level of bowl we are talking about.

Does anyone know how long the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is contracted for? That bowl seems poachable. Idaho going FCS, Boise St going to nBE, WAC dieing (at least in football, everyone knows you can't kill the WAC)

The more bowls we can poach away the better. The CUSA will still be fairly attractive, but we need to go after the bowls quickly and forcefully.

(12-03-2012 05:59 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  What screwed MT is the fact that Benson approved for ULL to go ahead and accept the New Orleans Bowl invitation a few weeks ago. He did this behind GoDaddy Bowl backs and it ticked them off. Therefore, they would not release ASU to play in Liberty Bowl. If Benson would have just told ULL to wait until yesterday and discussed it with the GoDaddy Bowl, ULL would have still received the N.O. invitation and Ark. State would have been able to go to Liberty Bowl (where they wanted to be) and we would have been in GoDaddy. All 5 SunBelt teams would have been invited to a bowl. Instead, Benson became egotistical and screwed it up for everyone. Not only did he burn bridges with MT, but he burned them with Ark State as well. Not looking good for this crap commissioner.

Heard today that MT moving to C-USA for play in 2013 is now the #1 priority for us. I also know that Benson received several hundred emails from MT fans demanding an explanation. Not just to the fans, but to the coaches and, more importantly, the players. Maybe he will man up and actually deliver. However, I doubt it. Thank God we are leaving the SunBelt soon. I now see why the WAC went to sh*t.

Benson responds

Who will be the first MT poster that asked Benson to explain what happened to not believe anything he says?

(12-03-2012 07:12 PM)SApuro Wrote:  In the NCAA there are the haves and the have nots. Unfortunately the WAC and SBC are the have nots. CUSA is quickly becoming a have not conference. We better shore up some bowl tie-ins after 2013 or we'll be in the same boat.

I love the idea of CUSA poaching a smaller bowl and moving it to San Antonio. The Alamo bowl has come a long way since its inception. SA is a desirable location and can support a second bowl game. FYI there is zero chance we get the Alamo Bowl. They have PAC12-BIG 12 tie ins with 6.3 Mil payouts. Way above the level of bowl we are talking about.

Does anyone know how long the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is contracted for? That bowl seems poachable. Idaho going FCS, Boise St going to nBE, WAC dieing (at least in football, everyone knows you can't kill the WAC)

Bowl poaching has been done before but in practice, its really quite hard. Most of these bowls aren't run for the benefit of a conference or a local team but for the Chamber of Commerce of those cities, who use it as marketing and to drive tourism. Most of the board members of these bowls are local businesspeople who aren't going to ship a bowl game off unless the bowl is broke. With ESPN's payments and the relatively low cash outflows to teams (far below the actual payout), most of the bowls can survive just fine where they are.

The NCAA has put a stop to the proliferation of bowls. And my understanding is that they will only allow a new bowl to be formed if they can attract tie-ins that would likely provide bowl eligible teams. So the MAC and Sun Belt as partners, who have had extra bowl teams available in excess of their slots, might actually get a new bowl game approved, but CUSA - who has had difficulty filling all theirs, might have issues with approval.

The real issue is that there is no penalty for a bowl game having to go outside its contractual tie. As a result, there is little incentive for any bowl to give CUSA primary rights for the 5th or 6th pick. Or for the 4th pick from the Sun Belt. These are likely to be 500ish teams from lower division conferences. Why not just put your primary as the 11th pick from the SEC, knowing full well that you'll only get that team once every two or three years.

Again, I see lots more of these fights as time goes on. Because I see the Bowls pulling back from the lower tier conferences. They have no incentive to lock up teams. Especially since the NCAA has decided to provide a way for sub 500 teams to bowl.

(12-03-2012 08:10 PM)Cajunman02 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 05:59 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  What screwed MT is the fact that Benson approved for ULL to go ahead and accept the New Orleans Bowl invitation a few weeks ago. He did this behind GoDaddy Bowl backs and it ticked them off. Therefore, they would not release ASU to play in Liberty Bowl. If Benson would have just told ULL to wait until yesterday and discussed it with the GoDaddy Bowl, ULL would have still received the N.O. invitation and Ark. State would have been able to go to Liberty Bowl (where they wanted to be) and we would have been in GoDaddy. All 5 SunBelt teams would have been invited to a bowl. Instead, Benson became egotistical and screwed it up for everyone. Not only did he burn bridges with MT, but he burned them with Ark State as well. Not looking good for this crap commissioner.

Heard today that MT moving to C-USA for play in 2013 is now the #1 priority for us. I also know that Benson received several hundred emails from MT fans demanding an explanation. Not just to the fans, but to the coaches and, more importantly, the players. Maybe he will man up and actually deliver. However, I doubt it. Thank God we are leaving the SunBelt soon. I now see why the WAC went to sh*t.

Benson responds

Who will be the first MT poster that asked Benson to explain what happened to not believe anything he says?

How are you supposed to believe a boy who lied about his bowl promises and tie-ins? Notice I do not call him a man. He ruined the WAC and did this same crap to Boise. Isn't look good already for the SunBelt.

(12-03-2012 08:10 PM)Cajunman02 Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 05:59 PM)MTalum09 Wrote:  What screwed MT is the fact that Benson approved for ULL to go ahead and accept the New Orleans Bowl invitation a few weeks ago. He did this behind GoDaddy Bowl backs and it ticked them off. Therefore, they would not release ASU to play in Liberty Bowl. If Benson would have just told ULL to wait until yesterday and discussed it with the GoDaddy Bowl, ULL would have still received the N.O. invitation and Ark. State would have been able to go to Liberty Bowl (where they wanted to be) and we would have been in GoDaddy. All 5 SunBelt teams would have been invited to a bowl. Instead, Benson became egotistical and screwed it up for everyone. Not only did he burn bridges with MT, but he burned them with Ark State as well. Not looking good for this crap commissioner.

Heard today that MT moving to C-USA for play in 2013 is now the #1 priority for us. I also know that Benson received several hundred emails from MT fans demanding an explanation. Not just to the fans, but to the coaches and, more importantly, the players. Maybe he will man up and actually deliver. However, I doubt it. Thank God we are leaving the SunBelt soon. I now see why the WAC went to sh*t.

Benson responds

Who will be the first MT poster that asked Benson to explain what happened to not believe anything he says?

Reading that, you can see how helpless he is as a commissioner (and also the lack of interest that SBC teams draw). He can only work with what he's got, but he had a lot more this year than in the past. 2012's strong season coming after a similar 2011 should have been enough for a commissioner to get every team into bowl games. Even with Wright Waters there was a constant dialogue with various bowl games starting 3/4 through the season. There's no indication of this with Benson's statement.

I don't believe what he's said, but I don't think he's lying either. I've said on here that Detroit picked WKU because they were more attractive (they don't care that it's in Detroit, it's their first bowl game), and NOT because of any possible "vote" by SBC members to leave MT out.

Middle Tennessee fans need to step back from the ledge. Blame should be placed on the SBC office, but the reason is because they allowed the MAC to beat them out for a back-up deal with the Beef O Brady Bowl, not because of some perceived vendetta against Middle Tennessee. The back-up deal is your issue. A conference from the Southeast getting squeezed from a Florida bowl by a conference from the Midwest is pathetic. That was the problem.