Conference realignment "Rumors" "tweets" "etc"

[Triple B]

Going forward, to just win a conference championship means very little. It has about as much meaning in the big scheme of things as your dorm team winning the intramurals campus championship. The games then become only about having fun. That is ok to some people I guess. To me, it is hollow and is meaningless whether you win or lose. Just give everyone a trophy and a gold star for coming out.

Don't agree with that but understand the perspective .... Bottom line, and more importantly, does that mean you'll stop supporting the football program after this year?

[usfgrad84]

I'll absolutely continue to support the team, but i am also a guy that lives in CT and has season tix to football and basketball yet only gets to 1 home game a year. I also go watch our baseball, softball, ladies BB and soccer teams whenever they are in the NY area. So I am not really the person to ask about support.

If we were back to the days when we were still hoping to go to our first bowl game the situation would be different.

I will ask again, after the novelty of winning bragging rights of having won our first conference championship, what does an AAC championship do for you?

We are stuck in the conference, at least for now, so of course I want us to dominate.

Would you rather be the last guy on an NFL roster or the best player on an arena league championship team? Would you rather be Mike McCloskey or the best player on the campus intramural championship team? To me it is the same difference.

[WoolyBully]

Awrite, that's fair. I understand the idea that the maximum achievement possible in the AAC is that conference championship. What's next...go for two? Three-peat? What does that buy us, really, because all said and done, it's like we're back in CUSA...and the best we can hope for is the Throw The Dog A Bone Bowl. I see your point, and agree wholeheartedly, that we are now in have-not land, and for lack of a better term, have to 'settle' for what we've been given. Make the best of it, enjoy the games is all you can do. 'Cause you can't mail it in for the next decade...I don't see the AAC as a short term venture, so we gotta get used to it, even if we don't love it. 

[Triple B]

I'll absolutely continue to support the team, but i am also a guy that lives in CT and has season tix to football and basketball yet only gets to 1 home game a year. I also go watch our baseball, softball, ladies BB and soccer teams whenever they are in the NY area. So I am not really the person to ask about support.

Hopefully most that feel the way you do about the conference affiliation, feel the same way you do about support ...

 

I will ask again, after the novelty of winning bragging rights of having won our first conference championship, what does an AAC championship do for you?

I'm not real sure what exactly you're looking for here. After winning bragging rights, what does winning any championship do from a fan's perspective? 

 

[usfgrad84]

What I would like to see is for Aresco, the other non power conferences ADs and presidents get together and give meaning to these other conference championships.

If I were in that position I would propose something like this:

We know there is one "BCS" spot open for the best of the rest. Ok, make it relevant. Get those conferences together and create a bowl game affiliation or two with the prize of the BCS spot.

Off the top of my head I don't know the bowl lineups, but for argument's sake let's say the top AAC bowl is the Liberty Bowl. Instead of the AAC champion playing the # 10 SEC team for a gold star with minimal fan interest outside of a few local fans and die hards of the 2 teams playing, let the AAC champs play the MWC champs or Sun Belt, MAC or CUSA champs. Winner goes to BCS.

Now, instead of USF playing Vanderbilt or MSU with few people watching, you can have a ranked USF team playing Boise State with something on the line. Now the game becomes interesting and meaningful.

You would have to get the media partners involved and be more creative to satisfy the BCS requirements of the "highest ranked team of the remaining conferences" for the last BCS slot, but if the Big 12 and ACC can contract with the Orange Bowl and B1G and PAC can contract with Bowl independently, our conferences can surely come up with something creative and meaningful.

My opinion, something like this is how you create relevance for the remaining conferences. Otherwise, it is just playing to play the games.

[charsibb]

You can define it any way you want, but if you are not competing at the highest level of competition, then pretty much by definition you are settling for mediocrity.

My feeling is that winning the BE championship only meant something because the prize was the trip to the BCS game. We get one more shot at that.

Going forward, to just win a conference championship means very little. It has about as much meaning in the big scheme of things as your dorm team winning the intramurals campus championship. The games then become only about having fun. That is ok to some people I guess. To me, it is hollow and is meaningless whether you win or lose. Just give everyone a trophy and a gold star for coming out.

I have my opinions about why we didn't win a BE championship and it has nothing to do with not being competitive, but more about the age of the program.

 

Gonna have to disagree with you here.

 

Harvard and Yale, two of the most storied programs in football, compete at a level BELOW where we are now. And are proud to do so. Because they're competing with a group of similar, like-minded schools in a conference that has meaning. It's not just about football, either. They compete with the same folks for every sport they play.

 

And it always has meaning, because the fans and students care about the teams, and about the competitors.

 

There's no reason in the world we can't do the same where we are. The best thing to do is build up smoe good rivalries with our new conference mates - in several sports - and go out and fight the good fight.

 

The worst thing to do, IMO, is to whine in your beer about how the world has mistreated us. Cry and you cry alone, the only one you hurt is yourself, etc, etc, etc.

 

Be proud of your school, WHICHEVER conference we happen to be in.

 

Go Bulls!

[charsibb]

What I would like to see is for Aresco, the other non power conferences ADs and presidents get together and give meaning to these other conference championships.

If I were in that position I would propose something like this:

We know there is one "BCS" spot open for the best of the rest. Ok, make it relevant. Get those conferences together and create a bowl game affiliation or two with the prize of the BCS spot.

Off the top of my head I don't know the bowl lineups, but for argument's sake let's say the top AAC bowl is the Liberty Bowl. Instead of the AAC champion playing the # 10 SEC team for a gold star with minimal fan interest outside of a few local fans and die hards of the 2 teams playing, let the AAC champs play the MWC champs or Sun Belt, MAC or CUSA champs. Winner goes to BCS.

Now, instead of USF playing Vanderbilt or MSU with few people watching, you can have a ranked USF team playing Boise State with something on the line. Now the game becomes interesting and meaningful.

You would have to get the media partners involved and be more creative to satisfy the BCS requirements of the "highest ranked team of the remaining conferences" for the last BCS slot, but if the Big 12 and ACC can contract with the Orange Bowl and B1G and PAC can contract with Bowl independently, our conferences can surely come up with something creative and meaningful.

My opinion, something like this is how you create relevance for the remaining conferences. Otherwise, it is just playing to play the games.

 

Agree completely. This is a tremendous idea

 

Up to the last sentence. It's still meaningful (to me) even if it isn't relevant (to the outside world)

[ForestBull]

 

You can define it any way you want, but if you are not competing at the highest level of competition, then pretty much by definition you are settling for mediocrity.

My feeling is that winning the BE championship only meant something because the prize was the trip to the BCS game. We get one more shot at that.

Going forward, to just win a conference championship means very little. It has about as much meaning in the big scheme of things as your dorm team winning the intramurals campus championship. The games then become only about having fun. That is ok to some people I guess. To me, it is hollow and is meaningless whether you win or lose. Just give everyone a trophy and a gold star for coming out.

I have my opinions about why we didn't win a BE championship and it has nothing to do with not being competitive, but more about the age of the program.

 

Gonna have to disagree with you here.

 

Harvard and Yale, two of the most storied programs in football, compete at a level BELOW where we are now. And are proud to do so. Because they're competing with a group of similar, like-minded schools in a conference that has meaning. It's not just about football, either. They compete with the same folks for every sport they play.

 

And it always has meaning, because the fans and students care about the teams, and about the competitors.

 

There's no reason in the world we can't do the same where we are. The best thing to do is build up smoe good rivalries with our new conference mates - in several sports - and go out and fight the good fight.

 

The worst thing to do, IMO, is to whine in your beer about how the world has mistreated us. Cry and you cry alone, the only one you hurt is yourself, etc, etc, etc.

 

Be proud of your school, WHICHEVER conference we happen to be in.

 

Go Bulls!

 

The thing is nobody else cares about these games (nationally). You never turn on college football live or similar programs and see them talking about ivy-league games. Call it egotistical, but I want us to be talked about nationally. I want to be a destination school. Damnit I want, I want, I want

[usfgrad84]

You can define it any way you want, but if you are not competing at the highest level of competition, then pretty much by definition you are settling for mediocrity.

My feeling is that winning the BE championship only meant something because the prize was the trip to the BCS game. We get one more shot at that.

Going forward, to just win a conference championship means very little. It has about as much meaning in the big scheme of things as your dorm team winning the intramurals campus championship. The games then become only about having fun. That is ok to some people I guess. To me, it is hollow and is meaningless whether you win or lose. Just give everyone a trophy and a gold star for coming out.

I have my opinions about why we didn't win a BE championship and it has nothing to do with not being competitive, but more about the age of the program.

Gonna have to disagree with you here.

Harvard and Yale, two of the most storied programs in football, compete at a level BELOW where we are now. And are proud to do so. Because they're competing with a group of similar, like-minded schools in a conference that has meaning. It's not just about football, either. They compete with the same folks for every sport they play.

And it always has meaning, because the fans and students care about the teams, and about the competitors.

There's no reason in the world we can't do the same where we are. The best thing to do is build up smoe good rivalries with our new conference mates - in several sports - and go out and fight the good fight.

The worst thing to do, IMO, is to whine in your beer about how the world has mistreated us. Cry and you cry alone, the only one you hurt is yourself, etc, etc, etc.

Be proud of your school, WHICHEVER conference we happen to be in.

Go Bulls!

Harvard vs Yale is the premier game in the conference and they draw less than 20,000 people.

Yale struggles to draw 20,000 people per game with sparse tv coverage. Most of the league averages less than 10,000 per game. Hardly overwhelming fan suport considering most ivy league schools are within 2 hours drive of several of the most populous cities in the country.

History or not, most people are interested in watching competition at the highest level.

Edited April 27, 2013 by usfgrad84

[usfgrad84]

You can define it any way you want, but if you are not competing at the highest level of competition, then pretty much by definition you are settling for mediocrity.

My feeling is that winning the BE championship only meant something because the prize was the trip to the BCS game. We get one more shot at that.

Going forward, to just win a conference championship means very little. It has about as much meaning in the big scheme of things as your dorm team winning the intramurals campus championship. The games then become only about having fun. That is ok to some people I guess. To me, it is hollow and is meaningless whether you win or lose. Just give everyone a trophy and a gold star for coming out.

I have my opinions about why we didn't win a BE championship and it has nothing to do with not being competitive, but more about the age of the program.

Gonna have to disagree with you here.

Harvard and Yale, two of the most storied programs in football, compete at a level BELOW where we are now. And are proud to do so. Because they're competing with a group of similar, like-minded schools in a conference that has meaning. It's not just about football, either. They compete with the same folks for every sport they play.

And it always has meaning, because the fans and students care about the teams, and about the competitors.

There's no reason in the world we can't do the same where we are. The best thing to do is build up smoe good rivalries with our new conference mates - in several sports - and go out and fight the good fight.

The worst thing to do, IMO, is to whine in your beer about how the world has mistreated us. Cry and you cry alone, the only one you hurt is yourself, etc, etc, etc.

Be proud of your school, WHICHEVER conference we happen to be in.

Go Bulls!

The thing is nobody else cares about these games (nationally). You never turn on college football live or similar programs and see them talking about ivy-league games. Call it egotistical, but I want us to be talked about nationally. I want to be a destination school. Damnit I want, I want, I want

So in other words, these games are irrelevant. Well they are relevant to the current students and players.