Why NO Bowl Again??

[UNTFan23]

4 minutes ago, Side Show Joe said:

The I-Bowl liked us more than you know. Shreveport is about 2 and a half hours from DFW. They knew we would bring plenty of fans tor a P5 match-up. If my sources are accurate, our administration didn't show them the same love. It was well documented that we were eyeballing the NO Bowl.

Lots of folks boasted about making Shreveport a day trip. The bowl is largely supported financially by the City and so they want schools that will bring fans who will also stay for a few nights. Southern Miss fills that role better than we (say) do.

[Side Show Joe]

2 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Lots of folks boasted about making Shreveport a day trip. The bowl is largely supported financially by the City and so they want schools that will bring fans who will also stay for a few nights. Southern Miss fills that role better than we (say) do.

I'm sure that is one factor, but my source didn't seem to think that was our problem. They actually noted that a big selling point for North Texas was our fan support and our fan base's interest in their bowl.

[FirefightnRick]

2 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

Troy would have a good shot at beating 6-6 FSU. A very good shot

Agree.

 

Rick

[BTG_Fan1]

31 minutes ago, Side Show Joe said:

The I-Bowl liked us more than you know. Shreveport is about 2 and a half hours from DFW. They knew we would bring plenty of fans tor a P5 match-up. If my sources are accurate, our administration didn't show them the same love. It was well documented that we were eyeballing the NO Bowl.

This is true.. we narrowed our focus to 3/4 bowls and it didn’t include the Independence bowl.. NO was the top pick

[Mike Jackson]

46 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

This is true.. we narrowed our focus to 3/4 bowls and it didn’t include the Independence bowl.. NO was the top pick

And that is idiotic based on being guaranteed a Sun Belt team.  I am not making the financial sacrifice to see UNT play a team I saw in Denton 5 times just a few years ago.  At the very least you should want a team that would hard to get a home and home series with.  MWC teams fit that description and most of the AAC.  We can play MAC and SBC teams anytime.  Glad the players were “rewarded” doubt the New Orleans trip experience is going to sway a recruit.  If New Orleans is so great let’s get Tulane in the regular season schedule.  At least then more fans can budget and plan the trip.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Mike Jackson

[vpackrats]

4 hours ago, Ryan Munthe said:

I agree, completely. And that’s the problem. We shouldn’t be associating with them. 

Did I stumble onto the SMU message board?

[KingDL1]

4 hours ago, Monkeypox said:

We are primarily in this bowl because we got our asses kicked in Boca. Indy wasn't going to take FAU because they don't bring enough fans, and didn't feel an obligation to take us since we didn't win the conference. So they went with the bigger name with better recent history and took USM. If we had won the conference, we'd be in Shreveport.

I don't like this bowl for all the reasons already stated. I didn't think we'd have good attendance, I didn't like the matchup with Troy (they're good), and nobody pays any attention to this game. 

I HATE that fans didn't show up for this. Trust me, as much as I dislike our placement in this, I would have gone if I could have. People who wanted Indy but chose willingly not to go to this shot themselves in the foot. FAU didn't get Shreveport for ONE reason... fan support. The next time that decision rolls around, now we've taken ourselves out of the discussion. 

But I did anticipate the attendance being an issue. 

How many teams as close to NO Bowl with as short notice would really not in the Belt would bring any more Fans than us? There is a reality that this bowl needs to realize.  FAU I was told did not get Indy because  Florida did not want them. We had 40,000 HOD Bowl seems like it would be obvious we would travel well to Shreveport and that was not enough.  End of day I think the only one that was hoping we traveled better was the NO Bowl a mis guess of when it was the early 2000s. I don't think our fan support for this bowl is going to hurt us even a little bit. 

I am saying we don't really know why we missed the Indy bowl because even if we beat FAU I am not sure it would have made a difference. There was to many media sources reporting that we were going to the NO Bowl. I think we accepted early.

[Cerebus]

We never had an offer from the ibowl. I am tied of everything bringing up their name but then leaving out the very important fact that they never invited us.

In fact when we had bowl offers in our hands we asked the ibowl to extend and they say well maybe they might in the future.

If they wanted us they could have extended then, but they didn't. So that's their decision. We could have ended up looking like idiots if we had waited for that offer and it never came.

[MeanGreenTexan]

14 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

We never had an offer from the ibowl. I am tied of everything bringing up their name but then leaving out the very important fact that they never invited us.

In fact when we had bowl offers in our hands we asked the ibowl to extend and they say well maybe they might in the future.

If they wanted us they could have extended then, but they didn't. So that's their decision. We could have ended up looking like idiots if we had waited for that offer and it never came.

They didn’t have the opportunity, & I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that the Indy Bowl was just dying to have SoMiss over us.

Edited December 17, 2017 by MeanGreenTexan

[Cerebus]

7 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

They didn’t have the opportunity, & I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that the Indy Bowl was just dying to have SoMiss over us.

They talked with us. They didn't extend. We had expiring offers on hand.  We chose between what we had.

If ibowl wanted us they could have offered BUT NEVER DID.  Three bowl eligible teams got left out. We could have ended up staying home like a nine win tech team did a few years ago.

Ibowl strung us along. They had a chance to offer but instead decided to hope another p5 fell to them somehow.

[Mean Green Matt]

6 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Our fanbase is the absolute worst.

We may have our moments from time to time but there are MUCH worse. We are a pretty loyal bunch when you really look at things. 

[TreeFiddy]

As I understand it, the Ibowl wanted to wait until after the championship game and were non committal if we did not win. We took the bird in the hand and went with the NO bowl before they invited someone else. Seems like a reasonable choice given our options. 

[Cerebus]

2 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

As I understand it, the Ibowl wanted to wait until after the championship game and were non committal if we did not win. We took the bird in the hand and went with the NO bowl before they invited someone else. Seems like a reasonable choice given our options. 

Yes. We would have looked like idiots if the other bowls moved on and ibowl invited someone else.

[MeanGreenTexan]

I understand the Indy Bowl committee waited.

I understand we were not their 1st choice (probably higher than SoMiss though).

I’m 100% confident we wouldn’t have been left out as the NMBowl was also interested.  Had we still been at the table, I have no doubt they would have invited us over SoMiss.  We were already gone.

Treefiddy’s right.  We took the bird in hand, & it bit us hard.

[Cerebus]

4 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Treefiddy’s right.  We took the bird in hand, & it bit us hard.

Hindsight is 20/20. Another p5 gets eligible, which is what ibowl was hoping, and they don't extend.

At that point NO an NM could be gone and utsa gets to laugh at us being left home instead of the other way around.

THAT would have been terrible decision making. 

 

[TreeFiddy]

I also doubt that we would have been left at home, but then again, I would have never guessed that Latech would have been sitting at home with a 9-4 record a few years back.

We actually played the highest rank opponent of any of the CUSA bowl games, so in essence we played the 'best' game.  We also played in the bowl with the highest ranked pre-bowl season rankings.  We played a bad game.  Our offense did us zero favors by producing 5, yes 5 turnovers.  

We were trailing by 2, yes 2, let me say it again, 2 points at half time and received the ball to start the 2nd half.  The offense promptly turned the ball over, again, inside the 30 yard line and Troy immediately scored.

Yes, it was a disappointing game.  

[Ryan Munthe]

3 hours ago, Cerebus said:

We never had an offer from the ibowl. I am tied of everything bringing up their name but then leaving out the very important fact that they never invited us.

In fact when we had bowl offers in our hands we asked the ibowl to extend and they say well maybe they might in the future.

If they wanted us they could have extended then, but they didn't. So that's their decision. We could have ended up looking like idiots if we had waited for that offer and it never came.

And how exactly do you know this?

[Harry]

In hindsight it wasn’t probably not the best bowl from a timing standpoint and certainly not the best matchup for us.  However, from a player/fan perspective it is still such a damn fun town to visit.  And it’s nice for it to be over a weekend so you don’t have to miss much work.  Had an amazing dinner at ACME after the game today and it brought me spirits up from the post game loss blues.  It reminded me of what a great and unique town this truly is. 

PS I tried the chargrilled oysters tonight and they were amazing.

[TheTastyGreek]

I'd rather lose the New Orleans Bowl than finish with 9 wins, get cute waiting on a bowl contract, and be left home without even an opportunity at that 10th win. 

And both beat the hell out of what we've dealt with most years, where we're not playing anywhere and not eligible anyway. 

[KingDL1]

9 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Our fanbase is the absolute worst.

What does that mean? How many team fan base's over 500 miles away, not in the Sun Belt, with short notice, taking place during graduation, that went to a more prestigious bowl last year would travel better to NO Bowl? 

SMU?

TCU?

I doubt there are many if any?

I think we should have waited to see if we got the Indy Bowl, taking first bids is not usually best idea in business. 

I would bet that Southern Miss would have traveled 10 times better than us to New Orleans and we would have traveled much better to the Indy bowl. 

It does't matter now I guess

[PlummMeanGreen]

11 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

And that is idiotic based on being guaranteed a Sun Belt team.  I am not making the financial sacrifice to see UNT play a team I saw in Denton 5 times just a few years ago.  At the very least you should want a team that would hard to get a home and home series with.  MWC teams fit that description and most of the AAC.  We can play MAC and SBC teams anytime.  Glad the players were “rewarded” doubt the New Orleans trip experience is going to sway a recruit.  If New Orleans is so great let’s get Tulane in the regular season schedule.  At least then more fans can budget and plan the trip.

Although we got beat by a better than usual Sun Belt team, when we were once  an SBC team ourselves going to the NO Bowl 4 times we were always playing a conference perceived to be above the Sun Belt.  A challenge if you will against a (usually) better known opponent?   Today we were that conference vs a SBC team.   Now I guess we know how Cincy' Bearcat fans (all 500 of them)  felt when we beat their CUSA co-champion?

We beat USM 2 years in a row & I'm sorry but they got the better Bowl game than UNT no matter what the politics were.  Not a good omen for a future in CUSA I'd say. 

We were drilled by a team that (yes) beat LSU, but we also lost the ticket sales part of the equation , too.  I was told a ridiculous 2,000 sold from the Ticket Office?  OUCH!  That number with our 2 losses to FAU & then playing a fine Troy team yet one  from a conference we were proud to leave took its predictable toll.  Leaving the Sun Belt was like leaving the trailer park to relocate to a nicer neighborhood in the suburbs.  Our low NO Bowl ticket sales were predictable & our leaders should have known that they would be but if...

...we go to Shreveport I'm in a car on the way to that game with my former UNT roommate.  Thousands & thousands more just like me it would have been the same.  * For me the NO Bowl was a no go because I had a wedding scheduled 6 mos ago to DJ so I got to listen the ESPN radio guys treat our school like we were chopped liver as I was en route to the wedding listening to their broadcast.   They had zero respect for our favorite college team & I do mean--ZERO.

Recruiting worries the hell out of me.  Few 3 star & up closers since we opened Apogee Stadium & I just do not get that.  Are we the only ones excited about Apogee & Our university?  Sorry...but I just don't get why we are allowing schools from backwater locations & a 7 year old newbie football program like UTSA  beat us like a drum in recruiting.  ➡️We have coaches who  can coach well.  We have coaches who could especially coach 3 star & up recruits if we could just (somehow/someway) get our share of them.  It's a dilemma that needs to be solved & as quickly as possible.  What we don't get now in recruiting wars will show on the field sooner than later.  Living & depending on projects alone is a dangerous high stakes game of double or nothing.

❇️ I like our furture under Seth, but Seth might need to recruit better closers on his coaching staff.  I hope he & staff make  me eat crow in the next few weeks.  I'd gladly eat that kind of crow--just put a good southern fried kind of batter on it to make it more soluble & (of course) some high end Nappa Valley wine as a chaser.👊🏻

Edited December 17, 2017 by PlummMeanGreen

[BTG_Fan1]

14 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Recruiting worries the Hell out of me.  Few 3 star & up closers since we opened Apogee Stadium & I just do not get that.  Are we the only ones excited about Apogee?  Our university?  Sorry...but I just don't get why we are allowing schools from backwater locations & newbie UTSA  beat us like a dream in recruiting.  

1- We have not till recently started to invest and improve the facilities around Apogee.. WB said it once he got here, we had Apogee and then everything else was below average/worse than he had expected..  Ive said it over and over but an IPF is not going to leave UNT like SL could potentially.. Also, HS now have facilities as good or better than UNT and kids again why would they go to a downgrade and someone not willing to improve them?

2- The thing with UTSA is it’s outside of DFW.. when all of us were 18-22 we wanted to go out and be on our own.. UTSA also has a dome and it’s a draw to kids because hey it’s a dome.. UTSA also is the only major draw ususally when they are playing as well so it’s a fan base that could potentially pack the house.. Another thing, we have seen them hosting recruits at the resort like hotels in SA, we don’t have anything like that here in Denton and in the past we have put recruits up in the hotels next to Texas Motorspeed. UTSA also brought in a salesman then a coach, we brought in a coach then a salesman.

What is great to see is that UNT is now starting to invest in the facilities like the IPF, with hopes of doing the expansion to the nutritional center and hopefully a football only weight room. Things like this will catch us up with other schools, but if they are done correctly they could be an asset in us taking the lead and being cutting edge over someone else. 

[Rudy]

13 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

Complain to the conference about their bowl tie-ins and with the Independence Bowl committee members who slobbered over the thought of getting USM there against FSU instead of UNT.

After this, complain to the folks on here to get on board with the idea of going to the MWC if we EVER get an invite.

Yep. This glorious conference, which has 9 teams in bowls, had 4 of this teams play on the first day of bowls, and only has ONE team playing after Christmas.

[untjim1995]

7 minutes ago, Rudy said:

Yep. This glorious conference, which has 9 teams in bowls, had 4 of this teams play on the first day of bowls, and only has ONE team playing after Christmas.

This conference’s leadership reflects just how low we all are on the totem pole. Again, at this point, the SBC and CUSA just need to realign geographically and recognize what they both are, low G5’s that don’t have much interest beyond its members’ fans. 

Our path forward to move above this has one ending spot—the MWC. It’s the only chance we will ever have to move above where we currently sit. The AAC with SMU will never have us. Otherwise, it’s SBCUSA forever for us, just at a lower level than we currently play when the Power Conferences move away for good:

[greenminer]

I'm interested in fixing our defense and climbing into the T25 polls; I think that carries much more weight for politicking future bowls and conference moves than splitting hairs about one NO Bowl.