Quote:
Originally Posted by JumpinJack5
I disagree with your football reasoning. Our attendance has grown substantially this year and the fan base is more excited than it has ever been (which shocks me, as Butch had to pull teeth to get people to show up). Considering the weak schedule, the attendance has been top notch. Also, we don't need to go 12-0 or 11-1 to stay relevant. We need consistency, in both our record and staff. If TT can go 8-4 or 9-3 year in and year out, if they work on getting a stronger schedule, etc., we can have a nice program. Nobody expects us to be playing for the National Championship, we just need solid bowl games and a few headliner non-conference games. The problem with scheduling is that it is done so far in advance that you have no clue how good you or your opponent will be. Illinois was solid when we scheduled them and we were supposed to get OSU this year. The AAC will have a few good teams every year even without U of L and Rutgers, and if we can be in the mix for conference championships, we should be fine. Also, I just read a story saying that a UC assistant told a recruit that we would be in the Big 12 next year. I'm not saying we will or that what he said will come true, but it is interesting that an assistant would tell this to a recruit if it wasn't true. I'm not counting on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we moved either.
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First off, my response is to the topic of the thread which is that the AAC is perfectly set up for us in basketball and in football. While I can agree with your points, I think your points reflect to if the program can still win and draw fans not to if the AAC is good for our football program. I think we're talking different things. My point is that going 8-4 and 9-3 will bring us mediocrity on the national stage. Maybe slow death was the wrong choice of words as I don't believe that we will revert back to the pre-Dantonio days of only a few thousand fans in the stands and complete disinterest by the city and local media. But from a national standpoint we won't stay relevant going 8-4 or 9-3. You said yourself we won't be playing for national championships. Tell me anyone who is relevant that doesn't have a chance in theory at least to win a national title. And while attendance might be up this year, drawing 28,000 yesterday is laughable compared to any major university's attendance figures. Plus there is talk of in the future the big 5 conferences not scheduling anybody outside of those 5 conferences in non-conference scheduling and talk of these super-conferences breaking away from the NCAA altogether. While that is speculation, saying we are in a perfect situation in the AAC is just not sensible to me. We won't draw big TV money in this conference and as time moves forward I'm guessing the big networks further push conferences like the AAC into little dog status.