Scheduling

[TOGC]

You don't make sense. USM has ONLY won the conference ONE TIME in the last NINE YEARS, and zero in the last five years. How exactly is playing tough OOC helping them?

As before, the jury's out on ECU.

Tulsa has not won the conference since 2005, so what are you talking about. Again, if they didn't lose to a sorry Arky team, Tulsa may very well have played for a BCS bowl berth. Much better than the GMAC bowl.

Again, not liking the schedule is a cop out. Memphis basketball plays MAYBE four good games a year, the rest are joke games. People go to them, though.

This year, as a Memphis football fan, you get six home games, including an opener against a Top 15 team, a road game against an SEC power, another road game four hours away.

Results don't lie. If you want to see who's been winning C-USA, here it is:

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data.../champions.php

Take Louisville, Cincinnati, and TCU out and it's Southern Miss, Tulsa, Houston, ECU, and UCF. And Southern Miss has 4 C-USA titles. ECU has last year's title. Skip got the job done a whole lot faster than Tommy, and he had a worse program when he took over.

As for people going to them, attendance dropped to 18K and 15K for the last two home conference games. Games which determined whether or not the team was bowl eligible, I might add. That's all the proof you need to see that it isn't working.

[ssalukiblue]

Results don't lie. If you want to see who's been winning C-USA, here it is:

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data.../champions.php

Take Louisville, Cincinnati, and TCU out and it's Southern Miss, Tulsa, Houston, ECU, and UCF. And Southern Miss has 4 C-USA titles. ECU has last year's title. Skip got the job done a whole lot faster than Tommy, and he had a worse program when he took over.

The 1996 was a tie, Houston was the Liberty Bowl rep, meaning they were the champs. Semantics, but nonetheless underscore my earlier statement that USM hit the ground running when CUSA was formed but has fallen off the past nine years, with only one title since then and a five year drought.

Additionally, you would make your arguments a little more persuasive if you actually did some research before you made stupid statements. Memphis had gone to ONE bowl in their history before West took over. Memphis had five winning seasons in the previous 23 years.

ECU had five BOWL appearances in the 10 years before Holtz took over, including two 9-win and two 8-win seasons. ECU went to two Liberty Bowl in '94 and '95. They also went 11-1 and had a Peach Bowl berth back in 1991. ECU had a MUCH stronger program than Memphis. Holtz might have taken over a crappy team (after John Thompson ran it into the ground) but the fact remained that ECU already had the peices in place.

As for people going to them, attendance dropped to 18K and 15K for the last two home conference games. Games which determined whether or not the team was bowl eligible, I might add. That's all the proof you need to see that it isn't working.

I can't really defend that. The weather was really crappy (upper 30's and windy) at the UCF game, I will say and EVERYONE knew Memphis would beat a horrendous Tulane team.

Part of the issue is the stadium. It is too big. There is no premium on tickets. Even if 40K go to a game, that means that 20K seats are still out there, and if you're smart, you just go to a scalper 5 minutes before kickoff and buy a ticket for $5.

[TOGC]

The 1996 was a tie, Houston was the Liberty Bowl rep, meaning they were the champs. Semantics, but nonetheless underscore my earlier statement that USM hit the ground running when CUSA was formed but has fallen off the past nine years, with only one title since then and a five year drought.

Additionally, you would make your arguments a little more persuasive if you actually did some research before you made stupid statements. Memphis had gone to ONE bowl in their history before West took over. Memphis had five winning seasons in the previous 23 years.

So what? The number of bowls has doubled since the days Stobart was coaching. Add in the fact that Tommy had the luxury of conference affiliation, and that conference has had SIX GUARANTEED BOWL BIDS and the achievement isn't all that impressive. Give every previous Tiger coach the same playing field as Tommy, and we'd have a crapload more bowls in our history.

USM has always played tougher competition, and has always fielded great teams. Memphis has always played crappy competition and always had crappy teams. Coincidence? I think not!

ECU had five BOWL appearances in the 10 years before Holtz took over, including two 9-win and two 8-win seasons. ECU went to two Liberty Bowl in '94 and '95. They also went 11-1 and had a Peach Bowl berth back in 1991. ECU had a MUCH stronger program than Memphis. Holtz might have taken over a crappy team (after John Thompson ran it into the ground) but the fact remained that ECU already had the peices in place.

The ECU program had hit rock bottom when Thomspon left. Skip had to rebuild it from scratch. Tommy inherited a much better program when he took over than Skip did, but Skip managed to win the conference a lot quicker. Anyone who believes Tommy is a better coach than Skip has been drinking way too much blue Kool-Aid.

I can't really defend that. The weather was really crappy (upper 30's and windy) at the UCF game, I will say and EVERYONE knew Memphis would beat a horrendous Tulane team.

Part of the issue is the stadium. It is too big. There is no premium on tickets. Even if 40K go to a game, that means that 20K seats are still out there, and if you're smart, you just go to a scalper 5 minutes before kickoff and buy a ticket for $5.

The stadium size was increased to accomodate the Liberty Bowl game, and the occasional trip by UT to play Memphis. It has proven to be a bad idea. Realistically, the program doesn't need a stadium bigger than 45K except in extreme situations. Those last two games wouldn't have been nearly as embarassing if we had a smaller stadium.

[ssalukiblue]

The number of bowls has doubled since the days Stobart was coaching. Add in the fact that Tommy had the luxury of conference affiliation, and that conference has had SIX GUARANTEED BOWL BIDS and the achievement isn't all that impressive. Give every previous Tiger coach the same playing field as Tommy, and we'd have a crapload more bowls in our history.

USM has always played tougher competition, and has always fielded great teams. Memphis has always played crappy competition and always had crappy teams. Coincidence? I think not!

You really don't address the issue.

I never once mentioned anything about Tommy going to bowls. YOU stated that USM benefits by playing, and for the most part losing to, tough OOC teams. I responded that USM is on a different historical level than Memphis and can afford to take chances with scheduling. However, despite the aggressive scheduling, USM hasn't gone to the LB in 5 years, and has only won CUSA once in the past nine seasons. Bower was fired. Something is not working for them.

The ECU program had hit rock bottom when Thomspon left. Skip had to rebuild it from scratch. Tommy inherited a much better program when he took over than Skip did, but Skip managed to win the conference a lot quicker. Anyone who believes Tommy is a better coach than Skip has been drinking way too much blue Kool-Aid.

Sure ECU was coming off two horrible seasons, but the program was only a few years removed from a time when the went to five bowls in a 10 year span--a time in which you even acknowledge that bowls were much more difficult to make. (ECU missed a bowl in 1996 when they went 8-3, after making the LB two straight years).

Tommy inherited crap. Factually, the 'program', as you point out in another post, is one of the losingest programs of all time. Before Tommy took over, Memphis had five winning seasons since 1978. West's immediate predecessor was 22-44.

And again, you throw out an illogical statement about Tommy being a better coach than Holtz. NOWHERE did I state that or imply that. You pulled that non-sequiter out of nowhere.

The stadium size was increased to accomodate the Liberty Bowl game, and the occasional trip by UT to play Memphis. It has proven to be a bad idea. Realistically, the program doesn't need a stadium bigger than 45K except in extreme situations. Those last two games wouldn't have been nearly as embarassing if we had a smaller stadium.

Can't really disagree, except I would put a 35k stadium out there.

[TOGC]

You really don't address the issue.

I never once mentioned anything about Tommy going to bowls. YOU stated that USM benefits by playing, and for the most part losing to, tough OOC teams. I responded that USM is on a different historical level than Memphis and can afford to take chances with scheduling. However, despite the aggressive scheduling, USM hasn't gone to the LB in 5 years, and has only won CUSA once in the past nine seasons. Bower was fired. Something is not working for them.

So if I get you right, you say USM plays a tough schedule because they're good. I say they're good because they play a tough schedule. We agree to disagree.

Sure ECU was coming off two horrible seasons, but the program was only a few years removed from a time when the went to five bowls in a 10 year span--a time in which you even acknowledge that bowls were much more difficult to make. (ECU missed a bowl in 1996 when they went 8-3, after making the LB two straight years).

Tommy inherited crap. Factually, the 'program', as you point out in another post, is one of the losingest programs of all time. Before Tommy took over, Memphis had five winning seasons since 1978. West's immediate predecessor was 22-44.

And again, you throw out an illogical statement about Tommy being a better coach than Holtz. NOWHERE did I state that or imply that. You pulled that non-sequiter out of nowhere.

It was bad during the Rip years, although he was close several times to getting over the hump. The year we beat UT, he came close but short of closing the deal. The Memphis program was in much better shape when Rip turned it over to Tommy than the ECU program was when John turned it over to Skip.

Can't really disagree, except I would put a 35k stadium out there.

If we're going to make the stadium that small, let's just join the Sun Belt and be done with it.



I'd rather think big than think small.

[ssalukiblue]

No, as I have shown before, USM has ALWAYS been a good team. Way before the past 20 years. The #28 best winning % in football. They can afford to do what they do, but the fact remains they have not taken that next step, and when they do play the "big boys" they STILL get knocked around. Three New Orleans Bowls in the last five years.

Factually, Rip was NEVER close to getting us over the hump. The UT year, Memphis finished 4-7. No hump there.


Uhhh, Oregon State redid their stadium a few years back to make it 37,000 ish and once the people came, they expanded. Wake Forest holds 32,000. Geez, think big--the LB holds 60,000. How much does Legion Field hold? Create a demand, then increase.

[TOGC]

No, as I have shown before, USM has ALWAYS been a good team. Way before the past 20 years. The #28 best winning % in football. They can afford to do what they do, but the fact remains they have not taken that next step, and when they do play the "big boys" they STILL get knocked around. Three New Orleans Bowls in the last five years.

And they have always played a tough schedule. They have done just about as good as could be expected for a team that played as an independent for the majority of their history, and have four conference titles in C-USA.

Factually, Rip was NEVER close to getting us over the hump. The UT year, Memphis finished 4-7. No hump there.

That team lost to Louisiana-Lafayette by four and Louisville by three. Two more scores and that team would be playing in the Liberty Bowl.

Uhhh, Oregon State redid their stadium a few years back to make it 37,000 ish and once the people came, they expanded. Wake Forest holds 32,000. Geez, think big--the LB holds 60,000. How much does Legion Field hold? Create a demand, then increase.

45K should do it.