UC Football must be smiling today.

[texasdave]

Cha-ching!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...2_a6&eref=sihp

[paintmered]

I hope a chunk of it is already on its way to Greensboro.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by paintmered

I hope a chunk of it is already on its way to Greensboro.

Why join the ACC? they are the next big east, send the cash to the Big 12.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

Why join the ACC? they are the next big east, send the cash to the Big 12.

Any life raft will do.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by paintmered

Any life raft will do.

And soon -- I don't know that UC football can sustain fan interest in a city like Cincinnati if they're bringing in nobody programs like Tulane, SMU, ECU and Memphis every week.

[nmculbreth]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

And soon -- I don't know that UC football can sustain fan interest in a city like Cincinnati if they're bringing in nobody programs like Tulane, SMU, ECU and Memphis every week.

As opposed to powerhouses like Syracuse and Rutgers?

The biggest obstacle is going to maintaining fan interest is going to be the lack of an automatic BCS-bowl berth for the conference champion, it's going to be hard to convince people you're big time when you don't have access to any of the major bowl games.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

As opposed to powerhouses like Syracuse and Rutgers?

The biggest obstacle is going to maintaining fan interest is going to be the lack of an automatic BCS-bowl berth for the conference champion, it's going to be hard to convince people you're big time when you don't have access to any of the major bowl games.

As Al Davis said "Just win baby, win". Do that, and everything will take care of itself.

[wolfboy]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

As opposed to powerhouses like Syracuse and Rutgers?

The biggest obstacle is going to maintaining fan interest is going to be the lack of an automatic BCS-bowl berth for the conference champion, it's going to be hard to convince people you're big time when you don't have access to any of the major bowl games.

Nice to cherry pick two of the biggest under performers, but don't forget that this league also had regional rivals Pitt, WVU, and UL. There was plenty of fan interest for those teams.

[nmculbreth]

Originally Posted by wolfboy

Nice to cherry pick two of the biggest under performers, but don't forget that this league also had regional rivals Pitt, WVU, and UL. There was plenty of fan interest for those teams.

Was Pitt a draw? West Virginia and Louisville may have been minor draws but it isn't like either are marquee draws that brought in a huge influx of fans that wouldn't have been there otherwise. If UC is relevant on the national stage they'll draw, if they aren't they won't... I just don't see replacing ho-hum opponents with worse ho-hum opponents is going to have that big of an impact.

[wolfboy]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

Was Pitt a draw? West Virginia and Louisville may have been minor draws but it isn't like either are marquee draws that brought in a huge influx of fans that wouldn't have been there otherwise. If UC is relevant on the national stage they'll draw, if they aren't they won't... I just don't see replacing ho-hum opponents with worse ho-hum opponents is going to have that big of an impact.

I want to be respectful about this, but your argument is just silly. In recent years, the WVU and UL games were held at PBS and drew almost double what the draw for an average game at Nippert. Our closest geographic rival in this new conference is nearly 500 miles away. Louisville was under 100; WVU was ~150; and, Pitt was 280 (still only 4 hours). Geography aside, those are three teams that have been fairly consistently ranked and have a great football tradition. The notion that UC isn't somehow harmed when the competition drops from those three to Tulane, ECU, and Memphis is crazy. You are right that they have to be relevant on the national stage to draw well; however, that completely misses the point that it's near impossible to be relevant at any level when your biggest conference game on the schedule is UCF.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by wolfboy

I want to be respectful about this, but your argument is just silly. In recent years, the WVU and UL games were held at PBS and drew almost double what the draw for an average game at Nippert. Our closest geographic rival in this new conference is nearly 500 miles away. Louisville was under 100; WVU was ~150; and, Pitt was 280 (still only 4 hours). Geography aside, those are three teams that have been fairly consistently ranked and have a great football tradition. The notion that UC isn't somehow harmed when the competition drops from those three to Tulane, ECU, and Memphis is crazy. You are right that they have to be relevant on the national stage to draw well; however, that completely misses the point that it's near impossible to be relevant at any level when your biggest conference game on the schedule is UCF.

From a football standpoint, I do not get this decision at all.

[nmculbreth]

Originally Posted by wolfboy

I want to be respectful about this, but your argument is just silly. In recent years, the WVU and UL games were held at PBS and drew almost double what the draw for an average game at Nippert. Our closest geographic rival in this new conference is nearly 500 miles away. Louisville was under 100; WVU was ~150; and, Pitt was 280 (still only 4 hours). Geography aside, those are three teams that have been fairly consistently ranked and have a great football tradition. The notion that UC isn't somehow harmed when the competition drops from those three to Tulane, ECU, and Memphis is crazy. You are right that they have to be relevant on the national stage to draw well; however, that completely misses the point that it's near impossible to be relevant at any level when your biggest conference game on the schedule is UCF.

Despite proximity did anyone view Pitt as a rival? UC played Pitt in a primetime game to kick off the season last year and it wasn't a sellout, in fact UC drew more of a crowd for the victory bell game vs Miami. In 2010 UC played Pitt on senior night and drew their smallest home crowd of the year, behind stalwarts like Indiana State and Miami.

Louisville and WVU were obviously better draws but how many people would show up to those games if UC were a .500 team? Probably not many and certainly not as many as if a team like Oklahoma, Florida or OSU came to town.

They need to win (a lot) to stay relevant but then again they'd have needed to do that even if they were playing Louisville, Pitt et al.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by wolfboy

I want to be respectful about this, but your argument is just silly. In recent years, the WVU and UL games were held at PBS and drew almost double what the draw for an average game at Nippert. Our closest geographic rival in this new conference is nearly 500 miles away. Louisville was under 100; WVU was ~150; and, Pitt was 280 (still only 4 hours). Geography aside, those are three teams that have been fairly consistently ranked and have a great football tradition. The notion that UC isn't somehow harmed when the competition drops from those three to Tulane, ECU, and Memphis is crazy. You are right that they have to be relevant on the national stage to draw well; however, that completely misses the point that it's near impossible to be relevant at any level when your biggest conference game on the schedule is UCF.

Doubling the average Nippert crowd would sell out PBS. The Louisville game at PBS had 41,000. The WVU game had 48,000. Of those, Louisville brought about 1500 fans and WVU brought about 5000.

[hebroncougar]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

Despite proximity did anyone view Pitt as a rival? UC played Pitt in a primetime game to kick off the season last year and it wasn't a sellout, in fact UC drew more of a crowd for the victory bell game vs Miami. In 2010 UC played Pitt on senior night and drew their smallest home crowd of the year, behind stalwarts like Indiana State and Miami.

Louisville and WVU were obviously better draws but how many people would show up to those games if UC were a .500 team? Probably not many and certainly not as many as if a team like Oklahoma, Florida or OSU came to town.

They need to win (a lot) to stay relevant but then again they'd have needed to do that even if they were playing Louisville, Pitt et al.

I'd say this is more of a condemnation of UC football than anything. It's just not relevant in this town.

[wolfboy]

Originally Posted by nmculbreth

Despite proximity did anyone view Pitt as a rival? UC played Pitt in a primetime game to kick off the season last year and it wasn't a sellout, in fact UC drew more of a crowd for the victory bell game vs Miami. In 2010 UC played Pitt on senior night and drew their smallest home crowd of the year, behind stalwarts like Indiana State and Miami.

Louisville and WVU were obviously better draws but how many people would show up to those games if UC were a .500 team? Probably not many and certainly not as many as if a team like Oklahoma, Florida or OSU came to town.

They need to win (a lot) to stay relevant but then again they'd have needed to do that even if they were playing Louisville, Pitt et al.

I'd argue that one of the best games in UC football history was the game against Pitt in '09. I completely agree with you that they need to win (a lot) to stay relevant, but it's going to be an immense challenge to stay nationally relevant in this new conference. That wasn't the case as much in a BCS qualifier with name programs like WVU, Pitt, and Louisville.