Bad News for Tech and Good News for the Sunbelt

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Originally Posted by Tech XXIX

I think that this is a great deal for the Sunbelt. There are no other bowls being created that want to have a primary tie-in with the Sunbelt. This gives them access in certain situation.

I congratulate the Sunbelt on this "out of the box" bowl arraingment and I hope that Benson is learning a lesson from this and getting the WAC the same tie-ins in other bowls, just in case the WAC has 4-5 bowl eligible teams.

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Tech,

Thanks for the kindness. I for one will never disparage a conference for trying to do better. I think too many people have grown accustomed to the Sunbelt of 4 years ago and don't realize that we have been doing well the last three years. We've only been a conference for 7 years, counting this one! We need the first three to get our scholarships up from 1AA levels. Things change guys and the Sunbelt is as good (on the field) as any other mid major conference out there. Now, if you want to talk, perception and TV contracts and revenue, we still have a long way to go, but we are working on it.

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Originally Posted by BulldawgMom

If you felt I was being critical, I apologize. My point was that Hawaii went to the Sugar Bowl because of a much easier SOS than you all.

Why doesn't La Tech go with Sun Belt?

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Hawaii deserved that bid. If you don't agree with that you're crazy.

Sun Belt would be a step down.
You act like Tech is on ULM and North Texas' level.

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Originally Posted by BulldawgMom

If you felt I was being critical, I apologize. My point was that Hawaii went to the Sugar Bowl because of a much easier SOS than you all.

Why doesn't La Tech go with Sun Belt?

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No, I was agreeing with you. :icon_wink:

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Originally Posted by BulldawgMom

If you felt I was being critical, I apologize. My point was that Hawaii went to the Sugar Bowl because of a much easier SOS than you all.

Why doesn't La Tech go with Sun Belt?

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Buckle up BdM, it's fixin to get a little bumpy!

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Originally Posted by BlueRaiderFn

Boise and Hawaii are overrated

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Well they were the best non BCS schools these past two years.

Boise beat Oklahoma!
And Hawaii lost to Georgia which was expected. No matter what the outcome of the game was they deserved to go.

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Originally Posted by DAWG DUDE

Hawaii deserved that bid. If you don't agree with that you're crazy.

Sun Belt would be a step down.
You act like Tech is on ULM and North Texas' level.

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I'm glad Hawaii got the bid, I don't know if they deserved it or not and I don't want to do the research to find out. My point was: Stop whining about the SUnbelt's SOS when it's better than all other mid majors except the MWC. I don't know what "level" La Tech is on the field compared to UNT and ULM. I know you guys are better than UNT right now (maybe most years), ULM did beat Alabama last year, so they can't be that bad. I'm not here to bash Tech, just point out the flaws in your logic. You may need to think about how much the Sunbelt has improved before you start making statements. I don't think you really have that much info on us.

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Originally Posted by DAWG DUDE

Hawaii deserved that bid. If you don't agree with that you're crazy.

Sun Belt would be a step down.
You act like Tech is on ULM and North Texas' level.

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Gee, no need to get your blood pressure up -- It was a question, not a judgment.

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Originally Posted by DAWG DUDE

Right. But still I can't see year in and year out The SunBelt easily having 4 teams with at least a .500 record.

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The Sunbelt is getting better. Slowly but surely they have probably passed the MAC. I honestly am not being a homer when I say the WAC is superior overall but the top of the Belt is better than the bottom of the WAC so it isn't like they are as bad as we paint them sometimes.

I think if we were all to be honest the WAC is further ahead of them than their fans want to admit and they are a lot better than our fans want to admit.

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Originally Posted by DAWG DUDE

Well they were the best non BCS schools these past two years.

Boise beat Oklahoma!
And Hawaii lost to Georgia which was expected. No matter what the outcome of the game was they deserved to go.

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I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HAWAII OR BOISE FOR PETE'S SAKE! lol:icon_roll: I'm just saying that they were given a little too mcuh credit, but so do many Power Six schools. Yes, Boise did beat Oklahoma and that was great. I don't think I'm ready to say, based on that win, that Boise is head and shoulders above the Sunbelt. I would be willing to bet that Troy, MT and maybe one or two other Belt teams had an SOS higher than Boise. I think if you follow the link, you will see this is true. Not that it matters, I;m just saying, the Sunbelt school have had good SOS's so your comment that "we haven't played anybody" is unfounded.

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Originally Posted by BulldawgMom

Gee, no need to get your blood pressure up -- It was a question, not a judgment.

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Mom,

Tech fans hate the idea of "dropping down" to the Sunbelt and I can understand that. The WAC has better TV deals, funding, etc. I do think that Tech fans better hope that gas goes down because I do know that there are people associated with higher levels of the Sunbelt conference that are tired of La Techs view of the Sunbelt and if they ever needed a new home, they won't be invited at this point. Good lcuk to Tech.

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Originally Posted by BlueRaiderFn

Yeah, IMO, Boise and Hawaii are overrated. Boise does have a few nice wins, but they get too much credit. Having said that, I'm glad to see that it's a mid major being given more credit than it deserves, so good for Boise and Hawaii. Back to the subject: SOS has nothing to do with these tie ins for the Sunbelt and our SOS is comparable to other mid majors including the WAC. UNT, ULL, ULM, ASU and MT were all invited to the WAC guys. It's not like we are that far inferior n on the field play. I don't understand the arrogance or the hate from some posters. I hope the WAC, MAC, Sunbelt, Conf USA and MWC all do well. I do have a problem with some individual schools, but this trashing of an entire conference makes no sense.

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ULM was not invited to join the WAC. The others you mentioned were informally asked individually if they were interested and had all agreed to go together as an E-WAC or not to go at all so they rejected the offers despite Benson calling a couple of them more than once. Benson only wanted one to be a travel partner with Tech. I think it was a smart move for MT for sure (bad travel, geographics). Not sure about ULL and Ark. St. I think UNT made a mistake and should have made the move. It would have been very cool to have an Eastern division of the WAC though and I wouldn't have had a problem with any of those schools (sans ulm) being in the WAC.

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Originally Posted by Bigdog13

The Sunbelt is getting better. Slowly but surely they have probably passed the MAC. I honestly am not being a homer when I say the WAC is superior overall but the top of the Belt is better than the bottom of the WAC so it isn't like they are as bad as we paint them sometimes.

I think if we were all to be honest the WAC is further ahead of them than their fans want to admit and they are a lot better than our fans want to admit.

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Let's play some head to head games before we make that judgement and I'm not talking about Tech vs UNT, ULL etc. Get some WAC vs Sunbelt games in the mix that aren't associated with teams from the state of Louisiana, win most of those, and then I will concede that Boise and Hawaii are better than Troy, FAU and MT. Heck, FAU beat Hawaii a couple of years ago...

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Originally Posted by BlueRaiderFn

Mom,

Tech fans hate the idea of "dropping down" to the Sunbelt and I can understand that. The WAC has better TV deals, funding, etc. I do think that Tech fans better hope that gas goes down because I do know that there are people associated with higher levels of the Sunbelt conference that are tired of La Techs view of the Sunbelt and if they ever needed a new home, they won't be invited at this point. Good lcuk to Tech.

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Thank you for the explanation.

Another plus for WAC -- away games to Hawaii... :D And on that note -- Isn't it tough being in a conference where the away games are so far away? Or do you get used to that?

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Originally Posted by Bigdog13

ULM was not invited to join the WAC. The others you mentioned were informally asked individually if they were interested and had all agreed to go together as an E-WAC or not to go at all so they rejected the offers despite Benson calling a couple of them more than once. Benson only wanted one to be a travel partner with Tech. I think it was a smart move for MT for sure (bad travel, geographics). Not sure about ULL and Ark. St. I think UNT made a mistake and should have made the move. It would have been very cool to have an Eastern division of the WAC though.

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Yeah, but you get my point...

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Originally Posted by BlueRaiderFn

Yeah, but you get my point...

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I know but I had to make the ulM correction. :icon_wink: