With the current bowl system...

[HogDawg]

I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade. I'm not diminishing the game. I just can't stand hearing that phrase over and over again as if we have a history of suck. I'm sure others who hear it think, "Dang. Everybody with a pulse goes to bowl games, even losing teams... And it's just the first time since 1978 that Tech has gone to back-to-back bowls? Wow! Tech must usually suck." That's essentially the message we are sending out by framing this game like that, and while it's meant to be a positive message, it doesn't come across like that. That's the point.

Spot on. Great post, Dawg '06. I don't know why some people (TheEarmada) seem so threatened by your analysis of the truth. Some people just want to bury their head in the sand. I agree with you. It's embarrassing to me to see our football program bragging about the "back-to-back" bowl appearance thing. Especially when such lesser programs --yes, I said it-- such as ULL and ASU have made 4 or 5 bowl appearances in a row.

Some folks may not realize that it's because those lesser programs play in the horrible Sunbelt conference, where making a bowl appearance has been much easier to date. Even UNT made 4 NO Bowl appearances in a row --including a 5-7 team one year-- back in the early 2000's. Let's not forget that Tech has only been in CUSA 3 seasons, and already made two bowl appearances. It should get exponentially easier from here.

[Houston Techsan]

The post by '06 just points out that we had many deserving teams who were left out over the years. All the more reason to be excited we are in a bowl game this year despite the fact that our quality of play diminished late in the season.

He also leaves out the fact that were not affiliated with any conference so we had no bowl tie-ins.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

He also leaves out the fact that were not affiliated with any conference so we had no bowl tie-ins.

He actually did via his verbiage mentioning not being in CUSA at those times with lots of bowl tie-ins.

[PawDawg]

He also leaves out the fact that were not affiliated with any conference so we had no bowl tie-ins.

We were eligible three times while in the WAC when we did not get in a bowl.

As pointed out we had plenty of wins back in the '90s, but there were only 23 bowl games back then so it may not have mattered if we were in a conference anyway.

[T1]

Here's a year-by-year breakdown since the most recent move to FBS in 1989 (using Sagarin when possible):

1989: 5-4-1 (but 2 wins over FCS, so probably wouldn't qualify)
1990: Independence Bowl
*1991: 8-1-2
1992: 5-6
1993: 3-8
1994: 3-8
1995: 5-6
*1996: 6-5
*1997: 9-2
*1998: 6-6 (#61)
*1999: 8-3 (#35)
2000: 3-9 (#143)
2001: Humanitarian Bowl (#78)
2002: 4-8 (#109)
2003: 5-7 (#92)
*2004: 6-6 (#96)
*2005: 7-4 (#94)
2006: 3-10 (#169)
2007: 5-7 (#89)
2008: Independence Bowl (#100)
2009: 4-8 (#78)
2010: 5-7 (#89)
2011: Poinsettia Bowl (#39)
*2012: 9-3 (#52)
2013: 4-8 (#165)
2014: Heart of Dallas Bowl (#33)
2015: New Orleans Bowl (#79)

* means we would've bowled if there were 40 bowl games back then.
* Red means the system was broke, we should've definitely been rewarded with a bowl game!

[cscollis]

2011 Tech vs 2012 Tech on the gridiron...yes please!

That's pretty much what we are getting in NOLA with Ark St. Ark St is all O and cry little D.

If they wanted to market this game they should show the JRP show highlights of the 40-37 win which includes a bench clearing brawl that took 30 minutes to get under control. You can see me driving into the fry and getting kicked a couple of times. I remember a couple of A st. Guys were injured in fight. A couple of broken bones. Man I miss those days.

[maverick]

...Basically Arkansas State had their act together, but Tech's admin didn't come prepared.

According to whom? What was/is their great marketing plan? (I honestly don't know)

How many other bowl options did Arkansas State have to prepare to market? Tech?

[arkansasbob]

We were eligible three times while in the WAC when we did not get in a bowl.

As pointed out we had plenty of wins back in the '90s, but there were only 23 bowl games back then so it may not have mattered if we were in a conference anyway.

exactly right. the "go to a bowl if you don't suck" era really started fairly recently. as recently as 2001, even a 7-win ole miss missed out on a bowl game.

[PawDawg]

Not only is the mantra "1st back to back bowl games since..."

Our AD has changed it to, "1st back to back bowl games since we became division 1"

Who gives him this information? No way you can look up misinformation so some misinformed SID gave him wrong info..

[Gooddawg]

Um fact is we have never been to back to back bowls since moving to 1A so don't see why anyone is upset about AD talking points. With the current bowl system... argument is irrelevant because no one would be talking about it.

[PawDawg]

Um fact is we have never been to back to back bowls since moving to 1A so don't see why anyone is upset about AD talking points. With the current bowl system... argument is irrelevant because no one would be talking about it.

He didn't say "since moving to 1A". When he said "first back to back bowls since we became division 1" he was wrong. My point is that he had to be told that in an attempt to water down what we did in 1977 and 1978. Somebody gave him bad information.

[HogDawg]

Not only is the mantra "1st back to back bowl games since..."

Our AD has changed it to, "1st back to back bowl games since we became division 1"

Who gives him this information? No way you can look up misinformation so some misinformed SID gave him wrong info..

This is what happens when you hire an AD that was about 7 or 8 yrs old when LA Tech went "Div 1".

[PawDawg]

Changed again to "first back to back since we became FBS."

They really don't know our history at all or the history of Division 1, 1A, 1AA, FCS or FBS. They are clueless.

[JuBru]

They really don't know our university. They are clueless.

better

[Tech77]

Yes, for some of our young fans who don't know.... Our entire conference was Division 1 (the top designation) when Tech went to back-to-back Independence Bowls in the late 70s. The NCAA made a change which pushed Tech (and most of the Southland Conference schools) down to the new 1-AA in the 80s before we (Tech) made the move up to 1-A in 1988. When we played in those two early I Bowls we were in the same NCAA classification as LSU, Texas, Ohio State or whatever big football school you care to name.