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MAC Bowls


GJGood

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Does the MAC need a single bowl that every team strives to reach? The Big Ten and PAC-12 have always had the Rose Bowl as a primary goal, the SEC the Sugar Bowl, etc...

Obviously the ultimate goal for any program in the FBS is to make the four team playoff. I fear that realistically the new selection committee won't even look at a MAC school even if undefeated. The next goal would be being the top team from the "Group of Five" conference members and getting a berth in one of the biggest bowls outside of the playoff. Making it to that level is a realistic goal for the MAC but they obviously won't be there every season. I just think that the MAC should have a bowl that they always send their champion to in the event they don't qualify for one of the biggest name games. I also think this game should have a spectacular geographic destination (Bahamas/ Hawaii?) and/or be against a "power conference" school.

What would you like to see the MAC bowl structure look like? What is an appropriate annual destination for the MAC champion?

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Right now the MAC champion goes to the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, although NIU showed a couple years ago we could go to a BCS bowl if ranked high enough.

We're also contracted with the Little Caesars's Bowl in Detroit and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise. I don't know how long those contracts are for.

I wish we could get into higher profile bowls, but not if we're going to be embarassed (like NIU was in the 2012 Orange Bowl).

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IMO The MAC needs to take care of business in lower bowls, and then shift the focus to larger ones. NIU frankly was not good enough to compete in the Orange Bowl. I know that might seem a little short sighted to some of you (by keeping the MAC irrelevant) but we've got to make the best of our niche. Having record setting years of Bowl invitations, and then losing nearly all of the games is beyond embarrassing.

I have a feeling Bowden would be a remarkably good Bowl coach...hopefully we can make one of those lesser bowls this year.

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As for a complete list of 2014-15 MAC Bowls you can view this here. This is Bowl games that the MAC currently has contracts with, perhaps more if enough teams do well to get an invitation to a higher Bowl?

GoDaddy.com Bowl MAC Champion? vs Sunbelt Champion?
Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs MWC

Camelllia Bowl MAC vs Sun Belt

Boca Raton Bowl MAC vs C-USA
Bahamas Bowl MAC vs C-USA

Going by this: The Zips goal for the season should be to win seven games, and finish in the top-5 of the conference. Both of those I believe are 100% possible.

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As for a complete list of 2014-15 MAC Bowls you can view this here. This is Bowl games that the MAC currently has contracts with, perhaps more if enough teams do well to get an invitation to a higher Bowl?

GoDaddy.com Bowl MAC Champion? vs Sunbelt Champion?

Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs MWC

Camelllia Bowl MAC vs Sun Belt

Boca Raton Bowl MAC vs C-USA

Bahamas Bowl MAC vs C-USA

Going by this: The Zips goal for the season should be to win seven games, and finish in the top-5 of the conference. Both of those I believe are 100% possible.

One thing that does stand out though is that none of the bowls are against any BCS conference foes. The Motor City Bowl used to allegedly be against the 7th/8th place Big Ten team but that didn't happen very often.

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I agree the MAC needs a bowl or two matched up against power conference teams, even if they are top of the MAC versus barely bowl eligible power schools.

I understand the MAC needs to take care of business in all the bowls but I still think it would be great if the MAC had a bowl they really put above all others. The champ may be slated for the GoDaddy but I don't think most programs or fanbases truly value that destination more than any of the other MAC bowl locations. I'd just like to see the conference has that special one that everybody guns for if the league gets shut out from anything higher. To me something like the Bahamas would be perfect for this.

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I completely agree that GJGood. I'm surprised the Bahamas Bowl sponsors wouldn't want a bigger named school? Don't get me wrong...I'll take whatever bowl invites we can get; but perhaps there should be more flexibility with scheduling. The NCAA is obviously rigged in favor of top-tier programs.

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I completely agree that GJGood. I'm surprised the Bahamas Bowl sponsors wouldn't want a bigger named school? Don't get me wrong...I'll take whatever bowl invites we can get; but perhaps there should be more flexibility with scheduling. The NCAA is obviously rigged in favor of top-tier programs.

It's not that our bowls don't want a bigger name, it's that the bigger names don't want our bowls. How many say, Boston College fans are going to make the trip to Birmingham to see a BC/Bowling Green game?

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I understand that. That is why I threw out the Bahamas as an example. They may not want to spend the money to go to Birmingham even though I am sure that is a fine city but put our conference champ in a more extravagant locale like Nassau or Honolulu or even something like South Beach against a power conference team and we may really have something.

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The NCAA is obviously rigged in favor of top-tier programs.

In the case of bowls, they largely function outside of NCAA regulations. Conferences and the non-profits that run the bowls are the parties most responsible.

Outside of what is now the four team playoff, bowls are now and have always been largely exhibition games and rewards for good seasons. Where we go, who we play against or even whether we win or not isn't a big deal. Winning an OOC game against Pitt, Marshall or PSU is much more important than winning a bowl game. Now that there is a playoff, I don't see how the bowls can survive long term. Too many teams losing money?...Maybe, see Article 1 below. Teams making money?....Maybe, more like conferences making money...Hard to tell without knowing details of bowl deals with conferences.

Maybe the conferences are making money and some of the schools playing are taking a bath. If this is the case, it might pay to be a loser.

Article 1

Article 2

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I don't necessarily want to say the NCAA (outside of the four team playoff field being determined by a selection committee) is rigged in favor of the bigger name programs. I think it just allows the bigger name programs to rig it on their own. The biggest things to me have always been equal ability in scheduling and equal access in the postseason.

I just want the non-power teams and conferences to be given a fair shake. Things like allowing games against FCS opponents to count toward bowl eligibilty and eliminating the 7+ wins for first at-large spots in bowls rule hurt the non-power schools. The BCS conferences playing FCS schools instead of MAC, Sun Belt, C-USA schools, etc... hurts in that it takes away opportunity and money. The 7 wins rule made teams with 7 or 8 wins in leagues like the MAC get taken over 6-6 teams from the SEC or Pac-12.

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As for a complete list of 2014-15 MAC Bowls you can view this here. This is Bowl games that the MAC currently has contracts with, perhaps more if enough teams do well to get an invitation to a higher Bowl?

GoDaddy.com Bowl MAC Champion? vs Sunbelt Champion?

Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs MWC

Camelllia Bowl MAC vs Sun Belt

Boca Raton Bowl MAC vs C-USA

Bahamas Bowl MAC vs C-USA

Going by this: The Zips goal for the season should be to win seven games, and finish in the top-5 of the conference. Both of those I believe are 100% possible.

I'd also like to point out in the Link that I provided, there is a chance for "group of 5" (which are non-power-five conferences) to be pitted against the lower rungs of bowl eligible power-five teams.

Peach Bowl is two At-Large spots for exclusively Group of 5 teams

Fiesta Bowl is an At-Large spot vs At-large Group of 5 team

Cotton Bowl is an At-Large spot vs At-Large group of 5 team

The ideal situation for the MAC would be to get a team into basically the Top-3 of the "Group of Five" teams, to fill a position at one of these three bowls. Had this been the situation with ranked NIU they probably would have stood a chance of winning the game because of a better match-up.

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  • 4 years later...

Starting in 2020 the MAC will become a primary bowl partner in the Quick Lane Bowl. Locking in a B1G vs. MAC bowl match-up I'd consider to be a win. 

 

https://getsomemaction.com/news/2019/6/4/football-mac-to-face-big-ten-as-primary-bowl-partners-in-the-quick-lane-bowl.aspx

 

Edit: Also, I think McDonalds should assume sponsorship rights and name it the BIG-MAC Bowl.

Edited by kreed5120
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So, the next question is.. will the MAC designate this bowl as the destination bowl of its champion (unless in a NY6 bowl) or will it just be any one of the bowl eligible MAC teams that goes to Ford Field?

 

Whether it would be this bowl or not, I would like to see the MAC have a bowl designated for its champion if they do not make a New Years Six or playoff game.

 

I just want to see the MAC Champ be given the best opportunity to represent the conference whether it be against a P5 program or a ranked G5 conference team.

Edited by GJGood
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It's the perfect bowl for our champ to go to really between distance for best attendance and getting a crack at a B1G team. The hang up is the champ just played there two weeks ago so it's hard to get some fanbases to make the same trip twice. If the MACCG was in Indy or Cleveland or somewhere else it'd be perfect

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12 hours ago, zippy5 said:

It's the perfect bowl for our champ to go to really between distance for best attendance and getting a crack at a B1G team. The hang up is the champ just played there two weeks ago so it's hard to get some fanbases to make the same trip twice. If the MACCG was in Indy or Cleveland or somewhere else it'd be perfect

 

I agree with everything here. The only other thing I would say, though, is that a trip to Detroit may not seem like the same reward as going to the Bahamas or Florida in late December even though the bowl itself may be a couple of rungs higher up the ladder and the opponent more well known nationally.

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1 hour ago, GJGood said:

 

I agree with everything here. The only other thing I would say, though, is that a trip to Detroit may not seem like the same reward as going to the Bahamas or Florida in late December even though the bowl itself may be a couple of rungs higher up the ladder and the opponent more well known nationally.

 

Maybe the team would be more focused if they didn't have the distractions of say Boca Raton. Really enjoyed watching us embarrass ourselves against FAU from the comforts of my home in cold & snowy Ohio. Glad it was warm down there, though. :rolleyes:;)

 

Any chance a MAC school can get against a P5 school, especially at a neutral or home site, is a good thing. I like it. 

Edited by Let'sGoZips94
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15 hours ago, GJGood said:

So, the next question is.. will the MAC designate this bowl as the destination bowl of its champion (unless in a NY6 bowl) or will it just be any one of the bowl eligible MAC teams that goes to Ford Field?

 

Whether it would be this bowl or not, I would like to see the MAC have a bowl designated for its champion if they do not make a New Years Six or playoff game.

 

I just want to see the MAC Champ be given the best opportunity to represent the conference whether it be against a P5 program or a ranked G5 conference team.

 

Two questions in 5 years!

Your constant questioning is driving me crazy.

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I think another thing to remember is that since this is now a P5 vs. G5 Bowl this bowl game has likely fallen to the very bottom of the B10 totem pole. If there is ever a year that the B10 fails to fill all their bowl commitments, this is probably the one that has to get back filled. 

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My recollection is that when the Motor City Bowl was created it was to pit the MAC champion against a Big Ten team.

Don't know if or when they gave up on that concept, but in the 16 Motor City/Little Caesars Pizza Bowl a team from the B1G participated three times, and I don' think they considered it much of an honor to participate.

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On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 12:48 PM, Zipmeister said:

My recollection is that when the Motor City Bowl was created it was to pit the MAC champion against a Big Ten team.

Don't know if or when they gave up on that concept, but in the 16 Motor City/Little Caesars Pizza Bowl a team from the B1G participated three times, and I don' think they considered it much of an honor to participate.

I remember that as well but it turned out that all to often not only were you ending up going against a fourth or fifth place team from a G5 but you were doing it in the tropical locale of Detroit while your conference mates that finished below you were headed to the warmer environs of the south. It didn't seem like the biggest reward was going to the most deserving team.

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On 6/11/2019 at 8:06 AM, GJGood said:

I remember that as well but it turned out that all to often not only were you ending up going against a fourth or fifth place team from a G5 but you were doing it in the tropical locale of Detroit while your conference mates that finished below you were headed to the warmer environs of the south. It didn't seem like the biggest reward was going to the most deserving team.

It might not have been the Bahamas, Mobile, Shreeveport, Idaho (???) but it was at least driveable for the fan base that did want to attend a Zip bowl game that was announced, oh, 3 weeks before the game, and no good alternatives to get transportation, tickets and housing, thanks to our great marketing and alumni groups lack of an idea of how to put something together.  I at least have driven the 2 and 1/2 hours to sit inside and watch a game there, and either got a reasonable room for overnight or droove back to Akron afterwards.

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21 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

It might not have been the Bahamas, Mobile, Shreeveport, Idaho (???) but it was at least driveable for the fan base that did want to attend a Zip bowl game that was announced, oh, 3 weeks before the game, and no good alternatives to get transportation, tickets and housing, thanks to our great marketing and alumni groups lack of an idea of how to put something together.  I at least have driven the 2 and 1/2 hours to sit inside and watch a game there, and either got a reasonable room for overnight or droove back to Akron afterwards.

 

I wasn't trying to put down Detroit in any way, just saying from a player standpoint it is more of a reward to go to the beach (or maybe skiing/tubing in the mountains?) than what the geography and climatology of Detroit in December can really offer.

That being said if the champion always goes there and always plays a P5, a ranked G5, or as a last resort an unranked G5 conference champ then it becomes something more to strive for.

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, zippy5 said:

 

 

I like it especially since it matches teams from opposite ends of the nation but I am still of the opinion that there should be more diversity in bowl matchups. If the MAC has six bowl tie-ins I would like to see it against six different conferences. I believe this now means we have two MAC vs MWC and at least two MAC vs. Sun Belt.... I think there are three Big Ten vs. SEC so it is clearly not just a MAC or G5 issue.

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