What Exactly Did the Sun Belt Sign?

[KAjunRaider]

Well, from here on out, it's gonna be one for all, and all for one. Look after your own arses. Cannot depend on the SBC. Negotiate your own bowls, own TV deals, etc.

Here's a post (on our board) from one of our more knowledgable, longtime fans:

ThreeIfByLightning wrote: I think a factor here is that the Sun Belt didn't perform well in out of conference this year, which only served to foster the perception that it is the worst conference in football (regardless of the fact that it's actually making strong headway in becoming stronger than the MAC and C-USA).

The alternate bowl ties was a joke. Realistically, the Sun Belt has grounds for a lawsuit, but because the bowl games in question pay so little it would quickly be eaten up in legal fees and become a one leg butt kicking contest. The conference will never take that route.

I was trying to think about the implications of what took place today and here's my take, but I would love to get ArkStateFan's reaction. To date, everyone in the conference has been fairly amenable to putting the conference first in the best interest of all the schools as a whole. I think this sends a signal that every team in the Sun Belt is going to start looking out for their own interests. This is going to seriously derail some strength and progress that the conference was developing. To that end, any talk of the SBC positioning itself to be in a good position for a merger with C-USA following the next realignment is going to take a hit. Not to say that just about anything is possible, but every school in the conference is probably going to start looking after it's own ass even if it has to say to hell with the Sun Belt.

Middle Tennessee desparately needs an NCAA tournament appearance in basketball this year. We've got to start positioning ourselves to be as attractive as humanly possible. In C-USA, UL and ASU both go to bowl games this year. If MT would have been 6-6 and in C-USA we would have gone to a bowl game. In the Sun Belt there are no guarantees. From today forward it's every school for itself. Just my take.

_ Wow! What a bunch of BS. We need to call for WW's head on this one. He either lied or was completely negligent in his duties. Neither one is acceptable. We need to lay off this Tech bashing, I don't see it as their fault. It was our fault for not winning games, obviously. But the people we should be angry at are WW for failing our conference, and the I bowl committee and their buddy, the AD at NIU who pushed us out. Thanks for nothing sunbelt. We are not in a an elite conference, and I have not problem with that (a nationally competitive conference would be good) but I at least expect them to fight for any member of the conference in a situation like this. I was thinking about watching old yeller later, maybe that'll cheer me up; or maybe platoon. _

[DestinCajun]

"ThreeIfByLightning wrote: I think a factor here is that the Sun Belt didn't perform well in out of conference this year, which only served to foster the perception that it is the worst conference in football (regardless of the fact that it's actually making strong headway in becoming stronger than the MAC and C-USA). "

This is a factor I haven't seen mentioned thus far and I agree it could be significant.

UL played and lost to USM and UTEP. ASU played and lost to close to USM and MEMPHIS. Had either of us each won one of those, we'd probably be taking bowl trips.

Had MT gotten that last yard and beaten Kentucky 21-20 and come in and beaten UL, I feel certain you would have gotten a bowl.

Bottomline, we just didn't get it done when we needed to. Much of the rest of the stuff I'm seeing is mostly hogwash.

[Clutch0364]

_ "ThreeIfByLightning wrote: I think a factor here is that the Sun Belt didn't perform well in out of conference this year, which only served to foster the perception that it is the worst conference in football (regardless of the fact that it's actually making strong headway in becoming stronger than the MAC and C-USA). "

This is a factor I haven't seen mentioned thus far and I agree it could be significant.

UL played and lost to USM and UTEP. ASU played and lost to close to USM and MEMPHIS. Had either of us each won one of those, we'd probably be taking bowl trips.

Had MT gotten that last yard and beaten Kentucky 21-20 and come in and beaten UL, I feel certain you would have gotten a bowl.

Bottomline, we just didn't get it done when we needed to. Much of the rest of the stuff I'm seeing is mostly hogwash. _

Destin I believe you are right...if UL and ASU both one a game, they would both be bowling. And if MT beats Kentucky they are 6-6 maybe they get in over FAU.

[Arkstfan]

Here is my reaction.

We are playing Division I FBS football not Special Olympics football where everyone is winner just by trying.

NEVER has a 6-6 team been selected at-large. Last year an 8 win Troy sat at home.

We had a deal in place that thanks to the circumstances would have GUARANTEED homes to three seven game winners. The PapaJohns.com Bowl was in Troy Saturday prepared to hand Troy its GUARANTEED bowl bid had ASU won.

Reading the papers, it seems to me that Ricky Bustle and Steve Roberts played out this year content to get to 6-6. Doubt that is the truth but it reads that way.

Anyone needs to grow stones, its the two of them. They had a choice. They could say, "We only needed to win one more game this year and we had a bowl berth stone-cold locked up and we didn't get the job done." or they could say "Boo-hoo, we won half the games we played in and someone should have picked us." They chose the latter course.

Personally I'm disgusted. I had hoped to hear coaches say screw the deals, we knew going in we could have won 10 and stayed home if the SEC and Big XII had won enough games, our target was winning the conference, taking the safest route to a bowl and we came up short. We are already working on reaching that goal next year.

We talk the talk about being as good as the MAC and C-USA but last year Southern Miss fired a coach who was 7-6, went to a bowl, was 119-83-1 in his career there with 11 bowl appearances and two final Top 25 appearances. Bowling Green fired a coach after six years who went 6-6 this season, had one top 25 appearance and was 2-1 in bowl games.

We don't measure our teams by the strict standards the MAC and C-USA use and yet we want to compare ourself to them.

I am very unhappy.

[geo_cajun]

_ Here is my reaction.

We are playing Division I FBS football not Special Olympics football where everyone is winner just by trying.

NEVER has a 6-6 team been selected at-large. Last year an 8 win Troy sat at home.

We had a deal in place that thanks to the circumstances would have GUARANTEED homes to three seven game winners. The PapaJohns.com Bowl was in Troy Saturday prepared to hand Troy its GUARANTEED bowl bid had ASU won.

Reading the papers, it seems to me that Ricky Bustle and Steve Roberts played out this year content to get to 6-6. Doubt that is the truth but it reads that way.

Anyone needs to grow stones, its the two of them. They had a choice. They could say, "We only needed to win one more game this year and we had a bowl berth stone-cold locked up and we didn't get the job done." or they could say "Boo-hoo, we won half the games we played in and someone should have picked us." They chose the latter course.

Personally I'm disgusted. I had hoped to hear coaches say screw the deals, we knew going in we could have won 10 and stayed home if the SEC and Big XII had won enough games, our target was winning the conference, taking the safest route to a bowl and we came up short. We are already working on reaching that goal next year.

We talk the talk about being as good as the MAC and C-USA but last year Southern Miss fired a coach who was 7-6, went to a bowl, was 119-83-1 in his career there with 11 bowl appearances and two final Top 25 appearances. Bowling Green fired a coach after six years who went 6-6 this season, had one top 25 appearance and was 2-1 in bowl games.

We don't measure our teams by the strict standards the MAC and C-USA use and yet we want to compare ourself to them.

I am very unhappy. _

Wow, that was logical, rational and accurate. And I don't like it one bit. It is sad but true. Good post.

I can only imagine how troy felt last year. Or how Texas Tech feels this year, they have one bad game and they don't get to play in a major BCS bowl game. We just have to suck it up, cheer on troy and FAU, and get ready to bring it next year. We just need to remember the old cliche "its not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up". It just feels like we've been getting up a lot.

[ULvictory]

Here is my reaction.

We are playing Division I FBS football not Special Olympics football where everyone is winner just by trying.

NEVER has a 6-6 team been selected at-large. Last year an 8 win Troy sat at home.

We had a deal in place that thanks to the circumstances would have GUARANTEED homes to three seven game winners. The PapaJohns.com Bowl was in Troy Saturday prepared to hand Troy its GUARANTEED bowl bid had ASU won.

Reading the papers, it seems to me that Ricky Bustle and Steve Roberts played out this year content to get to 6-6. Doubt that is the truth but it reads that way.

Anyone needs to grow stones, its the two of them. They had a choice. They could say, "We only needed to win one more game this year and we had a bowl berth stone-cold locked up and we didn't get the job done." or they could say "Boo-hoo, we won half the games we played in and someone should have picked us." They chose the latter course.

Personally I'm disgusted. I had hoped to hear coaches say screw the deals, we knew going in we could have won 10 and stayed home if the SEC and Big XII had won enough games, our target was winning the conference, taking the safest route to a bowl and we came up short. We are already working on reaching that goal next year.

We talk the talk about being as good as the MAC and C-USA but last year Southern Miss fired a coach who was 7-6, went to a bowl, was 119-83-1 in his career there with 11 bowl appearances and two final Top 25 appearances. Bowling Green fired a coach after six years who went 6-6 this season, had one top 25 appearance and was 2-1 in bowl games.

We don't measure our teams by the strict standards the MAC and C-USA use and yet we want to compare ourself to them.

I am very unhappy.

BTW, sorry you guys didn't get picked for the Motor City Bowl. I don't know about any one else but I am still steaming that FAU got picked over ASU. I mean, I can understand them getting picked over us, but didn't ASU beat them head-to-head?

[DestinCajun]

_ Wow! What a bunch of BS. We need to call for WW's head on this one. He either lied or was completely negligent in his duties. Neither one is acceptable. We need to lay off this Tech bashing, I don't see it as their fault. It was our fault for not winning games, obviously. But the people we should be angry at are WW for failing our conference, and the I bowl committee and their buddy, the AD at NIU who pushed us out. Thanks for nothing sunbelt. We are not in a an elite conference, and I have not problem with that (a nationally competitive conference would be good) but I at least expect them to fight for any member of the conference in a situation like this. I was thinking about watching old yeller later, maybe that'll cheer me up; or maybe platoon. _

I have been all over reading everything I can the last couple of days to help understand this whole thing in terms of the real reason(s) we are not at the I Bowl.

Here's my #1.

The I Blow selection committee that picked a 6-6 NIU over a 6-6 UL team knowing damn well we would have bought far more tickets, brought far more fans and spent far more money in Shreveport than NIU will.

This is the most incredibly stupid "dollars and cents" decision I have even seen.

Hey LATEXTSER fans: this is why we feel we got snubbed. No other reason. If you can't figure it out, I understand why.

[Arkstfan]

Getting snubbed for Motor City doesn't mean much to me. I would have picked them. FAU won 4 or 5 of their last six. ASU lost four of its last six. The fans weren't happy any way and missing a bowl keeps people from being pacified and satisfied to settle for 6-6.

[ULvictory]

Getting snubbed for Motor City doesn't mean much to me. I would have picked them. FAU won 4 or 5 of their last six. ASU lost four of its last six. The fans weren't happy any way and missing a bowl keeps people from being pacified and satisfied to settle for 6-6.

That's true, but at the same time ASU had the upper hand and deserved it more than FAU did.

[CajunNation]

Here is my reaction.

We are playing Division I FBS football not Special Olympics football where everyone is winner just by trying.


Reading the papers, it seems to me that Ricky Bustle and Steve Roberts played out this year content to get to 6-6. Doubt that is the truth but it reads that way.

Anyone needs to grow stones, its the two of them.

I have read a lot of things in my life, but......that.......was......AWESOME.(Tommy Boy)

Seriously, your words concerning Bustle would sure explain a lot of mistifying things that happenned to this team down the stretch.