Boise fan

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-peart-rush-obituary-936221/ Neil Peart, drummer/lyricist of Rush, passed away on January 7th, after a prolonged battle with brain cancer. He was 67. So. Phucking. Sad.

Precisely what I think about the AAC & C-USA. Hard to distinguish them, really. Especially given the incestuous history. I think Memphis would have really had a shot at beating FAU. After all, FAU dominated SMU and Memphis barely escaped with a W against SMU.... Would have made for a decent bowl game! Much better than watching the cotton bowl debacle. What say you MWCboarders?

Very sad news. Always loved his posts. He was a kindred spirit. There aren't many here that I can say that about. Condolences to his family.

Man, Aggies give Kent State their first ever bowl win. Way to represent.

^^^^This @RSF & @alum93 can't think beyond the current system. To them the status quo remains regardless if the rules change to level the playing field. If every school in FBS had an honest shot at playing in a playoff, then recruiting would change dramatically. A lot of the top recruits go to P5 teams because they have a chance to play for a national championship. When half the schools are forced to play for one potential spot at a new years 6 bowl, not even for the championship, it will hurt recruitment. And the system is rigged so a G5 can't make the top 4 in the rankings. It would always be "strength of season". I guess maybe BYU, if they scheduled 7 or 8 "ranked" teams in a year and won all of them could have a shot. Still, it's up to the committee, and they have heavy P5 bias. A 9-3 p5 still trumps a G5 12-1. They'd probably still trump a 13-0 G5. And don't get me started on the phreaking polls. Talk about inflated bias! The system is phucked. It needs to be changed.

Instead the WAC died, and the AAC became C-USA 2.0, while the MWC became WAC 2.0. Worst game of musical chairs ever. Louisville couldn't bail fast enough. Cincy, USF & UConn would have jumped without a second thought had they the option. The only real solution under the current powers-that-be would be for a few western schools of the AAC to split and join a few of the schools from the MWC to form a strong 2nd western conference. The rest could be folded into a revitalized WAC, and the AAC could be the true new Big East it aspired to be. Or burn the house down and start again from scratch with a level playing field. Lol. Like that's going to happen.

Had the AAC been actually serious about forming a western division, it may have worked out. But I don't think BSU really liked the idea of parking their non-FB sports in some dustbin. Don't think SUDS did either. Had AF, SUDS, BSU & BYU been able to come to an agreement that made financial sense, it would have happened. At the time, the AAC could not get that deal together. IMO BSU would prefer a strong division out west instead of joining some eastern group. The Big East should have stayed East, and taken from the MAC/Sun Belt. The West should have formed a group including a few Texas schools as well as a core in the Mountain time zone and Pacific Time zones. Had the WAC survived and backfilled with schools like the Montana's, Eastern Washington etc., a second powerful western conference could have emerged (MWC), and those schools facing being without a home would still have a western FBS league to call home (WAC). Hell if you really want to be forthright, had Utah and TCU stayed put, the MWC probably would have become the "P6". But the tiered system everyone played under ensures the underdogs jump at any chance, and the others have their best coaches pilfered to bolster the haves over the have nots. Again, the system is skewed, and needs to be destroyed and replaced with something that makes rational sense. Only way that happens is if half the FBS schools who are second class citizens demand that they stop being treated that way. I honestly don't get why the school presidents put up with the bullshit. But they do.

You mean like the 2009 TCU BSU matchup in the Fiesta bowl? Or the Nevada BSU matchup that the Wolfpack won after two missed BSU field goals? I'm sure there must have been a few MW games between Utah, TCU, and/or BYU that drew in a national audience.

Only because everyone must play under a skewed system that lays out classes in order to profit a small group of schools. Level the playing field and their dominance ends. Then a UAB can potentially grow into a powerhouse like any other school. Forcing unwarranted handicaps on half the league is the problem with FBS.

Agreed. And yet there is talk about the "P6" on ESPN, and the strength of the AAC. Perception is very powerful, even if it is a veneer.

Isn't the point of promotion to make it public? Aresco seems to be doing just that. Even ESPN commentators are mentioning the "P6" bullchit. What has hair done? No one knows because his position is to "let the teams speak for themselves" or words to that affect. It isn't working. Time to send him packing and get a better conference commish.

Trouble is, the system was skewed to favor a handful of schools to begin with. So of course recruiting is better for P5. And you're using national championships as a metric? The same championships that used to be selected by a committee? Or came down to the top two teams as decided by a committee, based on rankings that have been proven to include bias and garbage? C'mon. Time to look outside the Motherland and see what the real world has in store. Interestingly if you take a look at the rosters of NFL teams, there's a lot of players that don't come from P5. Some come from FCS. And a ton of top prospects crap out at these "elite" schools, or transfer out to have a chance at showcasing their talent. LSU had one good win against Texas (a 7-5 team who went 5-4 in conference, and played LTech & Rice as their other OOC games) - their other OOC games - Georgia Southern, NW state demons, and Utah State. Georgia had one good win against Notre Dame, and played Murray State, and Arkansas State. They have the balls at least to play interstate rival Georgia Tech but they were in a down year. But they lost to South Carolina, who were 4-8, and who lost to Appalachian State and STILL finished ranked 5th. Auburn beat Oregon, but played Tulane, Kent State & Samford. They lost to three SEC teams who's rankings could be considered suspect. The point is there is far too much credit given to some conferences for their inter-conference play. Just as the defending champs are ranked 3rd because of the perceived lack of competition within their conference. The whole system is phucked up and needs to be fixed from top to bottom.

This whole thread is letting you know. Apparently comprehension is not your strong suit. Let's hear your great insight into things, instead of just standing there and flinging your shit.

It's good stuff! A good dose of reality would help anyone!

You sound like you must have loved the BCS system. Perhaps going back to the way of having a group of guys sit around and select a "champion" is your preferred method. The bowl system was always about extracting revenue from schools and their fans to watch meaningless exhibition games. And it did a good job of branding itself as if it were something great. It's not. Never has been. The BCS was always about money. And make no mistake, elite programs like Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State, Texas, etc. were always about trying to build the perception that they were minor league affiliates of NFL teams. The rest of your speculation is funny, if skewed. People want to watch good games. No one cares if SJSU is playing UConn or some other bottom feeder if their teams suck. But back a few years ago when SJSU was ranked, people did care. People did pay attention. It's all about performance. Your fears that including all conference champions as autobids into an expanded playoff will kill viewership is silly. It will expand viewership. And that will be season-long. Why should the viewership drop anymore during the season than it already does? For half the teams in FBS as soon as they lose one or two games, they have no chance. That's five conferences. If they all have a chance at a spot, it would only increase viewership. What has proven to kill viewership is artificial staging of championships like the huge drop back when two SEC teams were playing for the NC. In fact, the whole ranking system is garbage, as they routinely reward teams for interconference play even if that includes teams who perform poorly OOC. Ranking based on reputation and past glory should not extend out into half the season. Having a tiered class system is not only wrong, but it will fail in the long run. Professional leagues learned that lesson. It only continues in college football because of the money grab the P5 are setting up for themselves. The way through that is establishing parity. If that means the league shrinks down to a hundred or so programs, I'm all right with that. If that means some of the current P5 lose out, that's okay too. But something has to change. The current system is a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.