It's time to turn the life support off

[sWiley]

Our OL and DL are just bad. Nothing more to say. The front 7 on defense basically doesn't even exist. I don't think I've ever seen a weaker front 7 since following MT football going back to 2004. Schafer is not a bad coordinator, this defense is just t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e.
We are going to be exposed by any team with a half-way decent RB and interior OL players. Even Tennessee State ran it down our throats. We just out-scored them because their defense sucked too.

On offense, our OL is young and obviously not disciplined. O'Hara is decent and we have some decent WR's but it doesn't matter because our OL is so bad and we have no RB's worth their salt. They've been dominated and over-matched in every game we've played except Tennessee State.

We are a bad team in a conference with many other bad teams. We will have pillow fights with the other crappy teams in the conference and the season will be over. Nobody will watch, and nobody will care.

The team just has no substance, no grit, and sparks zero interest. I watched today's game on the ESPN ticker because I was busy watching BYU vs. Toledo (an actual G5 team with some substance....who won btw. BYU would have DESTROYED our OL and DL). I think it's the first time I've ever missed an MT football game that was on TV.

Toledo has literal empty stadiums, an equal recruiting budget, and much more difficult geographical challenges but they field a damn good team EVERY SINGLE DAMN YEAR. Why can they do it but this crappy staff can't? How can a team like Toledo be so good every year, from head coach to head coach, constantly rotating assists, etc? Our administrators and leaders are so inept.

So fed up with this garbage staff and the lack of talented OL and DL players. We havn't had a good offensive line since....well....I honestly can't remember. When have we ever been able to run the ball effectively and dominate up front? Have we ever had a 1,000 yard rusher in Stockstill's 2 decades here? I doubt it. I was tired of the excuses 10 years ago. I don't even know what I am now.

Honestly, whatever. It's not even worth getting upset over because absolutely nothing's going to change. McPhee, Massaro, Stockstill are all in it together, collecting their big checks, doing just enough to get by. No new facilities or even serious plans for them. I'm starting to wonder why the football program even exists?? Don't give a penny folks. Give everything you have earmarked to Nick McDevitt and co.

This program is a joke and honestly not worth following I really don't even know why I bother. If our administration doesn't care then how the hell can I?

ps. This is not an over-reaction to an expected blow-out. These are feelings that I've long held, stated hundreds of times on this message board, and am stating them again.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

"Toledo has literal empty stadiums..."

Toledo doesn't have a problem with attendance.

https://utrockets.com/news/2018/12/3/toledo-led-mac-in-football-attendance-in-2018.aspx

 

[sWiley]

Yea we can all snap one good picture and fudge the numbers however. I've watched many Toledo games during the week when it gets cold out where you can literally count the people in the stands with your fingers and toes. Don't even try to front.

 

[sWiley]

The article, and the reported MAC attendance numbers, are a joke. There are literally 50 people in the stands for some of those games once it gets cold outside in the MAC conference. Someone is in denial.

Don't worry. The CUSA numbers are all horse hockey too. I'm guessing every G5 dramatically fakes their numbers.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Toledo is pretty much Detroit. Any football game played outdoors after Halloween will require Artic gear.

That picture was prolly taken Labor Day weekend.

 

[SmithO1906]

While I agree with 98% of this post I must remind you that I'tavius Mathers ran for 1K for us a few years ago. Statistically speaking he actually had one of, if not the best season for a running back in MT history. Granted he was an SEC transfer so that probably proves your point though. Im with you though it's painfully obvious how bad our lines are and I cant for the life of me figure out why this staff cant/wont go get a D1 running back.The converted linebackers cant make people miss and the 5'8 150 lbs guys cant run between the tackles

Our OL and DL are just bad. Nothing more to say. The front 7 on defense basically doesn't even exist. I don't think I've ever seen a weaker front 7 since following MT football going back to 2004. Schafer is not a bad coordinator, this defense is just t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e.
We are going to be exposed by any team with a half-way decent RB and interior OL players. Even Tennessee State ran it down our throats. We just out-scored them because their defense sucked too.

On offense, our OL is young and obviously not disciplined. O'Hara is decent and we have some decent WR's but it doesn't matter because our OL is so bad and we have no RB's worth their salt. They've been dominated and over-matched in every game we've played except Tennessee State.

We are a bad team in a conference with many other bad teams. We will have pillow fights with the other crappy teams in the conference and the season will be over. Nobody will watch, and nobody will care.

The team just has no substance, no grit, and sparks zero interest. I watched today's game on the ESPN ticker because I was busy watching BYU vs. Toledo (an actual G5 team with some substance....who won btw. BYU would have DESTROYED our OL and DL). I think it's the first time I've ever missed an MT football game that was on TV.

Toledo has literal empty stadiums, an equal recruiting budget, and much more difficult geographical challenges but they field a damn good team EVERY SINGLE DAMN YEAR. Why can they do it but this crappy staff can't? How can a team like Toledo be so good every year, from head coach to head coach, constantly rotating assists, etc? Our administrators and leaders are so inept.

So fed up with this garbage staff and the lack of talented OL and DL players. We havn't had a good offensive line since....well....I honestly can't remember. When have we ever been able to run the ball effectively and dominate up front? Have we ever had a 1,000 yard rusher in Stockstill's 2 decades here? I doubt it. I was tired of the excuses 10 years ago. I don't even know what I am now.

Honestly, whatever. It's not even worth getting upset over because absolutely nothing's going to change. McPhee, Massaro, Stockstill are all in it together, collecting their big checks, doing just enough to get by. No new facilities or even serious plans for them. I'm starting to wonder why the football program even exists?? Don't give a penny folks. Give everything you have earmarked to Nick McDevitt and co.

This program is a joke and honestly not worth following I really don't even know why I bother. If our administration doesn't care then how the hell can I?

ps. This is not an over-reaction to an expected blow-out. These are feelings that I've long held, stated hundreds of times on this message board, and am stating them again.

 

[SpaceRaider]

No running backs are going to run successfully up the middle as long as this craptastic coaching staff doesn't prioritize some 'quality' linemen in recruiting. Both lines are in any season weak, and barely competitive in conference. There appears to be a business as usual approach in recruiting linemen. What we have so far committed for 2020 doesn't inspire much, if any, hope that this will change in the coming seasons.

 

[RaiderDawg78]

Toledo is pretty much Detroit. Any football game played outdoors after Halloween will require Artic gear.

That picture was prolly taken Labor Day weekend.

Good guess....Sept 15, 2018 when they hosted U Miami.

Their attendance typically drops to ~ 60% capacity (paid, not butts in seats) by November. Since the WSJ’s story last year says to assume the actual attendance numbers are about 70% the announced or lower, Toledo typically gets 10,000-12,000 in actual attendance in late fall. That’s just a little better than Floyd in November, which isn’t good.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

We have played 3 teams that most likely are top 25 teams, even so, you are right the overall talent level has declined. I am used to our D line being over matched but for years our O line was good, but not the last 3 years. Our best player, Asher, was found by accident.

We open up with Marshall next week. I think we will find out if we can compete in the CUSA in 6 days. I will be there, I can't help myself.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

"That picture was prolly taken Labor Day weekend."

I don't deny attendance for weekday games in November can be sparse given the cold weather and the fact that many students are studying or have evening classes, but to suggest that Toledo could only have a full stadium on Labor Day weekend is not valid. Below is a photo of a game played on October 15, 2016 and the stadium looks full to me.

 

[blueraiderJT]

The rest of the schedule will be like butter in comparison to what we've played thus far. I get Wiley's point. I hate watching us fold up like a tent when it matters. However, we will do fine in the conference ecause we are like everyone else.

There are no better teams in this league. Charlotte is not that good. LOL. Their D is swiss cheese. They sold our their game plan to beat Umass and FAU adjusted to it. FAU has a good O but it's not that great. Iowa would run over them like they did us. Marshall dismissed their best player 10 days ago. Green is a trainwreck at QB.

FIU is worse than us. WKU is better than last year ut their OL is worse than ours. We ran into a buzzsaw OOC schedule. We didn't play Baylor or Kansas. We played 3 very good teams with huge players. Even their QB's were huge. IMO, we played a worse schedule this year than we did last year. UK was talented ut soft in many ways. VU was the game that pissed me off way worse than Duke. Duke is 10 times better than VU. We put more points on Duke than we did VU so it's better than we think.

We are a G5 team in a G5 conference. That's what it is. It will e hard to ever be more than that.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

.......There appears to be a business as usual approach in recruiting linemen........

There’s a business as usual approach to everything this staff (and administration) do. It’s why we can’t grow. They have their way and they think it works so they leave it be because somehow even when it isn’t working we manage to still go bowling because we have crappy conference mates.

There is zero desire to remove themselves from the comfort of the status quo. It’s beyond frustrating.

But hey. I’ll still be sporting my MT gear and will still be at the Charlotte game.

 

[Sommy]

Much better looking place than old Johnny Red.

 

[DABLUERAIDERS]

same ol song and dance. Looking forward to some competitive football games , maybe a conference championship, and a bowl game.

Going to be fun to see what Asher can do this year!

 

[Noogaraider1]

We are where we pretty much expected to be. I was hopeful of the DUKE game, but they are legit. Did you think we would pick off IOWA or Michigan?

It was said on here before, but playing these monsters will early on will only help us in the remaining CUSA schedule.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

The bad thing about expecting the losses to the P5s is the way the scheduled is front loaded. Start a new season with excitement and new fans ready to check it out and we lose off the bat several games. Then by the time conference play starts and we start winning some, it is too late. We’ve lost the new season goodwill and the stands are empty.

But we are stuck as the P5s like to play FCS and G5 early and we are at their mercy.

 

[Raiderclyde]

We are where we pretty much expected to be. I was hopeful of the DUKE game, but they are legit. Did you think we would pick off IOWA or Michigan?

It was said on here before, but playing these monsters will early on will only help us in the remaining CUSA schedule.

I’m skeptical. We are one loss away from not making a championship: Marshall is a must win if we are going to be a contender or merely competing for the (insert name here) bowl. Yes, 1-3 is about par for the course and I didn’t expect a whole lot more. But, EKU defeated Tenn State more impressively than we and that is concerning. I’m not sure we would win the OVC this year with what I’ve seen four games in the books. Also, In the OVC, Tenn Tech is getting close to being in the Top 25 and will be there if they defeat #24 SEMO. 2011, 1975, and 1972 are Tech’s last championships in the last fifty years and only 1972 is an outright. Wonder what the result would be if we played for Harvey or Shinny Ninny; it might be a surprise for us if the game were Saturday. Thank goodness we retired the trophy years ago and there isn’t.

It’s that simple: we have to win them all to be outright C-USA champions. Twenty-seven years is too long time of a time without an outright title.

 

[sWiley]

You guys are missing the point. It's not the fact that we lost or won. It's HOW we lost and HOW we won.

I'm not upset about being 1-3. I'm upset that we were not competitive against Duke at home as only a 6 point dog. We were completely dominated on both lines of scrimmage. It honestly looked like two teams that didn't even belong in the same field as one another. Then, we were not competitive as 24 point dogs @ Iowa. They nearly covered the spread twice on us and once again, we were not competitive at all in any phase of the game. Once again, it looked like two teams that had no business playing each other.

Even the W over Tennessee State, we give up 400+ yards of offense and allow them to rush the ball for 200+ yards on the ground. This is a bottom feeder FCS team giving our front 7 the business. Tennessee State averaged 4.9 YPC against our front 7. WHAT?!?!?!?

Going on 2 decades and this is what we get? Sorry, no thanks.

Then everyone wants to talk about winning the special olympics, I mean CUSA, big whoop. This conference has never been so bad in it's entire existence. I hate to be such a debbie downer but it's the cold hard truth. Look at the OOC play from CUSA thus far this season. Other than FAU beating Ball St., I honestly can't think of another win against an FBS team our conference has. LOL! CUSA is without a question the worst FBS conference in football right now. So even winning it does not say much.

And finally, MT01 made great points about the irrelevance of winning CUSA Championships. It's about fielding a damn good team and competing with nearly every team you play. You do that, and the respect (along with conference championships), will come. After 15+ years, we are not even close to that level.

It's time to face the music. Our football program is bad, this team is bad, this conference is bad, and our administrators are inept. Call me negative, call me a debbie downer, call me whatever. But you know it's true. And without DRASTIC measures, nothing's ever going to change. We need a new president, a new AD, a new staff, a new everything.

 

[MTFNBY5]

Not only it Tenn Tech 4-1 and leading the OVC but Austin Peay just handily beat defending OVC champ and perennial FCS playoff participant Jax St. Not only do I wonder how we would do in the OVC this year; gotta wonder if we could compete against our long-time conference foes: TTU and APSU? After the struggle against OVC botton feeder TSU it is an interesting and obvious question.

And we have 20 more players on scholarship and a much larger FB budget? Why?

 

[MTOleBlue]

Would we be in a better place if we poured football money into our two basketball programs?

 

[Raiderclyde]

Not only it Tenn Tech 4-1 and leading the OVC but Austin Peay just handily beat defending OVC champ and perennial FCS playoff participant Jax St. Not only do I wonder how we would do in the OVC this year; gotta wonder if we could compete against our long-time conference foes: TTU and APSU? After the struggle against OVC botton feeder TSU it is an interesting and obvious question.

And we have 20 more players on scholarship and a much larger FB budget? Why?

I really don’t think we would win the OVC in 2019. Maybe runner-up with the right draw at home or some intangible. Think we would slip—most likely to EKU or Jacksonville State and would likely be out coached. That would be one loss. SEMO, Tech, or APSU are no longer push overs even for a team we have in 2019. Judging from the Tenn State game with 400+ yards allowed, one of these could go either way. That’s two likely losses which would lose the crown. OL and DL isn’t equipped for big boy P5 football and suspect we will stub our toes in conference the coming weeks. 5-3 in conference would be about our potential right now and that is barely enough for a bowl.

 

[sWiley]

And we have 20 more players on scholarship and a much larger FB budget? Why?

We have poor player development here, across the board. Our staff is littered with rejects and old coaching blood just biding their time. We have very little fresh blood amongst our staff and the younger coaches that we do have are questionable hires at best anyway. Good G5 programs are consistently turning over position coaches, coordinators, and head coaches. We do nothing of the sort here and nobody seems to bat an eye. It is truly remarkable. Status quo would be an understatement. It is the Middle Tennessee way and apparently widely accepted and supported.

Have you ever seen a player come to MT and truly make strides from freshmen to sophomore to junior to senior year, etc. ? Nope. In fact, doesn't it seem like they always regress? Isn't it weird that players never seem to get better during their time here?

Brent Stockstill - Regressed
Richie James - Regressed
Ty Lee - About the same
Malcolm Beyah - Regressed after an INSANE Freshman year.
Sancho McDonald - Fell off the face of the earth after a great freshman or sophomore year (can't remember)
Tavares Thomas @ RB - Great 1st year at the position, then disappeared.
Chaton Mobley - Looked great at first, doesn't even really play now.
Jordan Parker - HUGE freshmen and sophomore years....then ????
Shane Tucker - Great sophomore year, then never improved on that but was solid contributor when healthy.

These are just players off the top of my head. If I actually sat down and looked at rosters there would be many more.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

We have poor player development here, across the board. Our staff is littered with rejects and old coaching blood just biding their time. We have very little fresh blood amongst our staff and the younger coaches that we do have are questionable hires at best anyway. Good G5 programs are consistently turning over position coaches, coordinators, and head coaches. We do nothing of the sort here and nobody seems to bat an eye. It is truly remarkable. Status quo would be an understatement. It is the Middle Tennessee way and apparently widely accepted and supported.

Have you ever seen a player come to MT and truly make strides from freshmen to sophomore to junior to senior year, etc. ? Nope. In fact, doesn't it seem like they always regress? Isn't it weird that players never seem to get better during their time here?

Brent Stockstill - Regressed
Richie James - Regressed
Ty Lee - About the same
Malcolm Beyah - Regressed after an INSANE Freshman year.
Sancho McDonald - Fell off the face of the earth after a great freshman or sophomore year (can't remember)
Tavares Thomas @ RB - Great 1st year at the position, then disappeared.
Chaton Mobley - Looked great at first, doesn't even really play now.
Jordan Parker - HUGE freshmen and sophomore years....then ????
Shane Tucker - Great sophomore year, then never improved on that but was solid contributor when healthy.

These are just players off the top of my head. If I actually sat down and looked at rosters there would be many more.

I’ve been preaching this for almost 5 years now. Got vilified and kicked out of the other Blue Raider Forum for predicting it and saying it. Whatever happened to that bunch? Did they decide to travel to Knoxville on weekends?

 

[blueraiderJT]

Wiley, go ahead and email Massaro and demand we forfeit for the rest of the season. Do you think we are the only G5 team in this stuation?

 

[sWiley]

Do you think we are the only G5 team in this stuation?

No

but it feels like we are the only G5 not trying to get out of the situation

 

[rcodeman]

Wiley, go ahead and email Massaro and demand we forfeit for the rest of the season. Do you think we are the only G5 team in this stuation?

Its not like he'd respond anyway.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

Its not like he'd respond anyway.

He would but with the usual BS cloud.

Heaven forbid anyone from this administration actually tell you how things really are and be honest about it.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

We have poor player development here, across the board. Our staff is littered with rejects and old coaching blood just biding their time. We have very little fresh blood amongst our staff and the younger coaches that we do have are questionable hires at best anyway. Good G5 programs are consistently turning over position coaches, coordinators, and head coaches. We do nothing of the sort here and nobody seems to bat an eye. It is truly remarkable. Status quo would be an understatement. It is the Middle Tennessee way and apparently widely accepted and supported.

Have you ever seen a player come to MT and truly make strides from freshmen to sophomore to junior to senior year, etc. ? Nope. In fact, doesn't it seem like they always regress? Isn't it weird that players never seem to get better during their time here?

Brent Stockstill - Regressed
Richie James - Regressed
Ty Lee - About the same
Malcolm Beyah - Regressed after an INSANE Freshman year.
Sancho McDonald - Fell off the face of the earth after a great freshman or sophomore year (can't remember)
Tavares Thomas @ RB - Great 1st year at the position, then disappeared.
Chaton Mobley - Looked great at first, doesn't even really play now.
Jordan Parker - HUGE freshmen and sophomore years....then ????
Shane Tucker - Great sophomore year, then never improved on that but was solid contributor when healthy.

These are just players off the top of my head. If I actually sat down and looked at rosters there would be many more.

Eldred King.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Wiley is absolutely right.
7 members of the staff are over 50.
Stock, Franklin, Shafer, West, Beckles, Mallory, and Brock.

4 are over 60.

It’s sad but true that these guys have had their fill of the road and recruiting. It’s a young man’s game. Some will say I’m biased for this but, look no farther than 230 miles to the west. The avg. age of Mike Norvell’s Memphis staff is probably 35. He’s only 37.

Other than our own Kenneth Gilstrap, the under 40 crowd of the current staff has little or zero FBS playing or coaching experience. How do you go on the road and effectively sell our product to recruits when you haven’t even lived it yet?

Building a quality staff is #1 job of the Head Coach. He is the CEO. The face of the program. Unfortunately, he’s already received his golden parachute and it shows.

The truth hurts but I’m afraid it’s gonna be a long season.

 

[Blue_H]

We have poor player development here, across the board. Our staff is littered with rejects and old coaching blood just biding their time. We have very little fresh blood amongst our staff and the younger coaches that we do have are questionable hires at best anyway. Good G5 programs are consistently turning over position coaches, coordinators, and head coaches. We do nothing of the sort here and nobody seems to bat an eye. It is truly remarkable. Status quo would be an understatement. It is the Middle Tennessee way and apparently widely accepted and supported.

Have you ever seen a player come to MT and truly make strides from freshmen to sophomore to junior to senior year, etc. ? Nope. In fact, doesn't it seem like they always regress? Isn't it weird that players never seem to get better during their time here?

Brent Stockstill - Regressed
Richie James - Regressed
Ty Lee - About the same
Malcolm Beyah - Regressed after an INSANE Freshman year.
Sancho McDonald - Fell off the face of the earth after a great freshman or sophomore year (can't remember)
Tavares Thomas @ RB - Great 1st year at the position, then disappeared.
Chaton Mobley - Looked great at first, doesn't even really play now.
Jordan Parker - HUGE freshmen and sophomore years....then ????
Shane Tucker - Great sophomore year, then never improved on that but was solid contributor when healthy.

These are just players off the top of my head. If I actually sat down and looked at rosters there would be many more.

I noticed last year with Tavares Thomas that he regressed when he ran the ball so great the year before. The same thing seems to be happening to Chaton Mobley perhaps? They're of a similar build, but it's like they changed the way they ran in the off-season. What's the old saying? "Don't spook the thoroughbred."

 

[crposton]

Its not like he'd respond anyway.

He actually has responded to me before. He did not respond to the last email I sent asking if getting embarrassed on national TV was really worth the money and saying we need to figure out other ways to raise funds outside of games we cannot win with the current staff and student fees.

 

[crposton]

You guys are missing the point. It's not the fact that we lost or won. It's HOW we lost and HOW we won.

I'm not upset about being 1-3. I'm upset that we were not competitive against Duke at home as only a 6 point dog. We were completely dominated on both lines of scrimmage. It honestly looked like two teams that didn't even belong in the same field as one another. Then, we were not competitive as 24 point dogs @ Iowa. They nearly covered the spread twice on us and once again, we were not competitive at all in any phase of the game. Once again, it looked like two teams that had no business playing each other.

Even the W over Tennessee State, we give up 400+ yards of offense and allow them to rush the ball for 200+ yards on the ground. This is a bottom feeder FCS team giving our front 7 the business. Tennessee State averaged 4.9 YPC against our front 7. WHAT?!?!?!?

Going on 2 decades and this is what we get? Sorry, no thanks.

Then everyone wants to talk about winning the special olympics, I mean CUSA, big whoop. This conference has never been so bad in it's entire existence. I hate to be such a debbie downer but it's the cold hard truth. Look at the OOC play from CUSA thus far this season. Other than FAU beating Ball St., I honestly can't think of another win against an FBS team our conference has. LOL! CUSA is without a question the worst FBS conference in football right now. So even winning it does not say much.

And finally, MT01 made great points about the irrelevance of winning CUSA Championships. It's about fielding a damn good team and competing with nearly every team you play. You do that, and the respect (along with conference championships), will come. After 15+ years, we are not even close to that level.

It's time to face the music. Our football program is bad, this team is bad, this conference is bad, and our administrators are inept. Call me negative, call me a debbie downer, call me whatever. But you know it's true. And without DRASTIC measures, nothing's ever going to change. We need a new president, a new AD, a new staff, a new everything.

Serious question and I know you said being competitive against the P5 teams we play, but what are we doing in FBS if our conference championship does not matter? Is a NY6 bowl supposed to matter? If we were to ever make it and actually beat a top P5 team they would just say the P5 team did not show up because they were left out of the playoff and did not care. UCF got zero respect for what they did and they will never get a chance to make the playoff unless it is expanded. All we can play for are a conference championship and an overall meaningless bowl game win as long as things stay the way they are.

 

[mtfblue]

Serious question and I know you said being competitive against the P5 teams we play, but what are we doing in FBS if our conference championship does not matter? Is a NY6 bowl supposed to matter? If we were to ever make it and actually beat a top P5 team they would just say the P5 team did not show up because they were left out of the playoff and did not care. UCF got zero respect for what they did and they will never get a chance to make the playoff unless it is expanded. All we can play for are a conference championship and an overall meaningless bowl game win as long as things stay the way they are.

A new years day bowl game pays over $4,000,000 plus it's on a day that gets you noticed. So if MT ran the table with these schedules, they would get some respect.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

Serious question and I know you said being competitive against the P5 teams we play, but what are we doing in FBS if our conference championship does not matter? Is a NY6 bowl supposed to matter? If we were to ever make it and actually beat a top P5 team they would just say the P5 team did not show up because they were left out of the playoff and did not care. UCF got zero respect for what they did and they will never get a chance to make the playoff unless it is expanded. All we can play for are a conference championship and an overall meaningless bowl game win as long as things stay the way they are.

Yes those things were said about teams that UCF has played as well as Boise. But what they did got them noticed.

They are national brands now and have money rolling in because of it.

 

[sWiley]

Serious question and I know you said being competitive against the P5 teams we play, but what are we doing in FBS if our conference championship does not matter? Is a NY6 bowl supposed to matter? If we were to ever make it and actually beat a top P5 team they would just say the P5 team did not show up because they were left out of the playoff and did not care. UCF got zero respect for what they did and they will never get a chance to make the playoff unless it is expanded. All we can play for are a conference championship and an overall meaningless bowl game win as long as things stay the way they are.

You have to be good consistently over a long period of time. And by good, I mean playing and beating the big boys when you get the chance. Is it hard? Yes, of course. Being great isn't easy. Teams like UCF and Boise St. are well established and now consistently beat Power 5 programs for recruits (until the P5's can outbid them when players can get "likeness deals"). TCU used to be a G5 program and they played themselves into a power conference with their success. Same goes for Louisville.

There are plenty of examples out there to follow. Success breeds more success and inevitably you are going to get recognized. I still remember when UCF went 0-12 or 0-11 or whatever. It wasn't that long ago. Look at them now. They are the most respected G5 team in the league, consistently beat Power 5 programs for recruits, and were being talked about as a potential playoff team if they ran their schedule and had some breaks along the way.....until they lost to Pitt.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

I can remember when UCF was still playing basketball in the Atlantic Sun Conf. against Lipscomb and Belmont prior to 2005. Then they proceeded to pillage and plunder CUSA and the AAC ever since. It can be done.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

He actually has responded to me before. He did not respond to the last email I sent asking if getting embarrassed on national TV was really worth the money and saying we need to figure out other ways to raise funds outside of games we cannot win with the current staff and student fees.

LMAO!!!!

 

[crposton]

You have to be good consistently over a long period of time. And by good, I mean playing and beating the big boys when you get the chance. Is it hard? Yes, of course. Being great isn't easy. Teams like UCF and Boise St. are well established and now consistently beat Power 5 programs for recruits (until the P5's can outbid them when players can get "likeness deals"). TCU used to be a G5 program and they played themselves into a power conference with their success. Same goes for Louisville.

There are plenty of examples out there to follow. Success breeds more success and inevitably you are going to get recognized. I still remember when UCF went 0-12 or 0-11 or whatever. It wasn't that long ago. Look at them now. They are the most respected G5 team in the league, consistently beat Power 5 programs for recruits, and were being talked about as a potential playoff team if they ran their schedule and had some breaks along the way.....until they lost to Pitt.

I agree it can be done, but conference realignment is going to be harder unless the P5 wants to expand to 16 team conferences

 

[crposton]

A new years day bowl game pays over $4,000,000 plus it's on a day that gets you noticed. So if MT ran the table with these schedules, they would get some respect.

I get the money part of it, but we have a long way to go to get there. CUSA championships and some 10-win seasons need to happen first.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

I get the money part of it, but we have a long way to go to get there. CUSA championships and some 10-win seasons need to happen first.

Good luck with that........and this current staff. Just sayin’.

Watching the video of him trying to give away t-shirts in the student center was pretty telling. Sad but telling.