FOOTBALL WAY WAY early look at 2024 OOC slate
- Thread starter Matt Dossett
- Start date
We host Tech and Duke, they both have new coaches, of course we do as well. Renewing season tickets thanks to stockstill being fired. That was my best Christmas gift, by far.
Will be interesting to track season ticket sales compared to the last couple of years...
OM could get ugly. Kiffin stocking the cupboard with talented transfers..
Would be pleasantly surprised if it was anything more than a slight bump. If they can improve on the 4-8 finish last season and maybe defeat wku, something stockstill had managed to avoid most of the last decade, locals may be encouraged in 2025 to make some games.
If somehow they finish with 7 or 8 wins next fall, we might have some excitement around football for once. Is it too much to ask for? Probably.
I hate to say it but I believe Memphis will win by at least two tds.
Hopefully we can get in and out of there without anyone shot or robbed.
I don't think Kiffen would call off the dogs. He's still pissed we beat his FAU team here on a last second 2 point conversion.
You are welcome to caravan in with me behind my police escort. They meet me at the 26 mile marker and take me all the way in to Parkway. And I’ll be packing. 😂
Memphis is light years ahead of us at the moment. Facts is facts.
I love this schedule, especially opening the season with an FCS AND at home. Should be that way every single year.
Not crazy about two P5, but at least one is at home and those games will become less and less with new super conferences.
Realistically 1-3 is likely. 2-2 would be great. I fully expect Ole Miss to be a thumping and I'd like for Memphis and Duke to at the very least be competitive games.
I know Lee worked out the Memphis deal and I'm very impressed with our scheduling for the future. 2024-2028 all have opening weekend against FCS at home if things stay, unless we hit a week zero game somehow for the latter years.
24 - TN Tech 08/31
25 - Austin Peay 08/30
26 - Murray St 09/05
27 - N Alabama 09/04
28 - Chatt 09/02
Not crazy about two P5, but at least one is at home and those games will become less and less with new super conferences.
Realistically 1-3 is likely. 2-2 would be great. I fully expect Ole Miss to be a thumping and I'd like for Memphis and Duke to at the very least be competitive games.
I know Lee worked out the Memphis deal and I'm very impressed with our scheduling for the future. 2024-2028 all have opening weekend against FCS at home if things stay, unless we hit a week zero game somehow for the latter years.
24 - TN Tech 08/31
25 - Austin Peay 08/30
26 - Murray St 09/05
27 - N Alabama 09/04
28 - Chatt 09/02
Future Middle Tennessee Football Schedules | FBSchedules.com
View future Middle Tennessee football schedules and opponents at FBSchedules.com.
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The Memphis interim DC who grew up in and played for Hohenwald, then UTM had one helluva game plan. He was hired away from Marshall 3 years ago to coach the Tiger LB’s. Hopefully, he will be promoted and get a big pay bump.
The Tigers’ QB has already committed to come back for his Senior season and will own probably every passing / scoring record as a 4 year starter.
If Hennigan comes back, that could get ugly. I watched the liberty bowl. If they can figure out the defense, Memphis could challenge for the playoff spot, they have that much talent.
TN Tech is a win. Duke is winnable after their losses, but not easy.
I fully expect to be 1-3. If we dominate TN Tech and don’t get destroyed by everyone else I’ll be happy. 2-2 is a massive win. If CDM figures a way to go 3-1 I might have a heart attack.
We always play Memphis pretty well, considering we dominate them in the all-time record. I was at the liberty bowl, and they do have some players. Not really sure about a prediction for that game but certainly not scared of a fellow mid major
That was Tommy West’s and Larry Porter’s Memphis. Things have changed for the better since those days.
From a straight talent perspective; I’d probably rank them above Duke next year.
We could win, Memphis always blows a game or two. But we’ll have to play very well and they’ll have to play poorly.
I’d probably rank our win chances as:
TN Tech: 96%
Duke: 35%
Memphis 30%
Ole Miss: Grab the bag and run.
I know we got $1.5m from Ole Miss a few years ago with the reworked UConn deal. Are we getting more now or did that payout then cover this?
And the Duke deal? Was originally supposed to be home/home starting in '19 when they were here. But Covid threw a wrench in that and we never went to Durham, and now they are back here. We are listed as being there in '29. I'm guessing this year's game is payback for them cancelling '20.
And the Duke deal? Was originally supposed to be home/home starting in '19 when they were here. But Covid threw a wrench in that and we never went to Durham, and now they are back here. We are listed as being there in '29. I'm guessing this year's game is payback for them cancelling '20.
Anything better than 1-3 OOC this season is a positive. Anything better than 4-4 in conference is a positive. If we hit 6-6 (or better) and a make a bowl this year, then CDM has done a fantastic job. I think realistically 4 or 5 wins is the expected result in year one.
Any clue when CUSA will release our conference schedule?
Any clue when CUSA will release our conference schedule?
That's my thoughts as well. Bowl eligibilty is a win for year one in my book.
Who knows. '23 was released mid Jan, '22 mid Feb. But it had to deal with the Marshall etc to SBC mess and was revised in March. '21 was in January as well, so hopefully we will get it within the next couple of weeks.
The Liberty QB, Salter, just hit the portal, so Liberty just got a little weaker.
Except they are bringing in 4 star Jayden Bradford who will probably be even better than Salter
Very good for the conference to have LU recruit well. Rising tides raise all boats.
We'll see. They are a clear step above everyone else in the conference when it comes to facilities, budget, fan support, coaches, and basically every other metric you can think of when it comes to college athletics.
Yeah, they are not a peer program. A healthy growing conference is going to need some parity.
I still go back to the fact that if the only reason you were brought into the conference was because you could keep it from dissolving, you shouldn’t be here.
Parity will eventually happen. At some point, Liberty will take a step back (or MT / WKU & the rest of the CUSA take a step forward). Liberty raised the bar. And it forced the other schools to get serious too.
This is false. Resources matter most and we will never be able to spend like they do. In fact, the delta between their resources and ours will continue to widen.
Liberty spends double on football what MT does. Within five years, they will spend triple what we spend on football. Overall, their athletic budget is 40% higher than ours. This does not include their ability to pay players via NIL that we have no capacity at all to do. Nor does it include recent spending for infrastructure. They have spent more than $150 million on athletic facilities in recent years. They spent $29 million for an indoor football facility, $40 million on football stadium expansion, and another 65,000-square-foot football operations center, which they spent another $20M on. All of this dwarfs our little project. If it ever actually gets done, we will sit on it for 20 or 30 years while Liberty continues to invest in more infrastructure.
This is not going to "raise the bar". It will unequivocally create a schism that will eventually lead to significant consternation and infighting within the conference. Go ahead and bookmark this post, so you can refer back to it in a few years.
Ultimately, Liberty will simply move on to a better conference while MT attempts to tread water (and likely just drowns)
For a multitude of reasons, the money and fan support just isn't there in Murfreesboro. And there's no reason to believe it ever will be there.
For a multitude of reasons, the money and fan support just isn't there in Murfreesboro. And there's no reason to believe it ever will be there.
Over the long run, $$$$'s matter probably more than anything, and I just don't see us keeping up. We can do well amongst our peers, but Liberty is going to have a small SEC teams budget.
It's going to give Liberty the advantage in coaching candidates, facilities, NIL, recruiting, and player retention.
It's just not a good fit with a bunch of programs that are building, rebuilding, or just plain old failed to launch (us).
Just my opinion but NIL and transfers are gonna push people away more than a dominance of the flames.
It's like a headline I saw today. College football game itself isn't broken, just everything around it is. Over 20m people watched the Rose Bowl, the NY6 averaged 13m. Even WVU in the Duke's Bowl on a Wednesday night had almost 3m.
It's sadly been working for years to the point that attendance doesn't matter. TV rules all. If people are against NIL etc, they aren't showing it by not watching.
NIL and the portal are here to stay, they just need fixed.
UGA has lost 32 players to the portal or draft and that doesn't include any covid seniors that decide not to return.
And they're still over the scholarship limit, so they'll be culling the roster even more. This is all insane. And instead of fixing the problem, they're going expand on it by probably seeking this new division so they can have as many players as they want. I still can't believe presidents are letting this happen. Just shows at most schools the football coach runs the university.
And they're still over the scholarship limit, so they'll be culling the roster even more. This is all insane. And instead of fixing the problem, they're going expand on it by probably seeking this new division so they can have as many players as they want. I still can't believe presidents are letting this happen. Just shows at most schools the football coach runs the university.
