Topic: Most recent Poll and Bowl ratings and projections . . .

[coalherd]

. . . are out from the guys at cbssports.com.

Those folks are still only ranking teams who are ACTIVELY playing college (FBS) football currently.  Despite our "rash" of bouts with "OPEN", the HERD, IMO, still managed to do well in said rankings.  First, the AAC's G5 dominance is most evident as UCF comes in at #9, Cincy at #16, Memphis at #22.  Most evident "head scratcher" to me is that a 1-2 Louisville comes in at #25, just ahead of unbeaten 3-0 Louisiana!  Another AAC team, SMU, 3-0, is at 27, followed at #28 by . . . . . . MARSHALL!!!!  Oh, the HERD comes in AHEAD of such Power teams as the ACC's Boston College, the SEC's South Carolina and Mississippi, and the Big 12s Kansas State and Iowa State, and . . . WEST VIRGINIA!

As for Bowls, the cbsports people have included ALL FBS conferences who PLAN on resuming some form of football this fall/early winter.  Including the Mountain West and the MAC. Somehow, and don't ask me "how", despite the AAC's dominance in the polls, Boise State is cbssports' pick for the G5 slot in the Access Bowl!!

Other Bowl match ups of interest:  WVU slated to play SMU in the First Responders Bowl on 12/30; on 12/26 Stanford now replaces Marshall as Army's foe in the Independence Bowl; on 12/21 Ohio U. matched up with Arkansas St. in Orlando's Cure Bowl, and MARSHALL takes on Air Force back in the New Mexico Bowl!!

Other CUSA match ups include Rice vs. Hawaii on 12/24 out in the Pacific; on 12/20 its BYU-UAB in the Frisco Bowl; FAU and Appy in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, and, lastly, NTSU gets the "highly coveted" slot in the Bahamas Bowl versus our "beloved" friends from little Cryami (Ohio)!!

One reminder, folks:  DO NOT book your airline flights and hotel accommodations JUST YET!  ;D

[breckjimison]

I don’t mind us playing military academies but I hope we play a school with more than a two game schedule.  I know that will change if MW resumes but that is still a big IF!?!?

[coalherd]

I don’t mind us playing military academies but I hope we play a school with more than a two game schedule.  I know that will change if MW resumes but that is still a big IF!?!?

Do not disagree!  But with as many open dates that the HERD has/has had, I figured we've got to talk about something regarding college football, even if it is mostly conjecture!  :)

[Herdmeister]

. . . are out from the guys at cbssports.com.

Those folks are still only ranking teams who are ACTIVELY playing college (FBS) football currently.  Despite our "rash" of bouts with "OPEN", the HERD, IMO, still managed to do well in said rankings.  First, the AAC's G5 dominance is most evident as UCF comes in at #9, Cincy at #16, Memphis at #22.  Most evident "head scratcher" to me is that a 1-2 Louisville comes in at #25, just ahead of unbeaten 3-0 Louisiana!  Another AAC team, SMU, 3-0, is at 27, followed at #28 by . . . . . . MARSHALL!!!!  Oh, the HERD comes in AHEAD of such Power teams as the ACC's Boston College, the SEC's South Carolina and Mississippi, and the Big 12s Kansas State and Iowa State, and . . . WEST VIRGINIA!

As for Bowls, the cbsports people have included ALL FBS conferences who PLAN on resuming some form of football this fall/early winter.  Including the Mountain West and the MAC. Somehow, and don't ask me "how", despite the AAC's dominance in the polls, Boise State is cbssports' pick for the G5 slot in the Access Bowl!!

Other Bowl match ups of interest:  WVU slated to play SMU in the First Responders Bowl on 12/30; on 12/26 Stanford now replaces Marshall as Army's foe in the Independence Bowl; on 12/21 Ohio U. matched up with Arkansas St. in Orlando's Cure Bowl, and MARSHALL takes on Air Force back in the New Mexico Bowl!!

Other CUSA match ups include Rice vs. Hawaii on 12/24 out in the Pacific; on 12/20 its BYU-UAB in the Frisco Bowl; FAU and Appy in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, and, lastly, NTSU gets the "highly coveted" slot in the Bahamas Bowl versus our "beloved" friends from little Cryami (Ohio)!!

One reminder, folks:  DO NOT book your airline flights and hotel accommodations JUST YET!  ;D

I assume when you put NTSU you were meaning UNT as in University of North Texas?  Also it looks like they give UAB a nice gig getting BYU in Frisco. I'd like to see Marshall with that matchup

[svherd]

Shocked they have Rice bowling. Oh well, it's early.

[Herdmeister]

Shocked they have Rice bowling. Oh well, it's early.

Every team is eligible this year

[puma]

I usually love this kind of stuff but it seems excessively early when 40% of teams haven't even started yet.

I'm still crossing my fingers that this mangled season will result in some wheeling-and-dealing and get the Herd into a better bowl than a C-USA team would normally be eligible for.

[sardistim]

I usually love this kind of stuff but it seems excessively early when 40% of teams haven't even started yet.

I'm still crossing my fingers that this mangled season will result in some wheeling-and-dealing and get the Herd into a better bowl than a C-USA team would normally be eligible for.

The added national exposure in our first 2 games because of COVID, AND the fact that we made the most of them -- convincingly beating EKU with big plays and the outstanding play of a Freshman QB and then the upset of a Top 25 team in App State, have set us up better than we could ever have hoped for. 

Now all that remains is to take care of business -- win CUSA.  Do that and even if we don't get a NY6 bowl game, in this weird year, we just might get a bowl and an opponent that we will excite Herd fans.

BUT take care of business first.  One CUSA game at a time.  And if Hamrick could sign up a game with BYU, even better!

[pdunn]

Would love to go back to Alberquerque.  Best Herd bowl experience I ever had.  Mobile was second.

[coalherd]

Would love to go back to Alberquerque.  Best Herd bowl experience I ever had.  Mobile was second.

Can't offer an opinion about Albuquerque, but I think a game against Air Force, a MWC member would be ok.  In a Conference rated above CUSA, I believe such a game would be good exposure for the Herd in the Western part of the country, like our Bowl game win at the same venue over Colorado State a couple years back.  Like our NCAA win over Wichita State did out in San Diego.  Plus, any time you play one of the Service Academies, that game garners some nation wide exposure/attention, IMO, as the military is ubiquitous throughout the country, as are grads of the Service Academies!!

[Herdmeister]

Would love to go back to Alberquerque.  Best Herd bowl experience I ever had.  Mobile was second.

Boca was far and away my favorite.  I enjoyed the ECU Mobile trip more than the one with Louisville

[herd2win]

Two favorites were the Beef OBrady bowl in St Pete and then the Military Bowl against Maryland.  Hard to go against the excitement of the first bowl against Ole Miss.

[pdunn]

I would guess that Fort Worth would unanimously be considered the worst of them.  Not a lot to do, cold as hell and froze my butt off at the game, team didn't seem to give a rip and got beat pretty bad.  And had to fly back on Christmas Eve, that's always loads of laughs--and I flew US Air and their computer system crashed to boot which led to a lot of surly people.

[goherd24]

Maryland in the Military Bowl was my favorite.

[Herdmeister]

I would guess that Fort Worth would unanimously be considered the worst of them.  Not a lot to do, cold as hell and froze my butt off at the game, team didn't seem to give a rip and got beat pretty bad.  And had to fly back on Christmas Eve, that's always loads of laughs--and I flew US Air and their computer system crashed to boot which led to a lot of surly people.

Nothing else close.
I flew Air Tran from Pittsburgh because Cincinnati was closed. On the way home I had to fly to Cincinnati on Christmas Eve, rent a car, drive to Pittsburgh to get my car and then drive back to where I lived in Columbus.  We arrived home around 4 am Christmas morning
The only positive about that trip was, we stayed at the team hotel. Since I spent the night in the same hotel that John F Kennedy spent his last night alive it was rather historic

[lexkyherdfan]

I really enjoyed Boca.  Great location for a bowl game.  Team hotel was great.  The weather was perfect.  Only bad thing was traveling back on Christmas Eve but made it back early afternoon.

[NewfieHerdFan]

Would love to go back to Alberquerque.  Best Herd bowl experience I ever had.  Mobile was second.

Didn't get to go to the bowl game in Albuquerque. However, I do have a good friend who lives in Santa Fe and I went out to visit him last October. Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque are lovely places. Great scenery, awesome food and nice golf courses.

[Herdmeister]

I really enjoyed Boca.  Great location for a bowl game.  Team hotel was great.  The weather was perfect.  Only bad thing was traveling back on Christmas Eve but made it back early afternoon.

Agreed. We paid $175 a night in a hotel that one week later sell that same room for $700 per night. Multi-million dollar yachts moored outside the back door

[lexkyherdfan]

Agreed. We paid $175 a night in a hotel that one week later sell that same room for $700 per night. Multi-million dollar yachts moored outside the back door

yep and we were treated well by staff.  Didn't matter that we got a deal on the room and were there for the bowl game. 

[bbcard1]

I would have probably felt differently if we had played with any spirit at all, but the Ft. Worth Bowl was just dreadful. Cold, Horrible play. Undisciplined, underachieving team...ick.

[marshallmark]

The bowl atmosphere in Detroit was horrible, although the games themselves were fun.

Military Bowl was amazing - hard to top Annapolis as a venue.  Boca was my favorite, because you really have to try to not have a good time in south central FLA

[puma]

I would have probably felt differently if we had played with any spirit at all, but the Ft. Worth Bowl was just dreadful. Cold, Horrible play. Undisciplined, underachieving team...ick.

Were the expectations just higher back then? A 32-14 loss doesn't sound half bad in comparison to the UCF bowl last year.

[bbcard1]

Were the expectations just higher back then? A 32-14 loss doesn't sound half bad in comparison to the UCF bowl last year.

It was a lot worse that the UCF loss, but you might have a point on expectations...not program expectations but for that specific team. They really did have Top 25 talent with Goddard and Bradshaw, but were incredibility underachieving. They played toe to toe with Georgia and Ohio State, but choked away a MAC title at Akron and limped home with a 6-6 team. No one thought we had a Top 25 team last year and I felt we played better versus UCF, setting aside the two early defensive touchdowns by the Knights. UCF was a far superior team to that Bearcats team. Also, I blew my Christmas bonus to go to the Fort Worth Bowl, just sat in a Bdubs for the Gaspiralla Bowl.

[pdunn]

Didn't get to go to the bowl game in Albuquerque. However, I do have a good friend who lives in Santa Fe and I went out to visit him last October. Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque are lovely places. Great scenery, awesome food and nice golf courses.

Definitely worth it to take a day and make that side trip to Santa Fe.  I picked up some really nice turquoise jewelry for my wife and some other local arts and crafts at the outdoor market on the square.  Nice folks too.

[carolinaherdfan]

I’ve been through there 3 times, and Albuquerque is ok, but I agree Santa Fe is the best area in New Mexico...