Topic: MU should buy out the CCU opener next season and find a better home opponent

[whf]

With Arkansas State here from the SBC, and the CCU game as the opener, we have two of four home games that I don't think anyone will really be excited about. That is 33% of the time in the Joan with little to no interest; way to high a risk factor for income and program support.

Even as the opener, with folks wanting to support the program and anticipate seeing the 2023 team, CCU is a bad get.  If we could add at least a mid level FCS team, or a lower tier FBS (from somewhere), we could at least create some excitement about our opener.  The attendance of the opener is significant in financial endeavors and to create attraction of general fans to come back.

Personally, I think we should always look south for these games, CAC, MEAC, HBUs, or MVC.  These teams are all good enough to have fans of their own, and even if down periodically, at least folks know their names. 

[coalherd]

Doubt if we can find better at this date.  Also, with several big questions unanswered currently about the 2023 HERD team, we may need a "gimme" game or so this coming season.  TWO power teams on the schedule, VA Tech at home and NC State on the road, plus a season opener at ECU of the AAC, Huff's team has enough challenges in OOC play, not to mention our SBC schedule itself.

[whf]

Doubt if we can find better at this date.  Also, with several big questions unanswered currently about the 2023 HERD team, we may need a "gimme" game or so this coming season.  TWO power teams on the schedule, VA Tech at home and NC State on the road, plus a season opener at ECU of the AAC, Huff's team has enough challenges in OOC play, not to mention our SBC schedule itself.

I just don't think you learn much by playing down that far, and the potential to lose so much money is greater than than the risk of having too difficult a game.  I think Spears is doing a yeoman's job, but this was a glaring outlier in all that's happened, IMHO.

[MUsince96]

I'd rather have any FBS game over playing an FCS school.

Not sure a better FCS school would help attendance though unless it was someone like North Dakota State. They have a name.

A close FCS school might bring a few more of their fans but our fans aren't going to care about them any more than a CCU.

[coalherd]

Winning our first game on the road at ECU would probably be a big factor in our crowd numbers the next week.  Not sure if VA TECH is our home opener or not.  If not, and we're undefeated when Central Connecticut shows up in the JOAN, that factor would be a chief one in determining our crowd size, IMO.

[Thundering In MD]

I?m looking forward to Arkansas State.  I work with some people from the region. 

They have nice facilities.   

[gochneaur645]

I don't care which FCS team we play as long as we can move the game to Labor Day weekend so we don't start the season off with a bye week and then play 12 straight games.

[coalherd]

Wonder what the reasoning is behind the cross-division scheduling in the SBC?  This season, 2022, we played AT Troy and Louisiana at home.  You would expect that in 2023, we'd play the same TWO teams, only Troy coming to Huntington and MU going to Lafayette.

[ThunderingHerdFan]

Wonder what the reasoning is behind the cross-division scheduling in the SBC?  This season, 2022, we played AT Troy and Louisiana at home.  You would expect that in 2023, we'd play the same TWO teams, only Troy coming to Huntington and MU going to Lafayette.

The Sun Belt doesn't want to leave teams not playing each other for 6 years at a time. They rotate on and off the schedule yearly.

[MUther]

The Sun Belt doesn't want to leave teams not playing each other for 6 years at a time. They rotate on and off the schedule yearly.

Exactly.  We never freakin saw UTEP in football...ever.  SBC will rotate through all opponents and then reverse the venue and do it again, so we'll see everyone every 3-4 years and the 7th team will mix it up so it won't be the same two all the time.

[Herdmeister]

The Sun Belt doesn't want to leave teams not playing each other for 6 years at a time. They rotate on and off the schedule yearly.

Much better. CUSA took the easy way out in scheduling

[whf]

i did look forward to getting a chance at Troy next year, without that shot in the regular season, we must wait to see them in the conference championship.  They get a break, and perhaps we do to, in not playing them next year.

[Stripeshrt]

In reference to Coals original reply and I certainly could have missed this, Has anything been confirmed about Porter?

[CoachMaclid]

The major problem I see is that with the OOC as is, we are looking at another infamous Week 1 bye like we had several years ago, which is not desirable at all.

The only play I see out there is that Kennesaw State is out there struggling to put together a 2023 schedule because of the ASUN-WAC merger happening this year and them getting left out of the merger schedule due to their upcoming departure to C-USA in 2024, so they are trying to schedule anybody.  They don't have a week 1 opponent, so in theory we could trade them Central Connecticut in return for a week 1 game. CCSU gets to keep the same money, KSU gets a home game vs CCSU, and we get a week 1 game against a team that will be FBS in 2024. 

[coalherd]

Exactly.  We never freakin saw UTEP in football...ever.  SBC will rotate through all opponents and then reverse the venue and do it again, so we'll see everyone every 3-4 years and the 7th team will mix it up so it won't be the same two all the time.

MUther, I'm pretty sure we played at UTEP perhaps back when Tan Man was still in charge.  But you may be correct in that I'm not sure they ever came to the JOAN.

[gochneaur645]

We played UTEP 4 times in our first 6 years in CUSA but never again during our last 11 years there.

[herdfan93]

I remember them taking their pick axe to the Joan turf.

[2xBison]

I remember them taking their pick axe to the Joan turf.

Me too.  Not sure how anyone would forget that.  They had the coach that screwed up his chance to coach Bama, Price?


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[MUther]

MUther, I'm pretty sure we played at UTEP perhaps back when Tan Man was still in charge.  But you may be correct in that I'm not sure they ever came to the JOAN.

No they did.  Remember Mike Price planting his pick in our field?  I was saying "We never saw UTEP" as in very rarely, not literally.  We beat the crap out of them and Jordan Palmer. 

Funny story is someone we all know, but I can't say who, ordered pizzas delivered to their linemen and they got them on the field and Price had to go over and yell at them for eating pizza during a game. 

We had USM as a cross divisional opponent for like 5 years in a row after they moved west and I think that took UTEP out of our circulation.  I could see Hamrick or Doc telling CUSA we weren't going out there anymore.  Some kind of deal was struck there to make sure USM and Marshall played each other more during early 3.0.  Probably to keep us around after the trash they brought into CUSA.  A concession, if you will.

[sleeinwv]

No they did.  Remember Mike Price planting his pick in our field?  I was saying "We never saw UTEP" as in very rarely, not literally.  We beat the crap out of them and Jordan Palmer. 

Funny story is someone we all know, but I can't say who, ordered pizzas delivered to their linemen and they got them on the field and Price had to go over and yell at them for eating pizza during a game. 

We had USM as a cross divisional opponent for like 5 years in a row after they moved west and I think that took UTEP out of our circulation.  I could see Hamrick or Doc telling CUSA we weren't going out there anymore.  Some kind of deal was struck there to make sure USM and Marshall played each other more during early 3.0.  Probably to keep us around after the trash they brought into CUSA.  A concession, if you will.

I remember the pizzas.    One of the players finally kicked them across the sidelines.

[Herdmeister]

MUther, I'm pretty sure we played at UTEP perhaps back when Tan Man was still in charge.  But you may be correct in that I'm not sure they ever came to the JOAN.

I was in El Paso when Snyder coached his last game. His wife and daughters sat 2 rows in front of me. The heckling got so bad that she took the girls from the stadium crying to one of the team buses

[HerdFanJ]

The major problem I see is that with the OOC as is, we are looking at another infamous Week 1 bye like we had several years ago, which is not desirable at all.

Supposedly the Sun Belt told Spears they would schedule us a conference game week 1 - so we could take on the NC State game during a normal conference game weekend.  Hopefully that's the case.

[gochneaur645]

Supposedly the Sun Belt told Spears they would schedule us a conference game week 1 - so we could take on the NC State game during a normal conference game weekend.  Hopefully that's the case.

That's impossible because all of our conference opponents have OOC games scheduled for week 1.

[CoachMaclid]

Supposedly the Sun Belt told Spears they would schedule us a conference game week 1 - so we could take on the NC State game during a normal conference game weekend.  Hopefully that's the case.

All of the other 13 Sun Belt schools have an OOC opponent week 1, so there's no one to play in conference.

[HerdFanJ]

That's impossible because all of our conference opponents have OOC games scheduled for week 1.

As I said, HOPEFULLY it's the case and I heard from a reliable source that Spears had told them in meetings.  Nothing is impossible with schedule changes.