Meanwhile at Marshall...

[EconPony'10]

Look at this schedule haha. Good for them though. We would still be winless. Would you all rather have a schedule like this or one or two Big12 teams + TCU a year?

Marshall Thundering Herd
7-0, 1st in East Division
Scores & Schedule
Sat, Aug 30 @ Miami (OH) W 42 - 27
Sat, Sep 6 vs. Rhode Island W 7 - 48
Sat, Sep 13 vs. Ohio W 14 - 44
Sat, Sep 20 @ Akron W 48 - 17
Sat, Oct 4 @ Old Dominion W 56 - 14
Sat, Oct 11 vs. Middle Tennessee W 24 - 49
Sat, Oct 18 @ FIU W 45 - 13
Sat, Oct 25 vs. Florida Atlantic 2:30 PM
Sat, Nov 8 @ Southern Miss 6:00 PM
Sat, Nov 15 vs. Rice TBD
Sat, Nov 22 @ UAB 12:00 PM
Fri, Nov 28 vs. Western Kentucky11:00 AM

[03Mustang]

Do you want to be Marshall, or do you want to be in a conference like the Big 12?

[gomemphistigers1]

That terrible schedule is why Marshall may go undefeated and not get the access bowl...

[Big12Mustang]

That terrible schedule is why Marshall may go undefeated and not get the access bowl...

This. A one loss AAC team like ECU or maybe even UCF could get the berth before Marshall.

[sbsmith]

Would you all rather have a schedule like this or one or two Big12 teams + TCU a year?

I'll take the Big 12 schedule, the Marshall schedule wouldn't give us any butts in seats.

[diamond_tom]

If we were undefeated and ranked, I think there would be more interest than there is now. More students would show up. Winning is fun. Recruits would notice and want to sign on. I'd feel like other conferences might also take notice that at least we are handling business and winning games. Going undefeated and winning a conference championship ... must be nice... I say drop down to an easier schedule for a few years, get the ball rolling, then when we have more talent, start ramping it back up.

[sbsmith]

If we were undefeated and ranked, I think there would be more interest than there is now. More students would show up. Winning is fun. Recruits would notice and want to sign on. I'd feel like other conferences might also take notice that at least we are handling business and winning games. Going undefeated and winning a conference championship ... must be nice... I say drop down to an easier schedule for a few years, get the ball rolling, then when we have more talent, start ramping it back up.

Or we could just start landing players that can compete against a legit OOC schedule.

[blackoutpony]

If we were undefeated and ranked, I think there would be more interest than there is now. More students would show up. Winning is fun. Recruits would notice and want to sign on. I'd feel like other conferences might also take notice that at least we are handling business and winning games. Going undefeated and winning a conference championship ... must be nice... I say drop down to an easier schedule for a few years, get the ball rolling, then when we have more talent, start ramping it back up.

Or we could just start landing players that can compete against a legit OOC schedule.

Ding Ding Ding!

[diamond_tom]

If we were undefeated and ranked, I think there would be more interest than there is now. More students would show up. Winning is fun. Recruits would notice and want to sign on. I'd feel like other conferences might also take notice that at least we are handling business and winning games. Going undefeated and winning a conference championship ... must be nice... I say drop down to an easier schedule for a few years, get the ball rolling, then when we have more talent, start ramping it back up.

Or we could just start landing players that can compete against a legit OOC schedule.

Ding Ding Ding!

Compare to basketball -
Last year, we played weak OOC, won a lot of games, had a hell of time, but missed out out on the tournament we wanted. Made a nice NIT run, are attracting top talent and start this year ranked in top 20.

[Bergermeister]

Would you all rather have a schedule like this or one or two Big12 teams + TCU a year?

I'll take the Big 12 schedule, the Marshall schedule wouldn't give us any butts in seats.

Personally, I don't go to the game to see "butts in seats" - if they're there, they're there; if they're not, they're not - but I do enjoy seeing my team win - whoever we play. I'm not advocating playing Paul Quinn or East Texas Baptist but we need to learn how to win - and you don't learn playing Baylor, TCU and Aggies first rattle out of the box. You get beat down pretty quick early in the season and it is hard to recover. A determined, committed, hard-working staff will develop a program and work toward playing th' biggies.

[sbsmith]

Compare to basketball -
Last year, we played weak OOC, won a lot of games, had a hell of time, but missed out out on the tournament we wanted. Made a nice NIT run, are attracting top talent and start this year ranked in top 20.

We were attracting top talent before we made that NIT run and it was because of the staff LB assembled not a weak OOC.

[sbsmith]

Personally, I don't go to the game to see "butts in seats" - if they're there, they're there; if they're not, they're not - but I do enjoy seeing my team win - whoever we play. I'm not advocating playing Paul Quinn or East Texas Baptist but we need to learn how to win - and you don't learn playing Baylor, TCU and Aggies first rattle out of the box. You get beat down pretty quick early in the season and it is hard to recover. A determined, committed, hard-working staff will develop a program and work toward playing th' biggies.

You're right we do need to learn how to win and we can do that playing a legit schedule as long as we have a staff that can land legit talent.

[blackoutpony]

Compare to basketball -
Last year, we played weak OOC, won a lot of games, had a hell of time, but missed out out on the tournament we wanted. Made a nice NIT run, are attracting top talent and start this year ranked in top 20.

Was it more fun when we beat Uconn, CIncy and Memphis, or Hofstra, and UCF?

[diamond_tom]

Compare to basketball -
Last year, we played weak OOC, won a lot of games, had a hell of time, but missed out out on the tournament we wanted. Made a nice NIT run, are attracting top talent and start this year ranked in top 20.

We were attracting top talent before we made that NIT run and it was because of the staff LB assembled not a weak OOC.

True - but the formula worked. We need to bring in a staff that is going to recruit like LB's staff. But a football team needs a lot more players than a basketball team. They are not going to be able to load up a team after one year like LB did. Let's play some games we can win while the talent is being upgraded and get on the more favorable side of win/loss records.

[diamond_tom]

Compare to basketball -
Last year, we played weak OOC, won a lot of games, had a hell of time, but missed out out on the tournament we wanted. Made a nice NIT run, are attracting top talent and start this year ranked in top 20.

Was it more fun when we beat Uconn, CIncy and Memphis, or Hofstra, and UCF?

Of course it's more fun to beat good teams. But we have to get good before we can beat them. Hiring a good coach and winning a lot of games in basketball put our team in the spotlight. It got our fans excited.

If at this time next year, we have an exciting new staff in place, are hearing about some good recruiting success, and are 6-0 with a weak OOC, basketball type momentum would be swinging football's way. However, I know OOC is already set, so our record will more likely be 0-6 again.