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let's say that SMU is bowl eligible with one of the top CUSA records.

let's say the Hawaii bowl invites SMU.

Who really wants SMU to play in Hawaii on Christmas Eve?
June Jones... people in Hawaii... the players/families?...

what if we were to reject a bid from the Hawaii bowl, and target the Armed Forces Bowl in Forth Worth instead? (they have 3rd pick of CUSA teams). The team doesn't get a nice trip to Hawaii... but the SMU fans are rewarded with being able to conveniently see the historic bowl game in person!
The Forth Worth bowl should expect a good crowd, too, although attendance doesn't look bad in the last two years.

Amon Carter Stadium capacity: 44,008
2008 (Air Force vs Houston): 41,127
2007 (Air Force vs Cal): 40,905


TP

Sounds good to me, but it ain't happening. Jones has been telling the team all year they'd go to Hawaii.

Ft. Worth would be better for the school ($) and our fans, though.

Hey, let's go to the Liberty Bowl on Jan. 2 as C-USA champs and none of that matters.

Won't happen.

Let them go to Hawaii. Good excuse for YOU to go to Hawaii also.

Anyway, think about how many extra media stories we'd get when you add the June Jones Homecoming angle into the mix.

The problem is not going to Hawaii. The problem is the date. How many people are watching a mid-level bowl game on Christmas Eve night? Doesn't matter what the media stories are when no one is watching.

Best case scenario (in my opinion):
SMU wins out and UH loses one more conference game
C-USA Championship game at Ford and we win
Liberty Bowl birth vs. Ole Miss, Arkansas, or other mid-SEC team
Convincing win in Liberty Bowl

Well, on the one hand it is Christmas Eve and there are not a ton of people clamoring for sports.

On the other hand, it is the only thing on TV that night. No other football at all. Ratings-wise, it will do fine for ESPN.

Here are the TV ratings for last year's bowls: http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/01/bowl_tv_ratings.html

You will see the Hawaii Bowl did fine on Christmas Eve last season. In fact, it was the highest rated bowl of all the ones we seem to be in the running for. Granted, that contest had Notre Dame in it. The previous year, it had a 1.47, which was still more than the Armed Forces or New Orleans Bowl.

Okay, I'm rubbibg my eyes, scratching my head..."reject" (!!??) a bowl invitation?? Yes, Hawaii is far away and yes, it is Christmas eve, but less we forget, it might be the first invitation we have had in a long, long time. Why would we ever try to manipulate such an outcome? Let us not forget that Bennett had us with 6 wins and no invite a few years back. And, hey, the Hawaii Bowl sounds pretty darn good to a recruit.

usually that Hawaii Bowl does pretty good in ratings because as Dooby says nothing else is on

Ah, to return to Hawaii.

couch 'em wrote:Let them go to Hawaii. Good excuse for YOU to go to Hawaii also.

Anyway, think about how many extra media stories we'd get when you add the June Jones Homecoming angle into the mix.

Hawaii bowl would be great national publicity. Also as seen on the ratings link Dooby gave that the Hawaii bowl was higher rated than either the Liberty bowl or Armed Forced bowl. In fact, the Armed Forces bowl was near the bottom of the list. In our first bowl in 25 years we need publicity, we can be concerned with comfort on the next ones after that,

Classic

huskerpony wrote:The problem is not going to Hawaii. The problem is the date. How many people are watching a mid-level bowl game on Christmas Eve night? Doesn't matter what the media stories are when no one is watching.

What SMU fans should realize is that the Hawaii Bowl gets *excellent* TV ratings and will be a better TV showcase than any of the other games SMU could go to except for the LIberty Bowl.

What SMU fans should also realize is that because nothing else is going on then, ESPN spends *days* hyping up the teams that will be playing in the Hawaii Bowl. National visibility for SMU will be FAR greater with the Hawaii Bowl than in any other Bowl SMU could go to (aside from the Liberty Bowl) because ESPN will have stories on SMU in constant repeat mode for the days leading up to the game. I think that the JJ/Hawaii angle would be rehashed on ESPN about 100 times, and feature stories on so many of the players of SMU would bring great visibility to the entire team.

When lots of bowls are going on, ESPN has to split their coverage between the different games. For the Hawaii Bowl, ESPN focuses its coverage on the game for quite some time.

One must crawl before one walks; one must walk before one runs.

We are in no position to reject a bowl bid. Given the long history of not bowling, any bowl is a good bowl. If there is any talk about rejecting a bowl, let it be after we've gone to 10 or 15 bowls in a row.

All this bowl talk is troubling to me. We have won 4 games. While the future schedule looks promising, this team, this school, and the fans are in no position to talk bowls until we are eligible and invited, in my humble opinion and with due respect to those who have a differing opinion.

Over the years, we've weird things happen to this team--win games we shouldn't, lose games we shouldn't. We shouldn't take any team for granted.

Let's all calm down, focus on beating Rice and the remaining opponents, and then determine what bowl we'd like to go to. Please.

Beat Rice.