A few comments from MrEvents

[lightnin49]

Not that I don't somewhat enjoy the "banter" on this site from 21-16 and other Appy St. folks, but don't you have your own site that you can post on and leave us alone? Or at least let us know what that Appy St. site might be so we can intrude on them in turn.

[UNI92]

21-16 is the first question to the App. St admissions test.
The second is you have to beat a squirrel with a stick

You are exempt from the test if you have a full set of teeth or are not married to a relative!

[21-16]

question # 3 what state is Iowa the Capital of?

UNI92, are you saying that your beloved football team got beat by a bunch of toothless,
ignorant, squirrel chasing hicks? That doesn't speak very Highly of UNI, now does it.

[ralph]

... let us know what that Appy St. site might be so we can intrude on them in turn.

The ASU board:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/appstate/messages

"I'm sorry but there is a lot more interest in the Boise-Boston College game than in the 1AA title game. And I'll bet you 15000 ASU fans would be more excited about playing BC than Northern Iowa.
When we go 1A we'll have regular season wins against 1A opponents that create the same excitement as the 1AA championship game."

"The run has been fun, but I'd much rather be playing a higher caliber of teams our fans can get excited about. Don't let a little uphoria cloud your eyes. The win over Furman was an exciting win, but the wins over Wake were just as much fun and played in front of a lot more fans."

"Playoffs... you can have 'em. If you think this playoff experience is fun try a bowl game experience. There is no comparison."

"ASU will play schools in this area and if you thought ASU's crowd in the title game was great like most feel like, including myself, then man your mind will be blown away when you see how many fans come back and actually watch us in bowls when we are I-A."

"There is no way any of you guys will ever convince ASU fans would be happier winning a 1-aa title over beating someone like Marshall in a nationally televised bowl game. NEVER!"

"How much you wanna bet every person on that staff, with the exception of Coach Moore, would rather be at a 1-A school preparing to go to a bowl game?"



My jokey jab at them, "Is App State I-A yet?":

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6745

[yosef84]

As an Appalachian alumnus myself, I'm not sure why you chose to visit the UNI board with a user name that was custom designed to provoke the UNI fans and then to allow your posts to progressively sink into childish banter. I would appreciate it if you would stop.

To the UNI fans on this board, I would like to say that I have pulled for you guys since the beginning of the season (well..up until the championship game). I work for a company that is based in Des Moines and I spend some time there myself. I was even up there when UNI beat Iowa in basketball a few weeks ago. One of my co-workers is a UNI alum and we've had a great time talking about I-AA football all fall. For the championship to come down to our two teams was beyond my wildest dreams at the beginning of the season.

I was in Chattanooga for the championship game and had a great time. The fact that certain App fans behaved poorly (the idiot who cut the turf, and I'm sure others) is an embarrassment, but not one that I choose to own. Unfortunatley, these types seem to crawl out of the woodworks whenever they think they are in the driver's seat.

I think that certain people on both boards (ASU & UNI) have managed to inflame the situation by exagerating or just plain falsifying accounts of what happened though. I was sitting at the end of the field (South side) where the UNI band entered the stadium. There was NOBODY spitting on them (They actually enter through a tunnel). I was very impressed with the discipline of the UNI band marching into the stadium in parade formation and frankly, if I had seen anyone spitting on them, I would have thrown them over the rail myself!

As for the jerks who showed themselved in other ways, I would only hope that the UNI fans can overlook these idiots. I personally, did not witness any of this kind of behavior.

I would love to see an interconference rivalry develop between ASU and some of the Gateway schools. UNI and Southern Illinois both represented the Gateway conference very well and it would be a great tradition to build on. We have some history with WKU.

In conclusion, I would like to thank UNI for such a great game. Your team and your fans were outstanding. Playing against first class competition is what makes this championship meaningful!

Congratulations on a great year! I hope that we get a chance to meet again next year.

Greg Campbell

[UNI MadCat]

The ASU board:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/appstate/messages

"I'm sorry but there is a lot more interest in the Boise-Boston College game than in the 1AA title game. And I'll bet you 15000 ASU fans would be more excited about playing BC than Northern Iowa.]

First off, there weren't 15,000 there, 12K maybe. Second, 12-15K are not flying to Idaho to watch them get pounded by BC.

When we go 1A we'll have regular season wins against 1A opponents that create the same excitement as the 1AA championship game."

Hard to say that. I can't imagine field storming and turf cutting for wins over Tulsa, Tulane, Akron, Buffalo & Temple; which is where a majority of those wins will come from.

"The run has been fun, but I'd much rather be playing a higher caliber of teams our fans can get excited about. Don't let a little uphoria cloud your eyes. The win over Furman was an exciting win, but the wins over Wake were just as much fun and played in front of a lot more fans."

First off, what is "uphoria"? Yeah, I think I would be having trouble if I had "uphoria" in my eyes too.

"Playoffs... you can have 'em. If you think this playoff experience is fun try a bowl game experience. There is no comparison."

He's right, there is no comparison. I've been to bowls. Lots of them. 11 to be exact. And coming down to Chatty, I always thought, "there's nothing like a bowl". Then we got there. The National Championship/Playoff system IS BETTER!!! Because of those 11 bowl games (7 Wisconsin, 2 Iowa, 2 Iowa State) I think I have a little more frame of reference than this guy and I can honestly tell you I've never experienced anything like what I saw in Chattanooga. Plus, when you add in the emotion packed 3 weekends leading up to the NC game, its unbelievable. For a bowl game (and nowadays, if it aint the big one, it dont matter!!) you sit around for 3-4 weeks reading about the match-up. It's boring and usually anti-climatic. Yeah, if your team wins, its great but to the general public you are bowl #21 of 28 and the caring about it only lasts for 10 seconds until ESPN cuts to its next broadcast of SportsCenter and then turns its attention to Bowl #22. Yes, the two Wisconsin Rose Bowl wins I witnessed ('94 & '99) were very close to the feeling in Chatty, but there is nothing like playing for a true national title. The euphoria (or is it "uphoria"?) surrounding the event was like no other that I've ever seen.

"ASU will play schools in this area and if you thought ASU's crowd in the title game was great like most feel like, including myself, then man your mind will be blown away when you see how many fans come back and actually watch us in bowls when we are I-A."

This just isn't true. 15K are not showing up in Boise or Detroit or Mobile for a meaningless game. When you are experiencing this "uphoria" would you rather walk to the bars after the game shouting "National Champs" or "MPC Computers Champs"?? The truth is, when people talk of jumping to 1-A, they only look thru Marshall-colored glasses. The majority of jumpers experience little success. The only other example is Boise, and really, how much have they seen outside of winning their home bowl game?

"There is no way any of you guys will ever convince ASU fans would be happier winning a 1-aa title over beating someone like Marshall in a nationally televised bowl game. NEVER!"

Wait, so the way you make it big is to beat another mid-major school on TV? No. I can buy the argument that you would be happier beating a BCS school on tv, but why is beating Marshall on national TV any better than beating UNI for an NC? Afterwards you are still only GMAC Bowl Champs and nothing else. The truth is, I think it is more frustrating to be a fan of a mid-major D-1 team because you can't win a playoff title and you can never (ok, rarely, see Utah but even they got screwed having to play the worst BCS team) get to be better than something like San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl Champs. Neat, give me that will ya!! I would venture a guess that the first time a mid-major team makes a crappy bowl their fans go nuts and attend the game in droves (see Arkansas State this year). However, once it happens 2, 3 or 4 times (unless you are Boise and get a home bowl game) the fans could care less and aren't showing up. How many Marshall fans attend the GMAC Bowl every year?

"How much you wanna bet every person on that staff, with the exception of Coach Moore, would rather be at a 1-A school preparing to go to a bowl game?"

I'll give them this one, its probably true.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Great post!

[UNI MadCat]

Thanks, can you tell I'm bored??

[panther2317]

Wow...I guess I thought the ASU fans cared about the game last Friday a little more than he's leading us to believe. I didn't think that fans who didn't care at all came out in force to cheer on their team. Not once did I hear an ASU fan say, "Man, I wish we were in Boise". They were pumped for their team (rightfully so) and it paid off for them with a National Championship.

If ASU goes 1-A it will never play for a National Title again...EVER. It will toil in anonymity and it will not be exciting. Do you think the North Texas alums are excited about finishing either 6-5 or 5-6 every year and playing Arknasas State in the New Orleans Bowl? Because that's where you're headed ASU. You're not playing in the Cap 1 or the Pach Bowl. You will be 'sentenced' to places like Boise. How many other bowl games has Boise State played in OTHER than the one on the smurf turf since they went 1-A? What other teams who were recently 1-AA are having even a modicum of success at the 1-A level? Since 1-A football EXCLUDES all teams from non-BCS conferences for even having a chance to compete for a National Championship...I'm never sure why schools are so eager to leap to a level where they are doomed to fail. I'm seeing a lot of empty seats from 'euphorious' fans in these bowl games the last few days. I'm sure many of them would rather have had a 4-week ride like ASU and UNI's fans experienced in late November and December.

Maybe I'm wrong...oh, one final thing..ask Idaho how to move to 1-A is going. Has anyone paid attention to them since they left 1-AA?

[UNI MadCat]

I'm seeing a lot of empty seats from 'euphorious' fans in these bowl games the last few days.

2317 - I believe it s "uphorious" but you'd have to ask that Appy fan.

[panther2317]

The only difference between playing in Mobile, New Orleans, Boise and Chattanooga is that the game in Chattanooga is meaningful and has purpose. The others lack meaning and have no purpose and each of the last few years (including this year) one of the teams will leave with a .500 record or worse.

[UNI MadCat]

Wow...I guess I thought the ASU fans cared about the game last Friday a little more than he's leading us to believe. I didn't think that fans who didn't care at all came out in force to cheer on their team. Not once did I hear an ASU fan say, "Man, I wish we were in Boise". They were pumped for their team (rightfully so) and it paid off for them with a National Championship.

If ASU goes 1-A it will never play for a National Title again...EVER. It will toil in anonymity and it will not be exciting. Do you think the North Texas alums are excited about finishing either 6-5 or 5-6 every year and playing Arknasas State in the New Orleans Bowl? Because that's where you're headed ASU. You're not playing in the Cap 1 or the Pach Bowl. You will be 'sentenced' to places like Boise. How many other bowl games has Boise State played in OTHER than the one on the smurf turf since they went 1-A? What other teams who were recently 1-AA are having even a modicum of success at the 1-A level? Since 1-A football EXCLUDES all teams from non-BCS conferences for even having a chance to compete for a National Championship...I'm never sure why schools are so eager to leap to a level where they are doomed to fail. I'm seeing a lot of empty seats from 'euphorious' fans in these bowl games the last few days. I'm sure many of them would rather have had a 4-week ride like ASU and UNI's fans experienced in late November and December.

Maybe I'm wrong...oh, one final thing..ask Idaho how to move to 1-A is going. Has anyone paid attention to them since they left 1-AA?

I know this thread has taken a total left turn but, seriously, you are so right.

I'm no idiot, I know no fans of BCS schools will ever give a crap about a I-AA title game. But they also will never give a crap about a I-A low level bowl won by North Texas, Idaho, Boise, Marshall, etc, etc. At least if you win the I-AA title your are king in your own I-AA world and there ARE people envious of you. But I just dont see the jealousy towards these low level D-I schools at all.

To any fan actually excited about the jump to I-A, I'd caution them to be careful what they wish for.

[ralph]

Seriously, those quotes I posted from the ASU MMB are from just a few different posters from one thread. There are an overwhelmingly majority of ASU fans who are completely ecstatic about their national title. Unfortunately those few sour posters dominate that board. It is what it is, its their board.

[UNIAlum95]

The courier sports page reported today that the EV1.net bowl (that's another banner bowl name) has only sold about 33K tickets... People aren't flocking to see these games. The whole thing is about $$$. The NCAA wants it and ESPN, CBS, ABC, FOX, and NBC are willing to foot the bill to keep this system in place. Until the networks start demanding a real playoff, we'll just have to enjoy wishing teams luck in the (Insert Corporate Name Here) Bowl...

[panther2317]

Yesterday in the Register, Coach Ferentz, head of Lemming Nation, said a play-off system for 'major' college football would be ludicrous. He did congratulate UNI on their play-off run, but said he would never want that for his players.

Hmm...might be the first time I've disagreed with something that Kirk said publicly. He's a pretty genuine person (from what I can pull from the media) and usually says all the right things. I guess I'll just have to agree to disagree with him on a play-off. It would be the best thing for college football.