JoseyWalesTheOutlaw
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🏈 GAME THREAD New Years Day bowl games--
- Thread starter bamaledge
- Start date
bamafan9201
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saturdaysarebetter
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If LSU wins, that will thankfully end all that UCF being great talk. If UCF wins, even against a non-full strength LSU with players sitting out, that will give their talk of they should be with the big boys more credence.
JMO but I doubt 1 loss will shut them up. Very vocal and passionate but largely illogical fanbase
Wasn't this tried when Bama was going to play Louisville this year?
They wont do it. If they wont take a florida game they def wont take a Bama game unless its in the playoff when they have to. It would devastate the program. They have to ride the hype and milk it for all its worth. As long as they keep winning it keeps rolling. They are fortunate they are catching LSU at a bad time. Mid season before playing Bama .......LSU would stomp a mudhole in UCF.
UCF might take a neutral site opener.
What's being missed here is the structure of the game itself. Remember, these are basically a version of an "exhibition" game and when it was explained to me the agreement was made it was lined out to be an ACC vs SEC contest. While Alabama is agreeing to play these games they aren't responsible for which team they will face. (@252BAMA has had some Tidebits from the Atlanta Sports Council in the past, he may be able to expound on this in greater detail.)
In a loose sense this is a lot like the game before Auburn: this year against The Citadel. People like to focus on saying "Bama shouldn't schedule a team like The Citadel, they should be scheduling a P5 opponent that weekend. Yet, they ignore the fact there are no P5 tams available to schedule (sans one this past season, UNC.) As I understand it, here it's not so much "UCF won't," but "UCF can't."
The media guy that made that statement has no clue how the neutral site games work. Bama does not have a contract with Duke in which to buy out. Bama's contract is with Peach Bowl, Inc creator of the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic. Any conversation involving a switch in opponents would have to go through Gary Stokan, President of PBI. The likelihood of that conversation being started by Bama, Duke, or UCF, or him being receptive to such conversation is slim to none. And slim just left town.
There is no agreement with the SEC and ACC for the game(s). In fact, as you will recall, Stokan had a tentative agreement with USC to play in either the 2013 or 2014 game. USC's choice. And as you yourself confirmed, USC's prefered opponent was Bama. All of that went out the window when Pete Carroll left USC. Bama wound up being contracted for both years and played VT and WVU.
Furthermore, Stokan has probably contacted Notre Dame more than any other school about playing in the game. Don't know why because ND does not play neutral site games other than their Shamrock Series. And those are neutral site games in name only. Actually they are off site ND home games in which ND controls all of the tickets and NBC has the TV rights.
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As far as neutral site games go, the adjustment has already been made so I'm not as irritated as I was getting. But no way should Bama have been locked into a neutral site game with Duke. And they can't arbitrarily put someone in against their will. ND, and Texas coming up in a home and home took care of everyone's anxiety for a while, but these neutral site openers are getting a lot less exotic these days.
Less exotic largely due to teams not wanting to play Alabama. I've read the only team that would be open, but their committee didn't want the rematch, was Clemson.
And yet they seem to be willing to line up for a home and home. Now, who's fault is this?
Define "they."
I' rather cut to the chase. Nick Saban is changing his philosophy concerning neutral site games. Period. Probably lots of reasons we could speculate on the big change. For me, he was expecting 9 conference games to kick in and it looks like not much pressure to get it done anytime soon. No team in America has been more neutral site oriented than Alabama. We now know we need these big home and home games to continue to properly impress the playoff committee. It is a business decision after all.
If you remember in 2010 we scheduled the first of a Penn State in a home and home. Do you remember the team we played next? Duke @Duke. It really feels like we still need that extra OOC for our schedule in 2019. I hear Washington is still looking too.
So "they" aren't really the big concern. This is still all up to coach Saban. It always has been.
@TUSKtimes,
There's a lot at play here. With ticket prices going up, facility improvements underway, and a move to a more commercialized home field they needed the bigger draw. A lot of it has to do with giving more back to the fans--at what I see as face value.
As contended all along, the complaints about scheduling were understandable, but the blame and suggestions were off base more than often. You just made the statement, however casual as it might have been, that it is such a simple fix.
Aside from the question, "Do they want to play Alabama, even at home?"
There's a lot at play here. With ticket prices going up, facility improvements underway, and a move to a more commercialized home field they needed the bigger draw. A lot of it has to do with giving more back to the fans--at what I see as face value.
As contended all along, the complaints about scheduling were understandable, but the blame and suggestions were off base more than often. You just made the statement, however casual as it might have been, that it is such a simple fix.
Aside from the question, "Do they want to play Alabama, even at home?"
Notre Dame is a good answer to that question. They can be as discriminating as anyone when making their schedule. I don't think they want any part of us in Atlanta for a season opener. They have no problem playing us in a home and home. You can't see how much prestige comes from having a herd of pachyderm come rumbling into your stadium? And that holds true for us as well.
Think back to our last home and home in the Penn State series. We give this huge social extravaganza in 2010 when JoePa comes to Tuscaloosa. Even have Bobby Bowden there for some reason. Anyway, that was a prestigious opponent for us and part of our historical DNA and we gave it the proverbial buildup, bigtime. Did Penn State feel any different? No, it was absolutely the most important game for those people all year. They gave us a "Whiteout" something they like to save for their most fierce B1G rival, like Ohio State. It was prestigious to have us come on their field for their own historical reference, win, lose or draw. I don't see any problem with any elite team wanting a home and home with the Crimson Tide. And the big boys won't be conceding those games.
Now you've whittled down the pool quite a bit.
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