We do not have any really exciting OOC games for the next 4 years

[AllAmericanBuzz]

Playing the Mississippi schools will be great from a historical perspective. Back in the old days of the SEC, you didn't have to play everyone in the conference. Bobby Dodd refused to play in the state of Mississippi and as a result, the Mississippi schools refused to travel to Atlanta (which explains why we have only played them 5 times total). They really resented the fact that we wouldn't travel to the middle of nowhere for a game. When we tried to get back into the SEC, it's no surprise that they didn't have our back, either.

Although not as many people today realize the history between these schools, these OOC games with Ole Miss and Miss St. should help heal any lingering hostilities between us.

 

[floridajacket]

No, it doesn't. Look at BC and Miami.

Miami and BC are also in college football hellholes. Not to mention that Miami has played and beaten their fair share of huge opponents and they still have a small fan base.

With the current BCS formula, the ONLY time SOS factors in is when three teams happen to be tied at the top. For all the years that doesn't happen, pollsters pretty much only look at the W-L record. A 10-2 record will get a higher ranking than a 9-3 record every time. For example, Arkansas last year wasn't given much slack by the pollsters even though one its losses came to USC.

 

[GTKyle]

Playing the Mississippi schools will be great from a historical perspective. Back in the old days of the SEC, you didn't have to play everyone in the conference. Bobby Dodd refused to play in the state of Mississippi and as a result, the Mississippi schools refused to travel to Atlanta (which explains why we have only played them 5 times total). They really resented the fact that we wouldn't travel to the middle of nowhere for a game. When we tried to get back into the SEC, it's no surprise that they didn't have our back, either.

Although not as many people today realize the history between these schools, these OOC games with Ole Miss and Miss St. should help heal any lingering hostilities between us.

You know we have a history with UF, UT, Bama, and a lot of other SEC schools? Why don't we play them? And they're actually good.

Nobody cares much more about Mississippi than Samford.

 

[GTKyle]

Half right and half wrong, imho. Strength of schedule is one of the few empirical data points the computers can go on, along with margin of victory. Some rankings (like Sagarin) don't consider margin of victory at all any more of the BCS - I think some other are allowed to consider it up to a 3 touchdown cap.

That said, I agree that the computers are essentially inconsequential now. The human-biased polls now make up 2/3 of the rankings. Even though the Harris poll doesn't do a pre-season ranking, the AP and USA Today polls still do, which I'm sure introduces bias into the Harris poll.

None of the BCS computer rankings use margin of victory anymore.

 

[ContactBuzz]

No, it doesn't. Look at BC and Miami.

I would guess that GTs enrollment is substantially larger than BC and Miami (I haven't looked it up though). When you're talking about missing sellouts by ~4K, then winning 9-10 games/year will easily close that gap.

Also, college football is THE sport in Atlanta. Boston and Miami are pro sports towns.

Not a good comparison.

 

[GTKyle]

I would guess that GTs enrollment is substantially larger than BC and Miami (I haven't looked it up though). When you're talking about missing sellouts by ~4K, then winning 9-10 games/year will easily close that gap.

Also, college football is THE sport in Atlanta. Boston and Miami are pro sports towns.

Not a good comparison.

GT is roughly the same size as BC and Miami and they're all located near/in major cities. It's almost a perfect comparison. BC, Miami, and GT have to compete with the pro sports in their town. Are you trying to tell me the Falcons aren't more popular than Tech?

 

[ContactBuzz]

GT is roughly the same size as BC and Miami and they're all located near/in major cities. It's almost a perfect comparison. BC, Miami, and GT have to compete with the pro sports in their town. Are you trying to tell me the Falcons aren't more popular than Tech?

The Falcons are probably more popular than GT but there are more college sports fans in Atlanta than pro. Atlanta is a melting pot of SEC and ACC universities. And because of that, there is opportunity - at every work water cooler on Monday, the first topic is college football even before pros. The radio call in shows are college first, pros 2nd. Not the same in Boston or Miami.

At this point, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[GTKyle]

The Falcons are probably more popular than GT but there are more college sports fans in Atlanta than pro. Atlanta is a melting pot of SEC and ACC universities. And because of that, there is opportunity - at every work water cooler on Monday, the first topic is college football even before pros. The radio call in shows are college first, pros 2nd. Not the same in Boston or Miami.

At this point, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

You have absolutely no proof of that. Just because it happens at your office doesn't mean it's the first topic at every office. You're just going off assumptions.

I would say college football is popular, but pro sports combined are more popular in ATL than college football. Regardless of whether or not college football is popular, Tech STILL has to compete with these pro sports franchises.

 

[ncjacket]

You have absolutely no proof of that. Just because it happens at your office doesn't mean it's the first topic at every office. You're just going off assumptions.

I would say college football is popular, but pro sports combined are more popular in ATL than college football. Regardless of whether or not college football is popular, Tech STILL has to compete with these pro sports franchises.

Interesting, an entire thread of comments with no proof one way of the other, and you call out someone for stating their opinion? Get real. If Tech wins, the stadium will be full. If the only way to sell it out is with visiting fans we're screwed anyway.