Off the wall idea: should we schedule Toledo in the regular season in the future?

[diehardapp18]

Late night thinking, but I'd be fine with the idea. I think us and Toledo have respectively proven to be two of the best teams in the G5 at this point, and we both have passionate fanbases. It could be a cool little rivalry to start now that we're playing two years in a row. I'd be very down to schedule a future home-and-home with them, much better them than Umass or even like Akron. Kind of like how the Panthers and Seahawks played each other 4-5 years in a row despite not even being in the same division, and a cool little rivalry got started.

No idea how many open slots we even have in the future, but we are two good, established programs. I think a future home and home series with them could be great.

[toledorocketman]

Great idea. I am a rocket fan living in S.Carolina and would love to visit scenic Boone to watch two top teams from the MAC and Sun Belt go at each other.

Both teams have something in common. App. St. is the only FCS team to beat Michigan while Toledo is the only MAC school to beat Michigan. Since I am from Ohio, beating Michigan is kind of a hobby.

[APP93]

Considering the current conference we are in I am personally hoping for more regional OOC games. I would love to see us play either Wake, Duke, State, UNC or South Carolina as our P5 game every year. Getting ECU on the schedule is great and I hope that continues. Also, the game vs Charlotte could be a fun annual game, especially as they begin to get more competitive.

[bigdaddyg]

I agree that it would be great to schedule more “local” P5’s but can or will we do it from an economical standpoint? I would assume we might still need the $1m paydays. How much is an ECU or Duke able to guarantee? Obviously we save on airfare as we can bus to several of these schools.

[moonshine]

I'd have no problem App scheduling a H&H with the Rockets as they have proven to be one of the top MAC programs and more often than not, would help SOS. Also wouldn't mind seeing NIU, Ohio and CMU on the schedule as long as App limits it to one MAC team a season since a couple of the Sun Belt bowls are tied in with the MAC.

[bigdaddyg]

Wouldn’t the downside of playing them the “no footprint no recruiting” advantage come into play? Not my words but would be an argument against. Would we have to play on Wednesday night? Lol

[diehardapp18]

Considering the current conference we are in I am personally hoping for more regional OOC games. I would love to see us play either Wake, Duke, State, UNC or South Carolina as our P5 game every year. Getting ECU on the schedule is great and I hope that continues. Also, the game vs Charlotte could be a fun annual game, especially as they begin to get more competitive.

I mean I think everyone would love a yearly OOC schedule of ECU, UNC, NC State and South Carolina but that's literally never ever ever in a million years going to happen. Ideally we got to play ONE of those every year, and that still leaves 3 out of conference slots. We're going to be playing out of conference G5 games every season. Right now, I truly think Toledo is one of the most appealing G5 teams we could schedule. We're going to keep scheduling MAC teams, and we should. Why not schedule one of the most successful?

[appst89]

The only potential drawback I see to scheduling MAC teams is the likelihood that we see them again in a bowl game given the tie-ins that we have now. I don't think any of us really want to see a regular season rematch in a bowl game.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

The only potential drawback I see to scheduling MAC teams is the likelihood that we see them again in a bowl game given the tie-ins that we have now. I don't think any of us really want to see a regular season rematch in a bowl game.

For this reason alone, I'd say no. If not for that, I'd be all in.

[Longrifle28]

The only potential drawback I see to scheduling MAC teams is the likelihood that we see them again in a bowl game given the tie-ins that we have now. I don't think any of us really want to see a regular season rematch in a bowl game.

Agree with this.

[moonshine]

The "no recruiting" advantage is such a BS excuse. App hears it from fans of Wake, UNC, ECU, & NCSU as if playing at ODU and UNCC helps them see a large increase in recruits' interest level.

Reading the Wolfpack board a few weeks ago when the scheduling rumor was swirling, several of their fans pointed to this as one of the reasons not to play App but playing the Monarchs was ok because of "Tidewater recruits". That H&H with ODU paid dividends in spades for NCSU's recruiting as they have exactly 1 player from the Norfolk area on their roster. This only makes sense if say NCSU schedules a 4 games H&H series with ODU over the next 4 seasons when said hometown recruit would get to play "at home" in front of friends and family. These one off H&H series will not create a boon in their recruiting unless they believe high school players in Tidewater or Charlotte have never heard of that program full of rabid dogs in Raleigh NC.

[bigdaddyg]

The "no recruiting" advantage is such a BS excuse. App hears it from fans of Wake, UNC, ECU, & NCSU as if playing at ODU and UNCC helps them see a large increase in recruits' interest level.

Reading the Wolfpack board a few weeks ago when the scheduling rumor was swirling, several of their fans pointed to this as one of the reasons not to play App but playing the Monarchs was ok because of "Tidewater recruits". That H&H with ODU paid dividends in spades for NCSU's recruiting as they have exactly 1 player from the Norfolk area on their roster. This only makes sense if say NCSU schedules a 4 games H&H series with ODU over the next 4 seasons when said hometown recruit would get to play "at home" in front of friends and family. These one off H&H series will not create a boon in their recruiting unless they believe high school players in Tidewater or Charlotte have never heard of that program full of rabid dogs in Raleigh NC.

I agree about the BS part. Some folks get all caught up in terminology like “footprint”. I only mentioned it because we read it here all the time. I don’t believe App gains or loses any real recruiting advantage no matter who or where we play. I doubt that the average 18 year old is spending his Saturday watching many games and making decisions based on how a team is playing. It’s all about forging a relationship and mostly about pure fortune. I don’t believe in luck but more in statistical probability and fortune.

[EastHallApp]

Considering the current conference we are in I am personally hoping for more regional OOC games. I would love to see us play either Wake, Duke, State, UNC or South Carolina as our P5 game every year. Getting ECU on the schedule is great and I hope that continues. Also, the game vs Charlotte could be a fun annual game, especially as they begin to get more competitive.

I mean I think everyone would love a yearly OOC schedule of ECU, UNC, NC State and South Carolina but that's literally never ever ever in a million years going to happen. Ideally we got to play ONE of those every year, and that still leaves 3 out of conference slots. We're going to be playing out of conference G5 games every season. Right now, I truly think Toledo is one of the most appealing G5 teams we could schedule. We're going to keep scheduling MAC teams, and we should. Why not schedule one of the most successful?

Why do you assume we're going to keep scheduling MAC teams? We've scheduled only one series against them, and it was one of the first ones we did after moving up to FBS, when we just needed to fill spots and had no apparent strategy in scheduling. We've come a long way since then in that regard.

Personally I favor regional G5s, though I think an intersectional series with a big-name team like Boise or San Diego State would certainly be cool. Toledo is a good program, I just don't think they'd have quite the name value or travel appeal to warrant a long-distance H&H.

[EastHallApp]

I agree that it would be great to schedule more “local” P5’s but can or will we do it from an economical standpoint? I would assume we might still need the $1m paydays. How much is an ECU or Duke able to guarantee? Obviously we save on airfare as we can bus to several of these schools.

I don't think we're looking for guarantee games from those schools - we want H&Hs. Which works because they'd rather give us a return game than pay for us to visit. The $ games seem to be reserved for bigger programs.

[bigdaddyg]

I agree that it would be great to schedule more “local” P5’s but can or will we do it from an economical standpoint? I would assume we might still need the $1m paydays. How much is an ECU or Duke able to guarantee? Obviously we save on airfare as we can bus to several of these schools.

I don't think we're looking for guarantee games from those schools - we want H&Hs. Which works because they'd rather give us a return game than pay for us to visit. The $ games seem to be reserved for bigger programs.

That’s what I mean. We only get the big guarantee $ from the big boys. I’d rather see the H&H with teams more local and closer to our competitive level

[APPdiesel]

The "no recruiting" advantage is such a BS excuse. App hears it from fans of Wake, UNC, ECU, & NCSU as if playing at ODU and UNCC helps them see a large increase in recruits' interest level.

Reading the Wolfpack board a few weeks ago when the scheduling rumor was swirling, several of their fans pointed to this as one of the reasons not to play App but playing the Monarchs was ok because of "Tidewater recruits". That H&H with ODU paid dividends in spades for NCSU's recruiting as they have exactly 1 player from the Norfolk area on their roster. This only makes sense if say NCSU schedules a 4 games H&H series with ODU over the next 4 seasons when said hometown recruit would get to play "at home" in front of friends and family. These one off H&H series will not create a boon in their recruiting unless they believe high school players in Tidewater or Charlotte have never heard of that program full of rabid dogs in Raleigh NC.

Raleigh and Norfolk are 185 miles apart. If North Carolina State needs a H&H with Old Dominion to become relevant with tidewater recruits they've got bigger problems.

[Saint3333]

The only potential drawback I see to scheduling MAC teams is the likelihood that we see them again in a bowl game given the tie-ins that we have now. I don't think any of us really want to see a regular season rematch in a bowl game.

They typically avoid rematches in bowls from the regular season. So in theory we could schedule out of an opponent.

[rbarthle17]

If they do this, I'll host a cookout at my house after the game up here!

[App91]

This is no knock on the Rockets, i'm sure they would say the same about us. I just dont think this would be a move-the-needle type draw. We are in the position of chasing revenue and each home game needs to generate a certain amount. We would depend on the opponent to help draw fans, theirs and ours, to put butts in the seats. Just my $.02

[moonshine]

Raleigh and Norfolk are 185 miles apart. If North Carolina State needs a H&H with Old Dominion to become relevant with tidewater recruits they've got bigger problems.

Exactly! If these H&H series against G programs truly created some recruitment boost in these “hotbed” locations, the aforementioned ACC programs would have filled GaSt, F_U, U_F, UNT, TxSt & UNCC schedules for the next 20 years. It’s a weak excuse.

Back to the Rockets, while it may not bring the fan interest that a Marsha or UNCC game, I like it for the SOS potential. I’m a fan of an all FBS schedule for SOS purposes if DG can maintain 6 home games.