This weekend is always dubbed as "College Football Rivalry Weekend". There are lost of good traditional rival games this weekend, Our Mountaineers are playing the New Mexico State Aggies. I think last year we might have played ULaLa and Idaho maybe the year before on rivalry weekend. We need to establish a rival game set annually for this weekend. Why can't we play Georgia Southern on rivalry weekend? I guess they are the closest school that we presently have as a rival and I mark that game on the schedule each year. They are even having an open date down there in Stinkville on this rivalry weekend.

GO MOUNTAINEERS!!! Beat New Mexico State!! = I can get behind that this weekend, but an annual rival game would be sweet.

GS wants no part of a rivalry weekend the last week in November.

I love the idea. I am afraid however, that Coastal is soon to be our forced manufactured "rival."

Last game of the year moving forward should be Coastal Carolina. They are our travel partner and will became a natural rival for us. Not a bad travel location the weekend after Thanksgiving either ... Could become a "Carolina Bowl" rivalry game.

AppDawg wrote:I love the idea. I am afraid however, that Coastal is soon to be our forced manufactured "rival."

The way things have been working out I'd say Troy will be our "football rival" instead.

Until we fill more seats at KBS for nice sunny games like the Georgia state game and until we have a fan base that doesn't exit at half time or at the end of the 3rd quarter...I don't want our biggest rival game(whatever that ultimately becomes) to be on a weekend when fans would rather Christmas shop then head up the mountain. Hate to dredge up this endless topic but if we were home today I bet the crowd would not top 20.

Go Mountaineers beat NMSU!

Roll Tide!!!!

Go Apps!!!

Yeah, every year people complain if we get a home game on Thanksgiving weekend because it kills attendance, so I'm not sure it makes sense to say we should be playing arguably our biggest game of the year today.

Plenty of good rivalry games played earlier in the year: FSU-Miami, Alabama-Tennessee, Michigan-Michigan St., Florida-Georgia, etc.

If we are going to have a conference championship game, I'd rather have a tune up game beforehand. No need to go into a championship game with a hangover from beating Georgia Southern. Now, if the Gnatamounts are assuming the status we held for Western for the last two decades, then I guess there's no harm done.

AppinVA wrote:If we are going to have a conference championship game, I'd rather have a tune up game beforehand. No need to go into a championship game with a hangover from beating Georgia Southern. Now, if the Gnatamounts are assuming the status we held for Western for the last two decades, then I guess there's no harm done.

Gnatamounts

I do not want to play a big rivalry game on Thanksgiving weekend for many reasons including the ones mentioned above. Students are out of town, people are travelling and there is just too many distractions.

fjblair wrote:I do not want to play a big rivalry game on Thanksgiving weekend for many reasons including the ones mentioned above. Students are out of town, people are travelling and there is just too many distractions.

If you must play on the weekend after thanksgiving, you need a big rivalry game to get the crowds. That is exactly why Ohio St-Michigan, UF-FSU, Clemson-USC, Notre Dame-USC, UVA-VT, UNC-NC State, etc don't have trouble drawing a crowd this weekend.

If Ga Southern was in town this weekend, people would be there. Coastal and Troy could grow into that type of game too but it will take years. Personally, I'd like to see a SBC-CUSA showdown in the last week. We could play UNCC, Troy plays UAB, USA - USM, ULL - La Tech, ASTATE-MTSU, the SBC Ga schools play the CUSA FL schools, etc

AppfaninCAALand wrote:

fjblair wrote:I do not want to play a big rivalry game on Thanksgiving weekend for many reasons including the ones mentioned above. Students are out of town, people are travelling and there is just too many distractions.

If you must play on the weekend after thanksgiving, you need a big rivalry game to get the crowds. That is exactly why Ohio St-Michigan, UF-FSU, Clemson-USC, Notre Dame-USC, UVA-VT, UNC-NC State, etc don't have trouble drawing a crowd this weekend.

If Ga Southern was in town this weekend, people would be there. Coastal and Troy could grow into that type of game too but it will take years. Personally, I'd like to see a SBC-CUSA showdown in the last week. We could play UNCC, Troy plays UAB, USA - USM, ULL - La Tech, ASTATE-MTSU, the SBC Ga schools play the CUSA FL schools, etc

You are not going to draw crowds to Boone Sat after thanksgiving

Ragin Cajuns 7-7 with Ark St

1st defendive TD for the Cajuns

Cajuns lead 14-7 at the half.

AppfaninCAALand wrote:

fjblair wrote:I do not want to play a big rivalry game on Thanksgiving weekend for many reasons including the ones mentioned above. Students are out of town, people are travelling and there is just too many distractions.

If you must play on the weekend after thanksgiving, you need a big rivalry game to get the crowds. That is exactly why Ohio St-Michigan, UF-FSU, Clemson-USC, Notre Dame-USC, UVA-VT, UNC-NC State, etc don't have trouble drawing a crowd this weekend.

With the exception of UNC-State, those schools draw big crowds because they're elite programs with decades of tradition on the national stage (except South Carolina), large, dedicated fan bases and large student populations. They can fill their stadiums no matter what.

I agree with the folks who are looking forward to the conference championship game. I don't want a forced rivalry game the week before the championship game. That game may even be played on Friday, so I don't want two tough games in a row.

WataugaMan wrote:

AppDawg wrote:I love the idea. I am afraid however, that Coastal is soon to be our forced manufactured "rival."

The way things have been working out I'd say Troy will be our "football rival" instead.

Nah, Troy's got USA. They even have a wrestling belt they fight over.

I'd rather stick with GASO, although everyone keeps wanting to make their arch rivals Georgia State, Coastal would be a good rival but there isn't really any history there. Games which usually involved them getting beaten like a drum but not really anything of merit.

I say Troy for the following: series is tied at 3-3, last year the game went into 3rd OT, this year came down to the wire, the makings of a rivalry for sure. GaSo seems top be fading.