East Carolina to the Birmingham Bowl

[South_Florida_Flip]

Let's see what happens later today when the polls come out. If Louisville makes significant gains in the BCS poll, then there is still a good shot to improve our bowl position.

[MechanicalBull]

Let's see what happens later today when the polls come out. If Louisville makes significant gains in the BCS poll, then there is still a good shot to improve our bowl position.

This will only be significant if Rutgers wins at WVU to become Big East champ.   I think!

As we have seen, anything can happen.

[Guest]

I doubt BULLS traveling to this game will care that much who we are playing.

I think you have the wrong impression of Bulls fans. There are a LOT of "casual" fans who are just starting to entertain the idea of trading in their "big 3" colors for green and gold. The biggest win in the program's history will get these people even more excited, and they may even consider attending a bowl game that is within driving distance in Alabama..................until they hear the announcement that USF's bowl game will be played against the mighty pirates of East Carolina. Kind of a buzzkill, dont ya think?

I would expect about HALF of what we took to Charlotte last year if ECU is the opponent.

I think you have the wrong impression of casual fans.

Casual fans will not attend a bowl game in Orlando, much less Alabama.  Yes, the biggest win is getting more people excited -- enough to think that season ticket sales next year might actually top 20,000.

But we could be playing Ohio State and we won't get 'casual fans' to take two-three days out of their schedule right before Christmas.

I would expect as many people in Birmingham as in Charlotte -- Die hard fans + students + university administrators+ players' families = 4000 to 5000 people.

[Economics_Nerd82]

Let me redirect all of you to this board:

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/nph-YaBB.pl?num=1156297692;start=all

[BigShoop]

I doubt BULLS traveling to this game will care that much who we are playing.

I think you have the wrong impression of Bulls fans. There are a LOT of "casual" fans who are just starting to entertain the idea of trading in their "big 3" colors for green and gold. The biggest win in the program's history will get these people even more excited, and they may even consider attending a bowl game that is within driving distance in Alabama..................until they hear the announcement that USF's bowl game will be played against the mighty pirates of East Carolina. Kind of a buzzkill, dont ya think?

I would expect about HALF of what we took to Charlotte last year if ECU is the opponent.

I think you have the wrong impression of casual fans.

Casual fans will not attend a bowl game in Orlando, much less Alabama.  Yes, the biggest win is getting more people excited -- enough to think that season ticket sales next year might actually top 20,000.

But we could be playing Ohio State and we won't get 'casual fans' to take two-three days out of their schedule right before Christmas.

I would expect as many people in Birmingham as in Charlotte -- Die hard fans + students + university administrators+ players' families = 4000 to 5000 people.

You know what, you're right. My bad. Maybe I'm just disappointed in the opponent. Coming off the WV win, ECU is just a terrible let down. Which, by the way, WILL reduce the amount of viewers. I guess that's where the casual fan will be lost. Fair?

[Guest]

You know what, you're right. My bad. Maybe I'm just disappointed in the opponent. Coming off the WV win, ECU is just a terrible let down. Which, by the way, WILL reduce the amount of viewers. I guess that's where the casual fan will be lost. Fair?

Shoop -- I could be wrong and you could be right... I'm just stating a personal opinion... and then gave a little explanation why I think what I think.  (You are probably right about casual fans watching on TV.  A better opponent and more people might tune in and go shopping later.)

I agree that when you knock of a Top 10 program you want to keep proving yourself.  But the opponents will (probably) be:

Texas (6-6 Oklahoma State)

PapaJohns.com (7-5 East Carolina)

International (8-4 Western Michigan)

That is the luck of the Big East Bowl lineup... none of these teams are really all that exciting.  At least we have a little history with ECU.

[BigShoop]

It just sucks that NO ONE is gonna care about our bowl game... >

[T-Man]

Perspective people...  We did beat a big boy!  However we did lose to kansas and cincy.....  Somebody on this board said it best:   Let's beat wvu on national tv and then have a winnable bowl game against a weaker opponent.. (somebody said this at least a week ago...)  8-4 is a great year and when we whip ecu it will launch us into next year... I can't believe we are even talking about who we play... If you want a reason to be grateful and thankful just look to our neighbors to the east and their 4-8 record... This thing will not happen over night and we should be happy that the steps are still going in the right direction.. A 9-4 season with matt going crazy in a bowl game will be better than what happened in last year's bowl!

[dabull80]

We care Shoop,  we care.

[gobulls83]

And Huey Whittacker comes out of retirement to block an extra point in double OT for the win!