TexasTerror
October 6th, 2006, 10:44 AM
I think it's always interesting to read about those teams that you question about their move from I-AA to I-A. To me, this article just has the Blue Raiders sticking out their chest about having a home game against a "power" at home on national television. They'll get beat on pretty good in what is I believe, the lone Div I game on the schedule tonight. How does that make things work?
I'm sure there were I-AA playoff games that would've scored higher ratings than this and would've painted MTSU in a better light...
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When MTSU embarked on its move to Division I-A football in the mid-'90s, naysayers believed it was a waste of money for what was once a teachers school that had grown into a big suitcase college.
Expanding Floyd Stadium to seat some 33,000 people, a move required by the NCAA to move up in the college ranks, was considered pie in the sky by people who felt MTSU should stay in the Ohio Valley Conference and keep playing Morehead State and Tennessee Tech.
Indeed, since then, it's been a tough road, in spite of numerous home games attended by more than 20,000. In their "money games" against some of the powerhouse teams of major college football, the Blue Raiders have taken quite a pounding. But Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arizona, Florida and the like have been beating up on the rest of the country for many years now, so it's no surprise that MTSU has had trouble competing with those programs.
It's more a situation where the Blue Raiders have to take their lumps if they're ever to move to a bigger stage.
In the meantime, though, MTSU and its fans have enjoyed some of the biggest moments in school history: A blockbuster game against Tennessee State University in 1999 when the new stadium opened, three wins over Vanderbilt including the season opener in 2001, a 70-58 win over Idaho that set the record for the high-scoring I-A game at that time, the 2000 49-21 win over Louisiana Tech in which Dwone Hicks rushed for more than 300 yards and a boatload of touchdowns and the 2001 Sun Belt co-championship.
http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061006/OPINION01/610060307/1014
I'm sure there were I-AA playoff games that would've scored higher ratings than this and would've painted MTSU in a better light...
====================
When MTSU embarked on its move to Division I-A football in the mid-'90s, naysayers believed it was a waste of money for what was once a teachers school that had grown into a big suitcase college.
Expanding Floyd Stadium to seat some 33,000 people, a move required by the NCAA to move up in the college ranks, was considered pie in the sky by people who felt MTSU should stay in the Ohio Valley Conference and keep playing Morehead State and Tennessee Tech.
Indeed, since then, it's been a tough road, in spite of numerous home games attended by more than 20,000. In their "money games" against some of the powerhouse teams of major college football, the Blue Raiders have taken quite a pounding. But Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arizona, Florida and the like have been beating up on the rest of the country for many years now, so it's no surprise that MTSU has had trouble competing with those programs.
It's more a situation where the Blue Raiders have to take their lumps if they're ever to move to a bigger stage.
In the meantime, though, MTSU and its fans have enjoyed some of the biggest moments in school history: A blockbuster game against Tennessee State University in 1999 when the new stadium opened, three wins over Vanderbilt including the season opener in 2001, a 70-58 win over Idaho that set the record for the high-scoring I-A game at that time, the 2000 49-21 win over Louisiana Tech in which Dwone Hicks rushed for more than 300 yards and a boatload of touchdowns and the 2001 Sun Belt co-championship.
http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061006/OPINION01/610060307/1014