The Futon Report

Ray Bentley mentioned this during the Ball State-Western Michigan game (scroll to 10:06), but Boise State and Ball State really do need to play each other, assuming Ball State can beat Buffalo in the MAC Championship. The Mid-Major Championship. The BSU Bowl.

One problem though; they’ll probably have to play the game in Boise.

Pairing Boise State and Ball State may hinge on luring the Cardinals to Boise and the Dec. 30 Humanitarian Bowl, to which Ball State coach Brady Hoke already has expressed some aversion. He doesn’t relish meeting the Broncos in Boise, he said. To counter that concern, officials are working on sweetening the Humanitarian’s $550,000 monetary and ticket guarantee, designating Ball State as the dark-jerseyed home team and perhaps obliging Boise to make a regular-season return trip to Muncie, Ind.

Image by BlueTurf via FlickrSo, yeah, playing on the blue field would certainly favor the Broncos. They could also play the game in Detroit, but that’d favor Ball State, even though the ground is green and not red. They could play in Shreveport, which would benefit the Independence Bowl custodians since few will travel to that game.

Sidenote: anyone screaming “playoffs” at this point needs to remember that in a playoff system, these two teams probably wouldn’t play each other unless they were to, y’know, meet in the championship. Maybe if bowl tie-ins weren’t so conference-specific and conferences actually worked to pair interesting teams together, more people would like them.

I’ve seen the plans and heard of the season ticket pinch that is going into the renovation’s of UT’s Savage Hall. It looks quite nice, and will rejuvenate the interest of the team.

But do they realize what they’re doing? They’re tinkering with the only building in which Toledo basketball can win games. Read more

When a team loses five key players on a basketball team, the following season is always slightly rougher. But the BGSU gals were actually keeping it together for quite some time, going 11-3 headed into conference play. (Three losses, if you recall, was as many as they had in 2006-07.)

Somehow I knew it wouldn’t last, as much as I didn’t want to admit it.

Conference play began just fine, winning their first four. Then came last week. A loss at home to Miami. Then came absolute decimation at Ball State, 68-47. Read more