I am going to try to pose this in the most politically correct terms as I can muster.  As I have stated before I don't have anything inherently against FIU.  In fact with the difficulties they have had the last few years I actually feel bad for them and I don't mean that in a condescending way.  The only reason that I don't believe that we should be cheering them on is that fact they are recruiting the same players that we are.  Even they have had a tough couple of years they have quite a few players on their team that would have worked out great for FAU but they won the recruiting war.

We are not recruiting against Miami, FSU, Florida or USF at this point,  we are recruiting against FIU.  You can think we are way ahead of them in the program because of the success on the field and head to head but we are not.  The building of their new stadium and every win they get is just another tool to recruit against FAU.  This is NOT personal, this IS business.  I don't understand FAU fans who can't understand this.  I understand that some on this board have ties to FIU for a variety of reasons so you tend to defend them but acknowledge the fact that a successful FIU football program does nothing to help FAU and don't use the Sunbelt excuse, that's really weak, there are six other teams in the Sunbelt that we rarely recruit against, root for them.

I agree with you Dusky…may i offer some further thoughts?

Until we get some credibility within the SBC, unfortunately EVERY OOC win counts towards development.

Now, do i wish them to beat us out?  No way…NADDA.

BUT, let's be real here:

If we would have done what everyone expected us to do and win at least ONE of our major OOC games this year instead of seriously FLUBBING UP, then they would be the ones congratulating us.

Toledo is fine, but MSU, MINN, or UT is a far greater accomplishment IMO…not to take anything away from them and thier win - good for them.

On recruiting, again, we need to take responsibility for losing battles…and if we did , after we had the year we had last year, that can't be due to winning, because we went 8-5 while they won ONE game.

I think it goes deeper…Admin, and even coaching staff…

Long term, once we are established, i Hope they lose every game they play - for obvious reasons.

Bottom line:

Regardless, if they win, we can be good sports, and congratulate them…afterall, this doesn't involve "cheering", or "rooting" for them, but simply being a good sport

Just MO…….

I don't think anyone here is cheering or rooting for FIU to do well.  I know that I am not doing that in any way.  Congratulating the few of their fans who post here that have been contributing in a rational and respectful way isn't "rooting" for them to do well.  It is just the nice thing to do.  They won a game in which they were big underdogs.  Good for them.  Toledo certianly isn't a great or even a good team, but with the way they have struggled the past few years, it certainly qualifies as a big win for them.  Also, like F_O said, any time a SBC team beats a team from the MAC, WAC, or CUSA, it is a big deal for the conference.  We need to beat those teams in order for the Belt to start getting more national repsect.

Yes, they are our direct competitors, but that doesn't mean we can't be civil….until the week we play eachother anyway!   ;D

I'm starting to wonder how much on-field performance has to do with recruiting.  I mean, of course it does, to a certain extent.  The best-known national powers are consistently near the top.  But sometimes, there's little more than history to explain why a school does well, like FSU, which has been weak since 2001, but hasn't noticed any dropoff in recruiting, or Notre Dame, which lost nine games last year and still landed a top class.

Even at our level the same thing happens.  FAU went to a bowl last year while FIU muddled through a 23-game losing streak.  Yet we ended up with roughly the same quality recruiting classes, if those Rivals stars mean anything.

Then there's other stuff, like Randy Shannon saying several recruits got pissed at Urbie's classless coaching and said they wanted to come to UM even more than before.

Bottom line, I guess – and we all know this – is that there are other things players are looking at besides wins and losses.  At this stage in both of our programs' development, I don't think players are choosing FAU over FIU, or vice versa, based much on performance.  Maybe a little, but not a lot.

I agree with both of your responses and at no time am I ever not civil or don't believe in good sportsmanship and anyone who knows me personally knows that.  I just wanted to make my point regarding the recruting standpoint.  Thanks for the input, sometimes I do get a little too fired up.

The said

I'm starting to wonder how much on-field performance has to do with recruiting.  I mean, of course it does, to a certain extent.  The best-known national powers are consistently near the top.  But sometimes, there's little more than history to explain why a school does well, like FSU, which has been weak since 2001, but hasn't noticed any dropoff in recruiting, or Notre Dame, which lost nine games last year and still landed a top class.

Even at our level the same thing happens.  FAU went to a bowl last year while FIU muddled through a 23-game losing streak.  Yet we ended up with roughly the same quality recruiting classes, if those Rivals stars mean anything.

Then there's other stuff, like Randy Shannon saying several recruits got pissed at Urbie's classless coaching and said they wanted to come to UM even more than before.

Bottom line, I guess – and we all know this – is that there are other things players are looking at besides wins and losses.  At this stage in both of our programs' development, I don't think players are choosing FAU over FIU, or vice versa, based much on performance.  Maybe a little, but not a lot.

I agree in principle but you have to admit it factors in, sometimes more than others.

I definitely don't root for FIU, nor do I have any connection to the program. However, when they manage a big win I think congratulations is in order instead of trying to ignore the positive and bring something up that is negative.



I realize that FIU is the main competition for recruits and their new stadium is going to help them to continue to build the program. I just hope that they don't leapfrog past FAU as we wait who knows how much longer for a stadium to be built.

GO OWLS!!!

Our on field woes had a lot to do with the fact the DOn STrock simply was not a good coach, the fact that we were going to can him didn't help our recruiting at all either. Also the past couple of years we have been disadvantaged due to the youth of our team. With the coaching change came a new system and I doubt that anyone would say that we were supposed to flourish in that system. We have however certainly made some big strides. And on top of that we gained one of the great offensive minds in college football with the addition of Bill Legg. I can also tell you that recruiting was definitely better than rivals or scout would have you think. T.Y. Hilton was a recruit few had heard of yet he was recruited by some big time programs such as West Virginia and Virginia I believe.

FIU will certainly be a lot better in the coming years. In two years I don't think it would be far off to say we could be contending for a SBC title. Look at our roster, much of it is made up of freshman and sophomores.

Now as for rooting for each other, I would never root for you guys to be honest. If you win great, that make a win over you guys look that much better. If you lose, I won't lose any sleep over it. However it was nice for the conference to see you guys win the New Orleans Bowl. Now all FIU has to do is continue to recruit like they have, we now have 14 commits, and you guys might start hating FIU that much more with the continued success we are going to have on the field.

I do wish all of the FAU players good health and a for a good season, except for when we meet on the gridiron, I hope we crush you. But no hard feelings! 

Its amazing how USF can gamble on an unknown assistant college coach in Leavitt and become a powerhouse, just get plain lucky, and FIU can go with a well known guy, and a coach that had experience at the NFL and NFL Europe and do poorly, just bad luck.

As much as you say Strock was a bad coach, the killer was the Miami brawl.  That season (2006), FIU was barely losing to teams. 1 pt to MTSU and USF (yeh that one and in Tampa), 3 pts to Bowling Green and NT, 4 pts to Maryland.  You could have easily gone into the Miami game 5-1 with 2 BCS wins.  Then Miami, brawl, suspensions, horrible press, the team loses faith and confidence, gets blown out the rest of the season.

FIU is better as a rival when they play well, and I will root for them every game but one until they get good enough to really hate.

Well that is just the way it goes in CFB and the NFL, look at Saban and Spurrier guy who were and are great college coaches, their careers never translated to success in the NFL, and Charlie Weis is the same. But I think we got our guy, he has good coaches around him, and he let's them coach. Our guys respect our staff and really take to them like a sponge to water, everything the coaches say they take it in.