Mr. Bomb. Do you realize that if we get to the ACC Champ game and then abruptly decide to not play it royally F#*@s the ACC? You can't do that. If you were going to forego the postseason or the ACC Champ game for that matter it should've been done prior to now. You don't just all of a sudden say you're going to forego the bowl at the last minute. The only reason that we did that last year is because the allegations came down on us so quickly. Also we are definitely not going to be withholding any schollies in this class...thats just dumb. We will load up on as many players as we can now.
There is a SLIGHT possibility of us foregoing the bowl game (I seriously doubt it will happen), but for us to just bend over the ACC at the last minute and say "Hey ACC and everyone else...we aren't going to play in your championship game next week!! Georgia Tech, VT, Duke you guys figure out...if you're free that weekend I guess you can go!!" Thats absolutely insane and it doesn't work that way. If we self-imposed before the season at least the ACC could have a plan in place, but now we would just be ******** them over. Also you do realize that there have never been 3 postseason game bans as punishment EVER right?! So why would we forego last year's bowl, this ACC Champ game, and the bowl game?
Another reason waiting to become bowl eligible before deciding to forego it is this...what if we don't reach eligibility? Then we can't declare ourselves out of it. If we went ahead and declared before the season started then we would at least get credit for saying we would be foregoing ahead of time.
Also you say it doesn't affect recruiting if we forego the bowl this season, but it actually DOES. We will have basically lied to all the freshmen this year if we self-impose a bowl ban this season. This kinda **** gets back to the recruits.
Bottomline is if we make it the ACC Championship game we are playing in it. The only thing that I think we would do is take the $$ somewhere as punishment. I seriously bet we are playing in it though.
If we have a plan to drop the ACCCG, you can be assured the conference knows about it already. There is no reason to announce anything until we actually qualify. It would be no different than if USC or OSU "won" their divisions this year. They are on probation, cannot advance, and the next team behind them goes in.
As for your second point, it makes no sense. You cannot forgo something you don't have. And until we are qualified for a bowl, we can't announce we are giving it up. We'd look like idiots if we don't qualify for one. This one actually isn't debatable, as its exactly how we handled it last year.
Texas Tech did exactly what you're saying we can't do. They were 4-4 and self-imposed a ban in 1997. So they weren't guaranteed bowl eligibility and the NCAA accepted that as punishment. So Miami doesn't have to wait until they become bowl eligible if they don't want to. If they were gonna self-impose you do it before the year. What if the team finishes 1-3? You just lost your chance to bend over for the NCAA again.
There is plenty of reason to announce beforehand. There is a human element involved as well. You've already cut the coaches and players knees out from under them once last year. You plan on doing that again? You tell Mike James he can't play in the title game. The one thing he wanted to do before he graduated.
I'm willing to bet the ACC wouldn't stand for it either and there isn't a pre-arranged agreement.. Everyone just saw Miami beat Duke on the final day of the ACC regular season in your scenario. Immediately after the game Miami is gonna tell the country, "nah, we're not gonna play"? No chance. "So Duke players we know you think you just lost your chance to play for the title, well we've got a surprise for you." Thats a nightmare no one wants to explain.
