Quote:I'm sure if UMass was at the level of Boise, Fresno, or Nevada, we'd have a lot less problem with adding them for football only. They'd be an instant boost. While UMass MIGHT eventually be a boost, they certainly wouldn't be to start off with, and might never be.

True, they wouldn't come in a dominate a la Marshall, but I highly doubt they'd be bottom feeders.

If UMass was a MAC member this year, I believe they'd do no worse than a 3-5 or 4-4 conference record.

Quote:They aren't going to hurt it any. There's only 2 of them so they aren't going to destabilize the league and render it an incoherent mush the way some fear.

I agree. 2 of 14 members being "football only" and a bit outside of our traditional Midwest footprint is hardly anything to get bent out of shape about.

Further, Marshall and UCF were odder fits. UCF because of the incredible distance. Marshall because even though they were geographically very close, they definitely identified with and wanted a southern-based league.