(02-18-2012 12:13 AM)Usajags Wrote:  The new Sun Belt commish has already come out and said that the Belt want to expand and is currently talking to an unnamed C-USA school. You guys can have Marshall, we'll take ECU, USM, UAB and Tulane, the rest of the C-USA can go play in the MWC.

Yeah, but if he's smart, he'll drop S. Alabama. :)

We are the last remaining charter member of the Sun Belt. I think we own the rights to the name at this point...

(02-18-2012 11:04 AM)Usajags Wrote:  We are the last remaining charter member of the Sun Belt. I think we own the rights to the name at this point...

I would agree.

The Sun Belt's new commish is Karl Benson. He couldn't add to his house successfully. Ask any WAC fan.

(02-18-2012 12:50 AM)Rocketime Wrote:  

(02-18-2012 12:13 AM)Usajags Wrote:  The new Sun Belt commish has already come out and said that the Belt want to expand and is currently talking to an unnamed C-USA school. You guys can have Marshall, we'll take ECU, USM, UAB and Tulane, the rest of the C-USA can go play in the MWC.

Would be a nice conference if the Sunbelt could pull it off.

An even better conference would be NIU, Toledo, Ohio, Temple, Arkansas St, and FIU joining with the CUSA Eight. Might consider dumping UTEP and Tulsa and adding two more from the MAC and/or SBC for geographical reasons.

Since 2006 Tulsa has a record of 52-27 (.658), that's the 24th highest winning percentage in that span and the second highest of any school not in or joining a currently AQ conference. Only BYU is better.

I'd prefer to remain in a conference with them.

(02-19-2012 11:08 AM)LR Eagle Wrote:  

(02-18-2012 12:50 AM)Rocketime Wrote:  

(02-18-2012 12:13 AM)Usajags Wrote:  The new Sun Belt commish has already come out and said that the Belt want to expand and is currently talking to an unnamed C-USA school. You guys can have Marshall, we'll take ECU, USM, UAB and Tulane, the rest of the C-USA can go play in the MWC.

Would be a nice conference if the Sunbelt could pull it off.

An even better conference would be NIU, Toledo, Ohio, Temple, Arkansas St, and FIU joining with the CUSA Eight. Might consider dumping UTEP and Tulsa and adding two more from the MAC and/or SBC for geographical reasons.

Since 2006 Tulsa has a record of 52-27 (.658), that's the 24th highest winning percentage in that span and the second highest of any school not in or joining a currently AQ conference. Only BYU is better.

I'd prefer to remain in a conference with them.

You're right about Tulsa. Dropping UTEP and Tulsa (or Rice) was just an after thought. My original proposal of CUSA Eight + the six teams I suggested would be the better alignment.

UTEP has decent basketball, but they may very well opt to join the MWC if the Alliance splits later on. I'm also fine with keeping Rice for no other reason than their baseball is top notch. C-USA is a very strong baseball league.

The remaining C-USA Seven are pretty solid, not many of us are attractive expansion targets at this point, but the remaining teams have enough market and brand recognition to build back to 10 or 12 without too much trouble. La Tech would kill to join and for all their bluster just about anyone in the SBC would join tomorrrow if asked. There's also the UTSA/Tx St/ODU/Appy State route if needed.

(02-18-2012 12:13 AM)Usajags Wrote:  The new Sun Belt commish has already come out and said that the Belt want to expand and is currently talking to an unnamed C-USA school. You guys can have Marshall, we'll take ECU, USM, UAB and Tulane, the rest of the C-USA can go play in the MWC.

The school in question is almost certainly Southern Miss. To say that some of our fans are restless would be an understatement. A large portion of our fan base is about one unfortunate press conference away from a riot. Right or wrong, the perception is that our on-field success has been squandered by our institutional leadership. The argument that we're an inevitable casualty of market size doesn't sit well with USM fans, who have a natural tendency to point at Starkville and Oxford as counterexamples.The case for USM in the SBC rests on these points:

1. USM has a better chance of getting to a BCS bowl game from the SBC. It's easier to run the table in the SBC. CUSA has way too many bottom-feeders to ever be relevant, but it has enough good teams that going undefeated in conference play, and then winning the championship game, is almost impossible.

2. The gap in prestige between CUSA and the SBC is negligible. If USM were in the Sun Belt, the two conferences would be even closer. Think of how casual observers would react to USM's announcement.

3. There are too many teams in CUSA. USM has to split things like BCS money, NCAA BB tourney credits, and bowl payouts with all of these schools, even though many of them have little real chance of generating this kind of revenue on their own.

4. CUSA geography stinks. For us, going to ODU is pointless. It's a long, expensive plane flight to a game we get no real credit for winning. UTSA is the same. I guess UNT and LA Tech were supposed to help us out, but we've been above those teams for 50 years.

5. LEVERAGE. CUSA needs us right now. The popular misconception is that we have nowhere else to go. This is counterproductive. An SBC threat would help fix this problem.