I bet, Memphis may become a Big East football member only in 2006. CUSA is dead and Memphis has a work out a deal behind CUSA's back.

And I believe ECU, UCF and Marshall will soon realized how screwed they are!

Wilkie01 Wrote:I bet, Memphis may become a Big East football member only in 2006. CUSA is dead and Memphis has a work out a deal behind CUSA's back.

And I believe ECU, UCF and Marshall will soon realized how screwed they are!

Not that there's much that the three can do about it. Memphis joining a BCS league even for Football-only for a few years then being all-sports after the split will really help them alot in recruiting. Plus if the conference does as well as I think it will this year recruits will definitely be sold on Memphis's new conference home continuously being in the BCS and unquestionably able to compete with the other 5 BCS leagues. I hope we can work out scheduling agreements in Basketball for OOC games so that we can get a start on the new basketball rivalries for after the split and to continue the existing UM-UL and UM-UC rivalries.

I agree.

I hope you are right I think that as long as Memphis continues to improve in football then they would be a valuable 9th football only partner. I kinda love to hate those guys and right now I just feel bad for them and that is making me sick to my stomach.

J/K Tiger fans :D

gomemphistigers1 Wrote:C-USA has not lost the Liberty Bowl...and i really doubt we will...as it stands we are LOCKED in for this season and are in negotiations to re-new the contract...if they did not want to keep us they would just say so and not include us in negotiations...the Liberty Bowl has been a C-USA partner for over 10 years and i really don't see that changing...locals want C-USA #1 v. someone...and without local support it wouldn't be the same bowl game.

my prediction...C-USA #1 v. BE #3 or ACC #4

Go Tigers!!!
Drew

YOu mention in your Tiger Resume that Memphis has "1 Championship".....what championship is this? You have never won the NCAA Tourney.........Are you referring to NIT?

Bearcats#1 Wrote:

gomemphistigers1 Wrote:C-USA has not lost the Liberty Bowl...and i really doubt we will...as it stands we are LOCKED in for this season and are in negotiations to re-new the contract...if they did not want to keep us they would just say so and not include us in negotiations...the Liberty Bowl has been a C-USA partner for over 10 years and i really don't see that changing...locals want C-USA #1 v. someone...and without local support it wouldn't be the same bowl game.

my prediction...C-USA #1 v. BE #3 or ACC #4

Go Tigers!!!
Drew

YOu mention in your Tiger Resume that Memphis has "1 Championship".....what championship is this? You have never won the NCAA Tourney.........Are you referring to NIT?

I assume he's talking about the national championship game
we lost to Bill Walton and UCLA.

edit: From Trips tigers:

1972-1973 NCAA Tournament
Perhaps the most remembered season in Tiger basketball history, the one that put Memphis State on the map permanently, was the 1972-1973 campaign led by Larry Finch, Ronnie Robinson, Bill Laurie, and newcomers Larry Kenon, Billy Buford, Wes Westfall, and Bill Cook. The Tigers reeled off 14 straight wins during one stretch, captured the Missouri Valley title, and received the school's first bid to the NCAA tournament since the 1962 season.
After compiling a 21-5 regular season mark, the Tigers received a first-round bye and had to face South Carolina. The Gamecocks were led that year by Mike Dunleavy and Alex English. But it was the one-two combination of the Tigers' Kenon and Finch that led the Tigers to a convincing 90-76 win in Houston, TX. The Tigers also recorded a phenomenonal 60 rebounds with Kenon leading the way with 20.
Memphis would go on to defeat a Lon Kruger-led Kansas State team in the Midwest Regional Final 92-72 to advance to the Final Four. The Tigers would defeat Providence 98-85 to earn a spot in the title game against the powerful UCLA Bruins, led by Bill Walton.
The Tigers battled the mighty Bruins to a 39-39 halftime tie, but Walton was too much in the second half as UCLA defeated the Tigers 87-66. Walton hit a record 21-22 shots and scored 44 points to pace the Bruins. Finch and Kenon were the only Tigers to score in double figures. Finch netted 29 and Kenon tallied 20.
Also that season, head coach Gene Bartow was named the NABC National Coach of the Year.

I strongly believe that the LIBERTY BOWL will try to maintain some affiliation to the conference in which Memphis resides, whichever that might be. I've been a long-time advocate of adding Memphis, so I'm not exactly switching horses here.

See my post called "DOES MEMPHIS ADD VALUE" for more info regarding what I think will influence the LB's thinking.

Jim

Guys, the talk around town right now is that the Liberty Bowl is aligning itself with the University of Memphis with this new contract. By having the ability to choose anyone from Conference USA at the end of the season, they can continually invite the Tigers as long as they're bowl eligible. In fact, I have no doubts, whatsoever, that Steve and Harold would always choose a 6-5 Memphis squad over a 10-1 Southern Miss or UTEP. Maybe it's unfair to the rest of the league, but the precedent has already been set ( i.e. Hawaii Bowl ).

It makes perfect sense from a financial standpoint. The Liberty Bowl is in the business of making money, first and foremost. Certainly it would be nice to have a matchup between two nationally ranked teams each year, but prestige takes a backseat to tickets sold. And you can be guaranteed that the Tigers built-in fanbase of 40k+ looks extremely attractive. Then, when you factor in the possibility of bringing in Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas or Alabama to face Memphis ( all of whom we've had previous or current contracts with ), and you're looking at a hard sell-out every season. We've had a cordial relationship with the SEC throughout the years, so I honestly don't think they'd have any objection with that sort of arrangement. In fact, I would imagine that any reluctance on their part to get involved with Conference USA, is the possibility of a personal relations disaster, such as an Ole Miss/Southern Miss game.

In other words, I think a deal has been made behind the scenes and that part of it involves positioning the University of Memphis into a better situation. The pieces are slowly fitting together, and it should be quite interesting to see how all of this plays out in the coming months.

Even more interesting is a quote from the local paper today, in which Bitton basically acknowledged the above mentioned scenario taking precedence over all others.

So do I!

One thing that I will say about Memphis is this; if they ever get into a bcs league, I think they will become a very formidable opponent. I say this because of all of the talent in tenn. And becuase of the what the university of tennessee has been able to do for the last 15 years or so. They would start to pickup even more bcs caliber recruits, and with the job that their coach has already done win wise, memphis could get really good really fast.

Agree, and I do not think the Liberty Bowl can succeed without Memphis having access to it. The people of the City off Memphis would boycott the bowl, if it left memphis high and dry!