http://www.nola.com/sports/index.ssf/201...to_wo.html

Quote:But Benson, who has been commissioner of the WAC since 1994, said that maintaining a presence in Florida and Texas is important and that the conference will be in conversations with unnamed C-USA members about moving to the Sun Belt.

The appeal would be to allow those schools to remain in a more logical geographic footprint while enabling the Sun Belt to get to at least 12 football-playing members, three more than it has now.
Current WAC and former Sun Belt member Louisiana Tech, which has publicly expressed a desire to be part of the new Sun Belt, could be returning, but Tulane does not appear to be on Benson's radar.

Karl always had grand plans when we were in the WAC as well.

I give him credit - I really do believe that he tries.

(02-17-2012 02:22 PM)Beagleagle23 Wrote:  http://www.nola.com/sports/index.ssf/201...to_wo.html

Quote:But Benson, who has been commissioner of the WAC since 1994, said that maintaining a presence in Florida and Texas is important and that the conference will be in conversations with unnamed C-USA members about moving to the Sun Belt.

The appeal would be to allow those schools to remain in a more logical geographic footprint while enabling the Sun Belt to get to at least 12 football-playing members, three more than it has now.
Current WAC and former Sun Belt member Louisiana Tech, which has publicly expressed a desire to be part of the new Sun Belt, could be returning, but Tulane does not appear to be on Benson's radar.

Well, some ECU and USM fans do harp a lot about wanting a regional conference.

The Sunbelt could be a really nice conference if they could steal USM, ECU, UAB, Tulane, and Marshall. Add La Tech too. Let the rest of the West teams join with the MWC.

What would happen to the Alliance if it IS Southern Miss and East Carolina?

imo, no current c-usa or mwc school will go to the 'belt.

(02-17-2012 02:35 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  What would happen to the Alliance if it IS Southern Miss and East Carolina?

If you want a serious answer then I would say all bets would be off. You would have UTEP, USU, SJSU and one other go west for a 12 team (maybe larger) MWC. CUSA would then consist of UAB, Marshall, Tulane, Rice, Tulsa?

I don't think that it will happen. Alliance is going forward imho and will likely take at least 2 from the Sun Belt.

(02-17-2012 02:35 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  What would happen to the Alliance if it IS Southern Miss and East Carolina?

but we'd both laugh in their face so it's a non starter.

(02-17-2012 02:34 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  The Sunbelt could be a really nice conference if they could steal USM, ECU, UAB, Tulane, and Marshall. Add La Tech too. Let the rest of the West teams join with the MWC.

Seems like I read this somewhere else once.....

The UAB fans will know what I'm talking about.

Here's the deal and I told this to my MT bretheren. It's all or none deal. If Benson can somehow pull off the miracle of the century and convince Marshall, ECU, USM, UAB, and Tulane to ditch the Alliance there is a chance that league might be good enough to shift the balance of power. The Alliance would basically be left with the old WAC minus Boise. In that case I would say advantage Sun Belt (although I do hope he changes the name of the league as he rebrands it).

On the other hand if he's able to only convince one or two to come over then it fails in the end, because that will not be enough to shift the balance of power and a couple of the Sun Belt schools will look to bail if they do indeed get the invite from the Alliance. This could actually get interesting.

In the end though, Benson's history tells us he doesn't have what it takes to overcome both Thompson and Britton, so this is a long shot at best.

(02-17-2012 02:55 PM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  Here's the deal and I told this to my MT bretheren. It's all or none deal. If Benson can somehow pull off the miracle of the century and convince Marshall, ECU, USM, UAB, and Tulane to ditch the Alliance there is a chance that league might be good enough to shift the balance of power. The Alliance would basically be left with the old WAC minus Boise. In that case I would say advantage Sun Belt (although I do hope he changes the name of the league as he rebrands it).

On the other hand if he's able to only convince one or two to come over then it fails in the end, because that will not be enough to shift the balance of power and a couple of the Sun Belt schools will look to bail if they do indeed get the invite from the Alliance. This could actually get interesting.

In the end though, Benson's history tells us he doesn't have what it takes to overcome both Thompson and Britton, so this is a long shot at best.

Remember the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

There's no way any Alliance school even entertains an offer from the Sun Belt.

(02-17-2012 02:46 PM)Usajags Wrote:  

(02-17-2012 02:34 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  The Sunbelt could be a really nice conference if they could steal USM, ECU, UAB, Tulane, and Marshall. Add La Tech too. Let the rest of the West teams join with the MWC.

Seems like I read this somewhere else once.....

The UAB fans will know what I'm talking about.

Truth. The Internet has no shortage of fools. In this case, you are statistically half of them. Congrats.

Let me just fast forward this tape by about 10 years....


MWC

Fresno State
San Jose State
Nevada
UNLV
Utah State
Wyoming
Colorado State
Air Force
New Mexico
New Mexico State



SWC

UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Rice
North Texas
Tulsa
Arkansas State
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Tulane



SBC

Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
UAB
Middle Tenessee
Western Kentucky
Marshall
East Carolina
Florida Atlantic
FIU



Hawaii goes Indy.

(02-17-2012 03:21 PM)CAJUNNATION Wrote:  Let me just fast forward this tape by about 10 years....


MWC

Fresno State
San Jose State
Nevada
UNLV
Utah State
Wyoming
Colorado State
Air Force
New Mexico
New Mexico State



SWC

UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Rice
North Texas
Tulsa
Arkansas State
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Tulane



SBC

Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
UAB
Middle Tenessee
Western Kentucky
Marshall
East Carolina
Florida Atlantic
FIU



Hawaii goes Indy.

Dude.. Seriously.. Lay off the crack or gtfo.

Benson is fooling himself. No self respecting cusa member would ever go to the sun belt.

Maybe he will try to steal ECU and USM and the alliance will grab La Tech, FIU, and North Texas (sound familiar)?

(02-17-2012 03:01 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  There's no way any Alliance school even entertains an offer from the Sun Belt.

I can see Tulane entertaining the idea.

The article in question actually came from the New Orleans paper and a their website... I haven't seen the quote about raiding C-USA anywhere else.

You wouldn't think that the travel inherent to C-USA / MWC would hurt a rich school like Tulane, but they are pretty stingy when it comes to athletics. They limped along without a marching band for years. The extra travel time (and talk of semifinal games in football) impinges on their academic goals, as well, and the fact that the Sun Belt is based in New Orleans can't hurt, either.

Finally, there's a contingent of Tulane fans that doesn't really attach too much value to the C-USA name anyway. New Orleans is an SEC town, and everyone else is everyone else; there's not much hair-splitting between the WAC, MAC, MWC, etc. in the way most people here think about football. Tulane was in a BCS conference, and was mentioned as a Big XII candidate, and I think a big portion of their leadership and fans basically think that they can be in one if and when they want to, but they don't want to yet. I don't think most of them attach much value to their current conference affiliation... it's an afterthought, and a marriage of convenience to them.

The last time Benson tried something like this was a few years ago when he tried to get BYU, UTEP, UNLV, and SDSU to join the WAC. This led to the MWC and C-USA to start talks with each other and screw up his plan and the MWC ended up taking the best teams left in the WAC. I guess he is back to his old tricks. I wonder how the Sun Belt will look like after we take their best schools if he tries this again.

I think Bryant put a call in the SBC on behalf of UAB.