(03-31-2013 08:44 PM)billings Wrote:  North Dakota State a better fit for the MAC or are they too far west? Probably the best FCS candidate out there

Too far west by about 500 miles. It's not even worth discussing.

(03-31-2013 05:22 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 03:28 PM)gatek99 Wrote:  This is my first post!

What is Arkansas State to the MAC is true? Does the SBC add Liberty and JMU?

I could see JMU, not so much Liberty.

Unlike may schools, Liberty has money. Liberty has every opportunity to be a BYU-type team.

When I went back to North Carolina, I was amazed how many families had their children attending Liberty.

I don't see JMU going to the Sunbelt. They're an outlier both geographically and culturally.

I think the Sunbelt is using the threat of taking Liberty to scare JMU into joining.

(03-31-2013 08:54 PM)chess Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 05:22 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 03:28 PM)gatek99 Wrote:  This is my first post!

What is Arkansas State to the MAC is true? Does the SBC add Liberty and JMU?

I could see JMU, not so much Liberty.

Unlike may schools, Liberty has money. Liberty has every opportunity to be a BYU-type team.

When I went back to North Carolina, I was amazed how many families had their children attending Liberty.

You are welcome to advocate Liberty as a member of the A-12. Let me know what the people up in Storrs think of that idea.

BYU wasn't able to get along with any of its conference mates. They demanded the conference rearrainge the schedule to accomodate their special requirements. Among other things. Then they made a boneheaded choice to leave because of their desire to use athletics to further the prothelization goals of the church, even though that move will probably hurt the athletic programs. Given the concerns many of us in the Sun Belt have about Liberty's fit, I'm not sure that using the BYU analogy is helping the case for Liberty.

Liberty's on-campus enrollment isn't that high. Nor do they have a large alumni base. They have around 14,000 real students (I don't count on-line students - they're not going to games or participating in campus life). If you know a lot of people with ties to Liberty, its likely more of a sign of your social groupings rather than some groundswell of support and desire to attend Liberty.

Liberty has some money (although there are Sun Belt schools that have more - South Alabama's endowment is TEN times that of Liberty's), but they do come with a LOT of baggage. Unless we need more than one school, I see JMU as the first choice. If we need more than one or if JMU wants to stay FCS, I think the opposition to SHSU might lessen.

(03-31-2013 08:56 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  I don't see JMU going to the Sunbelt. They're an outlier both geographically and culturally.

I think the Sunbelt is using the threat of taking Liberty to scare JMU into joining.

It would be a threat if we weren't being forced to go to 12 teams by the new payout formula. I wish we didn't have to add any more teams than we have (and we had just stayed at 10 - no Idaho).

But the Belt IS going to 12. I think Idaho's bid made that crystal clear. And I doubt we go beyond 12 (for obvious reasons). So as of today, there is one (1) bid out there, unless the MAC wants to move some FCS teams up or take a Belt team that will likely bolt for CUSA as soon as they can.

The most likely case is that there is one slot available to a FCS school. And its going to be filled. And there might not be any others for a while.

Don't get me wrong. I get heartburn everytime I hear the words Liberty "University" and Sun Belt used in the same sentence. And I'd love for the Belt to simply using JFJR/Liberty as a stalking horse. But there is a real chance that JMU gets left out of this unless they take the Belt bid. I would be very surprised if CUSA took JMU. I would be very surprised if the MAC did either.

(03-31-2013 08:16 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  If I'm the MAC, I'm not sure that bringing on two teams that would rather be in CUSA (and both stAte and ULL would) makes any sense because both those teams are going to pull a Temple on you the first change they get.

Or, even more directly to the point, a Marshall.

That's part of the appeal of an Illinois State or a Northern Iowa, if they want to move up ~ or an NDSU FB-only, if they want to move their FB up ~ there is no risk of losing them to CUSA and little risk of losing them to the Big TBA.

(03-31-2013 09:25 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 08:56 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  I don't see JMU going to the Sunbelt. They're an outlier both geographically and culturally. ...

... So as of today, there is one (1) bid out there, unless the MAC wants to move some FCS teams up or take a Belt team that will likely bolt for CUSA as soon as they can. ...

And that is reported in some quarters as expected to be JMU.

As far as being a geographic outlier ~ with Appalachian State coming into the Sunbelt, its not like JMU would be on an island. They'd clearly be closer to the second and third closest CUSA school, but CUSA is not the one with an invitation to give. And JMU would be substantially less of a geographic outlier in the Sunbelt than in the MAC.

As far as being a cultural outlier ~ well, whether JMU's wants to move up to the FBS and what it hopes to get out of that move is JMU's decision to make. A good cultural fit may be a lot easier to find in the FCS subsdivision then in the FBS subdivision.

One thing going for JMU in CUSA is that ODU has been lobbying CUSA to invite JMU.

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(03-31-2013 10:16 PM)jmufan Wrote:  One thing going for JMU in CUSA is that ODU has been lobbying CUSA to invite JMU.

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I'm not sure that ODU has a lot of pull in CUSA right now. They already have a pod partner in UNCC.

I would imaging MTSU and WKU would love to have stAte in the conference.

Maybe they can invite JMU to appease the east and stAte to appease the west?

(03-31-2013 10:16 PM)jmufan Wrote:  One thing going for JMU in CUSA is that ODU has been lobbying CUSA to invite JMU.

Of course, the best route into CUSA would be to accept a Sunbelt invitation ~ easier to get into an FBS conference if you are already an FBS school.

Old Dominion, Charlotte and Marshall would all be reasonably close to JMU, as FBS distances go.

And speaking of distances:

(03-31-2013 08:53 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 08:44 PM)billings Wrote:  North Dakota State a better fit for the MAC or are they too far west? Probably the best FCS candidate out there

Too far west by about 500 miles. It's not even worth discussing.

It would surely have to be a FB-only add to be discussed. For football, once you get in a plane, going an extra two hundred miles is not such a big deal ... the challenge that NDSU faces in attracting interest is not just distances, but how far it is from a major metropolitan airport. Add the fact that there are multiple cities in the MAC footprint that have more people than the whole state of North Dakota, and its awfully hard to see it working.

(03-31-2013 08:51 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(03-31-2013 08:44 PM)billings Wrote:  North Dakota State a better fit for the MAC or are they too far west? Probably the best FCS candidate out there

NDSU could win a million FCS championships and still would only be taken by a desperate conference. Its not their fault. Its just geography.

By the way, the Belt is kind of in a bit of a pickle if they need to go to 12. If I were NDSU, I'd be working this opportunity. Its probably a once in 20 years window where NDSU could even be in the picture.

It seems like a weird fit, not sure how divisions would work. That said if you add JMU or NDSU for football only is there is a big difference?

The only Sun Belt school that is really a drivable distance to JMU is App State. So maybe it isn't too far fetched, plus NDSU doesn't need a place to put all of its other sports which would keep the footprint tighter for other sports.

Believe some JMU posters have said that their BOV is meeting April 5th, so would expect to hear something on JMU soon.

I tried to quickly whip up the new look sunbelt for everyone to reference:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201...8278&msa=0

(04-01-2013 11:42 AM)ODU2003 Wrote:  I tried to quickly whip up the new look sunbelt for everyone to reference:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201...8278&msa=0

That's useful. You might change the two FB-only schools to a lighter shade of blue, but the geographical separation is so big there's no risk of confusion.

(04-01-2013 11:42 AM)ODU2003 Wrote:  I tried to quickly whip up the new look sunbelt for everyone to reference:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201...8278&msa=0

The marker for New Mexico State is in the wrong place. It is in the southern part of the state near El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

(04-01-2013 11:59 AM)zibby Wrote:  The marker for New Mexico State is in the wrong place. It is in the southern part of the state near El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

Yup, pretty close to UTEP. Even closer to Las Cruces, matter of fact.

I think you might be a little too optimistic on the JMU add at this point. I have ZERO inside information (or outside, for that matter.) It just seems that the SBC has too many options to consider it a done deal.

(04-01-2013 12:14 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-01-2013 11:59 AM)zibby Wrote:  The marker for New Mexico State is in the wrong place. It is in the southern part of the state near El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

Yup, pretty close to UTEP. Even closer to Las Cruces, matter of fact.

My appologies to anyone from NMSU - I wasn't familiar with the location of your school. Anyway it was done via a google search so I'm not sure how I ended up in Sante Fe.

(04-01-2013 01:00 PM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I think you might be a little too optimistic on the JMU add at this point. I have ZERO inside information (or outside, for that matter.) It just seems that the SBC has too many options to consider it a done deal.

Its supposedly inside information that sparks the JMU to Sunbelt story:

Quote: SB Nation also learned that in the event of another departure from the conference, Sun Belt officials had planned to offer a spot to James Madison Univeristy, which is expected to accept. The move would move James Madison up from the FCS to the FBS.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...-c-usa-jmu

This is a qualified statement, though ~ its stated as a report on previous planning, not a report on current planning.

Thanks for the update. It will certainly be a good add, imo...although I would personally add a Texas school, to improve the footprint a bit.