(05-24-2013 08:38 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote: (05-24-2013 08:13 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: (05-24-2013 07:55 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote: (05-24-2013 07:41 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: (05-24-2013 07:06 PM)Rabonchild Wrote: The SBC teams have a right to not want Liberty. Just like I have a right to not want any SBC teams in C-USA. Their issue is social & mine is no SBC team adds any value to C-USA.
And yet the SBC was a better conference last year than CUSA. In football. Exactly one of the 12 programs continuing in CUSA went bowling last year (and that team will be playing in the Sun Belt next year - and has never won a bowl game - ever - WKU). And here's a news flash for CUSA.....next year isn't looking much better for them either. Every single continuing program in the Belt has been to a bowl game in the last 5 years.
You have a 'market'. Well at least you are located in a market. Big whoop. Good luck delivering it. UNCC brings nothing but bad basketball, non-existant football, and entitlement.
And the A-10 is also welcome to be glad to be rid of an RPI drag at UNCC. As far as the shade against SBC teams, South Alabama has more at large bids in basketball than UNCC has over the last 8 years. All Sun Belt teams, except UTA and UALR (neither of whom play football) including Georgia State have better football programs than UNCC does at present. UNCC's record in men's basketball and football doesn't give them any reason to cast shade against any SBC program. UNCC hasn't done anything since 2005. Except mouth off with nothing to back it up. For the record, that was 8 long years ago.
USM or Marshall have some recent results that would allow them to credibly talk smack about value (although I'd dispute that). UNCC? You got nothing.
Good luck in CUSA. You couldn't compete in the A-10. And there's no evidence you'll compete in football anytime soon. Feel free to continue to talk smack about the Belt. We'll just concentrate on continuing to be a better football conference, partly because UNCC is in CUSA.
Rice beat Air Force 33-14 in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth.
I stand corrected, 2 of the 12 teams slated to play in CUSA in 2014-5 played in bowl games last year. Congrats to Rice on beating a 6-6 Air Force Team to finish 7-6. Meanwhile ULL soundly beat ECU (who finished 7-1 in CUSA), and stAte beat a ranked Kent State team in its bowl game. Meanwhile WKU (who is moving to CUSA) lost to a 6-6 CMU team.
It's just one bowl season. If the trend continues in 5 years then your point will have more merit. C-USA still has Southern Miss, Marshall should be solid in the next few years. Louisiana Tech should be decent and C-USA should give one of the F_U schools the platform to become the next UCF. North Texas might surprise some people and Rice should be in contention to win the West Division this year. UTEP is still a big unknown because we have a new coach and system so I can't really tell you what to expect from the Miners. Football will be a long term project but basketball might surprise more people right away with a more balanced league instead of being Memphis and the rest. A basketball conference that has UTEP, UAB, Charlotte, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky is a good foundation to begin with considering all the basketball losses C-USA has had in the last 10 years.
Obviously, someone has to win half the conference games in CUSA and since most of the conference wins left the conference (unlike the departures from the Belt), someone else will have a better record, but lets look at CUSA next year.
1) UNT - Hasn't had a winning record in a long time. Even though they played in the Belt. Barring some massive turnaround, they're not going to put distance between CUSA and the Belt
2) FAU - Program has been awful the last couple of years. In 2011, they had one win (against a CUSA team - UAB) and had zero Sun Belt Conference wins. In 2012, they lost to South Alabama and nearly got beat by a 'pretend' FCS program Wagner.
3) FIU - Program fell apart last year, and they finished 2-6. They also appear to be rebuilding next year, with a lot of key players to replace and a new coach.
4) UAB - Hasn't had a winning season in ages.
5) UTSA - Won 8 games last year (including games with USA and Texas State), but they went 2-4 against FBS competition not playing in their first year.
6) ODU - FCS moveup. A good one, but there's no reason to think they'll be successful initially, or even more successful than they Belt's FCS moveups (Appy and Ga Southern).
7) USM - What happened? I don't know if they'll turn it around next year.
8) La Tech - Had a good (but not great) season last year, but apparently has been decimated by graduation
9) MTSU - had a good season last year (which would have been better had they not had lost to a FCS team last year). They were competitive in the Belt, but hardly dominated (they won - ok shared - the SBC crown with Troy in 2006).
10) Marshall - Good team, but they haven't finished higher than 7-6 in TEN years.
11) UAB - I'm not seeing UAB helping CUSA compete with the Belt. I guess it could happen.
12) Rice - Actually one of the better CUSA programs remaining. They have finished with a winning record three times out of the last 10 years. One of those years was a legitimate good year.
13) UTEP - Last winning record was in 2005.
14) Tulsa - Historically, the class of this bunch. They're leaving after this year though.
Someone will have to win the games previously won by Houston, UCF, SMU and ECU (and someone will have to lose those by Memphis and Tulane). But I have no idea who is gonna be the beneficiary of it. Maybe UTEP or Marshall. At any rate, next year doesn't look terribly promising for CUSA at this point.
The Belt has teams with problems (e.g., new programs like South Alabama, Texas State, and Georgia State - two of whom could actually perform decently next year). But all the other programs look to be equal or better than they were last year.
Obviously, things change once we get into the season, but for now, I'd be very cautious about predicting that CUSA will be better than the Belt next year. I actually see the Belt being better than CUSA again next year.