(05-29-2015 09:25 AM)lew240z Wrote: Army dropped out of CUSA because they couldn't compete. Air Force has refused at least two overtures from the Big XII because of concerns about their athletes being hurt. Their O and D lines average 60 to 70 pounds less than the opposing D and O lines in the Big XII. At one time, Air Force tried to get their basketball and Oly sports out of the MWC. There is no damn way they want those sport in the Big XII.
The academies being in a P5 conference will not get them any new recruits to the military. 5, 4 and even 3 star athletes have no interest in serving a 4 or 5 year military obligation. They have hopes of going pro. Besides, most football players are too fat to meet military standards, and many are too tall. Most basketball players will be too tall.
I agree that P5 affiliation would do little to help military academy recruiting and would provide too high level of competition and injury risk.
But, Army, Navy, and Air Force in the same AMERICAN conference is tremendous branding and will return solid exposure and TV ratings. IMO, even better ratings if in the same division. Here's how you land Army and Air Force in an 18-team American conference:
First, Army. Looking over their schedule from 2008 to 2020, in addition to Navy and AFA, the template generally includes teams from:
- Texas (CUSA)
- Ohio or Indiana (MAC)
- North Carolina (Duke or Wake Forest)
- NY/NJ/New England (Rutgers, Buffalo, UMass, w/ UConn and BC in '12 to '15)
- California/Hawaii (MWC, w/ Stanford in '13 and '14)
- Temple or Tulane
- Other - w/ E. Michigan or W. Kentucky in 12 of 14 years
- FCS
With deregulation likely, you could give Army a conference schedule that includes:
1) Navy
2) Air Force
3) SMU/Houston
4) Tulane/Temple
5) UConn/ECU/Cincinnati
6) SDSU/Fresno
7&8) Two out of Tulsa/UCF/USF/BYU/Boise/Memphis
Army would still have 4 OOC games to schedule Duke/Wake, Buffalo/UMass/Rutgers/BC, E. Michigan/W. Kentucky, and FCS.
With Navy and Army both in the conference, and deregulation, Air Force could get a schedule like:
1) Army
2) Navy
3) SDSU/Fresno
4) Boise/BYU
5) Houston/SMU
6) Tulsa/Memphis/Tulane
7&8) Two out of UCF/USF/Cincinnati/ECU/UConn/Temple
Air Force would have the 4 OOC games to schedule CSU, Wyoming and other MWC and FCS opponents and the occasional P5 game.
Even if you went with more rigid divisional schedules, put Army, Navy, and Air Force together in the Central division and you get:
1) Army/Navy/Air Force
2) Army/Navy/Air Force
3) SMU
4) Houston
5) Tulane
6/7) 1 or 2 out of Boise/BYU/SDSU/Fresno/Memphis/Tulsa (2 for Air Force)
7/8) 1 or 2 out of Temple/UConn/UCF/USF/Cincinnati/ECU (2 for Army/Navy)
I also believe that if the American were to add Air Force and Army, you could get BYU and Boise St.'s attention. IMO, BYU will come around within the next 3 years or so and would go for a schedule that included:
1) Boise St.
2) SDSU
3) Fresno St.
4) Air Force/Army/Navy
5&6) 2 out of Houston/SMU/Memphis/Tulsa/Tulane
7&8) 2 out of UConn/Temple/ECU/Cincinnati/UCF/USF
And 4 OOC games to play P5 opponents and Utah St./Hawaii.