(02-20-2016 12:51 PM)lance99 Wrote: Penn is a bad example because the entire Ivy League wanted to move down....
Ehh, not really. It's not as unified as that. Ivy considered Army and Navy for membership, and that would have allowed the entire conference to operate at D1A. And, remember that as recently as 2010, Ivy (or some number of its members) petitioned for a waiver to have its games with FBS schools count. Yale-Army still went through (more so because Army's AD really would want to be in that conference than anything that helped the players on the field that season).
They put their pants on one leg at a time just like the others. They just won't give folks the satisfaction acknowledging they do, in fact, operate like any other institution.
As for Villanova, and the Philadelphia region...it's been an interesting week on sports radio talking about Villanova hitting the top of the polls. It's true, what some have been remarking there, that it feels subdued and less infectious than when St. Joe's had that run a decade or so ago. I think many in the region can't identify with Villanova's self-draped elitism, and, there's still plenty of people to remind others where Villanova was as an institution, a Big 5 institution, 30-40 years ago.
Villanova, when it won the FCS title back in 2009, had a shot to become Philadelphia's college team of choice. They had the spotlight in 2009 and 2010. Not only did they not choose to be more open or transparent with this predicament, they continued to act like the stiffs they've become, barely acknowledging the matter publicly until they decided not to do so, putting down other institutions and conferences on their way out.
Honestly, I kind of hope the Ivies do decide to make a jump upward. Penn will smash whatever Villanova thinks it has. Considering UPenn is Philly's biggest non-public employer, it's already got some distance ahead of VU...and Temple. Even if many could only ever dream of getting into that school.