Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

(08-03-2016 10:15 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 06:16 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  I don't see BYU wanting FB only. Utah is their chief rival and they are going to jump at an opportunity to get all of their sports into the P5, IMO. I'm sure they can work out the Sunday rule for womens soccer or womens basketball or whatever...

And, if Chip Brown is to be believed, these 4 would turn the American into an interesting geographical conference...

You would still have UConn, Temple, Navy, ECU, UCF, USF...all on the east coast. Then Tulane, SMU and Tulsa. Seems in that scenario that Southern Miss would be a shoe in to be added (to travel partner with Tulane). I wonder if Aresco would stand pat there...or consider adding Marshall and Rice to go to 12.

If you look at how the voting blocks would break down, I think you might see 3 added for the same reason the Bi12 might have to add 4.

The schools that the AAC is losing are all large public schools. Left behind, will be a group of 3 public/private schools in the NE. A group of 3 large public schools in the SE. And a group of 3 exclusive private schools in the west. I could see them not being able to agree on a single candidate, but able to agree on 3 which would allow each group gets what it wants.

I could see UMass being added for the NE schools, Rice being the preference of for the western privates, and S Miss being the choice of the southeastern large public schools. Layer on Wichita as a non-football school and the league can soldier on as a multi-bid basketball conference with solid football in some very big markets. It would consist of 3 knots of schools---each with the commonality to develop some nice future rivalries.

Your analysis is solid, however I am not sure UMass will make the cut. Not sure what school I would replace UMass with though (Buffalo maybe with its AAU status?) so its as good a guess as any.

However, it will all come down to $$$. Can AAC make more as a 10 team league or a 12 team league.


However, assuming the money works, I think academics will play a much larger role for the AAC than other conferences, particularly in the west. If Houston is taken, I agree Rice is a shoe in. UMass does have solid academics going for it, but Marshall and Southern Miss are both unranked in USN/ARWU rankings, and neither are Carnegies "highest research" classification.

With that being the case, I wonder if someone like Charlotte (USN 194) has a better chance than those two even with ECU in the league. Or, barring that, if someone like ODU compared to say Marshall even with the history Marshall has.

Mostly just thinking out loud/in type.

People on this board continue to ignore NIU.
Chicago TV market is still the biggest plum out there.
Either NIU gets consideration from the Big 12 or NIU gets into the AAC.

(08-03-2016 10:44 AM)bigredmachine Wrote:  People on this board continue to ignore NIU.
Chicago TV market is still the biggest plum out there.
Either NIU gets consideration from the Big 12 or NIU gets into the AAC.

No one is getting into the Big 12 or any Power 5 league without the demonstrated ability to sell 20K+ season tickets.

NIU sold 4200 season tickets after making the Orange Bowl.

(08-03-2016 10:20 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

I'm pretty sure he has it right.

I'm thinking Cincinnati and Houston are for-sure to get into the Big 12. It's the last two members that I'm curious about.

BYU & Colorado State
Memphis & possibly Tulane or SMU (if politics become the next major issue)
UCF & USF

I think the best 4 to go with is BYU, Colorado State, Cincinnati & Houston but if that FedEx money is real, I could see Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis & Tulane with a 5-game scheduling agreement between the new Big 14 & BYU.

While very few here seem to think that B12 is interested in a proximate travel partner for BYU all sports, I personally don't see why Boise wouldn't be ahead of Colorado St if it were the case.

Obviously better football product and support, which is what matters.
Little bit closer to Provo.
And it's clear that research prowess doesn't matter to the B12, when you have schools like Baylor and TCU in the conference (sorry, facts are facts).

(08-03-2016 12:09 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  ...I personally don't see why Boise wouldn't be ahead of Colorado St if it were the case.

Nothing against BSU ...

But Texans love to vacation in Colorado. They owned a big chunk of it long ago, as did Kansas.

The remaining Big 8 teams in the Big XII like to travel there too. It's an easy drive (uphill) to Estes Park and various ski parks from CSU (or CU).

CSU brings the Denver and Colorado Springs TV markets. And the big Denver airport is an easy drive away.

CSU is a longstanding comprehensive research institution of very good academic quality.

If BYU is invited too, CSU makes a contiguous land bridge.

While not currently great at FB, it wouldn't be the worst in the Big XII this year if already playing in it. A nice, new on-campus stadium is in the works.

(And no, I don't have a tie to CSU other than having visited their campus once many moons ago.)

(08-03-2016 10:44 AM)bigredmachine Wrote:  People on this board continue to ignore NIU.
Chicago TV market is still the biggest plum out there.
Either NIU gets consideration from the Big 12 or NIU gets into the AAC.

Better get ready for the AAC.

The new on-campus stadium helps Colorado State a lot too, add in the fact they have a solid Men's Basketball program and no baseball program which would leave the Big 14 to 12 baseball members too. At the end of the day I still think it'll be BYU, Colorado State, Cincinnati and Houston that get the invites. For the AAC, Rice would be one of the invites and then a pick of the litter for member #12 which I think would be UMass personally with a committed athletic budget fund to football.

Probably takes the team bus 6hrs to go between BYU-Boise, and 7hrs between BYU-CO St. So I guess not great advantage there.

Agree CO St has good research. A low-end PAC level. Boise basically non-existent. But like I said, that doesn't really matter when you also have Baylor and TCU.



Well in any case, if it's only going to be two schools, then I doubt either WV or BYU are going to get a travel partner!

(08-03-2016 10:53 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:20 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

I'm pretty sure he has it right.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't.

(08-03-2016 10:53 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:20 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

I'm pretty sure he has it right.

Why do you feel this way?

(08-03-2016 08:17 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:53 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:20 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

I'm pretty sure he has it right.

Why do you feel this way?

He has an "insider". I think he's been spitballing, and no "insider" exists.

(08-03-2016 08:18 PM)DefCONNOne Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 08:17 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:53 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 10:20 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Chip Brown on Austin radio this AM saying he thinks expansion will happen, as of right now he thinks the Big 12 will add 4: BYU, Cincy, UH, Memphis.

I'm pretty sure he has it right.

Why do you feel this way?

He has an "insider". I think he's been spitballing, and no "insider" exists.

Like I said, he's been pretty confident. If you say Memphis is not in he's quick to say you're wrong in a nice way.