Anyone think this could actually work? LaTech was in the WAC (all sports) for years and survived. We'd just be in it for football only. Park the other sports in the Atlantic Sun.
Anyone think this could actually work? LaTech was in the WAC (all sports) for years and survived. We'd just be in it for football only. Park the other sports in the Atlantic Sun.
On the surface, a lot of people would jump at that opportunity in the unlikely event that we actually had it. I don't think we'd do well in the MWC, though. Too much travel out west. Going to El Paso and San Antonio is bad enough.
A better option (though probably equally unattainable): poach New Mexico and Air Force or maybe Colorado State, or poach New Mexico and bring in NMSU. These options would let USM return to the East of CUSA, and might allow CUSA to ditch some dead wood.
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2017 04:11 PM by AndreWhere.)
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
All that flying to and over the Rockies would only make a bad financial situation worse. Plus, we'd have to hook up with a no-football conference to place our the other sports.
(This post was last modified: 04-02-2017 07:54 PM by HarborPointe.)
Anyone think this could actually work? LaTech was in the WAC (all sports) for years and survived. We'd just be in it for football only. Park the other sports in the Atlantic Sun.
Anyone think this could actually work? LaTech was in the WAC (all sports) for years and survived. We'd just be in it for football only. Park the other sports in the Atlantic Sun.
On the surface, a lot of people would jump at that opportunity in the unlikely event that we actually had it. I don't think we'd do well in the MWC, though. Too much travel out west. Going to El Paso and San Antonio is bad enough.
A better option (though probably equally unattainable): poach New Mexico and Air Force or maybe Colorado State, or poach New Mexico and bring in NMSU. These options would let USM return to the East of CUSA, and might allow CUSA to ditch some dead wood.
The time to do that was when Boise & San Diego were pulling their Big East stunt. I said here a few times that CUSA should've tried to woo Air Force, Colo St, & Wyoming during all that. Problem is, nobody was looking to make CUSA stronger at the time. They were all just looking for the nearest exit.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
(04-02-2017 07:52 PM)HarborPointe Wrote: All that flying to and over the Rockies would only make a bad financial situation worse. Plus, we'd have to hook up with a no-football conference to place our the other sports.
Not much different than flying to ODU, UTSA, UTEP, and UNT. Did we have a single bus trip this year in CUSA play? I don't think so. Flying to Wyoming, Colorado State, UNM, Utah State, etc can't be much worse.
I still think a regional league is the way to go, but I'd take MWC football/A-Sun other sports (even though it'd cripple our baseball program, which I love) over CUSA in its current form.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
(04-02-2017 09:38 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote:
(04-02-2017 07:52 PM)HarborPointe Wrote: All that flying to and over the Rockies would only make a bad financial situation worse. Plus, we'd have to hook up with a no-football conference to place our the other sports.
Not much different than flying to ODU, UTSA, UTEP, and UNT. Did we have a single bus trip this year in CUSA play? I don't think so. Flying to Wyoming, Colorado State, UNM, Utah State, etc can't be much worse.
I still think a regional league is the way to go, but I'd take MWC football/A-Sun other sports (even though it'd cripple our baseball program, which I love) over CUSA in its current form.
We may or may not have had a bus trip in football this year, but remember, the schedule was messed up because UAB was on hiatus. At the very least, we'll have one bus trip every year going forward, either La Tech or UAB. I don't know if we bus or fly to Rice, but that would be another. MWC would make every road game every year a flight.
And honestly, what's the huge upside of joining the MWC at this point? Before the playoff & P5 autonomy came to be, I could understand, but there's not much to gain anymore. Colorado State, Nevada, and Wyoming on the home slate surely isn't going cause some massive spike in attendance.
This proposal is one step in knee-jerk ridiculousness above going Independent again.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
We bus to Rice.
Just a little frustrated, like we all are about CUSA and thinking of any other options. I think Fresno/Boise/SDSU is preferable to ODU/WKU/Tech but you're right that the negatives relating to travel probably outweigh any positives.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
Football independence is better than being in cusa or MWC. Of course most people on here cant think outside the box enough to realize it. Its funny, people will argue all day long that we need to be in a regional conference, yet they cant understand that if we go indy, we can play every regional team they suggest we be in a conference with. Whats more, is that we can also play regional teams we arent in a conference with if we go indy. In other words....we have more option's by going indy! Damned near every team is potentially on the table and we arent married to playing any of the crap teams indefinitely.
Going indy doesn't mean we stay indy forever. Cusa is giving usm a slow agonizing death. Hopefully we can get in the aac soon. If not....indys the way to go.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
We'd all like an aggressive, immediate solution, but the situation is still too unsettled to go charging off the deep end into anything. The next AAC TV negotiations could change the environment significantly. The Big 12 blowing up would reset the landscape completely. The prudent thing to do is work on building the framework of a new conference with contingencies from there.
RE: Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
(04-02-2017 11:00 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote: Football independence is better than being in cusa or MWC. Of course most people on here cant think outside the box enough to realize it. Its funny, people will argue all day long that we need to be in a regional conference, yet they cant understand that if we go indy, we can play every regional team they suggest we be in a conference with. Whats more, is that we can also play regional teams we arent in a conference with if we go indy. In other words....we have more option's by going indy! Damned near every team is potentially on the table and we arent married to playing any of the crap teams indefinitely.
Going indy doesn't mean we stay indy forever. Cusa is giving usm a slow agonizing death. Hopefully we can get in the aac soon. If not....indys the way to go.
Yes, we can go Independent and play whomever we choose, because everyone will naturally arrange the other 11 weeks of their schedules to our convenience.
BYU's October & November home schedule last year was State, Toledo, Southern Utah, UMass, and Utah State. B-Y-Freaking-U. What kind of scraps do you think we'd end up with? At least with CUSA, we get a bowl game at the end of our crappy no-name schedule.
When we were Independent 20+ years ago, it was an easier to do because there were a lot more other Independents around to schedule. And we still all joined conferences because it became an increasingly miserable existence.
We'd need about 5 more schools to decide to go Independent at the same time for it to have a prayer of it working, and at that point, we may as well just join up and make it a new conference.
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Thinking outside the box (conference affiliation)
