1) As much as we are all pulling for the MAC to get a third bowl bid, I'm still expecting only two after my conversations with those so-called "in the knows." While the MAC & NIU are trying very hard to secure a third bowl bid, expect the Fort Worth Bowl to invite Air Force, with TCU announcing their move to the MWC very soon. They will likley pick their new conference member to get things started off on the right foot.
2) Expect the Mt West to expand with TCU, Fresno St, Boise St and one other school. Maybe Hawaii. The Fort Worth Bowl will likley travel with TCU to the MWC and leave their ties with C-USA. If Hawaii bolts to the MWC, that would be another bowl C-USA would lose to the MWC.
3) If BG wins Thursday night, they automatically go to Detroit. With a close loss, they go. If they get blown out, NIU gets the nod.
4) At 8-4, Toledo & Marshall have no chance at bowls.
5) The GMAC Bowl has even tighter ties with the MAC right now after TCU's fiasco, but C-USA has such a regional appeal there, that they will not lose that bowl which is contracted to them through 2007.
6) By 2005, the MAC & C-USA will each have three bowl bids, pending some new bowl being created at a CUSA stadium.
If all of the above were to occur, it would appear that the MAC and CUSA are informally cooperating with one another (two bowls involving MAC and CUSA schools). Could the merger of the two conferences be a far fetched idea?
niu79 Wrote:If all of the above were to occur, it would appear that the MAC and CUSA are informally cooperating with one another (two bowls involving MAC and CUSA schools). Could the merger of the two conferences be a far fetched idea?
Minus a few on both sides ..
The MWC already has 3 bowl tie-ins, so they would go to 5. The WAC has 3 bowl tie-ins.....do you think they would keep all 3 with losing Boise St, Fresno St, and Hawaii?
Vandelay Wrote:Expect the Mt West to expand with TCU, Fresno St, Boise St and one other school. Maybe Hawaii.
Hawaii? That leaves them in as bad a shape as the old WAC.
They should go for Utah St, UNR or another closer team.
Rice or UNT make more sense than Hawaii.
As for cooperation between CUSA and the MAC...it just shows that CUSA is far more desparate than they were a few months/years ago. They are in bad, bad shape. However, it should be good to start getting some home/away games w/ Div IA teams to fill in the schedule. However, I suspect a merger more along the lines of CUSA and the SBC.
When the WAC-16 broke up, one of the widely reported reasons behind the MWC's invite list (and Hawaii's exclusion from it) was that those schools no longer wanted to pay for the roadies to Hawaii. And that was true even though UH has a fund that helps subsidize the visiting team's expenses in minor sports.
It seems unlikely to me that has changed drastically in the last three years.
niu79 Wrote:If all of the above were to occur, it would appear that the MAC and CUSA are informally cooperating with one another (two bowls involving MAC and CUSA schools). Could the merger of the two conferences be a far fetched idea?
I have always thought that a CUSA/MAC merger with the following teams would be as good as the Big East for football. Throw in Tulsa and this could also be a three bid Bball conference.
South
ECU
Memphis
UCF
So. Miss
Tulane
Marshall
UAB
North
NIU
Miami
Toledo
BGSU
WMU
Tulsa
OU
Just a thought.
CUSA will always have atleast 4 bowls.
DrTorch Wrote:Vandelay Wrote:Expect the Mt West to expand with TCU, Fresno St, Boise St and one other school. Maybe Hawaii.
Hawaii? That leaves them in as bad a shape as the old WAC.
They should go for Utah St, UNR or another closer team.
Rice or UNT make more sense than Hawaii.
As for cooperation between CUSA and the MAC...it just shows that CUSA is far more desparate than they were a few months/years ago. They are in bad, bad shape. However, it should be good to start getting some home/away games w/ Div IA teams to fill in the schedule. However, I suspect a merger more along the lines of CUSA and the SBC.
Hawaii was a big reason, but I have heard from UNLV fans that things have been changing in the last year or so and they are serious about Hawaii joining MWC at some point.
The Knight Time Wrote:CUSA will always have atleast 4 bowls.
England will always rule the seas.
Oddball Wrote:The Knight Time Wrote:CUSA will always have atleast 4 bowls.
England will always rule the seas.
Oddball Wrote:The Knight Time Wrote:CUSA will always have atleast 4 bowls.
England will always rule the seas.
And KingBob will always have his throne :john:
niu79 Wrote:If all of the above were to occur, it would appear that the MAC and CUSA are informally cooperating with one another (two bowls involving MAC and CUSA schools). Could the merger of the two conferences be a far fetched idea?
What I would love to see is not so much a merger but a formal comprehensive cooperation between the MAC and C-USA. They are freaking clones of each other. If they would work together, they would have so much more leverage than trying to compete with one another.
They could have formal scheduling agreements in all sports, a championship game at the end of the season (I guess that was what the GMAC was trying to do but couldn't), bowls for their one, two, and three place finishers head-to-head, basketball tournaments, and bargaining power against the BCmesS.
I guess it is just too logical in the land of insanity known as college athletics.
Oddball Wrote:The Knight Time Wrote:CUSA will always have atleast 4 bowls.
England will always rule the seas.
:rofl:
:rofl:
Econoknight Wrote:niu79 Wrote:If all of the above were to occur, it would appear that the MAC and CUSA are informally cooperating with one another (two bowls involving MAC and CUSA schools). Could the merger of the two conferences be a far fetched idea?
What I would love to see is not so much a merger but a formal comprehensive cooperation between the MAC and C-USA. They are freaking clones of each other. If they would work together, they would have so much more leverage than trying to compete with one another.
They could have formal scheduling agreements in all sports, a championship game at the end of the season (I guess that was what the GMAC was trying to do but couldn't), bowls for their one, two, and three place finishers head-to-head, basketball tournaments, and bargaining power against the BCmesS.
I guess it is just too logical in the land of insanity known as college athletics.
Gee, ya think so?
Sorry Knight, you shouldn't bear the sarcastic response, but folks have been saying this for years. If the xBCS teams would stop trying to undercut each other, in hopes to get the bigger scraps, they could put together a good program. IMO, CUSA is the worst of the group, as they've been trying to separate themselves from the "pack" by any means necessary.
Cooperation isn't going to hurt, it's going to help everyone. Better games, better attendance, better bargaining about getting bigger media revenue.
I understand, there's competition in this arena: the games and for recruits. But, there has to be the realization that there is some cooperation needed as well.