CSNbbs

Wow, they sure are some strong emotions coming out on the C-USA board. Of course, no one really knows if all this TCU to MWC "business" is accurate, but posters maintaining they "know" say it is, and are the C-USA'ers ever P-Oed about it. There is also talk that Houston may be going with them to MWC, but that seems a tad far-fetched to me.

I guess MACsters are getting a chuckle out of this, but it really is a troubling trend with the "domino" effect that can destroy conferences in a matter of a few weeks. C-USA got raided first, but they sure didn't mind picking the pocket of the MAC and the WAC (although they got mostly leftovers from the WAC in terms of football), and now this. Well, if true I guess you could say "what goes around, comes around" to getcha eventually.

I already stated that I think the Herd go to C-USA no matter what TCU decides, but if I'm wrong and Marshall then balks, then C-USA would likely lose ECU as well. If UCF gets a BE slot, in that case maybe ECU takes their place in the MAC? Yeah, I know......pretty crazy. :eek:

exCincy Kid Wrote:Wow, they sure are some strong emotions coming out on the C-USA board. Of course, no one really knows if all this TCU to MWC "business" is accurate, but posters maintaining they "know" say it is, and are the C-USA'ers ever P-Oed about it. There is also talk that Houston may be going with them to MWC, but that seems a tad far-fetched to me.

I guess MACsters are getting a chuckle out of this, but it really is a troubling trend with the "domino" effect that can destroy conferences in a matter of a few weeks. C-USA got raided first, but they sure didn't mind picking the pocket of the MAC and the WAC (although they got mostly leftovers from the WAC in terms of football), and now this. Well, if true I guess you could say "what goes around, comes around" to getcha eventually.

I already stated that I think the Herd go to C-USA no matter what TCU decides, but if I'm wrong and Marshall then balks, then C-USA would likely lose ECU as well. If UCF gets a BE slot, in that case maybe ECU takes their place in the MAC? Yeah, I know......pretty crazy. :eek:

That would be pretty cool though dontcha think?

Yeah, although not very close by, ECU really fills their stadium, and I guess would serve as a much better rival for Marshall than UCF.

I'm crossing my fingers that this whole conference swiitching falls apart somehow.
Maybe it will, and I can resume my regularly scheduled miami-hating.

MrKnockoff Wrote:I'm crossing my fingers that this whole conference swiitching falls apart somehow.
Maybe it will, and I can resume my regularly scheduled miami-hating.

I'd rather stay. But stay or go, I still hate Miami.

Like many of you, I was pretty convinced Texas Christian would stay put. But if they are going public about giving the Mountain West an answer, maybe we were wrong.

Was the Marshall Board of Governors decision to allow the university president to accept a Conference USA invitation conditional? I don't remember reading that, and I would think conditions would have been reported. They may want to have another meeting right quick.

This is interesting. Potentially, it's fantastic news for the MAC, but there are many ways this could play out for us, leaving aside the question of whether Marshall would rethink its decision:

1. Conference USA abandons its idea of holding a championship game and stands pat. Maybe the WAC schools stand by their decision to abandon the WAC. Maybe not.
2. Conference USA raids the Sun Belt to get to 12, going Louisiana Tech and/or North Texas.
3. Conference USA attempts to raid the MAC to get to 12.

I suppose we may have a chance to test my theory about whether or not MAC schools would reject the kind of offer made to Marshall. I say they would reject such an offer. We may see.

I should add that I'm surprised by how many Northern Illinois fans seem enamored with Conference USA. It's been the subject of quite a bit of discussion here:

<a href='http://www.teamyates.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/configniu.pl' target='_blank'>http://www.teamyates.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/configniu.pl</a>

Interesting days ahead.

Make that a handful of NIU fans on an obscure message board are enamored with CUSA. Most NIU fans I know think that Conference USA is ridiculous and want no part of it, particularly after their attempt at joining the Big 8 back in the mid-80s... There was a report that NIU president John Peters scoffed openly at those message board rumors, which seem to have been started by a few CUSA fans and NIU students with active imaginations.

Don't mistake a few dudes on the Internet for the sentiments of a school of 25,000 and an alumni base of 150,000, or that school's administration.

Schadenfreude Wrote:Was the Marshall Board of Governors decision to allow the university president to accept a Conference USA invitation conditional?

Yes, it was.

<a href='http://www.marshall.edu/www/pressrelease.asp?ID=92' target='_blank'>The vote took place in the Memorial Student Center

Well, yeah, I don't see how Northern Illinois could possibly decide to leave. The Big West experience is certainly fresh in many people's minds.

Those are some dumb fans posting on that message board. Thank god we only get the smart ones posting over here.

The vast majority of us NIU folk are happy with the MAC. There are some concerns that we could finish 11-1 and not get a bowl bid. Somehow CUSA's five bowl tie-ins look attractive, although it remains to be seen what will become of them, especially if their expansion plans blow up in their faces.

Schadenfreude Wrote:Well, yeah, I don't see how Northern Illinois could possibly decide to leave. The Big West experience is certainly fresh in many people's minds.

Those are some dumb fans posting on that message board. Thank god we only get the smart ones posting over here.

To join CUSA now for most MAC schools is silly. Probably for us to but we like silly. But what if TCu and Houston jumped together? THen we leave Texas out of the equation. Not so far to travel. Then the five teams left plus UCF and MArshall join 7 MAC schools, in North and South divsions. That about sews up the whole midwest from top to bottom.

Something like

South:

Marshall
ECU
UCF
UAB
Tulane
USM
Memphis


North:

Toledo
Miami
NIU
BUGS
WMU
Ball State
Ohio


That would be a fairly impressive conference with little or no attendance worries and a good championship opportunity. Fairly solid for Bball too. The north would have the tougher division IMO but also the tighter geographic fit. You guys would have 4 or 5 good teams a year and we would have 3 or 4. Marshall would be happily in the South, so to speak, and you guys would keep most of your rivals. CMU might have to be worked in somewhere to keep WMU happy. EMU Kent Buffalo and Akron are probably going to be gone anyway at least 2-3 of them.

Does that appeal to anyone, here?

We could have two commishes. Chryst in the north and Banowsky in the South. Of course I would oversee both :)

Papa Lou BSU Wrote:Make that a handful of NIU fans on an obscure message board are enamored with CUSA. Most NIU fans I know think that Conference USA is ridiculous and want no part of it, particularly after their attempt at joining the Big 8 back in the mid-80s... There was a report that NIU president John Peters scoffed openly at those message board rumors, which seem to have been started by a few CUSA fans and NIU students with active imaginations.

Don't mistake a few dudes on the Internet for the sentiments of a school of 25,000 and an alumni base of 150,000, or that school's administration.

Umm...yeah, what he said.

We've got some dopes who are infatuated with CUSA...but let's be honest...CUSA is an ugly girl with a nice chest and a lot of emotional problems.

You see the number of bowls and it seems nice...then you see everything else that you get....
:chair: :chair:

Oh, and having seen my own posts, I'm not so sure about getting the "smart ones" over here.

DogTracks Wrote:CUSA is an ugly girl with a nice chest and a lot of emotional problems.

That's the kind I dig!

MUther Wrote:Something like

South:

Marshall
ECU
UCF
UAB
Tulane
USM
Memphis


North:

Toledo
Miami
NIU
BUGS
WMU
Ball State
Ohio

Does that appeal to anyone, here?

We could have two commishes. Chryst in the north and Banowsky in the South. Of course I would oversee both :)

It appeals to me. The problem is without TCU, CUSA will lose its automatic bid.It makes more sense for Marshall to stay in the MAC, and try and convince ECU and the gang to join the MAC, with EMU,Kent,Akron,Buff leaving because of attendance.

I like this alignment better:

Eastern Time zone:
Marshall, ECU, Ohio, Miami, Toledo, UCF

Central Time zone:
UAB, Tulane, Memphis, NIU,WMU, USM

I like the idea, but how about take each "division" to 9 teams and let them function as two completely independent conferences, except for the championship game. They could cross schedule if any one needed a 5th D1A home game but it would not count in the conference standings. This would provide a bit of insurance against drop-outs and deserters. However, it might be a bit tricky getting the right 9-9 mix.

Not that any of this will every happen, but it is fun to imagine.

MUther Wrote:

Schadenfreude Wrote:Well, yeah, I don't see how Northern Illinois could possibly decide to leave. The Big West experience is certainly fresh in many people's minds.

Those are some dumb fans posting on that message board. Thank god we only get the smart ones posting over here.

To join CUSA now for most MAC schools is silly. Probably for us to but we like silly. But what if TCu and Houston jumped together? THen we leave Texas out of the equation. Not so far to travel. Then the five teams left plus UCF and MArshall join 7 MAC schools, in North and South divsions. That about sews up the whole midwest from top to bottom.

Something like

South:

Marshall
ECU
UCF
UAB
Tulane
USM
Memphis


North:

Toledo
Miami
NIU
BUGS
WMU
Ball State
Ohio


That would be a fairly impressive conference with little or no attendance worries and a good championship opportunity. Fairly solid for Bball too. The north would have the tougher division IMO but also the tighter geographic fit. You guys would have 4 or 5 good teams a year and we would have 3 or 4. Marshall would be happily in the South, so to speak, and you guys would keep most of your rivals. CMU might have to be worked in somewhere to keep WMU happy. EMU Kent Buffalo and Akron are probably going to be gone anyway at least 2-3 of them.

Does that appeal to anyone, here?

We could have two commishes. Chryst in the north and Banowsky in the South. Of course I would oversee both :)

That's a decent conference alignment, MUther. I don't know why Ball State is included, though. They don't bring much to the table.

Stick4489 Wrote:

DogTracks Wrote:CUSA is an ugly girl with a nice chest and a lot of emotional problems.&nbsp;

That's the kind I dig!

Reminds me of my ex-

murox- Wrote:That's a decent conference alignment, MUther. I don't know why Ball State is included, though. They don't bring much to the table.

He just wants Toledo to lose a game every other year!

BSU has good hoops, Murox..........one of the 3 top arenas in the MAC, and usuallly top 3 in attendance as well. Plus, they've fixed up their stadium quite a bit and have a good hoops rivalry with the boys in Oxford. I say let 'em stay!

I don't think we'll lose anyone in the conference to attendance issues. The dynamic for dropping someone to 1AA hasn't been fleshed out and it seems too damn easy to fudge the numbers anyway.

At any rate, I cannot concieve of a MAC without Kent State.