I really don't think the media knows what it's talking about most the time but ECU is starting to get mentioned more as a serious candidate.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/76568...tml?pg=all

Among the schools widely considered top candidates for Big 12 expansion are BYU, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, South Florida, Central Florida, Memphis, Boise State, East Carolina and Colorado State. - Deseret News

I don't think this will be ECU's shot.

(07-20-2016 09:58 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(07-19-2016 11:19 PM)Indiana Bones Wrote:  Ability: ECU is the only team that resides in a big state that has a real shot to separate themselves from the rest of their state. A strong argument can be made that ECU is already the best football program in NC.

A strong argument how? I just saw North Carolina finish the regular season 11-1, and had an outside change (very outside, but a chance) to make the playoffs. They have been to bowls seven of the last 8 seasons, have the same number of non losing seasons (8) the past ten years as ECU, and also have 5 seasons with appearances in the AP poll, to two for ECU. Then there is Appalachian State, ye of 3 national championships in the last dozen years. So which program of these programs is there a "strong" argument they are better than?

Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way , on a more serious note, ECU's biggest detriment in terms of Big 12 expansion is, the further away you are from the core footprint of a conference, the more appealing you have to be to get invited. If UConn were located physically where Memphis was, and everything else were the same, they would be a no brainer shoo-in with Cincinnati. Being so far away, and with so many other attributes that otherwise would be appealing, they instead are playing the waiting game. The distance means they have to have just that much more. Meanwhile as much as I have not been able to fully wrap my head around it, Tulane seems to hang in there as a viable candidate, and that is purely because of their location in comparison to the other candidates, and its correlation to the Big 12 footprint. If ECU had everything the have now, but instead were located in rural Missouri instead of rural NC, they'd be near the top of the list. Add in the distance, and they become less appealing. The only programs that (seem) to have a strong appeal to the Big 12, and are far flung are BYU (for obvious reasons), and perhaps U_F because of possible untapped potential. Everyone else mentioned is far closer to the core footprint. More than anything else, that will keep them out.

ECU vs. in-state programs last 5 years:

(07-20-2016 07:12 AM)Hood-rich Wrote:  Who are you trying to convince here? do the Big 12 presidents post here?

DavidSt is the UT president

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

I wish you could put East Carolina's football stadium and program at Missouri State.

Lot of thought there OP. The only way IMO that ECU gets in is because BYU goes in as a FB only. In that scenario ECU may be looked at as a FB only in the East.

Then the Big 12 adds two all sports schools...say Cincy and UConn.

I'm betting both USF and UCF have to say no in that scenario to FB only invites.

I think ECU could happen in two different scenarios, both involving 4+ team expansions, and ECU being the fourth team - and all only if the other B12 schools want to hook up West Virginia.

Southeastern expansion - B12 adds a combination of UCF, USF, Memphis, ECU

Northern expansion - B12 adds a combination of Cincinnati, Memphis, UConn, Temple, ECU

In a scenario where Houston is added, both Temple AND UConn are added, or any western school is added, I don't see ECU even getting considered since they aren't a priority program for the B12 to add.

(07-20-2016 10:15 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  ECU vs. in-state programs last 5 years:

Any particular reason why you left out FOUR losses to UNC in that time span since the last game you listed vs. NC State?

East Carolina is (4-12-1) against North Carolina

Average score: East Carolina 22.8 - North Carolina 30.2

Per decade
W L T PFPG PAPG
2010's 2 3 0 33.6 35.2
2000's 1 3 0 22.3 28.5
1990's 0 0 0 0 0
1980's 0 2 0 1.5 43.5
1970's 1 4 1 21.3 22.8

All games
2014/09/20 East Carolina 70 - North Carolina 41 W
2013/09/28 East Carolina 55 - North Carolina 31 W
2012/09/22 East Carolina 6 - North Carolina 27 L
2011/10/01 East Carolina 20 - North Carolina 35 L
2010/10/02 East Carolina 17 - North Carolina 42 L
2009/09/19 East Carolina 17 - North Carolina 31 L
2007/09/08 East Carolina 34 - North Carolina 31 W
2003/10/11 East Carolina 17 - North Carolina 28 L
2001/10/06 East Carolina 21 - North Carolina 24 L
1981/09/12 East Carolina 0 - North Carolina 56 L
1980/10/25 East Carolina 3 - North Carolina 31 L
1979/10/27 East Carolina 24 - North Carolina 24 T
1978/09/16 East Carolina 10 - North Carolina 14 L
1976/10/23 East Carolina 10 - North Carolina 12 L
1975/10/25 East Carolina 38 - North Carolina 17 W
1973/10/27 East Carolina 27 - North Carolina 28 L
1972/11/25 East Carolina 19 - North Carolina 42 L

(07-20-2016 11:20 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  Lot of thought there OP. The only way IMO that ECU gets in is because BYU goes in as a FB only. In that scenario ECU may be looked at as a FB only in the East.

Then the Big 12 adds two all sports schools...say Cincy and UConn.

I'm betting both USF and UCF have to say no in that scenario to FB only invites.

That would be the best case scenario for ECU.

(07-20-2016 11:34 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(07-20-2016 10:15 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  ECU vs. in-state programs last 5 years:

Any particular reason why you left out FOUR losses to UNC in that time span since the last game you listed vs. NC State?

He clearly stated "last 5 years".

A valiant effort by the OP.

(07-20-2016 11:34 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(07-20-2016 10:15 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  ECU vs. in-state programs last 5 years:

Any particular reason why you left out FOUR losses to UNC in that time span since the last game you listed vs. NC State?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean... He actually left out some losses, but just 2 of them, since he said last 5 seasons, which would actually exclude the OT win over Russell Wilson and the Wolfpack.

For full disclosure, we are 5-2 versus in-state programs over the past 5 seasons. (2-2 vs UNC, 1-0 vs AppState, NC State, and NC Central).

But still, I feel like we are the strongest football program in the state, not because of our support when we are winning, but because of our support when we are losing. I've been tailgating at UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, and Appalachian State. The only experience that compares to ours is NC State. UNC tailgates are socials where they talk about basketball.

That's the off the field part. On the field, you have to remember that even though UNC leads the series 4-12-1, refused to come down East for decades. The first 9 meetings were ALL in Chapel Hill. We went 1-8-1 in those games. In the BCS era, with all of their financial and recruiting benefits, they are just 6-3 against us (5-3 if you discount their vacated win), with a 5-4 home advantage.

NC State, who has a much better football culture than UNC, only leads our series 16-12 despite having 22 of the games played in their stadium (one in Atlanta, 2 in Charlotte). We actually lead the series 5-4 since the BCS/+1 they call a playoff era began.

So, while I won't go so far as to say we are the number one football program in the state TODAY, the potential is there based on how competitive we've been with nowhere near the resources or an autobid recruiting factor.

(07-20-2016 12:52 PM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(07-20-2016 11:34 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  Any particular reason why you left out FOUR losses to UNC in that time span since the last game you listed vs. NC State?

He clearly stated "last 5 years".

I know he did. And then he proceeded to include a game in 2010, of which glossed over 3 losses in that time frame.

(07-20-2016 01:38 PM)Chappy Wrote:  I'm not sure exactly what you mean... He actually left out some losses, but just 2 of them, since he said last 5 seasons, which would actually exclude the OT win over Russell Wilson and the Wolfpack.

But he didn't exclude them: he chose to list them. Which is why I asked why he omitted the others. I don't really care, but it was quite disingenuous.

(07-20-2016 01:38 PM)Chappy Wrote:  But still, I feel like we are the strongest football program in the state, not because of our support when we are winning, but because of our support when we are losing. I've been tailgating at UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, and Appalachian State. The only experience that compares to ours is NC State. UNC tailgates are socials where they talk about basketball.

I get what you are saying. But you are basing it all on attendance as pretty much the sole factor. Which is similar to, for example, Temple using their market as the sole reason for inclusion. Generally, you need to excel at at least two of the criteria, as compared to the other candidates, to be near the top of the list.

Then again there is the example of Tulane to the then Big East that shows that long shots sometimes pay off.

(07-20-2016 02:03 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(07-20-2016 12:52 PM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(07-20-2016 11:34 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  Any particular reason why you left out FOUR losses to UNC in that time span since the last game you listed vs. NC State?

He clearly stated "last 5 years".

I know he did. And then he proceeded to include a game in 2010, of which glossed over 3 losses in that time frame.

Fair enough. Are you Rainman? I'm an ECU fan and I didn't even catch that. My initial thought was he or I was confusing the VT win. Either way, it would've been 2 losses over that timespan, still pretty darn good.

It was pretty easy to catch, because I knew ECU had played more than 4 instate games in the last five years, and knew they played UNC a lot more often than just twice. . So I knew something was missing. He did also leave out wins vs. App State, which was odd considering how I included them, but that's a different animal.

(07-20-2016 03:33 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  It was pretty easy to catch, because I knew ECU had played more than 4 instate games in the last five years, and knew they played UNC a lot more often than just twice. . So I knew something was missing. He did also leave out wins vs. App State, which was odd considering how I included them, but that's a different animal.

I was just messing with you. I wish my memory was that good.

I remember the dumb **** like this. Can't remember who I spoke to yesterday

I don't include wins vs App because they don't matter

Funny those that ECU attempts to compare themselves too don't count wins against ECU either, the hypocrisy knows no bounds in Greenville.

(07-21-2016 12:06 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  Funny those that ECU attempts to compare themselves too don't count wins against ECU either, the hypocrisy knows no bounds in Greenville.

It's everywhere, <sigh>... the first time I head a fellow ECU fan say we shouldn't play Appalachian after their move to FBS because "we have nothing to gain from beating them", I just shook my head.