(06-30-2019 12:06 PM)colohank Wrote: Ideally, a conference would consist of a group of like-minded peer institutions that are close enough graphically to establish natural rivalries and facilitate significant numbers of fans traveling to "away" games. Though not a power conference by any stretch of the imagination, the MAC comes pretty close to being ideal.
The AAC barely qualifies now, with its disparate collection of mostly large, urban, public universities and smaller private schools widely scattered across the eastern half of the US. Adding BYU, geographically isolated and a decidedly cultural outlier, wouldn't be an improvement. Neither would the addition of Boise State or any other school west of the 100th meridian. As diverse as the AAC is, current members have nothing in common with those distant candidates.
Yeah, yeah, geography doesn't matter in this digital age if there's an airport nearby, blah blah blah...
Bull crap.
Perhaps in the world as it should be. Unfortunately, UC/AAC has to live in the world as it is. The two geographical fits for UC don't work - OSU will never allow UC in the Big 10 and the MAC would be a step backwards. The ACC is the next geographical fit, but they aren't expanding. So, now we have to do the best with what is available.
Now our thinking is similar to the Big 12 - better to sit where we are rather than add a team that isn't an obvious fit.
Regarding geography - you get out west and the geography doesn't work for any conference; and it definitely doesn't work for Boise or BYU.
Finally, I'll add this point - I think all the movement in college athletics has been consolidation; not realignment. The next domino to fall is B12. Texas and Oklahoma will find homes in the P5. We will join a new conference with the remnants. So we should keep that geography in mind too. Seems like there are two scenarios when that occurs: we get added to the B12 remnants or a new conference emerges.
If we are added - you can imagine them taking 4 teams - UC, UCF, USF and (BYU, Boise, Houston, Memphis, CSU??)
If a new conference forms who are the best 12, 14 or 16 left to make the new conference? Could it be a truly national conference with two 8/9 team divisions that are in geographical proximity?
While it is far fetched - I believe it is as likely as us getting an invite to the ACC.