(10-29-2019 01:24 PM)everyone Wrote:  If we lose to UAB at home in two weeks I will officially pull USM out of the running for any possible expansion. We have lost 7 of the last 8 to UAB, although 10-7 all time. It's those Dragons on the helmets, very intimidating.

They do have the coolest mascot in college athletics.

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:20 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  This, ECU is averaging over 35k in the midst of a down period. Granted, they aren’t leading the way in the AAC. However, in the other listed conferences, they’d be at the top...by a wide margin. They’ll be fine.

Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

Or, has ECU just missed on its coaching hires? A good coach and more winning will right the ship. It's not the AAC - it's losing and lack of success.

(10-29-2019 01:34 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:20 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  This, ECU is averaging over 35k in the midst of a down period. Granted, they aren’t leading the way in the AAC. However, in the other listed conferences, they’d be at the top...by a wide margin. They’ll be fine.

Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

Or, has ECU just missed on its coaching hires? A good coach and more winning will right the ship. It's not the AAC - it's losing and lack of success.

It's not a problem with the AAC - the AAC is doing just fine on the field overall.

But it appears to be a problem for ECU. They are competing in the AAC and have been uncompetitive, with no sign that this is improving. It might, sure, but so far there's no evidence of that.

(10-29-2019 03:08 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 01:34 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

Or, has ECU just missed on its coaching hires? A good coach and more winning will right the ship. It's not the AAC - it's losing and lack of success.

It's not a problem with the AAC - the AAC is doing just fine on the field overall.

But it appears to be a problem for ECU. They are competing in the AAC and have been uncompetitive, with no sign that this is improving. It might, sure, but so far there's no evidence of that.

The replacements for ECU - if we are going like-in-kind - are not of their caliber. They are all giant risk-reward situations that do not help the conference.

Let's keep ECU.

(10-29-2019 11:52 AM)Pervis_Griffith Wrote:  It's gonna be UAB ... and just in time to open their brand new football stadium, increasing their attendance dramatically.

And when UAB starts competing for football championships from day one, it will become clear why there was so much angst over their addition.

lol....Just like Louisville was going to do?

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:20 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  This, ECU is averaging over 35k in the midst of a down period. Granted, they aren’t leading the way in the AAC. However, in the other listed conferences, they’d be at the top...by a wide margin. They’ll be fine.

Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

It is my observation that ECU's growth in attendance was accelerated with consistent quality P5 home opponents.

Without checking in the last few years I don't believe they have quite the home slate.

What it says is don't expect an AAC conference schedule to excite the fans.

(10-29-2019 10:34 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:20 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  This, ECU is averaging over 35k in the midst of a down period. Granted, they aren’t leading the way in the AAC. However, in the other listed conferences, they’d be at the top...by a wide margin. They’ll be fine.

Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

It is my observation that ECU's growth in attendance was accelerated with consistent quality P5 home opponents.

Without checking in the last few years I don't believe they have quite the home slate.

What it says is don't expect an AAC conference schedule to excite the fans.

If you go back and look at time spent in CUSA and in AAC, that's not what it says at all (I only glanced over the last decade b/c that seems like a long enough time frame to identify any trends). Their attendance decline more closely reflects winning percentage than opponents (conference or not). Using those parameters, only three home games drew less than 40k prior to 2017...Fau (37,533) in 2013, Temple (39,417) in 2015 and Navy (39,480) in 2016.

When winning, ECU draws 40-50k for these same teams and has for over a decade. When losing, not even P5 teams can draw big crowds into Dowdy Ficklen. Shocker I know, winning teams draw better than losing teams. It's been such a short period of time since drawing 40, 45, 50K+ for Memphis, Houston, SMU, UCF, Tulane and Tulsa that it's hard to contribute the attrition due to anything other than performance on the field. When that turns around, nothing suggests the crowds won't come back.

Recent article of East Carolina where Aresco indicates the ideal situation is to continue to obtain a waiver to stay at 11. If forced to expand however:

“There are only a handful of schools out there that would enhance the brand of this league,” Aresco said. “I think you would all agree that the league’s quality, the league’s brand is really rising and has been for the last several years. I think our “P6” campaign has gotten some traction. We think that we’ve really done a lot of things to achieve that level and the last thing we need to do is water down the brand, take a school that doesn’t fit what we’re trying to do.”

http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/sports/...af70e.html

(10-30-2019 08:21 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:34 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

It is my observation that ECU's growth in attendance was accelerated with consistent quality P5 home opponents.

Without checking in the last few years I don't believe they have quite the home slate.

What it says is don't expect an AAC conference schedule to excite the fans.

If you go back and look at time spent in CUSA and in AAC, that's not what it says at all (I only glanced over the last decade b/c that seems like a long enough time frame to identify any trends). Their attendance decline more closely reflects winning percentage than opponents (conference or not). Using those parameters, only three home games drew less than 40k prior to 2017...Fau (37,533) in 2013, Temple (39,417) in 2015 and Navy (39,480) in 2016.

When winning, ECU draws 40-50k for these same teams and has for over a decade. When losing, not even P5 teams can draw big crowds into Dowdy Ficklin. Shocker I know, winning teams draw better than losing teams. It's been such a short period of time since drawing 40, 45, 50K+ for Memphis, Houston, SMU, UCF, Tulane and Tulsa that it's hard to contribute the attrition due to anything other than performance on the field. When that turns around, nothing suggests the crowds won't come back.

And the Navy game was a reschedule after tropical storm-related flooding, so could arguably get an asterisk.

(10-30-2019 08:21 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:34 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

It is my observation that ECU's growth in attendance was accelerated with consistent quality P5 home opponents.

Without checking in the last few years I don't believe they have quite the home slate.

What it says is don't expect an AAC conference schedule to excite the fans.

If you go back and look at time spent in CUSA and in AAC, that's not what it says at all (I only glanced over the last decade b/c that seems like a long enough time frame to identify any trends).

Well, he might have a *bit* of a point, about the P5 opponents. Looking back over the first five years of their AAC membership, 2014 - 2018, ECU hosted four P5 teams.

In the last five years of CUSA, 2009 - 2013, they hosted six P5 teams. Six is more than four. Though that's only two more over five years.

But, he did say "quality" P5 opponents. And that might be in play as well. The records of the four P5 teams that ECU has hosted during the AAC era were:

2-9
6-7
7-6
6-7

In contrast, the records of the six P5 teams they hosted the last CUSA years were:

10-3
9-4
11-2
11-3
7-6
8-5

We talk about ECU attendance varying with how good they are, but of course the quality of the opponents matters as well. Fans are more excited to come out and see ECU play a ranked 10-3 Virginia Tech team than an unranked 6-7 team.

(10-29-2019 01:12 PM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 10:10 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:56 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 09:20 AM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  This, ECU is averaging over 35k in the midst of a down period. Granted, they aren’t leading the way in the AAC. However, in the other listed conferences, they’d be at the top...by a wide margin. They’ll be fine.

Let's face it: As an AAC member, ECU in football has been like UConn in basketball - it is withering on the vine. Everything about ECU football, from attendance to results on the field, has significantly diminished since joining the AAC.

Problem is, unlike UConn basketball, ECU football has no place to go, so they are stuck.

IMO, saying "they will be fine" when they have shown no evidence of being able to thrive in the AAC is being unduly optimistic.

Fine in the context of the post subject. They would not be better off in either CUSA/SBC or some mishmash...which goes for other AAC schools as well. Their numbers would look better in that they’d be leading either league, but ECU isn’t going to make more money outside the AAC. For many G5s 35k+ would be a banner, if not historic, year. They’ve got a good base that hasn’t given up on them. All they need is to start winning. Their “floor” is a lot higher than most G5s. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Well, I thought we were talking about football, not the whole athletic program. Obviously, ECU will make a lot more money as an athletic program in the AAC than in CUSA.

But the football program is worse off in the AAC. Attendance is way down, by well over 10,000 fans in the stands, and even adjusting for competition, the team is worse. E.g., I just did a random comparison of two years, 2017 in the AAC and 2012 in CUSA. The computers say 2012 ECU was the #75 team, the 2017 team was the #109 team. In five years in the AAC, East Carolina has gone to one bowl game and lost it. Their last five years in CUSA, they went to four bowl games and won two.

In CUSA they didn't make any money but the fans were happy, they won games, and even went to and won bowl games. None of that is happening in the AAC.

Withering .....

As a Memphis follower, I never count anyone out. Heck, I’m hoping to spot a “Tommy West was right” gameday sign.

The turnout at Gameday in Memphis looks fantastic. Good idea to stage it on Beale Street.

I think we need to remember that some of the recent turn-arounds like UCF going from winless to undefeated in just a couple seasons are remarkably rare. Mike Houston is having to take a team that has never won - 5-7 is the best record any of our current players have seen - and create a winning culture. That winless UCF team had players who had won BCS bowl on it. Our rebuild will likely look more like what Fritz is doing at Tulane than what we’ve seen other places.

And despite a likely 4-win season this year, we’ve significantly reduced our margin of loss this year. ECU will be back, and likely under Houston.

Let's get this tread to 1,000,000

I think Old Dominion, Georgia State, UAB, and Southern Miss would all work. USM would probably require some division shifting.

BUT.....of course I’ve pimped Rice on these boards for a long time because of their convenient travel situation, elite academic profile (presidents love this—which school are the collective prez at SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa going to get chubbed up over?), and elite baseball program. Plus with payday coming for players those old faithful down there may be throwing down the dead presidents!

BUT, BUT.....why not join the dark forces of Liberty?!? There will definitely be money flowing in those collection plates! Jerry elbowed his way into FBS and got on!

(11-02-2019 12:24 PM)esayem Wrote:  I think Old Dominion, Georgia State, UAB, and Southern Miss would all work. USM would probably require some division shifting.

BUT.....of course I’ve pimped Rice on these boards for a long time because of their convenient travel situation, elite academic profile (presidents love this—which school are the collective prez at SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa going to get chubbed up over?), and elite baseball program. Plus with payday coming for players those old faithful down there may be throwing down the dead presidents!

BUT, BUT.....why not join the dark forces of Liberty?!? There will definitely be money flowing in those collection plates! Jerry elbowed his way into FBS and got on!

As a big fan of college baseball, I wouldn't mind Rice, but we've already got the smallest FBS school with Tulsa and Rice isn't much bigger. Makes it hard to fill a football stadium.

I think if Rice would do like SMU and make a Larry Brown-like hire in basketball (someone that could turn their fortunes very quickly) then it would be a good pick. Would Rice-UH rival UNC-Duke? Not for quite a while, but it could make for some good TV.

(11-02-2019 01:08 PM)Chappy Wrote:  

(11-02-2019 12:24 PM)esayem Wrote:  I think Old Dominion, Georgia State, UAB, and Southern Miss would all work. USM would probably require some division shifting.

BUT.....of course I’ve pimped Rice on these boards for a long time because of their convenient travel situation, elite academic profile (presidents love this—which school are the collective prez at SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa going to get chubbed up over?), and elite baseball program. Plus with payday coming for players those old faithful down there may be throwing down the dead presidents!

BUT, BUT.....why not join the dark forces of Liberty?!? There will definitely be money flowing in those collection plates! Jerry elbowed his way into FBS and got on!

As a big fan of college baseball, I wouldn't mind Rice, but we've already got the smallest FBS school with Tulsa and Rice isn't much bigger. Makes it hard to fill a football stadium.

I think if Rice would do like SMU and make a Larry Brown-like hire in basketball (someone that could turn their fortunes very quickly) then it would be a good pick. Would Rice-UH rival UNC-Duke? Not for quite a while, but it could make for some good TV.

I'm pretty sure Rice's administration sees D-1 sports and FBS football especially as tools for recruiting students in that they can offer that as an experience like any other major school in Texas and most of their academic peers. I don't think they actually care about competing in the sports in a way that requires investment like SMU has had. They've had no tradition of doing that unlike SMU, and they don't see to have athletic boosters willing to bankroll the program almost without limit unlike SMU.

On the other hand (and I think I've said this before in another thread), if Rice's administration came to the AAC with a plan to downsize and modernize Rice stadium to be more similar to Yulman (to get a better atmosphere) and to invest sizable money into both main sports like SMU has done, then I think they'd get the invite. Certainly they'd get support from the three privates + Navy, but, right now, I don't think anyone is convinced that Rice cares about being competitive.

(10-30-2019 08:24 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Recent article of East Carolina where Aresco indicates the ideal situation is to continue to obtain a waiver to stay at 11. If forced to expand however:

“There are only a handful of schools out there that would enhance the brand of this league,” Aresco said. “I think you would all agree that the league’s quality, the league’s brand is really rising and has been for the last several years. I think our “P6” campaign has gotten some traction. We think that we’ve really done a lot of things to achieve that level and the last thing we need to do is water down the brand, take a school that doesn’t fit what we’re trying to do.”

http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/sports/...af70e.html

This is nothing more than getting ahead on the justification for an add: “We were targeting them all along, they check all the boxes”, etc.

UAB gets mowed down by Tennessee in week 10

You know who beat Tennessee earlier this year?

Georgia State

(10-29-2019 12:01 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  Problem is, they are shooting at moving targets. Programs like UCF and Houston aren't the same as the ones they beat out 10 years ago. Those programs have thrived in the AAC, ECU hasn't.

Different conferences provide different configurations of opportunities, some of which fit a given school better than others.

But a lot of other things have changed during that time period as well. And the AAC has more old-line C-USA teams than C-USA has....but one omission is USM, who was probably most similar to ECU. And they've declined significantly too (bloated record due to 3 bottom-10 teams in C-USA West). I would think ECU's situation involves factors beyond conference and coach, including more competition: 3 FBS newbies plus improvement from in-state Wake and Duke. All Liberty, ODU and UNCC have to do is take a couple of players they want. It probably doesn't show in recruiting rankings but ECU and USM were never recruiting rankings beasts anyway.
USM's enhanced competition isn't as signficant, but it's there with S Alabama, and ongoing improvement from proximate Tulane and various sunbelt teams. Plus both places have had some institutional issues as well.

(11-03-2019 11:16 AM)EvilVodka Wrote:  UAB gets mowed down by Tennessee in week 10

You know who beat Tennessee earlier this year?

Georgia State

Yes, the wheels kind of fell off the UAB bandwagon last night.