The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

As much as I hate to say it but I've always felt that by the time the music stops & all the chairs are taken, that CUSA would end up being a merger of the eastern teams of current CUSA & SB w/ the west teams merging into something else.

& we still would have an athletic program.

Even if the current CUSA were to lose another team or two (not sure that it will though), an invite to WKU and possibly MTSU could be an option.

I'd hardly call the Sun Belt the worst football conference, not this year anyway, not with the way teams like Western Kentucky, Louisiana-Lafayette, La-Monroe and Arkansas State have played this year. I know for sure that La-La just accepted an offer to play in the New Orleans Bowl. That team used to be a pushover, but not anywhere near that anymore, they have worked hard yet successfully to eliminate the "culture of losing"...If I had a vote on which conference is worse or most disappointing in football for this season, it would be between the WAC and Conference USA. If anything, the Sun Belt, along with the Mid-American Conference (MAC) are among the most improved in football.

(11-25-2012 01:14 PM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  Some day all the non bcs teams will be part of a big super conference with multiple divisions in relation of the location (aka to save money)

All those teams will get one and only one chance of compete again the 7 or 15 spots allocate to the bcs teams .
Right now most of thoses non bcs teams dont even have a chance

Actually, I think that part of this should happen.

1) All "bcs" teams should be in their own conference and league. No more "undefeated" seasons. They have to play each other for homecoming even!

2) They can even pay their players (like they do now) and do the whole professional football thing down to the unions and the whole bit.

3) Then the rest of us can get back to the business of playing college football without feeling like we have to sell out or constantly talk about why we don't fill a 72,000 seat stadium.

Reduced travel costs and some real rivalries because fans interact with each other would be a huge advantage of the Sun belt over C-USA for UAB. I mean how much of a rivalry is UTEP? Marshall? UAB and Memphis are at least close enough to drive to the away games, although they are far apart by other conference standards. Within 5 hours of Tuscaloosa (UAT) has LSU, Auburn, Miss State, Ole Miss, Georgia, TN, and Vandy. That's the real drawback of Memphis joining the Big East. More teams that are too far away.

(11-25-2012 12:57 PM)BlazingGoat Wrote:  "So this is how it ends"

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt"

The end times are upon us! :domokun:

You know if you put these thread titles together you can spell out whole sentences... For example:

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Hey, I could even add my most recent thread title: "Whelp, The pending demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Lets keep going. Maybe we can write the entire epitaph of UAB Football.

Whelp, for the record, my primary purpose in posting the "so this is how it ends" thread was to show the unfortunate, lasting image of Legion Field that the seniors will carry with them as they walked off the field after their final home game. The secondary purpose was to express frustration that our university is so outstanding in so many ways but is so inferior in one very visible way.

(11-25-2012 03:24 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  As much as I hate to say it but I've always felt that by the time the music stops & all the chairs are taken, that CUSA would end up being a merger of the eastern teams of current CUSA & SB w/ the west teams merging into something else.

CUSA West will be inherited by the Mtn West... and a few teams may get into the MAC (Marshall might jump back into it, along with WKU, which would ultimately be better travel-wise for both of them in the MAC).

Bottom line, the 'bottom line' of finances will probably force the 'non-AQs' to form purely 'regional' conferences.

I really doubt Marshall ends up back in the MAC.

No love lost between them and their old neighbors.

(11-25-2012 07:32 PM)BlazerGrad88 Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 12:57 PM)BlazingGoat Wrote:  "So this is how it ends"

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt"

The end times are upon us! :domokun:

You know if you put these thread titles together you can spell out whole sentences... For example:

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Hey, I could even add my most recent thread title: "Whelp, The pending demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Lets keep going. Maybe we can write the entire epitaph of UAB Football.

Whelp, for the record, my primary purpose in posting the "so this is how it ends" thread was to show the unfortunate, lasting image of Legion Field that the seniors will carry with them as they walked off the field after their final home game. The secondary purpose was to express frustration that our university is so outstanding in so many ways but is so inferior in one very visible way.

I am getting very tired to hear that "we are working behind the scene"
We need to bring the stadium at every bot meeting and if they menace us of closing the program.I WILL said .... just do it.
They WONT DO it because they cannot show their card ,,,they always work behind the scene and they are not able to do anything when they are exposed

(11-25-2012 09:24 AM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 08:28 AM)blazr Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 12:38 AM)GreenMississippi Wrote:  The rumor mill is churning hard with the idea that the only football school left behind in the Big East is USF. With half the current C*USA moving off to form a new conference, it is quite possible that the rest of C*USA (ECU, Tulsa, UTEP, USM, Marshall) heads somewhere else and we're left with with FCS promotions, brand new teams, and Sun Belt teams (my condolences to La Tech).

Do you think this is gonna help our program being in what is going to be the worst football conference? Can we gain traction in with a patsy home schedule?

I don't know where you're getting your info, but look again at that list of schools. Whatever is formed from leftover BE all-sports schools, CUSA, MWC, etc. UAB is a key piece on the Eastern side if only due to basketball...those are likely tourney units no group will pass up. There's also no reason to build a conference with a huge hole over Birmingham, AL.

UAB has some positives like its central location, strong academics, and basketball history. Birmingham/Central Alabama is also a great market for college football. However, eight straight losing seasons and seven years away from our last NCAA tournament win has pushed UAB towards irrelevance. Dozens of articles written on conference expansion/realignment and we are never mentioned. If the Big East does dissolve and the football playing leftovers combine with CUSA East, I'm not that confident UAB will be included. We sure haven't been helping ourselves on the field or the court.

I hope I'm reading the situation completely wrong. After the last couple of weeks I need to be encouraged so please correct me.

Ok. The basketball schools are about to at least make the BE a non-football league if not disband and create something entirely new. This will likely be coordinated with UL and UCONN (possibly Cincy) announcing their new homes. That sets up an Eastern group of schools with some in limbo and a Western group of schools with some in limbo. The Eastern part of that is essentially the current CUSA East. Whatever forms, we won't be left out.

How about this.

Just don't worry about it. Because whatever is going to happen, there is nothing any one here can do to influence it.

No reason to worry. If UAB ends up in the Jr. MEAC south, I'll still be supporting them

(11-25-2012 11:57 AM)GreenMississippi Wrote:  Do the math, look at who will be left in this conference when this is over, consider the implications for football and basketball, recognize that we're not getting the benefit of the "Birmingham Market" when it comes to expansion.

*sigh*

I'm under the weather so forgive me, but I don't think my previous post was clear in what I was trying to say. It sounds very much like you are taking the loudest chatter and extrapolating a final picture from there...one that doesn't include UAB. I expect that most "fans" don't want UAB, but most Houston "fans" - for example - consider their football program a perennial 10-win behemoth which requires not remembering past two seasons ago.

As with anything, the nearest projection is the one with most confidence, and that situation leaves a world with no Big East football and only UL and UCONN (maybe Cincinnati) finding new homes. Western schools will stay west (i.e., they aren't coming to Providence) and so you'll have CUSA East/USF (or USF and Cincinnati) and CUSA West/MWC. Again, I don't know who you're talking to that makes you think an Eastern conference could be formed from that and it somehow leave out UAB, but that's not the case at all.

(11-25-2012 06:36 PM)BlazingGoat Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 01:14 PM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  Some day all the non bcs teams will be part of a big super conference with multiple divisions in relation of the location (aka to save money)

All those teams will get one and only one chance of compete again the 7 or 15 spots allocate to the bcs teams .
Right now most of thoses non bcs teams dont even have a chance

Actually, I think that part of this should happen.

1) All "bcs" teams should be in their own conference and league. No more "undefeated" seasons. They have to play each other for homecoming even!

2) They can even pay their players (like they do now) and do the whole professional football thing down to the unions and the whole bit.

3) Then the rest of us can get back to the business of playing college football without feeling like we have to sell out or constantly talk about why we don't fill a 72,000 seat stadium.

At that point - which I consider possible, but not the likeliest outcome - the NFL's "gentlemen's agreement" likely no longer holds. There's a point where the added revenue trumps the free farm system argument.

The NFL plays, what, 15 games every weekend? (32 teams, two with byes?) They've committed five for Sunday networks, one for Monday, now one for Thursday. Their own network does not need all remaining eight games. Put three NFL games on Saturday and watch the Big10 and Pac12 dry up and blow away (the SEC, driven by insane fanbases, will survive).

(11-25-2012 06:36 PM)BlazingGoat Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 01:14 PM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  Some day all the non bcs teams will be part of a big super conference with multiple divisions in relation of the location (aka to save money)

All those teams will get one and only one chance of compete again the 7 or 15 spots allocate to the bcs teams .
Right now most of thoses non bcs teams dont even have a chance

Actually, I think that part of this should happen.

1) All "bcs" teams should be in their own conference and league. No more "undefeated" seasons. They have to play each other for homecoming even!

2) They can even pay their players (like they do now) and do the whole professional football thing down to the unions and the whole bit.

3) Then the rest of us can get back to the business of playing college football without feeling like we have to sell out or constantly talk about why we don't fill a 72,000 seat stadium.

Everybody talks about "gasp" how dare anyone consider UAB dropping down to a lower division (the horror), but I've seen this proposal more than once. If this idea goes through, what do you think we will be, other than a lower division. Separate by equal didnt' work in civil rights and education. It doesn't work in college sports either.

(11-25-2012 07:10 PM)tiger__fan Wrote:  Reduced travel costs and some real rivalries because fans interact with each other would be a huge advantage of the Sun belt over C-USA for UAB. I mean how much of a rivalry is UTEP? Marshall? UAB and Memphis are at least close enough to drive to the away games, although they are far apart by other conference standards. Within 5 hours of Tuscaloosa (UAT) has LSU, Auburn, Miss State, Ole Miss, Georgia, TN, and Vandy. That's the real drawback of Memphis joining the Big East. More teams that are too far away.

I'm sure you are fully aware of how much money CUSA distributes to each school every year as part of our TV deals. You might want to look at some Sunbelt budgets and see how much they get every summer. To save you some legwork I'll give you a hint: there is only one digit.

And that digit is less that 1.

(11-25-2012 07:49 PM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 07:32 PM)BlazerGrad88 Wrote:  

(11-25-2012 12:57 PM)BlazingGoat Wrote:  "So this is how it ends"

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt"

The end times are upon us! :domokun:

You know if you put these thread titles together you can spell out whole sentences... For example:

"The pending Demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Hey, I could even add my most recent thread title: "Whelp, The pending demotion to the Sun Belt--so this is how it ends."

Lets keep going. Maybe we can write the entire epitaph of UAB Football.

Whelp, for the record, my primary purpose in posting the "so this is how it ends" thread was to show the unfortunate, lasting image of Legion Field that the seniors will carry with them as they walked off the field after their final home game. The secondary purpose was to express frustration that our university is so outstanding in so many ways but is so inferior in one very visible way.

I am getting very tired to hear that "we are working behind the scene"
We need to bring the stadium at every bot meeting and if they menace us of closing the program.I WILL said .... just do it.
They WONT DO it because they cannot show their card ,,,they always work behind the scene and they are not able to do anything when they are exposed

I would agree with you, Frenchy, if it wasn't for what we witnessed last Fall. My confidence in the OCS being approved was based on the sound proposal that the BOT was fully aware of and, going by public comments, was looking forward to reviewing. The Cabal was politically backed into a corner where they could either admit that we had passed all their hurdles an let the vote give the thumbs up, or behave the same as they do behind closed doors only in full view of the public. As politically conditioned creatures I thought that choice was easy, but not only did they go the full monty on the latter option, they went beyond it in Finis' letter and casual remarks that admitted or implied violations of the state's Sunshine Laws. That there were no consequences - even reputation hits from the letter and some interviews where they openly sneered at us and what we should be doing with our time - was eye opening.

Before then, I wouldn't have agreed if someone warned that publicly getting in the face of the BOT could prompt them to shutter athletics completely just out of spite. Now, however, I would fully expect that outcome.

In light of todays conference jumps, there are many prophetic words in this thread.

UAB has grown as a university, but has grown irrelevant athletically.

Regardless of what excuses or groups we blame, we have lacked the leadership and money to overcome the odds. I do not see a vision or plan to make me believe that this will never change. You can only look forward to next year for so long.

Sad. We have nothing to offer another conference and will be left standing with a bag of crap. Everybody dogs the BE, but at least they are doing something. Dying to see what turds we backfill with loss of Tulane and ECU.

Best of luck to CUSA 2.0.

Pretty much.

Take the money and the stigma of the Sun Belt Conference name away. Would we not be better off playing Middle TN, WKU, USA, Troy, Ga St then we are playing UTEP, Tulsa, Marshall, whatever south FL team. To me it makes more sense, business and fan perspective to play more teams that are within a few hours drive then schools that are an airplane ride away. We would have more fans in the stands, even if they were visiting fans, but it would bring a better atmosphere. Better atmosphere would bring more people back.

That and their is a better chance that there are alumni of those schools in the Birmingham area, creating rivalries, as well as UAB alumni in those closer cities.