(04-22-2013 12:26 AM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(04-21-2013 11:41 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  Nothing about Northern Iowa? I'd imagine they would be a good target for FBS.

IIRC their athletic department has come upon lean times and examined cutting certain sports recently, including football. They decided not to and committed to being a core MVC/MVFC member.

UNI cut baseball not too long ago so that sounds about right. I hope their Sweet 16 run from a couple years back will help out with donations and keep them afloat.

(04-21-2013 10:34 PM)bullet Wrote:  Indiana State has had very little success, low attendance, is in a small metro area, isn't that big a school and is in a basketball state. WIU is about the only MVC school who would be less likely to succeed in FBS.

If Illinois State ever gets their stadium redo done, they could be a decent member in the MAC, but the MAC's not actively looking to expand and there'd be resistance from NIU.

(04-23-2013 01:08 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  

(04-21-2013 10:34 PM)bullet Wrote:  Indiana State has had very little success, low attendance, is in a small metro area, isn't that big a school and is in a basketball state. WIU is about the only MVC school who would be less likely to succeed in FBS.

If Illinois State ever gets their stadium redo done, they could be a decent member in the MAC, but the MAC's not actively looking to expand and there'd be resistance from NIU.

Well, they could expand by one, if UMass joins the MAC for all sports - or if the the MAC wants to put up with UMass being in for football-only indefinitely, giving us uneven divisions. Not saying that's likely, but UMass doesn't have a lot of good options if the MAC forces the issue. But that's likely to happen before ISU gets the stadium re-done so the MAC would probably grab someone else.

(04-23-2013 01:08 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  

(04-21-2013 10:34 PM)bullet Wrote:  Indiana State has had very little success, low attendance, is in a small metro area, isn't that big a school and is in a basketball state. WIU is about the only MVC school who would be less likely to succeed in FBS.

If Illinois State ever gets their stadium redo done, they could be a decent member in the MAC, but the MAC's not actively looking to expand and there'd be resistance from NIU.

There were stories the MAC was trying to get Illinois State to come 5-10 years back but they weren't ready. Not sure NIU would object.

(04-21-2013 07:22 PM)Seminole Indian Wrote:  

(04-21-2013 07:09 PM)Zombiewoof Wrote:  And the Sunbelt commissioner reacts:

Benson probably cannot believe he could unload the F_U's and UNT, then add App State and Ga Southern ( more than breakeven for WKU and MTSU) and keep ASU, UL, Troy and get Tx State to boot.

With CUSA regulated to the bottom of the FBS food chain he can now set his sights on the MAC.

Ummmm... OK. If you honestly believe that the Belt is better than CUSA then, well... there's nothing really to say.

It's like saying that CUSA will be just as good as the AAC. It may be in time.... but it definitely will not be in the beginning.

(04-23-2013 01:56 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Well, they could expand by one, if UMass joins the MAC for all sports - or if the the MAC wants to put up with UMass being in for football-only indefinitely, giving us uneven divisions.

Unbalanced divisions only matter for certain sports, and the only one of those that matters enough for it to be an issue is football.

For basketball, fourteen means you can't schedule home or away cross division and home and away in division ~ that would be 20 conference games. So you play the whole conference home or away, and for each school push either three or five schools up to home and away, on a school by school basis. Thirteen is similar, just one more home and away team each year.

The reason to push UMass to go all-sports is because 13 is an inconvenience to FB, and UMass going all-sports would help offset that inconvenience, by boosting the top half of MAC BBall.

If MAC gets an all-sports add that balances its football divisions, then there is no longer any need to press UMass to decide between going all-sports or going away.

(04-23-2013 02:09 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 01:08 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  If Illinois State ever gets their stadium redo done, they could be a decent member in the MAC, but the MAC's not actively looking to expand and there'd be resistance from NIU.

There were stories the MAC was trying to get Illinois State to come 5-10 years back but they weren't ready. Not sure NIU would object.

Its not clear why NIU would object. Adding a school that is close enough to drive to, but not too close, is generally seen as a plus. Are the Huskies big rivals with the Rockets or something?

Illinois State's stadium update will be done by September of this year.

To me, Illinois State University to the MAC is a no brainer. Bring them on full bore, all sports. There are some NIU fans who would object to Illinois State joining the MAC, but I am not sure that the NIU administration would object......

(04-24-2013 07:34 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  To me, ISU is a no brainer. Bring them on full bore, all sports. There are some NIU fans who would object to Illinois State joining the MAC, but I am not sure the University would......

Illinois State? Idaho? New Mexico State? One thing is obvious, the new Sunbelt is going to one spread out mess with very little income coming in to offset those high travel costs. Its an oportunity to go FBS, but its nearly as spread out as the New Big East that everyone was making fun of (from San Diego, to Boise, to Houston to Florida, to Rutgers and UConn). The New Bi East thought there would be decent money at the end of that rainbow (no matter how misguided that thought was). The Sunbelt is doing the same thing with absolutley no hope of ever making any significant money. The whole advernture doesnt make alot of sense at this point. It might be time for the other non-Aq's to just absorb the Sun Belt schools rather dilute the FBS pool by inviting more and more FCS schools.

There are two reasons to say no. First is the Sunbelt is beneath them. The second is they aren't ready to compete at that level. It sounds to me like it is the latter, not the former as the OP implied.

Sent from my AT100 using Tapatalk HD

(04-24-2013 07:34 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  To me, ISU is a no brainer. Bring them on full bore, all sports. There are some NIU fans who would object to Illinois State joining the MAC, but I am not sure the University would......

ISU would be hesitant about moving all sports to the MAC. It's a good football conference, but the MVC is a good basketball conference. Obviously the MAC is not against bringing in in schools for football only (UMass), so ISU's best (realistic) option would be to stay in the MVC for all sports except for football which would move up and go to the MAC.

(04-24-2013 09:47 AM)BirdstheWord Wrote:  

(04-24-2013 07:34 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  To me, ISU is a no brainer. Bring them on full bore, all sports. There are some NIU fans who would object to Illinois State joining the MAC, but I am not sure the University would......

ISU would be hesitant about moving all sports to the MAC. It's a good football conference, but the MVC is a good basketball conference. Obviously the MAC is not against bringing in in schools for football only (UMass), so ISU's best (realistic) option would be to stay in the MVC for all sports except for football which would move up and go to the MAC.

Which I sure hope we don't do. I wouldn't have an issue with ISU for all sports but I don't want any more football only schools.

(04-24-2013 05:51 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 01:56 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Well, they could expand by one, if UMass joins the MAC for all sports - or if the the MAC wants to put up with UMass being in for football-only indefinitely, giving us uneven divisions.

Unbalanced divisions only matter for certain sports, and the only one of those that matters enough for it to be an issue is football.

For basketball, fourteen means you can't schedule home or away cross division and home and away in division ~ that would be 20 conference games. So you play the whole conference home or away, and for each school push either three or five schools up to home and away, on a school by school basis. Thirteen is similar, just one more home and away team each year.

The reason to push UMass to go all-sports is because 13 is an inconvenience to FB, and UMass going all-sports would help offset that inconvenience, by boosting the top half of MAC BBall.

If MAC gets an all-sports add that balances its football divisions, then there is no longer any need to press UMass to decide between going all-sports or going away.

(04-23-2013 02:09 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 01:08 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  If Illinois State ever gets their stadium redo done, they could be a decent member in the MAC, but the MAC's not actively looking to expand and there'd be resistance from NIU.

There were stories the MAC was trying to get Illinois State to come 5-10 years back but they weren't ready. Not sure NIU would object.

Its not clear why NIU would object. Adding a school that is close enough to drive to, but not too close, is generally seen as a plus. Are the Huskies big rivals with the Rockets or something?

And football is the one sport where the MAC IS unbalanced. You could keep UMass on as football only and add an all-sports school (would be preferable to what we have now, IMO), though I would rather have UMass all-in or all-out.

If the MAC was truly unhappy with UMass as a 13th football school ... and since the SBC is obviously desperate for a 12th football school ... the solution would be obvious ... UMass goes to the SBC as a football-only 12th ... sure the travel would suck, but football is just one sport, and both leagues would be assured of making the same amount of playoff money ... of course the MAC might be fine with the status quo, unlike certain fans on this board, so such an idea is unlikely to ever happen.

(04-24-2013 01:55 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  If the MAC was truly unhappy with UMass as a 13th football school ... and since the SBC is obviously desperate for a 12th football school ... the solution would be obvious ... UMass goes to the SBC as a football-only 12th ... sure the travel would suck, but football is just one sport, and both leagues would be assured of making the same amount of playoff money ... of course the MAC might be fine with the status quo, unlike certain fans on this board, so such an idea is unlikely to ever happen.

Yea, we don't have any idea what the MAC officials think, they might be fine with unbalanced divisions in football for all we know.

(04-24-2013 01:55 PM)Lolly Popp Wrote:  If the MAC was truly unhappy with UMass as a 13th football school ... and since the SBC is obviously desperate for a 12th football school ... the solution would be obvious ... UMass goes to the SBC as a football-only 12th ... sure the travel would suck, but football is just one sport, and both leagues would be assured of making the same amount of playoff money ... of course the MAC might be fine with the status quo, unlike certain fans on this board, so such an idea is unlikely to ever happen.

If no other FCS school wants to move up, I could see it happening. But three football onlies (alongside NMSU and Idaho) in a conference? Or do you expect NMSU to be on the C-USA list as a full member??

(04-24-2013 10:04 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(04-24-2013 05:51 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 01:56 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Well, they could expand by one, if UMass joins the MAC for all sports - or if the the MAC wants to put up with UMass being in for football-only indefinitely, giving us uneven divisions.

Unbalanced divisions only matter for certain sports, and the only one of those that matters enough for it to be an issue is football.
...

And football is the one sport where the MAC IS unbalanced. ...

Which is why the MAC could expand by one team, whether or not UMass joins the MAC for all sports, not "if" UMass joins the MAC for all sports, and if the MAC did expand by one, there wouldn't be anything to really put up with ~ if the MAC expanded by one, then UMass being FB only would make sense again.

(04-24-2013 03:11 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-24-2013 10:04 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(04-24-2013 05:51 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(04-23-2013 01:56 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Well, they could expand by one, if UMass joins the MAC for all sports - or if the the MAC wants to put up with UMass being in for football-only indefinitely, giving us uneven divisions.

Unbalanced divisions only matter for certain sports, and the only one of those that matters enough for it to be an issue is football.
...

And football is the one sport where the MAC IS unbalanced. ...

Which is why the MAC could expand by one team, whether or not UMass joins the MAC for all sports, not "if" UMass joins the MAC for all sports, and if the MAC did expand by one, there wouldn't be anything to really put up with ~ if the MAC expanded by one, then UMass being FB only would make sense again.

Football-only is not much of a commitment. If you add another team, say JMU, then your other sports are unbalanced - then if UMass leaves, the other sports are fine but football is unbalanced again. Either way you're unbalanced somewhere. Football is more important, but I don't think football-only is a long-term recipe for success for the MAC. Get in or get out.

(04-24-2013 02:28 PM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If no other FCS school wants to move up, I could see it happening. But three football onlies (alongside NMSU and Idaho) in a conference? Or do you expect NMSU to be on the C-USA list as a full member??

The SBC already has two football-onlies so what difference does it make if they add a third? It might not be ideal, but also wouldn't be the end of the world, since all three schools are geographical outliers anyway. As for NMSU, I doubt UTEP will let them into CUSA unless another big shake-up happens, something which now looks fairly unlikely since the ACC has adopted a Grant of Rights.

Given the CFP payout is structured to limit growth in the G5, the MAC could be better off paying the Sun Belt to take UMass.