(12-29-2013 06:55 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(12-29-2013 10:51 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(12-25-2013 09:45 AM)zibby Wrote:  The MAC added UCF, Temple and UMass to get exposure in new areas. The MAC was able to gain greater recognition among recruits in Florida. MAC games were on TV in Philly and they now are on in Boston. Nobody cares if MAC games air in Fargo or not. And the MAC doesn't need to add a team just to improve the football quality. NIU went to the Orange Bowl last year and would have gone to a major bowl again this year if they had won the MACC.

The MAC gains nothing by adding NDSU.

Well if you want respect as a league you need to win OOC games. NDSU would probably help in that area.

This is true.

I'm surprised NDSU hasn't reached out to the SBC, a league desperate for good football programs. They could offset the lack of football punch provided by Idaho and New Mexico State.

With Idaho already in the Sun Belt, if NDS joined they might be able to pull the Montanas and others later and form the...

Sun and Ice Conference.

Seriously.

Currently, half of the conference has to travel to Moscow every other year. If you go to 20 teams where the two divisions never play against each other the SBC would save a ton of money on travel. If pods are allowed in the future you would have 2 northern geographic pods.

Invite the following FCS powers with good size stadiums.

Invite Montana (25,200), Montana State (19,000), Sacramento State (21,195) and Portland State (20,483) from the Big Sky. (Idaho would be the 5th team in this pod.)

North Dakota State (18,700) South Dakota State (16,345 expanding to 22,500), Northern Iowa (17,190) and Missouri State (16,600) from the Missouri Valley.

All eight might make the move if all were invited together. Some or all of the Big Sky schools may be ready to make the jump first. The Missouri Valley schools could come the following year.

Consider:

All of the schools currently in or joining the Sunbelt Conference would play each other, except Idaho, and they would be playing schools they would rather play anyway.

This would make the entire conference contiguous.

The savings in travel costs would be worth it alone.

Almost all of these schools are flagships.

Seven more states means 14 more senators who would care about the Sunbelt.

The SBC could have a conference championship.

If the northern schools split off one day that would not really be all that bad.

The ten northern schools would be put in the "Ice" Division and the ten southern schools would be in the "Sun" Division.

Sun & Ice Conference