(11-09-2017 12:10 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(11-09-2017 10:44 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  The persistent fallacy of these proposals to go independent, or to play fewer conference games, is that Rice would then be at liberty to create an ideal slate of opponents.

Who ever said this? Really ... who said Rice could create an ideal slate of opponents? My money is on virtually no one, if anyone. Everyone acknowledges that this is one of the largest hurdles to possibly going independent. No one said it was easy or would be ideal.

(11-09-2017 10:44 AM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Fewer conference games means more games that have to be scheduled, and scheduling is difficult. Each team in the conference would then be looking for an additional opponent with an open date, and it's difficult to impossible to get the opponent of one's choice.
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One of the prime advantages of conference membership is secure scheduling, which for a G5 school is important. This is a main reason why there are so few independents, and why the independents are generally looking for a home. Notre Dame's AD can pick up the phone and get a play date with anyone, any time. The rest of the independents struggle to assemble a decent schedule.

I have some good news on this front. All of CUSA East would need to fill 2 games as well. So if Rice (or other CUSA schools) need to find an extra opponent, there would be a bunch of other schools with openings as well (games would be considered OOC games for CUSA purposes). But for schools that maybe can find more interesting opponents, then the move would make sense. I bet Rice could find better opponents for those 2 games than the CUSA East teams.