(09-08-2020 06:44 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 05:40 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 03:16 PM)BraveKnight Wrote:  

(09-08-2020 08:59 AM)ken d Wrote:  How about if we scale this back to 12 teams for football and 8 for basketball?

West (FB only): Army, Navy, Air Force, Boise, BYU and San Diego St.
East (All sports): Cincy, Temple, Memphis, UCF, USF and Houston (+ VCU and Wichita for OS)

Potentially, Boise and SDSU could join BYU in the WCC to find a home for their Olympic sports (the WCC is already a 2 bid league with Gonzaga and St Mary's). Hopefully, Air Force could find a home in the Big Sky where they would be more competitive than they are now in the MWC. Army and Navy already have homes for their other sports.

With the service academies all in one division with 8 conference games a year, they have the flexibility to put together national schedules that suit their mission and status. And Navy gets to go to San Diego every other year to raise the flag for the Pacific Fleet (in the odd years they could visit Hawaii, getting a 13th game in the bargain).

Keep SMU and Tulane and go to 14. Otherwise I really like this idea.

Yes, you'd need two more full FB-playing members to meet the current NCAA minimum for FBS conferences (if that still matters in this scenario). SMU and Tulane are better keeps than ECU and Tulsa. I might trade Tulane for App State, but I know that's not what a university president would do.

I believe it would also have the benefit of making this actually possible. That is, it provides enough members to vote to dissolve the AAC so the defectors don't have to pay exit fees. FWIW, this 14 team conference would have had a higher Sagarin rating than the ACC in 2019.

That's a plus.

So a MWC without AFA, Boise, and SDSU would be down to the minimum 8 full FB-playing members, plus FB-only Hawaii. I wonder if UTEP or NMSU get a look at that point.