(07-09-2021 11:24 PM)TroyTBoy Wrote:  I know this seems far fetched but we are seeing a lot of movement around Texas lately, and I have the feeling that Rice is looking at the bottom line more than any other school.
The Old SWC is actually the ideal model in todays climate.
We know that genie is never going back in the bottle (and logistics make this impossible) but if there is ever a time to bend rules it's in our new Covid reality.

So lets imagine that, as the last former SWC school standing, Rice is able to reinvent the SWC.

What 9 teams could they cobble together into a decent league?
Here are the 9 members I could imagine being in Rice's new SWC. This would be a cool league with regional appeal.
It's not the old SWC but none of the reimagined conferences (like the new big east, new WAC, etc) are even close to what they were.

New Southwest Conference

Rice Owls
Arkansas State Red Wolves
North Texas Mean Green
Texas State Bobcats
UTEP Miners
UTSA Roadrunners
University of Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Southern Miss Golden Eagles

This is basically just a rehash of the discussion about combining CUSA and the Sun Belt and splitting them east-west into different conferences. This is basically just the western version of these proposals. It's just not going to happen without something big shaking up college football.