(12-02-2017 08:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 08:28 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 08:21 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 08:13 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 07:49 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Weber St is able if EWU cant. They don't give great travel partners, but they are more than capable. Try again.

The point is that the Great Northern Conference makes sense as a grouping of Great Plains flagships-and-landgrants. The whole point is to leave behind the less prestigious "directional schools." Denver makes sense because it's a prestigious private. UN-Omaha and UMKC give you presences in some major nearby metro areas. Western Illinois, Fort Wayne and ORal Roberts--they don't bring anything to the table for the Great Northern League, but they're in the league you're taking over and you can't really kick them out.

I don't understand the point of the exercise if you're letting Eastern Washington tag along. (I understand you think this is about FBS. It's not. If it's a real thing, it's about UM and NDSU etc trying to look more like University of Minnesota and Oregon State University than like Northern Colorado and University of Minnesota at Minnetonka).

Could lecture you all day why Seton Hall isn't worthy of a Big East bid, but won't. The Hall got in because it was in Jersey, and filled a media need.

The original back-of-the-napkin plan had Rutgers and Temple. When they balked, as there was talk of an Eastern League including Penn State football, their spots went to Seton Hall and Villanova. IF we were building a league from scratch, which the Great Northern is doing (if it's actually a thing), I don't know if having a northern New Jersey presence is as important.

Eastern Washington in the Great Northern is not so much Seton Hall in the Big East as Virginia Commonwealth. Athletics-wise, they'd be a huge asset. But conferences aren't just about athletics, they're about perception of the schools in them.

Well Wyoming turned us down just as Penn St turned you guys down. It happens.

We rejected Penn State, you dolt. IT's a pretty well known juncture in Big East history. First google hit.