(10-07-2021 07:54 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-07-2021 07:15 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(10-06-2021 10:46 AM)esayem Wrote:  Marshall, UCF, and Temple (fb-only) stretched the footprint but all have used MAC membership to move up the totem poll. Now UB is being hailed as an AAC replacement, a conference UMass openly covets joining.

Marshall should have never had to rejoin the MAC. In 1995 we had the votes to become a Charter member of CUSA. That was until Louisville's Denny Crum started bellyaching and got Memphis and UAB to change their vote. Marshall was then offered a football only invite which they would have taken if they could have secured a sport for basketball and olympic sports. Marshall got an invite to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (Horizon League). Three days before they were to vote us in the MCC Commissioner Jon LeCrone got wind that Marshall would only be in the MCC long enough to get full membership to CUSA, which would have been 2-3 years down the road. The conference had a special meeting and rescinded Marshall's invite. Leaving Marshall no choice to join the MAC if they wanted to move up.

Don't believe that. Marshal was FCS at the time and ECU didn't get invited to CUSA for a while.

You can believe it or not, won't hurt my feelings. Marshall may have been IAA as the designation FCS was not even a thought yet. Marshall had won 40 games from 1991-1994 and a IAA title in 1992. Also Marshall was ranked in the top 25 the year they jumped in 1997, only lost 1 game in 1998 (Finished ranked 17th) and had a perfect season only 2 years in, 1999 13-0 (Finished ranked 10).

In just Marshall's 1997 1st year there was 22 players off that team that ended up with at least an NFL tryout and then you had players like Chad Pinnington, Randy Moss, Doug Chapman and Rogers Beckett drafted.

The 2 year transition years exist because of Marshall.