(05-04-2022 09:36 PM)Porcine Wrote:  

(05-04-2022 08:58 PM)jimrtex Wrote:  

(05-04-2022 03:06 PM)GreenBison Wrote:  

(05-04-2022 02:58 PM)jimrtex Wrote:  

(05-04-2022 12:54 PM)Inkblot Wrote:  Announced today... Charlotte, FAU, and UAB men's soccer are joining the AAC a year early, and FIU is joining as an affiliate. https://theamerican.org/news/2022/5/3/ge...iving.aspx

That would be an attractive conference for Kentucky and South Carolina (or any other SEC schools that they might encourage to play soccer).

UK, South Carolina and WVU are in the Sun Belt for Mens Soccer which is a better league in my opinion.

In the 2021 season: 5 of 6 AAC teams were in the Top 100 RPI ratings, including Tulsa 9.

In the 2021 season Sun Belt did not have a soccer competition. Appalachian State dropped their team and Howard moved all their affiliates to the NEC. Georgia State and Georgia Southern scrambled to play in the MAC.

In 2021 Kentucky and South Carolina played in CUSA, which was not too bad since it did have Marshall and FIU.

With football realignment. Sun Belt had enough teams, but CUSA did not particularly for the future.

It makes sense for Kentucky and South Carolina and West Virginia to grab on to the Sun Belt for 2022.

But now the AAC has announced that Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, and UAB are moving to the AAC for 2022, and they are bringing along FIU. 8 of the 10 are Top 100 schools. If we exclude Kentucky and West Virginia, then we have:

Tulsa 9 - Marshall 20
FIU 22 - Georgia State 32
Charlotte 47 - JMU 63
SMU 53 - CoCar 70
(UCF 58) - Georgia Southern 120
FAU 89 - ODU 151
USF 92
Memphis 93
UAB 117
Temple 157

Now that the AAC has its future configuration, UCF is likely to stick around for soccer. If they want to play West Virginia, they can schedule OOC.

When you are looking at this from the perspective of Kentucky and South Carolina you can't count them as being in the Sun Belt or AAC. The AAC has the stronger core.

And from the perspective of an AD at Kentucky, the AAC schools are clearly G5. The Sun Belt schools are FCS+.

If Kentucky or South Carolina were scheduling OOC football games, most of the AAC schools would want H-and-H. The Sun Belt would be looked at as buy games. Kentucky is not going to travel to Conway or Harrisonburg.

The one downside of the AAC is that it is a larger conference and the soccer season is limited. Soccer takes a lot of running, and cleats into an ankle or stepped on foot, or heads colliding take a toll. So while soccer can play say Friday and Tuesday - they prefer the midweek game to be an OOC in which they can start backup players for essentially exhibition matches, and keep the starters fresh.

The AAC at 10 is OK for 9 games in a single round-robin. At 12 they would have to go divisions and make sure Kentucky and South Carolina are in the same division.

Maybe:
Tulsa, SMU, UK, Memphis, UAB, USC
Temple, Charlotte, UCF, USF, FAU, FIU

https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2022/4/...rence.aspx

"Nine teams will comprise Sun Belt Conference men's soccer; three of the new Sun Belt members (as of July 1) James Madison, Marshall, and Old Dominion will join Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State. In addition, Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia will compete as affiliate members for men's soccer only. The Sun Belt Conference previously sponsored men's soccer from 1976-1995 and 2014-20. "

And you can count on UCF joining the following year. Sorry AAC fanboys, it’s a stronger core WITH better geography.