Memphis exit to the Big East is emminent. CUSA is left with:

Marshall
East Carolina
UAB
Tulane
Southern Miss
UTEP
Rice

They are between a rock and a hard place. The far strung alliance that has rumored becomes all the more unworkable with no marquis teams left. Some randomn thoughts...


#1 Does the MAC want Marshall back?
+Nice fit
+Good Program
+Good Rivalries
-Labor under the "We are better the MAC" mindset"

I say Yes.

#2 Will CUSA raid the MAC?
The choices are limited. It's either Sun Belt or MAC and clearly the WAC for Lousiania Tech.

I say Maybe.

#3 Can the MAC renegociate their ESPN deal if the add a school or two. While I know we work for chump change, we certainly can get more.

I say No. The MAC is not the kind of conference to get aggressive like that.

#4 Does getting the cold sholder again from the Big East change anything for Temple?

I say no. I think they remain in the near future a MAC/A-10 splitter.

#5 Does a new conference spring up out of the ashes of the left behind crew, sort of the Best of the non AQ BCS?

I say yes.

There is plently to play out in the non AQ BCS world over the next several months. Even while the AQ part is probably going away.

We should invite Marshall and ECU.

(02-07-2012 02:51 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  We should invite Marshall and ECU.

I agree, strike now!

CUSA has just eight teams on the hook past 2013 and Marshall and ECU are geographically isolated unless CUSA raids the Belt.

(02-07-2012 02:51 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  We should invite Marshall and ECU.

+1

http://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/7/278274...or-the-mac

If this works out the basketball strength of conference USA will be seriously diminished, though they will hardly notice in football. With this move CUSA will struggle to be a multi bid conference come March.

This move is seriously good news for the MAC, if not all of its members.

This makes Conference USA less attractive to Temple, and it demonstrated just how much sway Villanova has. Bring in the Tigers because they are a good hoops program but leave out Temple? By every objective measure the Owls would be a better all around choice but the hoops only members are looking out for each other. Nova does not want a recruiting rival within spitting distance.

The possible scenario which might hurt the MAC is panic among the conference USA members. If they decided to start throwing around football only invites than maybe Temple goes. I say maybe because the reported 2.5 million dollar buyout and the recent hits they took in football (UCF, Houston, SMU) might be enough to make Temple think twice.

UMass is at least five years away from being on any other conferences radar, and that only happens if their move up is quickly profitable in terms of wins and donations to the program.

So it looks like the Big East crippling Conference USA hoops, ignoring temple, and neutering any potential "alliance" between CUSA and whats left of the MWC made the MAC a more stable conference.

Conference USA currently only has eight members slated past 2013. That is nearly the number of bowl agreements that they have. If they don't reload from the sunbelt (geography) the WAC, MWC, or MAC they are going to start losing those games.

(02-07-2012 02:54 PM)FORT MEIGS ROCKET Wrote:  

(02-07-2012 02:51 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  We should invite Marshall and ECU.

+1

It would make more than a few Marshall fans heads explode if the had to come back to the MAC

(02-07-2012 02:51 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  We should invite Marshall and ECU.

To do what? I could suggest some things...

And does a marquis' team's coach look like this?

(02-07-2012 02:25 PM)Rocketdamus Wrote:  Memphis exit to the Big East is emminent. CUSA is left with:

Marshall
East Carolina
UAB
Tulane
Southern Miss
UTEP
Rice

They are between a rock and a hard place. The far strung alliance that has rumored becomes all the more unworkable with no marquis teams left. Some randomn thoughts...


#1 Does the MAC want Marshall back?
+Nice fit
+Good Program
+Good Rivalries
-Labor under the "We are better the MAC" mindset"

I say Yes.

Oh hell no.

Quote:#2 Will CUSA raid the MAC?
The choices are limited. It's either Sun Belt or MAC and clearly the WAC for Lousiania Tech.

I say Maybe.

Strong maybe. But, I'm not sure who goes. Just doesn't make sense for anyone unless there's a big pile of cash somewhere.

Quote:#3 Can the MAC renegociate their ESPN deal if the add a school or two. While I know we work for chump change, we certainly can get more.

I say No. The MAC is not the kind of conference to get aggressive like that.

Adding from CUSA does little for the conference presence anyway. ECU, Rice and Tulsa are interesting.

Quote:#4 Does getting the cold sholder again from the Big East change anything for Temple?

I say no. I think they remain in the near future a MAC/A-10 splitter.

Maybe. MAC is starting to emerge as stable, w/ good competition somewhere (just not always the same teams). UMass+Temple all sports might make sense.

WHich leads me to

Quote:#5 Does a new conference spring up out of the ashes of the left behind crew, sort of the Best of the non AQ BCS?

Yeah, this seems possible.

Frankly, there's enough teams east that could make this a go:

Temple, UMass, Marshall, ECU, Kent, Buffalo, Miami, Ohio. Army would be courted heavily as well, as might some from Southern or CAA.

Meanwhile, the remaining MAC teams would be far more mid-west, and a touch southern (which might not be a bad thing):

Akron, BSU, BG, CMU, EMU, NIU, WMU (am I missing one?)...plus, Tulsa(?), UAB, LaTech and WKU.

My first though is to see if Marshall and ECU want to join but then I think that they will want come in with the plan of convincing a split with Temple, UMASS, Ohio, Miami & Buffalo to make their own conference.

I think we should stay as we are and try to bring in Temple & UMASS in all sports. This is our best move for re-negotiating our TV contract without risking our conference.

ESPN reporting it now:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/...-east-2013

We can effectively kill C-USA or at least force them into a merger with the Sun Belt or a seriously weakened MWC. We need to take full advantage of the opportunity to become the premier non-BCS conference.

Invite two schools. Be open to either all-sports or football-only. Either way benefits the MAC.

If we eventually split, I'm fine with it (though I would hope that Akron goes with the eastern faction instead of the midwest).

Although I agree that the Memphis defection is much more of a blow than the C-USA posters want to admit, I wouldn't go so far to say that the conference is dead....they apparently are already in the final thoes of putting this far flung Alliance conference "thing" together, which may help their scheduling and also MWC has a couple of good hoops program to help make up (somewhat) for the loss of Memphis. But clearly Memphis was the flagship program that gave some national identity to C-USA, and has been a big part of their NCAA sharing revenues in hoops plus a healthy RPI every year. That goes away.

Marshall seems pretty content with C-USA come "hell or high water", but ECU is sure looking for an out, but I don't see them considering the MAC to be a good landing spot at this time.

(02-07-2012 02:25 PM)Rocketdamus Wrote:  Memphis exit to the Big East is emminent. CUSA is left with:

Marshall
East Carolina
UAB
Tulane
Southern Miss
UTEP
Rice
Tulsa

You forgot one.

(02-07-2012 02:25 PM)Rocketdamus Wrote:  #1 Does the MAC want Marshall back?

F@^k NO!

#2 Will CUSA raid the MAC?

No. They may try, but will not be able to.

#3 Can the MAC renegotiate their ESPN deal if the add a school or two. While I know we work for chump change, we certainly can get more.

Yes. How significant? Who knows, but there should be a renegotiation.

#4 Does getting the cold shoulder again from the Big East change anything for Temple?

Probably not.

#5 Does a new conference spring up out of the ashes of the left behind crew, sort of the Best of the non AQ BCS?

No. Nothing new, but maybe a that silly "alliance" goes through, just because it is ACTUALLY necessary now.

Actually, I don't believe the MAC has to do anything but stay put and operate from a position of strength, and simply wait until either Louisville or Cincinnati become available.

Sure, Memphis moving to the big East sounds flashy, but that conference, along with C-USA will continue to have fault lines.

(02-07-2012 04:40 PM)ecuacc4ever Wrote:  Actually, I don't believe the MAC has to do anything but stay put and operate from a position of strength, and simply wait until either Louisville or Cincinnati become available.

I don't see that ever happening.

(02-07-2012 03:56 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  If we eventually split, I'm fine with it (though I would hope that Akron goes with the eastern faction instead of the midwest).

I can't see both Akron and Kent going, and it is a tough choice between the two. There's a solid case to be made that Akron would get the invite.

#2.

I believe all of the turmoil in college football strengths the MAC.

The MAC is a niche conference which found its place in the collegiate sports universe and seems stable.

C-USA is to unstable for any teams to voluntarily join.

Time to move in and grab East Carolina and Marshall. They might actually be able to bring some fans to the Linc

(02-07-2012 05:01 PM)emu steve Wrote:  #2.

I believe all of the turmoil in college football strengths the MAC.

The MAC is a niche conference which found its place in the collegiate sports universe and seems stable.

C-USA is to unstable for any teams to voluntarily join.

Money talks. The nBE is potentially the most unstable conference, but since they can offer more money...

If CUSA can offer teams more money than the SBC, MAC, or MWC then it will survive, if it can't, it will die.