Of all the crappy options out there, it looks least crappy...

ECU in the MAC

EAST
Akron
Buffalo
East Carolina
Kent State
Marshall
Massachusetts
Ohio
Temple

WEST
Ball State
Bowling Green
Centeral Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Miami
Northern Illinois
Toledo
Western Michigan

ECU in the Sun Belt

EAST
East Carolina
FAU
FIU
Marshall
South Alabama
Troy

WEST
Arkansas State
Middle Tennessee
North Texas
UL Lafayette
UL Monroe
Western Kentucky

The Merger

EAST
East Carolina
Marshall
Rice
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
UTEP

WEST
Air Force
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Nevada
New Mexico
UNLV
Wyoming

It's the least crappy solution. That doesn't mean it's not crappy though. I hope Big 12 takes L'Ville and Cincy, but then again UAB would still be left out of the Big East.

Either MAC and Sub Belt teams that are good gravitate to what is left of CUSA or the CUSA E teams are going to form their own deal and go from there.... which in the end, WILL pull from MAC and Sun Belt.

Let's see...

S.L.I.T.S Conference (S*** Left In The South Conference)
ECU
USM
Marshall
UAB
Tulane
FAU
FIU
UNT
Troy
LaTek

First off you guys don't want to be in the MAC our TV contract stinks beyond belief. Our past commish signed it as he was out the door and now we play our best games on weeknights when fans cant attend AND we only get 1.5mil to show for the mostly empty stands.

The best option for CUSA is to keep to a regional conference alignment so that travel is kept as little as possible.

What do you guys think of this...

NIU, Toledo, Miami, Ohio, Marshall, ECU, Temple & WKY

Rice, UTEP, Tulsa, Ark St, So Miss, Tulane, UAB, FAU/FIU


The only way CUSA would be able to get one MAC team is if they take 4+ which would keep some comfort level since we have great stability now.

Temple would be the hardest get but with WKY that would increase CUSA's chances. If Temple does not want to join then Middle Tenn could be considered to even out everything.

To me it seems that Arkansas St, FIU & FAU are programs on the rise and want to move up in competition. Picking up two of those three would round off the Southern division nicely. Picking up all 3 would make sense if another team left.

I wish CUSA would just add teams and not merge. We have the Sun Belt and MAC to pick from and then those two can pick from the FCS level while MWC finishes off the WAC

2012 Schedule (C-USA)

Appalachian State
at South Carolina
at Southern Miss
at North Carolina
UTEP
at UCF
Memphis
at UAB
Navy
Houston
at Tulane
Marshall

2013 Possible Schedule (Alliance)

The Citadel
at NC State
North Carolina
at West Virginia
at UTEP
Rice
at Tulsa
UAB
at Air Force
Southern Miss
Tulane
at Marshall

I'm personally still rooting for a Big Least implosion and a new conference to form east of the Mississippi. We all know that WVU set a precedent on how to leave the Big East. Everybody in there hates everybody else. UL is as good as gone to the B12. Uconn and Rutgers are still shopping around. BYU looks like they might be B12 #12. All that crap is going on and the CUSA defectors can't get in fast enough. An implosion would leave us with some pretty attractive pieces in the East. I still believe the main objective for the Alliance is to buy as much time as possible for "lesser" programs to develop.

ECU, USM, UAB, Memphis, Marshall, UCF, Tulane
USF, Cincy, Temple, Umass, Ohio?, LaTech?, Ark St?

If the Big East dies I'd think UTEP, Tulsa and Rice go to the MWC. Maybe not?

If you forget about names/brands, I think that Sun Belt option looks the best. They just need to change their name.