(02-09-2012 04:04 PM)EarthBoundMisfit Wrote:  

(02-09-2012 01:49 AM)Billy Free Wrote:  

(02-08-2012 06:21 PM)GhostGray Wrote:  

(02-08-2012 01:04 PM)bamassippi Wrote:  "Meh."

My reaction to the Big East taking Memphis, which is essentially a basketball-only school in a conference realignment battle being driven by football.

We'll (we = CUSA & USM) be just fine, though the following will be missed:
- An easy away game. Driving to Memphis is easy and makes for a fun weekend... except for the fact that we play them every Thanksgiving Day weekend, and using my prolonged break from work to spend 24-48 hours wandering Beale Stareet/overpaying for a stay at the Peabody only to watch us romp Memphis in a ghetto stadium will not be missed.
- The loss of a rivalry. Of all FBS teams, Southern Miss has played Memphis more than any other university. 62 meetings between us overall. Bye-bye "Black & Blue" games.
- TV market. Memphis has a metro area of 1.3M, which isn't tops, but it's nothing to scoff at losing. Yes, it's dominated by Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi State fans, but not having Memphis will hurt in TV negotiations.

Your new Defensive Coord. will tell you there was no romp over Memphis from '01 to '09.

West was 5-4 over USM.

True and also starting in 2013 when we beat Memphis in football, ESPN will call it an upset. The Cinderalla underdogs knocked off the giant BCS AQ juggernaut. Sooo we got that to look forward to as well.

both teams will be starting over with new offenses and defenses next year.
You'll also note we just gave ourselves a fighting chance by firing Larry Porter....otherwise I'd agree with you wholeheartedly

Porter would have had a better season this season...had the team not been so depleted he'd have been 5-6 last season and still had a job. The three games where they were leading in the forth quarter they just didn't have enough backups and the starters simply ran out of gas.

Porter is now the running backs coach at Arizona St