(06-14-2016 09:33 PM)westernwilly Wrote: (06-14-2016 06:49 PM)Kittonhead Wrote: (06-14-2016 09:34 AM)westernwilly Wrote: (06-14-2016 07:09 AM)goodknightfl Wrote: (06-09-2016 11:41 AM)Stay Cool Wrote: I saw that "the AAC where Marshall belongs" and literally LOL'ed at work. It was pretty bad
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When Marshall was in CUSA with the teams that are now in AAC, they could not compete , Now in current CUSA they are one of CUSA power schools, they are now in the right place.
That is not a fair assessment. The power level of a school often goes up and down. Case in point:
When UCF was in the MAC, they could not compete. When they moved to CUSA, they immediately turned into one of the top teams. Then when they moved to the Big East they were even better, but when the Big East dissolved into the AAC, UCF no longer could compete.
So does UCF need to go to the Sun Belt so that they can be on top again? No. They just need to rebuild like what Marshall had to do in the late 2000's.
This was a transition year for UCF. The same thing happened when the last coach who led the program from the FCS ranks was ushered out with a dismal season. What it might say is the players in Florida mail it in when adversity strikes.
UCF is on an uptrend generally speaking. They've caught up to USF.
Marshall is very consistent. They were a strong MAC team and when they moved to CUSA 2.0 it became a lot of 4-8 type seasons against competition with a bigger budget. The bigger budget schools move on and then Marshall is right back at the top of the conference heap.
Hmm. You don't think it had anything to do with the sanctions for cheating, losing a good coach (Bob Pruit) for a schmo coach and then getting once again playing well when they got a new good coach?
Just saying........facts and all screwing things up. 
As the old saying goes: "never let the truth or facts get in the way of a good story"
Of course the scandal and loss of scholarships and loss of a successful coach and a lot of the luster that drew recruits to Marshall had everything to do with their demise ----the fact that it happened at the same time they joined C-USA was just a coincidence. In recent years Marshall has somewhat recovered from the NCAA imposed penalties but they are not yet anywhere near regaining the national prominence they enjoyed during their stay in the MAC.
As far as the "tough competition" of C-USA when they first arrived being the cause of their demise consider a few more inconvenient facts, namely the 1998, 1999 and 2000 Motor City Bowl results:
1998 Marshall 48 Louisville 29 (C-USA at the time)
1999 Marshall 21 BYU 3 (MWC at the time)
2000 Marshall 23 Cincinnati 14 (C-USA at the time)
Incidentally this Marshall team that readily handled the Bearcats was something like 6-5 with a 42-0 loss in October to Toledo. C-USA's football was not all that great even back then----What made C-USA great was the MBB program which was for all intents and purposed a major conference not a mid-major conference
I said at the time the ACC first raided the Big East while everyone else was saying how the Big East was decimated I was saying that C-USA, not the Big East was the big loser in that round of expansion. The Big East was always a basketball power, not a football power, so they just reloaded with some of the top teams out of C-USA and actually upgraded their MBB IMHO, although of course Big East football took a serious hit----they may have still been OK if they had let MBB continue to drive the bus and did not alienate the non-football Catholic members (the real original Big East) by trying to pay more attention to football----of course the following round of expansions might have finished them off anyway.
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"MAC's ESPN deal looks even smarter today than it did in 2014"
