HoustonCajun
Special Teams
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RE: James Madison talks of going FBS are legitimate
(08-23-2017 09:28 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote: (08-23-2017 08:58 AM)ValleyBoy Wrote: (08-23-2017 08:37 AM)HoustonCajun Wrote: (08-23-2017 01:07 AM)arkstfan Wrote: (08-22-2017 04:42 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: Who is leaving the Belt and where are they going?
Here's a nasty problem for JMU. The most likely team to leave the Belt (Texas State) would require that teams switch divisions or the Belt replace a team from the West with a team from the West. I suppose they could move Troy to the West and add JMU.
The Belt is reasonably happy now at 10 teams for the time being.
TXST leaving (which seems unlikely given CUSA is too large) and replacing with JMU actually fixes the 10 team division format by moving Troy to the west joining USA.
It is really time for the SBC and CUSA to separate and regionalize into Western & Eastern based conferences.
SBC
Ark State, MTSU, WKU, UAB, LA Tech, N. Texas, S. Miss, USA, Louisiana, Rice, TX State, UTSA
CUSA
Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, App State, GA State, GA Southern, FIU, FAU, Troy, USA, CCU - add JMU
You left out ULM, UALR, UTA, and UTEP. Also is USA going to pull double duty and be a member of both.
Geographic proximity is not really sufficient incentive for C-USA and the Sun Belt to exchange teams like this, but here's how it could be done while including JMU:
C-USA
East: Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, UAB
West: Arkansas State, North Texas, Rice, Texas State, UTEP, UTSA
Non-FB: Little Rock, UT Arlington
Sun Belt
East: Coastal Carolina, FAU, FIU, James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion
West: Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky
I kept C-USA as the western conference because I doubt they'll want to ditch all of their Texas teams. Also, ULM gets left out.
You could split the Sun Belt North/South, but I was trying to keep the NC schools together, WKU/MTSU together, and App State with GA Southern.
That alignment might work, but let me suggest perhaps a better divisional setup. If UTEP is in, I would want to bring in NMSU for a travel partner. I would make CUSA an All Sports conference, so UTA and UALR would not be members. This would be the current setup with members, excluding ULM. If James Madison wants to join the SBC, they would need a partner, perhaps Liberty.
CUSA
West - UTEP, NMSU, UTSA, TX State, Rice, UNT
East - Louisiana, S. Miss, S. Alabama, Troy, LA Tech, Ark State
SBC
North - Marshall, MTSU, WKU, ODU, Charlotte, App State
South - GA Southern, GA State, CCU, UAB, FIU, FAU
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