(10-27-2017 03:18 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  I've seen what these FAU (Also FIU) fans went through from just about every fanbase on this board. Not all fans but fans from every school in this conference points out those two schools when they talk about dragging this conference down. I was not one of the Western fans doing that. As a matter of fact I'm usually the only one (very few) fans from another school pointing out why they were added. Not only that, what they each bring to this conference.

FIU was coming off back to back bowl bids and a conference championship. FAU was not that far removed from a conference championship. That is something a lot of schools in this conference cant say. FAU took Western's spot...Western was coming with Middle, if not for FIU going to bat for them and needing a travel partner. At that time Western was just starting to make the move into a winning program. But it really did come down to less than 2 weeks with FAU moving into Western's spot. If the vote was 3 weeks earlier..Western takes the spot FAU got.

As I said many times there are positives that both FAU and FIU brings to CUSA other than winning programs in football and basketball. It helps having a foot print in a state a lot of us recruit in. And both programs are just the right hire away from winning football. Basketball is another story but neither program was brought in for basketball.

At the time markets did matter and getting 1% of the eyes in the 40 miles of I-95 is more than most of us bring with 50% viewing in our base. Maybe that 1% never happens but at the time it was still in play. None of us knows what happens 10 years down the road. A conference has to build for the future....not now. If you are thinking now, you are already late to the party.

So far that has not worked out the way the conference thought it would. But at the time eyes and potential eyes mattered. No one saw the market correction that took place happening. Five years ago no one saw streaming being as big as it is today. This conference took a chance on viewing markets and loss. The question is would it made any difference where this conference is today....

If the weak (on the field/court) market schools were replaced with Western a year earlier and with Ark St and ULL and any other school for the taken in a G5 conference? Most likely not. The TV dollars would be the same and on the field and court might have been better but not a game changer. The schools that would have replaced FIU, FAU, UNCC, & USTA have very little room to grow (including Western). If those 4 schools develop into winning programs they have more room to grow than most schools in this conference. Yes, even S. Miss and Marshall and Middle and Western and Tech. Lets not forget for a away game in late OCT and basketball in mid to late Dec-Feb .....

it's one of the best damn trips a sports fan can make

Shortsighted people only look at today....if we did that most programs in this conference had longer periods of being down. Sitting in a area that lines the roster of a lot of schools in this conference. Both FAU and FIU only needs that right coach to turn it around and do that quickly.

Now for tomorrows game...if Western uses the short quick passes between the hashes and runs the ball at the end of the line. Then moves the defense up into the box for FAU's short passing game and runs. I think Western wins this game. If we stick with off tackle right and off tackle left and stick with the 4-2-5 FAU will have a field day running up the middle and around the ends. Lane Kiffin is doing exactly the same thing Brohm was great at....

using the motion, WR's and short passing game to move the defense where he wants them..spread out where his offensive line is 5 on 4 for the most part with a guard trapping down to open holes and WR's taking the defense away from the runner. With Western's 4-2-5 I expect FAU to use the TE to clear out one of the linebacker and have a clear middle of the field.

If Western's coaches allow that to happen it's going to be a long day

You won’t find any posts of me bitching about them being in the conference either amigo.

Having a cousin that lives in Wellington/W.Palm Beach helps seal the deal for me. I’ve been down for both football and hoops and loved it each time.

It also has given our Flarda player’s families a chance to see them play live with a much shorter trip than Bowling Green Ky.

I was amused reading the UNT board after the loss. Some folks were bitching about the UNT coaching staff taking their wives and families on that road trip. All I could think of was you saying no school president or AD in the league would ever vote away a free trip to Florida every year.

Even if Kiffin left after this year (and I’m not certain on that yet) and if they do retain Briles they are set up for at least a couple more years of run and fun offense. Why our AD went the opposite direction still boggles my mind.

Usually the fans bitching about the FAU and FIU attendance whine about ours as well. Most of them come from older CUSA schools that still think they may someday have a chance at the big time and their attendance will be a difference maker. It won’t. They’re as stuck as we are. There’s actually one fanbase that whines more about attendance than any of the other. Not gonna say who. But you can always count on it when a non-pedigreed team is doing something well, out come the bean counters. Tsk-tsking and wagging their fingers.