(06-09-2020 05:04 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Kennesaw State to the SBC
UT Arlington - SBC adds football

Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, SE Louisiana, West Alabama, West Georgia, Valdosta State form conference and invites UNF and FGCU. UNF and FGCU add football. They play FCS for 6 years and then move up to FBS. Sort of a SBC Lite.

Then add Southern and Florida A&M

Deep South Conference

DSC East

Florida A&M
Florida Gulf Coast
Jacksonville State
North Florida
West Georgia
Valdosta State

DSC West

North Alabama
Central Arkansas
SE Louisiana
Southern
West Alabama
West Florida

UA-Huntsville would be a target if they added Football.

West Alabama, and I dont mean this as a slam, can barely afford to stay D2...

Valdosta State probably should move to D1, but their administration seems dead set against it.

As for the rest, I have no problem

This article also proposes expansion to a G6, with the inclusion of a number of current FCS teams:

https://herosports.com/college-football/...erger-ahah

(06-09-2020 05:04 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Kennesaw State to the SBC
UT Arlington - SBC adds football

Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, SE Louisiana, West Alabama, West Georgia, Valdosta State form conference and invites UNF and FGCU. UNF and FGCU add football. They play FCS for 6 years and then move up to FBS. Sort of a SBC Lite.

Then add Southern and Florida A&M

Deep South Conference

DSC East

Florida A&M
Florida Gulf Coast
Jacksonville State
North Florida
West Georgia
Valdosta State

DSC West

North Alabama
Central Arkansas
SE Louisiana
Southern
West Alabama
West Florida

UA-Huntsville would be a target if they added Football.

Now it's a party

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

(06-09-2020 03:26 PM)Mister Consistency Wrote:  

(06-08-2020 08:23 AM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  Youngstown isn’t going anywhere. They are perfectly happy being a big fish in a small pond. What conference would they join? The MAC wont take them with 6 OH schools curr ntly in conference and YSU doesn’t have the money for going indy.

Youngstown is hardly a "big fish." They've finished in the top half of the MVFC, what, three times since 2010? They've been to the playoffs once since 2006. Hell, they lost to non-scholarship Butler in the 2018 opener. They would have the smallest budget in FBS by about $8.9M and already get more than two-thirds of what they do have from the school. YSU had success in the 90s, but they're a long way from being a major player now.

The schools that make the most sense to move one way or the other (either up to FBS or down to FCS) are kind of at loggerheads with the realities of the situation. UConn is likely to be better off financially from taking as many P5 guarantees as they possibly can while getting their butts kicked as an FBS independent than joining the CAA and being competitive, for instance. NDSU has a TV deal just for football that pays out similarly to, if not higher than, what C-USA got on its latest deal, so it doesn't make sense for them to just go anywhere - it has to be the right fit, and that conference then has to want them. The same could be said of the Montana schools and, to an extent, JMU.

Frankly, outside those four, I don't think anyone else has the means, motive, and opportunity right now to make the jump. EWU is out, they're looking at a 20-30% budget cut because of the pandemic. SHSU is nowhere close to ready. Illinois State isn't all that interested. There are several schools that would like to join the Sun Belt - Jax State, Kennesaw State eventually, maybe Chattanooga and ETSU - but it seems like the Belt is pretty happy with what it has. I certainly don't think they're missing out on a school that could impact the competitive profile of the league the way App State has.

They had the big upset win over Pittsburgh a few years back. They could compete against P5. But, being stuck in a conference playing North Dakota State and South Dakota State is hard to play those powerhouses every year.

BruceMcF Wrote:But the pair of non-footloose Eastern division adds seems like a pair of Unicorns at this stage -- imagining them is a lot more common than actually sighting them.

I mean, if UMass had said yes, it sounded like there was someone else who was waiting by the phone. But, if the MAC wanted that other school so bad, I guess it would have happened by now? It was said to be JMU...but it seems those guys are just so fickle that you can’t plan around them.

I’d like to think Stony is still out there. And I think they would fit and stay in the MAC, but, I suspect their fundraising campaign didn’t really promote them as well as it was intended publicly, and who knows if UB wants them around?

The MAC isn’t dumb about this subject, and I respect that so much. They just steer way clear of growth for growth’s sake, and they seem like they have either high standards, or simply demand schools who won’t turn around and walk off the moment a spot opens up. Gotta imagine they’ve gotten calls over the years, but can’t imagine the scope of who. Like, when Sun Belt chose Coastal a few years ago, did EKU then call?

(06-10-2020 06:13 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

BruceMcF Wrote:But the pair of non-footloose Eastern division adds seems like a pair of Unicorns at this stage -- imagining them is a lot more common than actually sighting them.

I mean, if UMass had said yes, it sounded like there was someone else who was waiting by the phone. But, if the MAC wanted that other school so bad, I guess it would have happened by now?

But just because you will take a school to be #14 to even up the divisions doesn't mean you will take them as a #13 and then have to take another (which is intrinsically less attractive than that one if they were your first pick for #14). There's no invite to JMU because there's no compelling #13 add available to make the MAC look around for a #14.

This is like stepping through why the Big Ten picked Rutgers and someone asking why they hadn't taken them already, then? Rutgers was their first pick for #14, but there was no need for a #14 school until after Maryland said it was interested in moving. Maryland was the #13.

(06-10-2020 10:20 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(06-10-2020 06:13 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

BruceMcF Wrote:But the pair of non-footloose Eastern division adds seems like a pair of Unicorns at this stage -- imagining them is a lot more common than actually sighting them.

I mean, if UMass had said yes, it sounded like there was someone else who was waiting by the phone. But, if the MAC wanted that other school so bad, I guess it would have happened by now?

But just because you will take a school to be #14 to even up the divisions doesn't mean you will take them as a #13 and then have to take another (which is intrinsically less attractive than that one if they were your first pick for #14). There's no invite to JMU because there's no compelling #13 add available to make the MAC look around for a #14.

This is like stepping through why the Big Ten picked Rutgers and someone asking why they hadn't taken them already, then? Rutgers was their first pick for #14, but there was no need for a #14 school until after Maryland said it was interested in moving. Maryland was the #13.

I agree with all of this. To me, it speaks to what you said earlier about there being solid eastern schools worth taking. Outside of maybe that one other supposedly coming along with UMass, maybe there is none.

The conditions simply have to meet. It had to meet for the Big Ten in order for Rutgers to get a call, and so it may be with the MAC and any expansion candidate(s).

(06-10-2020 03:03 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(06-09-2020 03:26 PM)Mister Consistency Wrote:  

(06-08-2020 08:23 AM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  Youngstown isn’t going anywhere. They are perfectly happy being a big fish in a small pond. What conference would they join? The MAC wont take them with 6 OH schools curr ntly in conference and YSU doesn’t have the money for going indy.

Youngstown is hardly a "big fish." They've finished in the top half of the MVFC, what, three times since 2010? They've been to the playoffs once since 2006. Hell, they lost to non-scholarship Butler in the 2018 opener. They would have the smallest budget in FBS by about $8.9M and already get more than two-thirds of what they do have from the school. YSU had success in the 90s, but they're a long way from being a major player now.

The schools that make the most sense to move one way or the other (either up to FBS or down to FCS) are kind of at loggerheads with the realities of the situation. UConn is likely to be better off financially from taking as many P5 guarantees as they possibly can while getting their butts kicked as an FBS independent than joining the CAA and being competitive, for instance. NDSU has a TV deal just for football that pays out similarly to, if not higher than, what C-USA got on its latest deal, so it doesn't make sense for them to just go anywhere - it has to be the right fit, and that conference then has to want them. The same could be said of the Montana schools and, to an extent, JMU.

Frankly, outside those four, I don't think anyone else has the means, motive, and opportunity right now to make the jump. EWU is out, they're looking at a 20-30% budget cut because of the pandemic. SHSU is nowhere close to ready. Illinois State isn't all that interested. There are several schools that would like to join the Sun Belt - Jax State, Kennesaw State eventually, maybe Chattanooga and ETSU - but it seems like the Belt is pretty happy with what it has. I certainly don't think they're missing out on a school that could impact the competitive profile of the league the way App State has.

They had the big upset win over Pittsburgh a few years back. They could compete against P5. But, being stuck in a conference playing North Dakota State and South Dakota State is hard to play those powerhouses every year.

Seriously David..... have you ever been to Youngstown??? You would realize very quickly why they are FCS.

(06-10-2020 03:03 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  They had the big upset win over Pittsburgh a few years back. They could compete against P5. But, being stuck in a conference playing North Dakota State and South Dakota State is hard to play those powerhouses every year.

Let's get this straight. Youngstown State beating Pittsburgh 1 time a few years ago means YSU COULD compete against an ACC schedule for 12 weeks each season; but, it is hard to play 2 MVFC powerhouses once each season. What makes a team that struggles against FCS teams competitive at the P5 level. This makes no sense.

(06-09-2020 06:19 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  

(06-09-2020 05:04 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  Kennesaw State to the SBC
UT Arlington - SBC adds football

Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, SE Louisiana, West Alabama, West Georgia, Valdosta State form conference and invites UNF and FGCU. UNF and FGCU add football. They play FCS for 6 years and then move up to FBS. Sort of a SBC Lite.

Then add Southern and Florida A&M

Deep South Conference

DSC East

Florida A&M
Florida Gulf Coast
Jacksonville State
North Florida
West Georgia
Valdosta State

DSC West

North Alabama
Central Arkansas
SE Louisiana
Southern
West Alabama
West Florida

UA-Huntsville would be a target if they added Football.

West Alabama, and I dont mean this as a slam, can barely afford to stay D2...

Valdosta State probably should move to D1, but their administration seems dead set against it.

As for the rest, I have no problem

Yes North and West Alabama were the last two I added. I was trying to get to 12 members.

Maybe Sacramento State, Cal Poly, and UC Davis but they would need 5 others out west.