Southland
Central Arkansas
Lamar
McNeese State
New Orleans (no football)
Nicholls State
Northwestern State
Sam Houston State
Southeastern Louisiana
Stephen F. Austin State

Western Athletic
East: Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist,
Incarnate Word, Tarleton State, Texas-Rio Grande Valley (no football), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (no football)
West: Dixie State, Grand Canyon (no football), New Mexico State (FBS Independent), Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah

Big Sky
East: Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Utah Valley (no football)
West: Azusa Pacific (from Division II), California Baptist (no football), Eastern Washington, Portland State, Sacramento State, Seattle (no football)

OK, I'll bite. What happened to Cal Poly and UC Davis football?

(06-27-2020 12:42 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  OK, I'll bite. What happened to Cal Poly and UC Davis football?

I only listed the full members, but they'd be Big Sky affiliates.

(06-27-2020 12:33 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  Southland
Central Arkansas
Lamar
McNeese State
New Orleans (no football)
Nicholls State
Northwestern State
Sam Houston State
Southeastern Louisiana
Stephen F. Austin State

Western Athletic
East: Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist,
Incarnate Word, Tarleton State, Texas-Rio Grande Valley (no football), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (no football)
West: Dixie State, Grand Canyon (no football), New Mexico State (FBS Independent), Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah

Big Sky
East: Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Utah Valley (no football)
West: Azusa Pacific (from Division II), California Baptist (no football), Eastern Washington, Portland State, Sacramento State, Seattle (no football)

Tell us why you hate Northern Arizona so much.

Maybe this is a little better? I brought in the Summit, and I aimed for even numbers of football and basketball schools in each conference. I also tried to arrange the schools in travel partner pairs, shown here separated by a slash. The WAC is still quite awkward.

Big Sky (FCS, 8 full, 2 NFB, 2 FBO)
Cal Baptist (NFB)/Sacramento State
Eastern Washington/Idaho
Idaho State/Weber State
Montana/Montana State
Portland State/Seattle (NFB)
FBO: Cal Poly (BW), UC Davis (BW)

Southland (FCS, 8 full, 4 NFB)
Central Arkansas/Oral Roberts (NFB)
Lamar/Sam Houston
McNeese State/Nicholls State
New Orleans (NFB)/SE Louisiana
Northwestern State/Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M-CC (NFB)/UTRGV (NFB)

Summit (10 NFB)
Chicago State/Western Illinois
Denver/Northern Colorado
North Dakota/North Dakota State
Omaha/UMKC
South Dakota/South Dakota State

WAC (FCS, 7 full, 3 NFB, 1 FBO)
Abilene Christian/Tarleton State
Dixie State/Northern Arizona
Grand Canyon (NFB)/New Mexico State (NFB)
Houston Baptist/Incarnate Word
Southern Utah/Utah Valley (NFB)
FBO: Northern Colorado (Summit)

For the Big Sky, schools like Utah Valley, CBU, and Seattle play men's soccer and baseball. The Big Sky does not offer either, so that will not work. Azusa Pacific has never shown any interest in moving up and they were having financial issues before Covid-19 hit. CBU will want to be in the same conference with their rivals, GCU and Dixie State. If Azusa Pacific moved up, they would as well.

For the Southland, it makes no sense for Houston Baptist to give up bus trips to Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston and McNeese for the WAC. Tarleton and Abilene are old rivals that are 100 miles apart, that might make sense if both were in the WAC. To get WAC football started, which is a long shot, UTRGV needs to start football and IAW needs to want to join. That gives you four Texas schools with Northern Colorado and Dixie State to get to the minimum conference requirement of six football schools. San Diego, if they want to join for football-only, get you to seven. Who knows, maybe UC Davis and Cal Poly would join for football-only as well. It could happen, but it will take cooperation among the three conferences.

If Azusa Pacific can't make the move, Central Washington would be better. It could help with both Central and Eastern spending on the sports. D3 will not work for them, and NAIA still too spread out for football. Big Sky for them fits better.