UTEP is in the middle of nowhere.

So what it's in the middle of nowhere. It's plenty to do once you get there. It's a city with a population of over 600,000+ and Juarez has gambling, shopping and nightclubs (In the city and not at the border).

jfisher Wrote:I don't know if anyone saw this on a CUSA board but it seems to be getting some interest. The 16 teams would be, UTEP replacing TCU(what), then adding Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois and Temple. First I'm not sure all of those teams would be interested and then adding a mountain time zone UTEP instead of a Central or Eastern time zone team doesn't seem to make much sense. Also what happened to La Tech. I'm not sure I'm ready for another 16 team conference.

16 teams?! Sheesh! :eek: If, for some reason, C-USA absolutely HAD to be a 16-team conference, I suppose I'd want to see this lineup (just for fun):

EAST
UCF
Marshall
ECU
Memphis
UAB
Miami (Ohio)
Temple
Florida Atlantic

WEST
Tulane
Tulsa
SMU
Rice
Houston
Southern Miss
Louisiana Tech
North Texas

The CUSA AD's concluded their meeting in Dallas. The main topic of discussion was the addition of a 12 team!! They looked at 10, yes, 10 schools who have have proposed joining CUSA?? I wonder who those 10 are?? They also talked about Championship games, and not just in football. I don't think they would talk about a championship game if they were going to stay at 11 teams. The Presidents and Chancellors will meet next month to finalize these issues!!!

The Orlando Sentinal has reported that UTEP is the leading candidate, but they're the only paper that claims that. Not even the El Paso paper makes that claim. One other thing the Orlando paper reported is that Toledo, Miami OH and Temple were no longer candidates.

Bottom line: who really knows WHAT they're going to do.

What a difference 7 years makes. If any of you didn't read Terry Holland's explanation of how a 16 team conference would work, it is a good read.

Assume for a moment that no school leaves CUSA. What teams would you want to see added and how would you split up the divisions?

IMO our league will not be judged by its top as much as it will be judged by those on the bottom. The ones on the bottom endanger the conference because they haven't made a legitimate commitment to DI athletics. Some in the media will marry us to them because there isn't the media depth of knowledge to CUSA like our BCS counterparts, therefore they perceive us as Rice or Tulane. There are actually a few Sunbelt and MAC teams that have made a better sports commitment than a few CUSA programs IMO.