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(12-21-2020 11:22 PM)eroc Wrote:  

(12-21-2020 11:05 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(12-21-2020 11:00 PM)eroc Wrote:  

(12-21-2020 10:38 PM)UCBearcatlawjd2 Wrote:  

(12-21-2020 10:33 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  If you go football-only adds of Boise and maybe BYU, I think that's a conference that starts to get considerably more respect...but then you're running into a similar inequity issue that caused the Big East to die.

Trading Boise football for UConn basketball is probably a wash as far as TV money is considered (and only TV money...)

I go big with BYU, Boise State, and Gonzaga. Maybe SDSU or Air Force. I always wanted to big and improve both major sports.

i think if we are going to expand it should be with football in mind. i can see East and West divisions for football and basketball by adding Boise, Air force, and Nevada (who are ranked every now and again).

West: Tulsa, SMU, Houston, Boise, Air force, Tulane, Nevada
East: Cincy, Temple, ECU, USF, UCF, Memphis, Navy

six division games, four cross divisions, two OOC. You can also do three cross divisions and three OOC as well.

if i'm being honest, i would prefer to drop ECU and go with just Boise and Airforce, shifting either Tulane or one of the TX teams to the East division.

I agree with the thought process, but I don't think the other two are worth anything to any media deal. If you go past 12, you NEED to get BYU, probably for all sports, otherwise it isn't worth it at all IMO...then you could add whoever you want between AF, CSU, SDSU, Nevada, UNLV, etc. and be all set. You'd kill your primary competition, add two "names" and basically position yourself as the only conference worth a damn outside the power structure. To me, that's a better football conference than the Big East was by the end of it all...when you consider that all but two of the "auto-bids" from outside of current P5 members since 2007 would be in this conference, you have all the ammo you need to negotiate for an auto bid and more compensation.

If you have the drop scenario, it would be a coin flip between Tulane and ECU for me...we recruit the SE more than the Mississippi Delta, so I'd probably stick with ECU, especially due to divisional alignment issues it would cause otherwise.

From BYU's perspective, why would they join the American? The cfb mentioned that if they were able to play their original schedule and go undefeated, they would have garnered playoff consideration. They might think they have the winning formula, why would the give that up?

Because if they join the American, they would have a shot at a NY6 every year, something they don't have now unless they're basically ranked in the Top 8...which wont ever happen. For ND the benefit of independence is the ability to negotiate a solid media deal and to schedule all of their rivals...two things that BYU doesn't necessarily have in comparison to a spot in the AAC. They media money would increase if they joined a conference alongside Boise and all of us...I think that could easily net $10M/team, which is far more than the estimated $8M/year they currently get...they would also still have 2 games outside of Utah and Utah State every year to pick, along with a game against Boise which has become a rivalry of sorts. To me, it's a no-brainer for their Football...but they have other motivations and a lot of people still living in the 90's in Provo. They haven't been the same since leaving the Mountain West, that much is abundantly clear.

I'd tell Boise, without BYU, thanks but no thanks. They already broke one deal with us. They are not worth the headache. Nobody wants to deal with them since they are prima donnas who demand concessions just for the right to play in a conference with them.

Football wise, they are not what they used to be and they are broke as a joke. A meh hire after Harsin leaves for the PAC-12 and you are stuck with them as a middle of the pack addition that is yet another timezone away in an already goofy conference footprint.

If ESPN wants to increase everyone's annual payout considerably to add them, then fine. They won't.

AAC expansion isn't the kind of realignment news most of us are hoping for, but the article referenced provides some interesting insight into the declining state of major college football west of the Rockies. I once thought that Boise and/or BYU joining the American would take the rest of the G5 off the table for the NY6 each year. I'm less certain of that today.

While most of us see the Sun Belt as inferior, the conference had an amazing year. Is that sustainable? I'm not sure; they're likely to have their best coaches poached. Alternately, a league like that or the MAC might produce an undefeated champion more years than not. Then the American would have the built-in disadvantage of a two loss champion in UC, UCF or Boise arguing that our conference champ is better than an undefeated SBC (CCU) or C-USA (Marshall, earlier this year) representative.

My fear is that the CFP committee continues to see the G5 as one amorphous blob. Where a 2 loss team from a P5 may make the CFP or NY6, the path of least resistance is to consider the G5 bid as a throwaway and take an undefeated Sun Belt or MAC Cinderella--deciding, to heck with strength of conference and strength of schedule.

If I'm the president of an AAC school I'd have to think long and hard about expansion at this point. A conference that stretches from the east coast to the Gulf of Mexico to west of the Rockies is no longer a conference; it's just a scheduling arrangement for football.

Boise seems to be on the decline for football. Once that's gone, what are they? ECU west.

I'd take BYU as a full member but they're too big of tools to ever agree to that.

I say just wait until ESPN and/or Fox blow up the B12 and try to get in with the best of what's left.

I was listening to a National podcast yesterday (Barton & Elliott) and they made the point that right now college football west of Texas is no relevant. This is because ESPN and the college football has concentrated so much into the southeast (plus Ohio State and Notre Dame). The last team west of Baton Rouge to win the NC was Texas in 2005.

In their opinion CFB needs to expand the playoff not because the 7th of 8th seeds will be capable of winning it all, but to keep interest across all time zones and to ensure there is a level of fairness. These are guys that did not believe in an 8 team playoff prior to this weekend.


https://mobile.twitter.com/247Sports/sta...0431310852

(12-22-2020 09:45 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  Boise seems to be on the decline for football. Once that's gone, what are they? ECU west.

I'd take BYU as a full member but they're too big of tools to ever agree to that.

I say just wait until ESPN and/or Fox blow up the B12 and try to get in with the best of what's left.

This. Expansion needs to be calculated. Once you add a member, it's next to impossible to kick them out. BYU would be safe choice.. Boise on the other hand would still be a tough call. I think their conference is weak which helps them and we see what happens when they play a good BYU or SJSU. Also lost 38-7 to Washington in last year's bowl. Including that game, they're 5-3 over their last 8.

Sit tight and hope we're not in this conference in 5 years.

(12-22-2020 03:27 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  I'd tell Boise, without BYU, thanks but no thanks. They already broke one deal with us. They are not worth the headache. Nobody wants to deal with them since they are prima donnas who demand concessions just for the right to play in a conference with them.

Football wise, they are not what they used to be and they are broke as a joke. A meh hire after Harsin leaves for the PAC-12 and you are stuck with them as a middle of the pack addition that is yet another timezone away in an already goofy conference footprint.

If ESPN wants to increase everyone's annual payout considerably to add them, then fine. They won't.

Gotta agree with you there. With one or two bad hires you're now trying to convince kids to live at a community college in Boise Idaho where it's cold as hell and not at all culturally similar to the south east or Texas where most players are going to come from.

You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

(12-22-2020 09:47 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I was listening to a National podcast yesterday (Barton & Elliott) and they made the point that right now college football west of Texas is no relevant. This is because ESPN and the college football has concentrated so much into the southeast (plus Ohio State and Notre Dame). The last team west of Baton Rouge to win the NC was Texas in 2005.

In their opinion CFB needs to expand the playoff not because the 7th of 8th seeds will be capable of winning it all, but to keep interest across all time zones and to ensure there is a level of fairness. These are guys that did not believe in an 8 team playoff prior to this weekend.


https://mobile.twitter.com/247Sports/sta...0431310852

If we have that mentality...wouldn't 16 be the way? Make a stipulation that a 2-loss or better conference champion will make it,, and the rest would be at larges (with no more than 3 from any conference. Gives every GOOD team from ANY conference a shot, but also doesn't add in terrible teams just because they won a bad conference..
Then literally everyone would have a shot...don't really see an argument against that, and there would at least be a set criteria as opposed to right now.

(12-22-2020 10:42 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

LOL. I was curious what their rankings would look like. Since 2018, they've had 2 four stars that went to OSU and Washington and 11 or 12 3 stars. Ohio typically has around 70 3 star players every season.

I think 8 would be nice and 16 better, but that probably won't happen as they keep complaining you are adding too many games and while the lower levels do that, I don't believe they play as many regular season games and teams likely won't want to go lower than 12 regular season games. Maybe you go with 12 and the top 4 get a bye. Then you play the other 8 at the home field of the higher seed.

I do think we are a couple/few years from 8. Too much money to be had.

I too favor playoff expansion and 16 teams is an exciting opportunity to engage a much broader audience nationwide for college football.

One obstacle in the past has been the bowls as independent revenue centers. But the best bowls, beyond the NY6, could become playoff venues and probably sell more tickets than ever before.

This would force a shorter conference season and maybe the demise of non-conference games. That's a risk factor for our fan base as our largest, most enthusiastic crowds have often been for P5 opponents willing to enter the Nip @ Night. But, I really wouldn't miss the home games with Austin Peay, especially if the possibility existed of a first round playoff game @ Nippert.

I think UC's undefeated season though is a catalyst for people wanting more post-season college football and some expansion will come sooner rather than later. Some of us were around to remember the NCAA Basketball Championship inviting just 16 teams. Looking back, that seems absurd now, yet we have a similarly small funnel in football where there are more athletically talented BCS teams than ever before.

(12-22-2020 10:42 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

Famous Potatoes!

A friend once suggested that Idaho license plates should instead display this marketing logo: Larger Women.

(12-22-2020 09:47 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I was listening to a National podcast yesterday (Barton & Elliott) and they made the point that right now college football west of Texas is no relevant. This is because ESPN and the college football has concentrated so much into the southeast (plus Ohio State and Notre Dame). The last team west of Baton Rouge to win the NC was Texas in 2005.

In their opinion CFB needs to expand the playoff not because the 7th of 8th seeds will be capable of winning it all, but to keep interest across all time zones and to ensure there is a level of fairness. These are guys that did not believe in an 8 team playoff prior to this weekend.


https://mobile.twitter.com/247Sports/sta...0431310852

USC's 2004 title was stripped. Before that Colorado 1990, Washington 1991 won the title although there were multiple voting methods, split titles. Before that the last uncontested title west coast team to win was USC 12-0 in 1972. Over the last 30 years the champs have been overwhelmingly southern (SEC, Miami, FSU, Clemson etc) teams with Osborne's Nebraska teams and OSU snagging a couple.

(12-22-2020 09:47 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I was listening to a National podcast yesterday (Barton & Elliott) and they made the point that right now college football west of Texas is no relevant. This is because ESPN and the college football has concentrated so much into the southeast (plus Ohio State and Notre Dame). The last team west of Baton Rouge to win the NC was Texas in 2005.

In their opinion CFB needs to expand the playoff not because the 7th of 8th seeds will be capable of winning it all, but to keep interest across all time zones and to ensure there is a level of fairness. These are guys that did not believe in an 8 team playoff prior to this weekend.


https://mobile.twitter.com/247Sports/sta...0431310852

The bolded above is a great point. The powers in college football are short sighted. They think everyone wants to see Alabama vs. Notre Dame and Ohio State vs. Clemson every year, but in the long term, fans of everyone but a dozen or so teams are going to lose interest in the sport because there is nothing to play for.

(12-22-2020 11:41 AM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(12-22-2020 09:47 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I was listening to a National podcast yesterday (Barton & Elliott) and they made the point that right now college football west of Texas is no relevant. This is because ESPN and the college football has concentrated so much into the southeast (plus Ohio State and Notre Dame). The last team west of Baton Rouge to win the NC was Texas in 2005.

In their opinion CFB needs to expand the playoff not because the 7th of 8th seeds will be capable of winning it all, but to keep interest across all time zones and to ensure there is a level of fairness. These are guys that did not believe in an 8 team playoff prior to this weekend.


https://mobile.twitter.com/247Sports/sta...0431310852

The bolded above is a great point. The powers in college football are short sighted. They think everyone wants to see Alabama vs. Notre Dame and Ohio State vs. Clemson every year, but in the long term, fans of everyone but a dozen or so teams are going to lose interest in the sport because there is nothing to play for.

I also think the talent would spread out a bit if there was a set system where we knew say 16 teams have a chance to win the CFP. It might not happen immediately, but even taking UC out of the equation a lot of kids that are going to clemson or alabama now and sitting 3rd on the depth chart for 3 years would rather go to a UNC or FSU and get into the playoff by their sophomore or junior season.

Expand the playoffs to 8 (P5 conference champions, 1 G5 rep, and 2 wildcards with seeding determined by BCS rankings), invite Cincy to the ACC, and save college football

(12-22-2020 10:42 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

Not to mention the huge television market.

(12-22-2020 11:32 AM)colohank Wrote:  

(12-22-2020 10:42 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

Famous Potatoes!

A friend once suggested that Idaho license plates should instead display this marketing logo: Larger Women.

You say that almost as if you have something against big girls.

(12-22-2020 12:01 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(12-22-2020 10:42 AM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote:  You all are forgetting the fertile recruiting ground in Idaho that adding Boise will help us get a foothold.

Not to mention the huge television market.

YUGE!