I seriously hope WKU and MTSU get out of that. If they do then CUSA would still need another full time member.

Time for Troy and JSU to renew the football rivalry!

total frankenconference

I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

That new CUSA could work...

West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Sam Houston State
La Tech
Jacksonville State

East
Western
Middle
Liberty
FIU
???

They need to add Missouri State for the East and be done. 10 full time members, unless NDSU and SDSU want to come play as football only.

People like to crap on Liberty, but Liberty, WKU and La Tech are good at football. That's a decent core.

The Basketball would be pretty good.

Honestly, I feel really bad for the remaining CUSA members who are stuck. I wish them well and hope this works, but to me, this looks like nothing more than a temporary solution to an immediate problem. How can this configuration possibly survive?

It may not be pretty but they added 4 good teams in reality. Good for them. It'll have some tough football teams in there once they get established.

I don't dispute the quality or merit of the schools added, I just don't see how this is going to work logistically. The current CUSA is a travel nightmare for the border schools. Now there are some really huge gaps between schools. More so if WKU and Empty Sue leave for the MAC.

(11-05-2021 12:25 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  It may not be pretty but they added 4 good teams in reality. Good for them. It'll have some tough football teams in there once they get established.

New Mexico State is a good team? Their last 5 winning seasons were in 2017, 2002, 1999, 1992, and 1978.

They haven't won 8 games in a single season since 1965.

That's miserable.

(11-05-2021 12:38 PM)Yosef181 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:25 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  It may not be pretty but they added 4 good teams in reality. Good for them. It'll have some tough football teams in there once they get established.

New Mexico State is a good team? Their last 5 winning seasons were in 2017, 2002, 1999, 1992, and 1978.

They haven't won 8 games in a single season since 1965.

That's miserable.

As a basketball add.

It looks like CUSA is trying to balance recent FCS success in football (Jacksonville State and Sam Houston) with a good travel partner to UTEP and better basketball in NMSU.

Liberty is about to bust this conference up.

If CUSA can add the Dakotas for football only and get Missouri State on board for all sports...

It's really about the best ducktape job on a leeaky boat one can do.

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

The MAC would be better than hoping and praying that Sam Houston and Jacksonville State can ease into IA football. Culturally you are right, they don't fit. Neither did Marshall but we made it work for 7 years.

The New New New CUSA is a lot weaker in football than the MAC was when Marshall entered it in 1997, and that is saying a lot. In 1997 the MAC had 5 teams with 3 or fewer wins and 7 with 5 or fewer.

I don't trust UTEP, they might a have a winning season or two but sooner or later they will be back to hoping to beat NMSU. I have a feeling Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State will be in for a rude awakening with IA football. Its not an easy transition and is the school prepared to put the extra money into the program. If not you will start to look like Idaho.

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

That new CUSA could work...

West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Sam Houston State
La Tech
Jacksonville State

East
Western
Middle
Liberty
FIU
???

They need to add Missouri State for the East and be done. 10 full time members, unless NDSU and SDSU want to come play as football only.

People like to crap on Liberty, but Liberty, WKU and La Tech are good at football. That's a decent core.

The Basketball would be pretty good.

Jacksonville State is further East than Missouri State.

(11-05-2021 12:41 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

The MAC would be better than hoping and praying that Sam Houston and Jacksonville State can ease into IA football. Culturally you are right, they don't fit. Neither did Marshall but we made it work for 7 years.

The New New New CUSA is a lot weaker in football than the MAC was when Marshall entered it in 1997, and that is saying a lot. In 1997 the MAC had 5 teams with 3 or fewer wins and 7 with 5 or fewer.

I don't trust UTEP, they might a have a winning season or two but sooner or later they will be back to hoping to beat NMSU. I have a feeling Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State will be in for a rude awakening with IA football. Its not an easy transition and is the school prepared to put the extra money into the program. If not you will start to look like Idaho.

Sure, but Liberty football is no slouch.

There's no one in the MAC that has the football acumen of Liberty.

(11-05-2021 12:32 PM)Maryland Monarch Wrote:  I don't dispute the quality or merit of the schools added, I just don't see how this is going to work logistically. The current CUSA is a travel nightmare for the border schools. Now there are some really huge gaps between schools. More so if WKU and Empty Sue leave for the MAC.

They just need to strategically fill in the gaps. Not sure they would make the move but FGCU would be the perfect travel partner for FIU. UT-Chattanooga, EKU help bring KY and TN back into the conference if WKU and MTS do end up leaving and Chattanooga and JSU would be close.

Missouri State should make the jump now while the door is still open. It's more travel for their basketball and other olympic teams but compromises are needed sometimes if you want to get to FBS.

(11-05-2021 12:42 PM)stAteNation Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

That new CUSA could work...

West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Sam Houston State
La Tech
Jacksonville State

East
Western
Middle
Liberty
FIU
???

They need to add Missouri State for the East and be done. 10 full time members, unless NDSU and SDSU want to come play as football only.

People like to crap on Liberty, but Liberty, WKU and La Tech are good at football. That's a decent core.

The Basketball would be pretty good.

Jacksonville State is further East than Missouri State.

Probably right. It would be a toss up I guess...but I think Missouri State needs to be their #10.

Kennesaw State is a good option too

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

That new CUSA could work...

West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Sam Houston State
La Tech
Jacksonville State

East
Western
Middle
Liberty
FIU
???

They need to add Missouri State for the East and be done. 10 full time members, unless NDSU and SDSU want to come play as football only.

People like to crap on Liberty, but Liberty, WKU and La Tech are good at football. That's a decent core.

The Basketball would be pretty good.

Why would Jacksonville State be in the West? I can't think of another FCS school outside of Kennesaw State or Mercer who may entertain moving up to FBS in the East. Unless Villanova wants to pull a UConn and move their football program up.

fans here sounding a lot like fans of teams 4-5 years ago of CUSA teams.

New CUSA will be good in Bball and I hope none of y'all lose FB games to them

(11-05-2021 12:44 PM)rileylives Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:42 PM)stAteNation Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:24 PM)rileylives Wrote:  I actually hope the remaining CUSA schools survive and do well. I think WKU and Middle would be better served in this CUSA over joining the MAC.

The MAC schools are a special group. Western and Middle have southern cultural fanbases.

That new CUSA could work...

West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Sam Houston State
La Tech
Jacksonville State

East
Western
Middle
Liberty
FIU
???

They need to add Missouri State for the East and be done. 10 full time members, unless NDSU and SDSU want to come play as football only.

People like to crap on Liberty, but Liberty, WKU and La Tech are good at football. That's a decent core.

The Basketball would be pretty good.

Jacksonville State is further East than Missouri State.

Probably right. It would be a toss up I guess...but I think Missouri State needs to be their #10.

Missouri State isn't moving football or basketball to that conference. The travel negates any additional revenue you may have. They'd be better off waiting to see if Texas State leaves the Sun Belt for some reason.

Ironically, I'd say Texas State would probably be a fit with Texas centric C-USA. They have schools East of the Mississippi but will act as if Texas is the geographic center of the conference, which it isn't. However Texas is a huge state and Texas State could have rivalries with UTEP and SHSU.

No one is going to be pushing on Texas State to exit though. I don't fault them for it either.

(11-05-2021 12:52 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  fans here sounding a lot like fans of teams 4-5 years ago of CUSA teams.

New CUSA will be good in Bball and I hope none of y'all lose FB games to them

The Sun Belt looked a lot different in 2014 than C-USA does. If you remember, we dropped NMSU and Idaho from our football line-up. What happened then? The Sun Belt vaulted two positions in conference ratings after fighting for last with C-USA. Then it was a solid 8th, and it 2020 the Sun Belt was the 6th rated conference, I believe.

They dropped some dead weight, sure, but they added some more bloat in football. SHSU may end up being the next Coastal, and that's fine. But NMSU is who they are. UTEP is having a good year in football but how often does that happen? Louisiana Tech is way, way down for now. FIU is a perennial loser in football. Jacksonville State has characteristics of Troy and may be good, no one knows.

So it's going to be rough going for longer than what the Sun Belt dealt with.