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Post by scatman on Oct 20, 2021 9:09:37 GMT -6
Sun Belt is a better conference but C-USA will put up a fight. Money talks, schools walk. It is interesting all this conference realignment going on right now Do agree it's interesting. I just think Sun Belt is in better position, especially football wise, so the money C-USA has to offer may not be worth it. Main thing to think about: CUSA and AAC are the only two G5 conferences without an ESPN deal. That’s immediately a deal breaker for most schools in today’s football ecosystem. I can only see us benefitting from this.
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Post by foulpolephenom on Oct 20, 2021 9:13:47 GMT -6
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Post by scatman on Oct 20, 2021 11:14:25 GMT -6
I stand corrected! Equally still not worried, as the AAC wouldn’t go after anyone from our ranks. I fully envision we pick through who we desire in CUSA and the MAC takes the rest. Maybe one or two become independent.
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Post by buzzlightyear on Oct 20, 2021 14:04:05 GMT -6
ODU, JMU, Marshall, USM Not bad ESPN must have been willing to give a tad more to go to 14. We be movin to the West folks.
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Post by buzzlightyear on Oct 20, 2021 14:06:34 GMT -6
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Post by troy79 on Oct 20, 2021 20:30:40 GMT -6
www.deseret.com/platform/amp/2021/10/20/22737447/yet-another-conference-is-reportedly-looking-into-expansion-sun-belt-marshall-southern-miss-libertyDeseret.com says it will be a four school addition to the Sun Belt. Old Dominion and James Madison from Virginia, Marshall from West Virginia and Southern Miss. if this comes to pass, CUSA will be down to 5 schools, FIU, Western Kentucky, MTSU, Louisiana Tech and UTEP. The article says CUSA wants to add Liberty and JMU to get to 10, assuming they don’t lose the three schools to The Belt. What do you think WKU, MTSU, and FIU are thinking knowing they defected less than a decade ago and could soon be without a conference. Guess they could add UMASS, UCONN, Liberty, NMSU, and maybe Army to have a 10 team conference. We must be the aggressor and make a move as quickly as possible! Go Troy!
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Post by scatman on Oct 20, 2021 20:55:58 GMT -6
ODU, JMU, Marshall, USM Not bad ESPN must have been willing to give a tad more to go to 14. We be movin to the West folks. Man I hate the western division so much… I’d rather shoot myself than visit MS and LA every year.
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Post by cornhole on Oct 20, 2021 21:06:32 GMT -6
ODU, JMU, Marshall, USM Not bad ESPN must have been willing to give a tad more to go to 14. We be movin to the West folks. Man I hate the western division so much… I’d rather shoot myself than visit MS and LA every year. ULaLa has been a great experience for the cornhole clan. Tulane would add a whole new biannual Away Game experience. No fond memories in MS,
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Post by mlambertii on Oct 20, 2021 21:17:19 GMT -6
ODU, JMU, Marshall, USM Not bad ESPN must have been willing to give a tad more to go to 14. We be movin to the West folks. Man I hate the western division so much… I’d rather shoot myself than visit MS and LA every year. Idk, the East is a hard division to win as of late. If getting to the SBC championships game is a factor, the west is “easier” during the immediate future.
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Post by trojan2003 on Oct 20, 2021 21:57:42 GMT -6
Looks like this is really happening. I still remember MTSU, WKU, FAU, and UNT and their arrogant fans leaving us behind. Now, we are expanding and adding two G5 brand schools and a great FCS power… and we didn’t need markets just product on the field to get this done.
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Post by troyjan95 on Oct 21, 2021 5:30:17 GMT -6
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 5:50:59 GMT -6
ODU, JMU, Marshall, USM Not bad ESPN must have been willing to give a tad more to go to 14. We be movin to the West folks. Man I hate the western division so much… I’d rather shoot myself than visit MS and LA every year. Going to be more than us moving to the West. It will likely be Troy, GATA, GA Commuter
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Post by buzzlightyear on Oct 21, 2021 6:19:21 GMT -6
Going to be more than us moving to the West. It will likely be Troy, GATA, GA Commuter. East will be Brutal with Marshall, JMU, Coastal and App To have more than us move is a bit of for me. The reason is if we add the 3 in the East one of the East (us) will have to move to the West to give a 7/7 split (with USM in the West). So I am curious if you think we will be going to a conference of 20? I just don't see us beyond the 14. If the Big 12 goes to 14 and pulls SMU and Memphis I just don't see the AAC doing anything but sitting with the 12 left (or that would be left). Because at that point they would have to convince App and Marshall to skip their little pod over there on very similar power basis with rivals to go to AAC to simply get ECU. That will not happen in all likelihood. I think our SunBelt sweep of JMU and Marshall put the nail in the CUSA along with ESPN of course. The ODU vs WKU argument was probably just a flip of the coin with BOTH really wanting to come due to what CUSA was about to become. You may not like the guys in the life boat with you but you sure are glad to be in the life boat!!!!
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 6:49:17 GMT -6
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Post by saintflorian on Oct 21, 2021 8:07:48 GMT -6
And this point, find one more, combine CUSA and Sunbelt into a 20 team conference and be done. Would be good and demand more money.
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 8:11:58 GMT -6
And this point, find one more, combine CUSA and Sunbelt into a 20 team conference and be done. Would be good and demand more money. Only problem with that is how are you going to determine a Champion. Even if you play 10 conference games a year that leaves 10 teams you didn't play. So you would only play the same East or West teams every year.
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Post by ksdtrojan on Oct 21, 2021 9:23:46 GMT -6
And this point, find one more, combine CUSA and Sunbelt into a 20 team conference and be done. Would be good and demand more money. Only problem with that is how are you going to determine a Champion. Even if you play 10 conference games a year that leaves 10 teams you didn't play. So you would only play the same East or West teams every year. nothing wrong with playing inside the divisions and letting the conference championship determine the champion. Just my dull 2 pennies from 1973
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Post by scatman on Oct 21, 2021 10:46:48 GMT -6
I agree that Marshall is outdated in terms of facilities, but any time I look at that monstrosity of a design in Monroe I think about how much better any other stadium is.
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Post by scatman on Oct 21, 2021 10:49:47 GMT -6
Man I hate the western division so much… I’d rather shoot myself than visit MS and LA every year. Idk, the East is a hard division to win as of late. If getting to the SBC championships game is a factor, the west is “easier” during the immediate future. While this is true, I’d rather us make changes to the program instead of running away from competition into mediocrity.
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 11:58:02 GMT -6
Only problem with that is how are you going to determine a Champion. Even if you play 10 conference games a year that leaves 10 teams you didn't play. So you would only play the same East or West teams every year. nothing wrong with playing inside the divisions and letting the conference championship determine the champion. Just my dull 2 pennies from 1973 That would be dull and boring. If we get moved to the West say we would never ever play App St, Coastal, Marshall, JMU, Old Dominion for instance. It would be La La, Monroe, TX St, South Gump etc every year. I hope it never comes to that from a fan's perspective
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 12:15:35 GMT -6
I agree that Marshall is outdated in terms of facilities, but any time I look at that monstrosity of a design in Monroe I think about how much better any other stadium is. Same designer that did ULM must have done Delta St also lol
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Post by saintflorian on Oct 21, 2021 12:16:05 GMT -6
nothing wrong with playing inside the divisions and letting the conference championship determine the champion. Just my dull 2 pennies from 1973 That would be dull and boring. If we get moved to the West say we would never ever play App St, Coastal, Marshall, JMU, Old Dominion for instance. It would be La La, Monroe, TX St, South Gump etc every year. I hope it never comes to that from a fan's perspective Nah, it’s easy. Do 5 game pod system with the East and West divisions. So you have 4 regulars and 4 or 5 rotating. A championship game to decide winner. Have a ton of bowl tie-ins. Conference would be good, fun and make more money.
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Post by Troystet on Oct 21, 2021 12:19:13 GMT -6
That would be dull and boring. If we get moved to the West say we would never ever play App St, Coastal, Marshall, JMU, Old Dominion for instance. It would be La La, Monroe, TX St, South Gump etc every year. I hope it never comes to that from a fan's perspective Nah, it’s easy. Do 5 game pod system with the East and West divisions. So you have 4 regulars and 4 or 5 rotating. A championship game to decide winner. Have a ton of bowl tie-ins. Conference would be good, fun and make more money. In theory that works but it could be luck of the draw. Say we are in the West and we have to play Coastal, Marshall and JMU and La La gets App, Old Dominion and Ga Commuter.
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Post by saintflorian on Oct 21, 2021 12:20:38 GMT -6
Nah, it’s easy. Do 5 game pod system with the East and West divisions. So you have 4 regulars and 4 or 5 rotating. A championship game to decide winner. Have a ton of bowl tie-ins. Conference would be good, fun and make more money. In theory that works but it could be luck of the draw. Say we are in the West and we have to play Coastal, Marshall and JMU and La La gets App, Old Dominion and Ga Commuter. Easily worked out. The SEC is fixing to implement a four team pod once OK and TX join.
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Post by jerichojohnny on Oct 21, 2021 14:28:58 GMT -6
I love this stuff. It’s amazing how much stronger the Sun Belt has become since I started at Troy in the mid-2000s. C-USA made a decision to go after media markets, competitiveness of the teams be damned, while the Sun Belt focused on a tight regional footprint with entertaining football watched by engaged-if-small fanbases. It also took chances on FCS teams, and haven’t those chances paid off?
Some of you have pondered C-USA poaching from the Sun Belt, but why would any Sun Belt teams leave? Both have roughly equal $500k media deals, right? And I’ve read that ESPN has been pleased with the growth in Sun Belt viewership on ESPN+ over the last two years. The homer in me wants to say the Sun Belt could make an argument as the best G5 conference now, but more realistically I think it’s better than the MAC and moribund C-USA, and much closer to this new, desperate American.
Southern Miss is a no brainer. It’s all but a done deal. Marshall has such a strong brand that you want them. If you’re going 14, honestly, Liberty or JMU (probably the more palatable and long-term choice) makes sense, though I am also biased in that those would be games I could actually drive to from DC (in fact, Liberty in 2018 was my last game, and the campus was nice, they beat us…but the vibe of the fans was a little creepy - they have deep pockets and greater ambition - if BYU can do it, why not Liberty?). WKU appeals to me, but I may just be nostalgic. ODU has a lot of potential though, both as a football program and as a school located in the most populous region in Virginia.
So I say Southern Miss, Marshall, JMU, and ODU. Can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
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