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The first report I heard was that it seemed like it was going to be immediate. Liberty would like it to be immediate, but who knows. In regards to the WAC, I don't see how Liberty could afford the travel (they're in Virginia).Quote:
Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes
Yeah, which made me scratch my head when they were talking about MAC, WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, C-USA. Pretty much only the MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt would work for them from a financial standpoint for sports travel.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBHuskers
Wait......what? How long did he coach at Kansas? 1 year? I can't believe he's out already. I still remember the Auburn controversy.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBHuskers
He coached two. Both were dumpster fires.Quote:
Originally Posted by souljahbill
If anybody could suddenly find enough boosters to support traveling all over the country, it's Liberty.Quote:
Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes
Well, I can't say I really know anything about Liberty, so I'll take your word for that information. Though even if they get boosters to support the traveling, that'd still be expensive as hell for something like the WAC or Mountain West, since you would be required to fly everywhere, where with C-USA or the MAC, you could get away with taking buses to some schools.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
And it is official and all set for Old Dominion.Quote:
Originally Posted by gschwendt
Per ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...conference-usaQuote:
The move will be effective July 1, 2013, school president John R. Broderick said in a release Thursday. The Monarchs, who restarted their football program only three seasons ago, will play one more season at the Football Championship Subdivision level and then play two seasons as an independent at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, starting in 2013, until it moves to Conference USA for football in 2015.
What's going to be cool is getting all these FCS schools who are moving up into the NCAA Football game eventually.
At this rate, there won't be a need to add FCS teams. They'll all be FBS.
Yeah no kidding, eventually it will be like college basketball...All teams under one divisionQuote:
Originally Posted by souljahbill
That sounds pretty good actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarhead10
"LU is currently the largest Evangelical Christian university in the world." 'Nuff said.Quote:
Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes
Well then, I definitely accept your word in that case. :D I did not know that about them.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
They were founded by Jerry "Oh my gosh, a purple Teletubbie!" Falwell.Quote:
Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes
Ah. Another thing I did not know. Well, then, I definitely believe when you say they would be able to deal with the costs of going anywhere in the country to play in a conference then with that new information.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
:smh: Stupid.
Woot! ;)
:D I knew you'd probably be happy.Quote:
Originally Posted by morsdraconis
At this point, Christ, just get rid of conference all together, have 124 independent teams, let them schedule amongst themselves however they want and have a true strength of schedule system to truly select the best teams for a playoff.
Totally agree Smooth. This is just getting ridiculous. Let's start a petition to get the ACC to pick up Idaho so they can begin to recover and recreate a western division just like the big east.
Yeah, 'cause there couldn't POSSIBLY be controversy there ;) At least conferences eliminate some of the burden to compare teams.Quote:
Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes
These conference affiliations are getting ridiculous though. Oh well, the ACC and Big East are going to be no longer with us in a little bit ...
Oh there'd be LOADS of controversy, but at least it would be reasonable controversy rather than the controversy we have now. Get a true strength of schedule ranking system to measure teams based on their schedules and the 12 teams they schedule, and it would result in better games.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
A team playing 12 games against elite/great/moderate opponents would rate better in the SOS system and have an easier time getting into a playoff with an undefeated or 1-2 loss record than a team would playing teams the likes of Texas State, Idaho, New Hampshire and Jacksonville State, like you see today with teams in the SEC and other major conferences constantly scheduling FCS teams and the bottom feeder FBS teams to play non-conference.
And yes, it is getting just plain ridiculous now. The conference changes were at least reasonable to begin with (Nebraska to the Big 10, Missouri and A&M to the SEC, Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC, etc), but now with a bunch of west coast teams joining the Big East, Florida State, and presumably Clemson tagging along with them, on the brink of joining the Big 12, it's starting to get ridiculous. Geographical locations no longer matter, conference history (founding members leaving for other conferences, etc) no longer matter. It's beyond the point of ridiculous.
Well, when I said controversy, I was more talking about your idea of a "true strength of schedule ranking system". 12 games with 123 teams is an incredibly small sample size to rank teams with. Sagarin's ratings is probably the best current set (AFAIK, his ELO_CHESS ranking is effectively what a Strength of Schedule system would be), and there are countless times that I disagree with what his ratings put out.
As much as the conferences, geographically, suck right now, a totally independent system wouldn't be an improvement in the long-term. Plus, as soon as the automatic qualifying provision is gone from the BCS (2014), I expect to see the conferences that survive become more coherent.
Sun Belt won't add Idaho, New Mexico St.; FCS the next step?
Idaho's and New Mexico State's chances of remaining FBS schools look slimmer than ever after the Sun Belt announced Wednesday that it will remain at 10 football-playing members for the foreseeable future.
Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson addressed the plight of the Vandals and Aggies during his league's announcement that non-football-member Texas-Arlington would be officially joining the SBC in 2013 after a single season in the WAC.
"We are not pursuing additional members at this time," Benson said, saying that the league would forgo playing a conference championship game. "At this juncture, the Sun Belt shouldn't be considered a landing spot whether it's an FCS member or an existing FBS member."
Benson said his announcement will "allow both Idaho and New Mexico State to know the direction the Sun Belt is headed. Personally, I wish the best for the University of Idaho and New Mexico State."
Per the Idaho Statesman, Benson also confirmed that he had spoken with Idaho athletic director Rob Spear prior to the announcement.
With the Mountain West having already declined to bring either the Moscow, Idaho or Las Cruces, New Mexico schools aboard, either's road forward at the FBS level appears extremely, extremely difficult. With the WAC down to just two football-playing members (i.e., the Vandals and Aggies) and no apparent way to bring itself back from the brink as an FBS entity, Idaho and NMSU face either convincing an FCS cavalry to ride into FBS to save the WAC, scratching out an existence as independents -- and becoming by far the two hardest programs in the country to recruit to, if they aren't already -- or dropping back to the FCS.
Link
:smh:
That's just ridiculous. I feel horrible for both of them.
"At this juncture, the Sun Belt shouldn't be considered a landing spot whether it's an FCS member or an existing FBS member."
:D I hate to tell the numbnuts, but that's exactly what the Sun Belt is. Bottom two conferences in college football, #1 - WAC, #2 - Sun Belt. With the WAC about to die, the Sun Belt is about to become the new "whipping boy" of conference rankings. Teams looking to move up from FCS in the future are going to be looking at the Sun Belt right off the bat. As for FBS members, Idaho and New Mexico State are the only ones. You aren't going to see anyone from the Mountain West, C-USA or MAC come begging to be let into the Sun Belt.
As for Benson, he's a dumbass. Apparently he considers the Sun Belt on the same elite level as the SEC and Big Ten when it comes to choosing teams. Uh, sorry. You ain't elite, you're the new little man on the totem pole of FBS conferences.
Maybe the Sun Belt wants to keep some sort of geographical relevance :D
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Both teams were in the Sun Belt before. They left because they were just a bad fit for the conference.
especially idaho. they won a hell of a bowl game a couple years ago against bowling green.Quote:
Originally Posted by morsdraconis
The Sun Belt is staying pat at 10 football teams (TSU, ULL, ULM, ASU, MTSU, WKU, Troy, USA, GSU, & FAU) and 12 total teams (UALR & UTA). Essentially, the conference has decided it doesn't want to add a championship game for football because other than the SEC, most often teams/conferences lose money surrounding a championship game.
For example, imagine a fan of a MAC team that's in the running for the CCG. If as a fan, you go to the CCG in Detroit and your team wins, in less than a month's time, you're back in Detroit for a bowl game. So now you have to choose, do you plan for the bowl game or plan for the CCG? Even if the threat of having your car stolen isn't factored in, you still have to plan back to back trips to travel to see your team play.
I prefer non-CCG setup anyway... I prefer where every team plays every other team. However, SBC is going with 8 conference games so one team will rotate off of each team's schedule season to season.
Here's also an article why it makes sense to not jump forward to the 12 team conference.
http://espn1420.com/sun-belt-was-rig...alt-expansion/
Boise State to stay in Big East for football
http://www.broncosports.com/ViewArti...CLID=205499946
Is it just me or does that read almost like they were trying to get all of their other sports in the Big East as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by gschwendt
They were debating whether to stay in the MWC or move to the Big East. Staying in the MWC would give all their teams a home whereas moving to the Big East would leave all sports outside football looking for a place to land. They were waiting to see how the playoff thing would unfold (AQ status) to determine whether they should leave. I guess with no TCU and no Utah, there wasn't enough "name brand" competition for Boise to stay. Funny how they've gone from the a western conference to a midwest conference to an eastern conference. Good thing for BSU that there aren't any conferences east of Maine. They can't go any further.Quote:
Originally Posted by razorback44
It reads that way, but no. Boise was planning to put their other sports in WAC. WAC is imploding. Boise was reconsidering leaving the MWC at all, according to reports.
the Big Mid East LOL
I'm both :( and happy that we didn't get a half dozen more FCS teams just to keep a conference alive.
Louisiana Tech will prolly move to the C-USA, Utah State to the Mountain West I guess and I know UTSA is going to join C-USA and Texas State to the Sun Belt. As for Idaho, they go independent and Idk where New Mexico State and San Jose State will go. Prolly back to FCS :dunno:
All of the WAC schools, except for NMSt, have deals in place already. San Jose State is going to the MWC.Quote:
Originally Posted by OSUCowboyofMD
And Idaho... Though expectations are that they'll almost certainly drop down.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross