Comments on: The Summit League Football House of Cards

By: Jared

Jared — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:33:25 +0000

Great article Matt, although you have left out one school and that is Utah Valley who has the ability to add FCS football if needed. All they want is a conference and the two best options are the Big Sky and Summit…

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:13:45 +0000

The Dakota schools are all on the eastern edge of North and South Dakota; they are not in the current Big Sky footprint. I would like to see the Summit League try to add Eastern Illinois as an all-sports member. This gives them a core of 6 schools for a football conference, they could likely take over the MVFC at that point (with the rest of the MVFC as Summit League football affiliates):

Summit League West:
North Dakota
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
* Missouri State
* Northern Iowa

Summit League East:
Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois
* Southern Illinois
* Illinois State
* Indiana State
* Youngstown State

* FB affiliate

Would Eastern Illinois consider this arrangement? Well, it puts them in a stronger football conference that happens to include all the other FCS programs in the state of Illinois. Yes, EIU was in the Summit before, but they left at a time when the conference stretched from Buffalo to Connecticut to Alabama. If Southern Utah can move to the Big Sky, the Summit would have a reasonable footprint for EIU's teams. I have no idea if this arrangement has been considered, but I'm wondering what people think.

Cheers,
-Dafoeberezin3494

By: Matt Peloquin

Matt Peloquin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:31:43 +0000

Even if all the conferences stand put, but Sac St. leaves, you can have a GREAT group for another 20 years. Only Montana is a real threat to leave:

Dakotas:
NDSU
UND
SDSU
USD

CO:
NoCo

Montana:
montana
Montana St.

Utah:
Weber St
SUU

AZ:
NAU

Idaho:
ISU

WA:
EWU

PERFECT footprint forever. Sure, if UM leaves, maybe MSU leaves. But on paper, it's good mix of regional schools.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 19:51:52 +0000

Terrific post, Matt. Thank you. I think the MVFC should include the four Dakota schools because UNI could drop football. Plus, they could always join the MVC should membership become unstable.

I could see UALR and Denver joining the Summit because of its relative stability. The Summit could also pick up UMSL if it moves to Division I as has been rumored. The league could carve out a nice niche for commuter-oriented public universities (Denver and ORU not withstanding).

By: Nathan Brice

Nathan Brice — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 17:52:13 +0000

Wow

Well, who knows what happens next. FCS football is not very stable, as we all know. We might see more movement on this level than in the FBS.