Quinn, I'm curious as to why all your scenarios have C-USA adding La Tech if necessary.

In my opinion (keep in mind I'm a Tulane season-ticket holder from the Northeast), La Tech adds absolutely zero to the league.

The Ruston area of Louisiana is hard to get to, and very small.
La Tech was passed over for the 12th spot by UTEP.

To be, the choice to replace a team lost to the Big East could be... Charlotte. Adding football for 2013. While their intentions are FCS for a period of time, the idea of all-sports C-USA membership in a conference they have pre-existing relationships with five schools (Tulane, USM, UAB, two of Memphis, ECU, UCF) might be too enticing for them to pass up. They'd have to prefer that to A-10 membership for all sports, and associate member status in the CAA for FCS football. A shot at C-USA would poise them for future Big East membership and enable them to build the program faster than the FCS route.

The geography of the WAC is the sole reason La Tech to C-USA is often mentioned, but the interest is on La Tech's part.

But the geography of C-USA would make New Mexico State, North Texas or Texas State (as a travel partner with UTEP) more enticing than La Tech. And C-USA is doing the inviting.

_________________
1897-1898 | 1900-06 | 1926-27 | 1929-30 | 1939 | 1942

Not sure of why all the fascination with Georgia State. Georgia Southern is deep into a study of whether or not to move up. With the moratorium on upgrades to FBS, nobody is jumping up now; & the economy only makes it more difficult.

Georgia Southern is more established than GA State, for fb. It's in a region of Georgia, yet close to Florida and South Carolina, and has strong potential for recruiting and developing greater interest. Since Paul Johson left for Navy, then GA Tech, GA Southern has not been dominate in fb; but they have re-focused. They field a full range of men's and women's sports for the Southern Conference--a very decent conference for the FCS. Ever visited GA Southern? One of the most beautiful campuses around. And, Savannah, Augusta, and Jacksonville are within easy reach.

Georgia State is an urban, downtown Atlanta commuter school where you take a computer programming class during lunch hour. Tech is just blocks away, and Atlanta is full of UGA fans galore. Also, having the Georgia Dome, and the finest hotels and restaurants right there, does not in itself imply they'll be the next UCLA.

But, maybe GA State can be the new Temple?

I agree. LA Tech isn't an attractive option. But few are.

Charlotte would be great, but they don't have FBS football now and won't for a long time. Would CUSA wait at 11 football members and no longer qualify for a championship game? Likely not. This is the same problem with all the hopeful programs considering upgrades in the future like Texas St and UTSA: it's just a matter of bad timing.

So if you're CUSA, look at your real options:

LA Tech
North Texas
FIU
FAU
Troy
MTSU
NMSU

* Utep isn't a huge fan of being in a conference as NMSU...they've said that. So UTEP would likely vote against NMSU.
* As for North Texas, they are the strongest candidate but just support the CUSA-east theory of the league being too Texescentric.
* Troy or MTSU? Perhaps
* FAU or FIU? The CUSA-East would like that
* La Tech: not pretty but a decent enough program. Does not extend the footprint to increase travel for the CUSA-East schools...LA Tech doesn't rock the boat.

_________________


@ncaasports csi.com/facebook


Like the new CSI Userbar? Feel free to use it here and any other forums.
You can save and host it yourself or link from here.

http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/.../co ... -1.1222087

The East Carolinian - Construction has ECU poised to be a trendy ...

East Carolina is expanding Dowdy-Ficklen stadium again by 7,000 seats in endzone for maximum capacity of 50,000, plus speaks to other facilities upgrades. Also, discusses ECU's desire for BCS conference membership.

Sad for ECU. I think the ship sailed for them when VA Tech left the Big East. There was once a nice group with WVU, VA Tech and ECU, all in the same region with hopes for rivalries.

What could have been:
BC, UConn, Cuse, Rutgers, Pitt, Miami
WVU, VA Tech, ECU, Louisville, Cincy, USF

_________________


@ncaasports csi.com/facebook


Like the new CSI Userbar? Feel free to use it here and any other forums.
You can save and host it yourself or link from here.

Article out of Orlando(previously posted in another thread)with comments from UCF President regarding possible conference realignment and the upcoming C-USA tv deal negotiations.Link at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 5288.story

Article out of Orlando discussing apparent need for UCF to also look at posibility of ACC as well as the BE as a potential new home in the next round of conference realignment.Link at http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/201 ... conference

BE MB thread discussing comments from Memphis AD regarding conference realignment at http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=433045

Article out of El Paso discussing possible C-USA realignment at http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15001487? ... ost_viewed

May 10, 2010 comments on expansion from the University of Southern Mississippi AD: (corrected)

http://southernmiss.cstv.com/genrel/051010aac.html

Birmingham News article discussing possibility of C-USA expanding to as many as 16 schools.Link at http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-pr ... talks.html

C-USA MB thread discussing above posted linked Birmingham News article regarding possible C-USA expansion at http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=436301

If the Big Ten and other BCS conferences expand to 16 members and have the NCAA change the rule of conference football championship game to allow for two semi final football conference championship games and final championship game, Conf USA could expand and take Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, and West Virginia and expand to 16 if those teams are available. The following four team divisions would work very nicely for Conf USA:

Div 1: Cincinnati, Louisville, Marshall, WVU

Div 2: East Carolina, South Florida, Central Florida, UAB

Div 3: Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa

Div 4: Houston, Rice, SMU, UTEP

Basketball could play double round robin in each division and one game each with teams from the other divisions for 18 game regular season schedule.

Football could play 3 games each year in division and 2 teams from the other two divisions for a 9 game regular season schedule. Every two years all school could play a regular season football game.

Football conference championship game could have Div 1 regular season winner play Div 2 regular season winner at highest ranked school. Div 3 regular season winner could face Div 3 regular season winner at the highest seeded team.

Both semi final winners could advance to the Conf USA championship game in various cities from year to year.

Article out of Hattiesburg reporting that C-USA has scheduled a meeting for next Wednesday to discuss the possibility of inviting "possible" Big 12 leftovers like Iowa State and Baylor.Link at http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/arti ... /100611013

With the loss of the Big 12 Champ Game, Cowboys Stadium is surely looking to fill the void between 2011-2013, the last three years of the stadium's contract with the conference.

This is where C-USA comes in. Starting in 2011, instead of a campus site, the C-USA could hold its football champ game in Arlington. This would be a major coup for the conference.