Yep I've been born and raised an SFA fan and definitely want them to move up with SHSU, but they aren't ready and likely won't be for another decade. This argument was never about SFA, it was about SHSU which is still the smartest move. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

http://katfans.com/forum/index.php?topic=6879.0

"Dieter Kurtenbach, Florida Atlantic beat writer - "The favorites to repopulate the Sun Belt: Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Sam Houston State."

https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach/status/ ... 1438499840 "

Sam is a powerhouse in the FCS and while they haven't won it all yet, its only a matter of time. Many of Sam's alumni want them to win a few FCS titles and then makes the FBS jump which is one of the reasons moving to the WAC had little support at the time, but they see the FBS window may be closing and now getting to the FBS is probably a bigger goal. That being said Lamar has more realignment clout due to the WAC and...

"Lamar is in 4th. RT @dixiefriedsport: @dkurtenbach About what I would've thought, but I've heard Lamar is more ready than SHSU.

https://twitter.com/dkurtenbach/status/ ... 2050174976 "

Still Lamar is similar to UTSA as both just (re)started their fb programs and are ><90 miles away from any other FBS school (UT and UH/Rice) but the difference is that Houston has many pro teams unlike SA which only has the Spurs therefor the market saturation of Houston v San Antonio is completely different. And while 400K Beaumont is larger than Huntsville (FYI per Wiki 2010 pop 118,300), its still no San Antonio 1+ mil 2+ mil DMA.

The Sun Belt already has a start up in South Alabama and they know that at some point and time its performance on the field that draws eyes balls, especially at the lowest levels of FBS (see Boise St). Sam is performing at the top of the FCS while Lamar only has 5 FCS wins in 2 seasons. Your whole post was that "Lamar will get it so HA, and Beaumont is 400K" so at some level you agree with me since that's pretty much your entire point. And FYI, please post a link of any forums you are re-posting our conversation on, its common courtesy.

Still I wouldn't bet against them getting the invite over Sam at this time mainly because Sam can't decide what they want to do while Lamar has made this a clear goal from the get go. But overall I still think it would not be in the best interest of the Sun Belt which needs strong, competitive additions to keep the league together as best it can with schools App St, GA St, GA Southern, Sam Houston, Texas St that have a good program already in the FCS and resemble Troy the outgoing schools like FIU, MTSU, UNT and less like ULM, South Alabama and Lamar. But still if it happens congrats and best of luck (I only root against Texas schools when they affect my teams).

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Last year, Lamar's senior heavy team took Lamar MBB to the big dance. Lamar lost 4 of 5 starters and now only has 1 win this season.
SHSU football is the same senior heavy team as was Lamar last year. I wouldn't bet SHSU wins the SLC next year.

We'll see if what they are saying is true this week or next.

Sun Belt meeting was supposedly today. Any press reports ?

Thanks in advance, Freaked !

Not a press report here, but as of 3 days ago, Georgia Southern Univ. was indicating they were in line for a Sun Belt Conference invitation soon. GSU has an new AD, who was just hired a couple of weeks back. Below, repeated CBS Sports info., that NMSU, Idaho, and Ga. Southern were under consideration, but this Championship Subdivision News blog focuses on Ga. Southern, saying they have the money for it:

http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews. ... nce?blog=2

AD forum from official Troy site with comments from Troy AD regarding SBC realignment situation at http://troytrojans.com/news/2012/12/2/G ... th=general

AJC blog article with comments from SBC Commish says that his league plans to replace MTSU and FAU and that process "may" begin as early as this Friday.Link at http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia-state-spor ... -changes/#

Maybe it will be Georgia Southern and Lamar. Lamar board thinks so. The Sunbelt is interesting in getting into Houston. Lamar is suppose to sign a deal with
CSN, a sports tv network in Houston, basically putting Lamar in the Houston market and Beaumont market.

While I also think Georgia Southern sounds like a great option, I'm starting to think that App St will be the 12th.

Just look at the split w/ App St for BBall
West-TSU, UTA, ArkSt, UALR, ULM, ULL
East- WKU, Troy, USA, GASt, GASo, App St
Looks clean and their is a big travel gap between the two

With a Texas school (Lamar/SHSU) or NMSU it would be
West-TSU, UTA, (Lamar/SHSU), ArkSt, UALR, WKU
East- ULM, ULL, Troy, USA, GASt, GASo
Just seems like a lot of extra travel for the Louisiana schools

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SBC MB thread discussing impending SBC expansion situation at http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=605401

Blog about Georgia Southern and others as SBC candidates
http://sunbeltinsider.blogspot.com/2012 ... l?spref=tw

Also implies they are waiting until GA So loses in the FCS playoffs before announcing anything, SHSU is also still in it and that may also be holding the expansion invites/announcements.

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As it would stand now, C-USA may only be slightly better than the SunBelt, and that's largely in name and history only. It's too bad these two conferences, with the pontential new members, don't get together and sort out the divide, and east-west structure. One becomes basically southeast/mid-south, and the other more southwest in appearance. There could be more closer rivalries among them all.

Also, GA State fans/contigent need to cut the jealousness & curb their insecurities at GA Southern. GA State was picked-up and facilitated by basically location alone, not performance. It's unrealistic to expect Atlanta to go Ape-skatt over GA State when even the premier campus, Georgia Tech, could use enhanced and updated notoriety in the community. The Bulldogs carry the day there too.

GA Southern is in a good location for a new FBS program....no other FBS schools in southeastern Georgia or even southern Georgia. They are close enough to Savannah, and not far from the State of South Carolina and Jacksonville, Fla.

The Sun Belt shouldn't focus on western expansion, but focus on adding high quality football programs to the mix. Adding a garbage program like Lamar, who just started playing football on the FCS level, and can't even draw 10,000 a game on average, will do nothing to enhance the reputation of the Sun Belt as a conference.

And the Sun Belt shouldn't trust New Mexico St as far as they can kick them. Because if a better deal came up for them, they'd bolt from the Sun Belt just like they did back in the day.

No . . what the Sun Belt needs to do, is follow the blueprint of the MAC. Create a conference of tight knit regional teams that will not only support each other by going to games, but create the type of regional rivalries that will enhance the appeal of the conference overall. It would be great if they could add U. of Alabama-Birmingham and Southern Miss, but they're not leaving Conference USA unless it completely collapses.

So you go the alternative route, you add Appalachian St and Georgia Southern. That is a no brainer in my opinion for the Sun Belt. Those are two nationally known programs on the FCS level that are also rivals. You're talking about 2 programs that already average close to 20,000 a game for each home game and has very strong football fan bases . . that travel.

Forget about market size, think about which football game in the Sun Belt would you rather watch? App St vs Georgia Southern . . . or Lamar vs New Mexico St? Which game would draw more attention on a regional Sun Belt network? If no one in Texas cares about Lamar football, and horrible New Mexico State will whore itself out to whomever comes their way and leave the Sun Belt again, it doesn't matter how many "potential" eyes will see the game. No one will watch them.

Also, if I'm the Sun Belt, I'm not stopping there. I'm expanding to 12 teams. If you DO want to go west, stay in Texas and bring on a strong program like a Sam Houston St, go ahead and do it.

Personally, I would stay in the Southeast, and try to strengthen the regional appeal of the Sun Belt even more, by bringing in programs like Alabama St and Tennessee St. This option should definitely be explored, if Western Kentucky leaves the conference.

TSU and ASU are 2 HBCU ( Historically Black College and University ) schools, but they have huge fan bases that normally average 15 - 20,000 fans a game at home. If they were brought in together, those two schools would probably set up a neutral site "Classic" ( probably in Memphis or Atlanta ), and draw 40,000 - 50,000 to that game alone.



Logical Sun Belt Expansion in 2013:


10 team league

- Appalachian St
- Georgia Southern
- Georgia State
- South Alabama
- Troy
- Arkansas State
- Louisiana
- Louisiana-Monroe
- Texas State
- Western Kentucky



12 team league in 2014 ( if WKU leaves )


EAST

- Alabama State
- Appalachian St
- Georgia Southern
- Georgia State
- Tennessee State
- Troy


WEST

- Arkansas State
- Louisiana
- Louisiana-Monroe
- Texas State
- Sam Houston St
- South Alabama


If anything, this should make the conference a lot more stable, and maybe even more competitive in 3 years.

Article out of Lafayette with update from UL AD regarding SBC realignment situation at http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20 ... -affect-ul

Sam Houston averaged 8,000 per home game. Less than 1100 in MBB.

Haha, and what was Lamar's?

Sam sold out its portion of the FCS NCG in about an hour and has sold out Reliant with SFA 4 of the last five years. Attendance is directly tied to who you play as well as how you play. Give Sam some teams to get excited about playing like ULM/ULL, Ark St, Troy, GA State/Southern, App St, and old rival Texas St plus UTA and that will be a non issue. Schools like Lamar, and directional Louisiana dont do anything for us in Texas (even in East Texas). Nicholls/McNeese/Central Ark are the only schools that are worth watching in the SLC outside Sam/SFA. And BTW Sam only had three home games this year, one of which was against a DII and the others were SELA and McNeese (all were blow outs).

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