What about Villinova joining the MAC for football only? It would be the same arrangement as Temple, and would create a Philadelphia rivalry between Temple and Villinova. The MAC would have 12 basketball teams and 14 football teams.

That would require an upgrade from FCS to FBS for Villanova. If they did that, why wouldn't they just go for the Big East? Yeah, I guess the expenses would be lower playing in the MAC and they'd probably could play in Franklin Field, but frankly not worth the added costs. Their fan base would only get excited if they played FBS in the Big East. Then the added expenses have half a chance of being viewed as feasible.

Article out of Michigan with comments from EMU AD regarding possible future MAC realignment at http://www.annarbor.com/news/emu-ad-mac ... ear-future

I'm trying to think who the MAC might go after.... hmmmm.....

Here are some ideas -

Extend Temple's deal (football only or all-sports ?)
Marshall (less travel, less money though)
East Carolina (same)
SunBelt schools (Western Kentucky, Middle Tennesee State are closest)
Army
Navy

FCS move-ups:
Youngstown State (they'd be a decent fit)
UNC - Charlotte (They are starting football, I think they want to wind up in FBS)
what other FCS FB schools are thinking of moving up and need an FBS home (CAA or MVFC) ?
Southern Illinois ?

Another article out of Michigan with comments from MAC Commish who says the league is discussing possible expansion but nothing is imminent.Link at http://www.annarbor.com/sports/mac-comm ... -expansion

Army and Navy don't appear to be interested in joining the MAC.
Eastern Carolina would not want to demote itself from Conference USA to the MAC.
The conference does not need any more "directional schools" like Southern Illinois,
Western Kentucky, or Middle Tennessee.
There are already six MAC teams from Ohio, so adding another team like Youngstown State would
not be a good idea.
Marshall left the conference on bad terms and most MAC fans do not want them back.
I like Delaware and Massachusettes. Maybe Illinois State or Missouri State.

Boston Herald article discussing possibility of UMASS upgrading to FBS and joining the MAC.Link at http://bostonherald.com/sports/columnis ... position=3

MAC MB thread discussing above posted linked Boston Herald article regarding possibility of UMASS upgrading to FBS and moving to the MAC at http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=466563

I also posted something up on http://news.collegesportsinfo.com on the subject.

Here's my post from the UMassHoops board yesterday:
http://umasshoops.com/board/viewtopic.p ... 411#241411

Basically, east coast football fans just need to hope that other schools like Delaware, JMU, App St, etc follow suit. The MAC could be a 16-20 team football conference and the football product would not be negatively effected while the basketball product could lock in may quality OOC games. The MAC got kudos enough from me for the scheduling arrangement with Temple: they offered Temple a football home, got some access to the Philly market, and got quality basketball games out of the deal. They seem to be ready to do the same with UMass. Perhaps others will follow, which would be the first step in building a new lower level FBS conference in the northeast.

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Daily Hampshire Gazette reporting that U-MASS will receive a MAC campus visit in mid-December.

Link at
http://www.gazettenet.com/2010/12/01/um ... ll-program

The MAC should really look for 2 more schools on the west side of its footprint to invite for football only-let's say Illinois State and Missouri State for discussion purposes. The MAC could then split 6/6 among its 12 full members, and then 2/2 among the four football-only members:

MAC
Illinois State
Missouri State
Northern Illinois
Ball State
Miami
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green

New Conference
Buffalo
Central Michigan
Toledo
Ohio
Kent
Akron
Temple
Massachusetts

The MAC could then look at inviting schools like Southern Illinois, Wichita State, etc. The new conference could then focus more on the East Coast ans schools like Delaware, James Madison, etc.

Both conferences qualify under the 6/5 continuity rule without a problem, and eliminate a lot of the market duplication of the current MAC. There would also be a number of obvious non-conference rivalries, like Toledo/Bowling Green, Western Michigan/Central Michigan to fill any scheduling holes created by the split.

Missouri St. turned down an opportunity to upgrade and join the Sunbelt, likely a more attractive option than the MAC.

As for the MAC, I'm with you on additional football-only expansion to 16. But it only makes sense if it's the desirable east coast markets in play. The MAC would much rather have Delaware and JMU for football only than Illinois St. and Missouri St for all sports of football. The key for the MAC has been improving their basketball product through the locked in OOC schedule benefits without having to add new basketball members.

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The MVC schools won't leave their very good basketball conference for a weaker basketball conference, especially ISU and SIU, where Bball is king. Football only might work for them though.

I concur. If Missouri St. passed on the Sunbelt, it's safe to assume they'd pass on the MAC. But like we've seen in other conferences, the sport of football in FBS has grown so much that basketball really is a afterthought. If a move can generate revenue for football, it will usually outweight basketball. So I wouldn't be shocked to see a MVC school ever upgrade and join the MAC...I just don't think we'll see it.

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Cleveland Plain Dealer article(scroll down)discussing UMass/Temple and future MAC expansion at http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college ... hance.html