If some shuffling occurs and C-USA decides to grab Sun Belt schools (like Troy or the Florida schools) instead of say LA Tech or NMSU, does anyone think the MAC might try to swoop in and grab MTSU and W Kentucky? I know they are rumored as candidates and along with UMass and Temple, that's 16 teams in football (14 all sports). It expands their borders into a couple more states.

For divisions I'd go North/South

North - C Mich, E Mich, W Mich, N Ill, Buffalo, Toledo, Kent State, UMass*
South - Ball State, Miami, Ohio, Akron, Bowling Green, W Kent, MTSU, Temple*

I can't help but think things are falling into place for the MAC to leap the SB and WAC and become the third best non BCS conference (and even begin to rival C-USA). An opportunity like this one may never arise again. And it's not impossible because if C-USA loses UCF to the Big East and two Texas schools to the MWC, they might look to the Florida schools as replacements.

What's happening with the UMass situation ?

Seems to me that maybe this is being held up by something related to Temple....
Is Temple waiting on the Big East (not likely to get an invitation at his time, I wouldn't think)
or waiting on CUSA (in the wake of them losing teams from upcoming MWC / BE expansion) ?

I can only assume the latter.... is CUSA a much better deal for Temple football ?
The travel would seem to be ridiculous (OK, it's maybe 4 conf. road games / year), but a Texas-centric conference surely isn't going to travel to Philadelphia !!!

Quinn - do you have any updates here ?


Much appreciated,
Tute

For all we know it's a done deal. I say that because the moratorium for upgrades is still in effect, so nothing can be official until what, next fall? I'd imagine you'd have some info before that, so things are still in a holding pattern.

If anything had to do with Temple still, then it would mean Temple could have real offers perhaps from CUSA or Big East. Because the MAC benefits from Temple being there as long as they're there.

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Moratorium didn't stop the WAC from inviting Texas State and UT-SA

Indeed. But for whatever reason, virtually every article covering the Mass/mac situation mentions the moratorium date. Don't know exactly why. Perhaps with the WAC it wS because of the membership number bent below the requirement and needing replacements in order to survive. I've come to disregard much regarding the NCAA and it's "rules" since they rarely make sense, are consistent or seem to be implemented for the right reasons.

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Local FB recruiting story in the Cape Cod Times mentioning(scroll down) that local UMass FB signee "apparently" was told that UMass is expecting to hear from MAC next week on it's membership situation.Link at http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs. ... /110209932

Looks like MAC Presidents have a meeting scheduled for this coming Sunday.
Will there be any invitations issued following the meeting?Link at http://www.ohio.edu/president/publicschedule/index.cfm

Blog article out of Mt Pleasant discussing tomorrow's MAC President's meeting in Indianapolis and the "possibility" of voting to add a school like U-Mass.Link at http://sunsportsblog.blogspot.com

So there's a possibility that Quinn will be jumping for joy if his school gets to move to the FBS

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I've been playing NCAA Football '11 on the iphone this weekend. I made a UMass team, plays in a dual open endzone stadium like in Amherst. Of course the player quality is the USC level and not FCS or MAC

Would be real nice to see happen. It's a crucial first step. The benefits are huge because with success, it opens doors. The qualities of UMass outside of football are large: access to Boston DMA (more UMass alumni in Boston than any other school), strong academics, and no other Big East schools in the state or Boston DMA...just UConn in the Hartford area and football-less Providence in RI. As strange as it is, UMass has a better shot at the Big East than Temple, pending Villanova's decision.

And the fallbacks are strong too. A future teaming up with other regional schools like Temple, Delaware, JMU, etc.

And even the first step: MAC football, A10 all other sports is better than CAA for football/A10 for other sports simply because it's at the FBS level.

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Masslive.com article with comments from UMASS AD regarding MAC expansion situation.Apparently something is still in the works but he does not want to publicly discuss it.Will the MAC let UMass "dangle" until July?Link at http://www.masslive.com/sports/index.ss ... its_f.html

Masslive.com article with comments from UMass Chancellor who says that UMass FBS upgrade decision should/could be made by early March.Link at http://www.masslive.com/sports/index.ss ... ys_de.html

Daily Hampshire Gazette article (scroll down)with comment from UMass AD regarding that school's possible FBS upgrade at http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/03/15/um ... ms-sputter

Yup, we're still in holding pattern. A friend of mine works for the firm doing the stadium study...which is an even more positive sign that previous leaks.

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Article out of Springfield discussing possible UMass FBS move at http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/sports/umass/no ... s-football