Assuming all the sources in that article are right, it seemed to be suggesting a lot was about to happen. Tulsa to the BE seems likely to happen soon. But NMSU as the replacement? Seems to suggest that UTEP has one foot out the door. Rice would be a Houston replacement obviously. And USM and UMass are the next candidates for the BE which probably depends on Navy.

Sounds like the MWC will be the ones that have to pull the trigger to set most of it off (other than Tulsa). I said awhile back I wanted to see the MWC bring on the Texas public schools (UTEP, UTSA, Houston) along with BYU while the BE took the private (Tulsa, SMU, Rice). Maybe it will happen.

NMSU to C-USA seems like a really silly move on C-USA's part. If UTEP has one foot out the door it would seem senseless to add another Western outlier when they could consolidate the footprint with a more geographically friendly expansion candidate like Arkansas St or even Texas St. WKU to the C-USA however, is a move that makes a ton of sense.

As of next season, C-USA will be a 16-team league with Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee State joining in (who both were supposed to join in the 2014-15 season). It would bring the Sun Belt in some certain doubts and stuff.

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

Well they certainly won't be able to bring in NMSU while they have UTEP, at least that's my understanding how UTEP feels about NMSU. So the only reason they could be considering adding them would be because they don't plan on having UTEP.

I think Arkansas State is a good replacement for Tulsa and it's where I would go next. Texas State probably only comes on board if they lose Rice and/or UTSA. Ultimately, WKU seems to be next in line and that's a decent add as well. Consolidation makes sense, but I think they want to have as many schools in the southwest as possible for recruiting purposes.

Article out of Hampton Roads with comments from ODU AD regarding CUSA realignment and this afternoon's scheduled CUSA President's conference call at http://hamptonroads.com/2013/01/odu-may ... year-early

Hows this? - CUSA is expected to loose Tulsa to BE after the loss of Boise St. and lets say that they loose one more to replace San Diego St.'s departure (replace maybe with Rice?) and then lets say that the MWC does get Houston (who is already gone from CUSA) and pulls in U. Texas E.P., U. Texas S.A., and U. North Texas.
This scenario would have 5 outgoing schools (2 to the BE - Rice, Tulsa and 3 to the MWC - UTEP, UTSA, and UNT) would they want to reload with 5 or just go with 3 to get to a CCG? Any thoughts?

I don't see C-USA getting hit that hard. I think Houston is going to stick with the Big East so their will be no invite for Rice. Unless the MWC snags BYU I don't think UTEP is going to be going anywhere and I don't think the MWC is willing to go with any other Texas schools except if they were SMU and Houston. This time around I really only see Tulsa leaving. This could change in a few years if UTSA makes a strong showing--the MWC could take them in a package deal with UTEP.

While we may be pushing a little into dream land, if we accept the premise then I do believe C-USA could get hit that hard. I have been hoping we'd see the private SW schools (Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and Tulane) go to the BE regardless of what the MWC does (however Rice won't get in unless Houston leaves). If we accept that Houston comes to the MWC that likely means that BYU joined as well. Houston would likely demand a travel partner which makes 15, meaning one more will need to join as well. UTEP and UTSA are prime candidates in that event, especially if the private schools stick together. I personally would love to see 18 with N. Texas and La Tech but that's probably pushing it a bit.

As for C-USA, I have a friend that joked that they are like a hydra, take one school and they bring in two. So I would be surprised if they stopped at 12 at this point. Ark St, NMSU, ULL, Texas State would all be likely adds especially if all these losses were in the SW as that is a good place to recruit. Western Kentucky would also get in as well. So if they lost the four I mentioned I see these 5 getting in at least plus one more for 16. However at this point there wouldn't be very many great candidates so if the Big East came calling later, I don't know for sure they'd go back to 16 as Georgia State would be the only Sun Belt member that would be able to get in without resistance.

Sometimes I wish conference alignment could move that quickly. But these things move much slower. The MWC probably won't be able to lure Houston and BYU just yet. UTSA will need to prove itself in C-USA (which ironically could be a bad thing for the MWC and BE if they manage to put together a good team that runs the table in a weak conference and steals the AQ).

When Tulsa leaves, which they will by 2015, which school replaces them?

The list of candidates would seem to include:

Any SunBelt school or NMSU.
I would rule out any current MAC school as "outside the CUSA footprint".
NMSU is close to the CUSA footprint and has FBS football (althogh rather lousy, at present), but will likely be vetoed by nearby UTEP.

One Sun-Belt school that would seem to fit in rather nicely would be Western Kentucky. They are a bit of a "bridge" to Marshall, ODU, and Charlotte.

Are those to make or break the Sun Belt AND to either lower down or improve the C-USA expansion?

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Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

In addition to WKU, Arkansas State is a rising fb power in the Sun Belt that geographically fits in Tulsa place, Louisiana (ULL) could be a suitable replacement to make up for losing Tulane, and Georgia State is also a recent upgrade in big market Atlanta that CUSA might find worth poaching too...

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

When I posed this question I wondered if everyone was going to pick the same school or not.

To me Georgia St would just be media market whoring. That program is going to have to grow a lot if its going to cut it in C-USA

Arkansas St and LA Lafayette are the two best teams in the SBC but neither have great markets. They would fit nicely in the depleted C-USA West though.

Troy's market is even worse and UAB will probably block them

LA Tech hates LA Monroe so that isn't going to happen

I don't have any strong feelings for or against Texas St and South Alabama.

Oddly enough, it seems like Western Kentucky makes the top of the list without a great media market, league leading attendance, or a long history with any current C-USA schools.

While I don't disagree with you, weren't UTSA, ODU, and UNCC the same thing?

We all see pontential but its far from certain any of these programs will be slam dunks.

Georgia State is just as ready as they are IMO.

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Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

UNC Charlotte is certainly media whoring. They have yet to play a down and yet have one fan attend a game. ODU and UTSA are a little different though. Yes they are both extremely young but I think they have demonstrated that they have the vitality and fan support to be productive members in C-USA:

If you look at average home game attendance figures from this year UTSA would rank 2nd out of the 13 schools who will be part of the 2015 BE who played this season. Their 29,226 trails only UTEP's 29,374; that's also more fans than Big East programs Cincinnati, Houston, Temple, Memphis, SMU, and Tulane. Note that this was for a home schedule that consisted of Texas A&M Commerce (DII), Northwestern Oklahoma St (NAIA), San Jose St, Utah St, McNeese St (FCS), and Texas St. They also managed to score wins against 3 of their 6 WAC opponents and beat 2 future Sunbelt teams.

Old Dominion is not nearly as strong but we can still make a good case for the Monarchs. The are selling out every home game and if they had a bigger stadium at their disposal who knows how many people they would be attracting to games. Even with the stadium issues they still outdrew North Texas, Middle Tennessee, UAB, FIU, and FAU. They also have performed admirably playing against the elite of the FCS going 10-1 in the regular season (7-1 in CAA) and earned one of the top berths in the FCS Playoffs. I don't expect the Monarchs to instantly complete for championships in C-USA but they are playing in an eastern division that includes Charlotte, FAU, FIU, and probably UAB so they are going to have plenty of winnable games and shouldn't get blown out of the water.