Who are you counting in your list of 8?

NMSU, SHSU, Lamar, JAX St, GA SO, App St, JMU, and Liberty

Also Idaho as a fb only.

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

Great possibilities. But what about SFA and UTC? And also try to have UAB and Marshall, for possible division format reasons on most of the sponsored sports the Sun Belt offers, like football, basketball, soccer and volleyball.

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

oh 10 then, those plus Missouri St. and Chattanooga

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WRANGLERS 153-55-1 CVFL CHAMPS '04 '05 '09 '12

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I would like to see:1. Georgia Southern 2. App State, then 3.JMU 4. Deleware? might turn down invite (maybe I should save that one for dream conference)
5. NMSU 6. Idaho Fb only 7. Jax St (if things got desprate, can't see the Belt adding a 3rd bama school. unless they have too) 8. UTC...9. McKinsey (might turn down invite)



UAB? Marshall? Are they getting kicked out of C-USA? Why would they leave C-USA for SB

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RODGERS
MATHEWS
2012

mcneese, i heard i guy accidently call it McKinsey once and I just did the same thing. waaay off

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RODGERS
MATHEWS
2012

Obviously I like and want SFA to go FBS especially if SHSU upgrades but from some of what I've seen they aren't ready. If SHSU upgrades I think SFA will only be a few years behind but due to how close those two are I've started thinking that Lamar will upgrade and SHSU will not.

UTC is also a good option and is looking to jump since GA SO and App St are.

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

I'm not saying that they're kicking out. I was just assuming as possibilities to level the Sun Belt, just like Denver and UMKC did to switch for the WAC and Summit respectively.

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

The only "backpedaling" that will be done will probably be Marshall...to the MAC. Of course, technically, it's no longer backpedaling given the two's company.

Out of the 3 Texas schools--Lamar, Sam Houston St, and Stephen F. Austin--are any of them ready to make the jump right now? I'm not really in the know about schools in Texas. I know that San Houston has been hot on the field lately and Lamar has decent attendance but I know very little about their facilities or finances.

I'd like to see them go East and take Georgia Southern, Appalachian St, Liberty, and James Madison. If WKU leaves I'd see if Delaware wanted in.

However, when you consider Karl Benson's track record as a sheepish conference commissioner I could very easily see him creating 9 fb/12 all sports hybrid league.

Sam Houston State has the best fan support and fb team right now (back to back NCG appearances '11/'12). Though they need some facility upgrades, they have the funds to do so. The administration is considering it but is no way as crazy about the idea as the fans are.

Stephen F Austin State has good fans too but the fb is down right now (just made back to back playoff appearances in '09/'10). They obviously need some facility upgrade but has less money available after splitting off from the Texas State Univeristy System and the administration doesn't seem to have any want to move up. However if SHSU goes SFA will try to jump ASAP, they don't care about much but they love the Battle of the Piney Woods game against SHSU.

Lamar is the best market of the three and its administration is fully committed to FBS but the money (while more than SFA but less than SHSU) is not quite there yet. They've been upgrading/planning to upgrade facilities for the last few years but they have the least fan support of the three and the athletics aren't anything worth talking about.

That being said, these schools were happy to be associated with each other and Texas St, UT-Arlington, and UT-San Antonio but now that those three are gone they've all grown some what uncomfortable in the Southland that's backfilled with D2 upgrades like Incarnate Word and Abeline Christian some non fb programs including Houston Baptist who just start fb to get the invite.

Add in that Central Arkansas is having budget issues as well as the entire state of Louisiana which was considering closing McNeese State, Nicholls and Northwestern State or possibly just moving them down to D2 and you can see why moving up to FBS may look better despite all the obsticles.

FYI while I don't think its feasible I also saw something on Southeastern Louisiana University moving up as a Sunbelt replacement for ULL if they get taken to CUSA and becoming UL-Hammond

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

Guys I read something interesting at another location. Let me kick these ideas out to you and tell me what you think.
1. Is the Sunbelt not being 'aggressive' enough in grabbing schools to get at least to a CCG or more - maybe even to 16?
2. If not, why is that? Is it due to maybe the impact upon the image of the Sunbelt might be perceived as a D1AA conference perception wise by the other conferences?

As for my list of 8 to join, I would add:
Appalachian St., Georgia Southern, Lamar, Missouri St., Florida A&M, James Madison, Jacksonville St., and U. Tennessee-C.
Of these Missouri St. may turn down the offer, Florida A&M was ready to try a year ago - but might not want to move up, but I think that the others are in a position to begin the transition process.
Appalachian St. and Georgia Southern are the two that are immediately ready. Lamar can begin the process as I hear that they have been working towards it in the last two years.

Sam Houston St. does not want to make the move now that they are in the top tier of FCS, and I hear they would need to make improvements to their facilities before they can come up. Stephen F. Austin is several years out from being in a position to even begin applying to move up - they need improvements to their facilities too I hear.

Any ideas or comments?

This may be a little bit of a dream scenery but I would like to see Georgia Southern and Happy Appy along with (dream part) UAB and Southern Miss downgrading.

What's better for UAB? 6-5 in CUSA or 10-1 in Sun Belt. I think downgrading may be in both USM's and UAB's
best interest.

I would love to see CUSA and Sun Belt merge.

Seanbo,
I would also like to see Appalachian St. and Georgia Southern upgrade. I also would like to see Florida A&M, Missouri St., Lamar, and Sam Houston St. upgrade at the same time giving the SB six schools in one go and bringing the conference to 14. I also am taking into account that Western Kentucky will be gone when Tulsa leaves CUSA, and would have UT-C waiting in the wings for an invite when that happens.
Yes, this is also a dream scenario. I do understand though that this is more likely to happen than you scenario of dropping UA-B and Southern Miss down to the SB. (maybe...Please, please, please!)
Well, till things actually happen we can keep on dream'in - that's the fun part anyways!!!

Missouri State is NO WHERE near upgrading. Plaster Stadium is horrible and has no REAL chance of being upgraded to even minimal FBS standards (that means having to build a new facility but nothing is available near the campus). Plus the administration has no desire to try and challenge Mizzou for dominance of the state in football (they chatter all the time about the other sports but can't really hack it ALL the time)

Missouri State fills in the niche between Mizzou and Arky nicely and they know they have a LONG way to go before even conceiving a move to top level of D-I. (They gotta start by winning in the MVFC before moving to the SBC)