Sun Belt Conference Expansion & Realignment Thread

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 139

NorwichCat11 wrote:

Muskie,
I can't answer your question. Let me ask this though; how has the shift affected the Sun Belt? I keep hearing that with the additions for 2014 that they have surpassed the CUSA in power for football. If this is the case, what about the MAC, the AAC, and the MWC? What I am trying to ask here is where would you rank these conferences and why?
If this falls in another thread Quinn, could you move it for me?

With the smaller 5 conferences (by the 2014/2015 membership):

1. Mt West - after this season, the Mt West would be the clear cut top team of these 5 (always competitive, holding 3 BCS games with 2 wins among its current members)
2. American - this season, the AAC may stronger than the Mt West with Louisville and Rutgers, and without Tulane (will be competitive, holding 5 BCS games with 2 wins among its current members)
3. MAC - one of the most stable conferences in the FBS with the tail-end having some changes every couple years (Temple/UMass), (always fun to watch with big scoring, holding 1 BCS game with 0 wins among its current members)
4. Conference USA - but for the realignment of the past couple years, if CUSA was able to maintain its 12 members and add only if a great opportunity came around, they would be above the MAC, and maybe even above the AAC (0 BCS)
5. Sun Belt - this will be an exciting league over then next couple seasons with the additions of FBS powerhouses Georgia Southern and Appalachian St coming soon; however, they are my last ranked league because of the instability in the league

fighting muskie · **Posted:** Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:20 pm

NorwichCat11 wrote:

Muskie,
I can't answer your question. Let me ask this though; how has the shift affected the Sun Belt? I keep hearing that with the additions for 2014 that they have surpassed the CUSA in power for football. If this is the case, what about the MAC, the AAC, and the MWC? What I am trying to ask here is where would you rank these conferences and why?
If this falls in another thread Quinn, could you move it for me?

You make a curious point--while C-USA hit the Sunbelt hard during the last realignment they left behind the programs in small markets who have recently fielded incredibly hard-nosed tough teams---Arkansas St, UL Lafayette, and UL Monroe. I also think the FCS programs they brought in should be considerable better--at least at first--than C-USA start up programs like Charlotte and ODU. C-USA is stronger financially than the SBC because they have the television markets but I think the SBC's best will regularly beat C-USA programs in bowls.

The MAC is also a weird case--while members of this conference struggle to meet the 15,000 average attendance requirements for FBS (mainly because they are overshadowed by Big Ten powers OSU, Michigan, and Michigan St and that their tv contract puts a lot of their most alluring games on prime time on November weeknights when its hard to attract fans to sit in the stands) they are a tough little league and this past season were able to field a BCS buster.

NorwichCat11 · **Joined:** Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:56 pm **Posts:** 98

OK, here is how I see it:
MWC - Tough all around except for UNLV, Fresno St., New Mexico, and Wyoming.
MAC - Always tough Ohio, Northern Illinois, Kent St., and Bowling Green. The others are not so tough.
AAC - Will be interesting as almost a completely new conf. Cincinnati is always tough, U. Conn could be, and maybe SMU and Houston.
Will be even better when Tulsa joins.
SBC - Has now surpassed CUSA for better football programs. This will only improve with additions of Appalachian St., and Georgia Southern.
CUSA - Is now last with addition of tv market schools that are not that great in football. Their power schools (Houston, SMU, and Tulsa) are headed
to the AAC.

Any thoughts, ideas, or arguments, and comments?

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:43 pm

NorwichCat11 wrote:

OK, here is how I see it:
MWC - Tough all around except for UNLV, Fresno St., New Mexico, and Wyoming.
MAC - Always tough Ohio, Northern Illinois, Kent St., and Bowling Green. The others are not so tough.
AAC - Will be interesting as almost a completely new conf. Cincinnati is always tough, U. Conn could be, and maybe SMU and Houston.
Will be even better when Tulsa joins.
SBC - Has now surpassed CUSA for better football programs. This will only improve with additions of Appalachian St., and Georgia Southern.
CUSA - Is now last with addition of tv market schools that are not that great in football. Their power schools (Houston, SMU, and Tulsa) are headed
to the AAC.

Any thoughts, ideas, or arguments, and comments?

You know we won a share of the conf. title last year and are favored to win our div. and play BSU in the title game this year.

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1266

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

NorwichCat11 wrote:

OK, here is how I see it:
MWC - Tough all around except for UNLV, Fresno St., New Mexico, and Wyoming.
MAC - Always tough Ohio, Northern Illinois, Kent St., and Bowling Green. The others are not so tough.
AAC - Will be interesting as almost a completely new conf. Cincinnati is always tough, U. Conn could be, and maybe SMU and Houston.
Will be even better when Tulsa joins.
SBC - Has now surpassed CUSA for better football programs. This will only improve with additions of Appalachian St., and Georgia Southern.
CUSA - Is now last with addition of tv market schools that are not that great in football. Their power schools (Houston, SMU, and Tulsa) are headed
to the AAC.

Any thoughts, ideas, or arguments, and comments?

You know we won a share of the conf. title last year and are favored to win our div. and play BSU in the title game this year.

Can't believe it took you three days to jump on this...

Fresno shouldn't be on the list, UNM & UNLV get passes because they are good schools with great bball in largely untapped media markets not in a major conference.

WYO is the only school worth cutting but they got history too...

If there was a breakaway I'd hope that the AAC (-Navy + Rice) and MWC both come along for the ride in some form.

NorwichCat11 · **Joined:** Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:56 pm **Posts:** 98

Fresnostate alum,
Usually they have not been this good. Recently they have surprised me. The other two deserve to be on this list because they suck in football (not talking BB here). Wyoming is like Idaho, has some good years - then mmmehhh.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:09 pm

NorwichCat11 wrote:

Fresnostate alum,
Usually they have not been this good. Recently they have surprised me. The other two deserve to be on this list because they suck in football (not talking BB here). Wyoming is like Idaho, has some good years - then mmmehhh.

Usually Fresno hasn't been good? They've been good most years since I started watching them in 1985. They've had 2 losing season since 2000 and 11 winning seasons. They've had 6 losing seasons the 28 years I've been watching them.
We've been to more bowl games than any other MWC team 21 and more wins in them w/ 10.
All time record of 569-389-27 and their conf. titles are in my sig.

Tk, fantasy football is starting and expansion is dead right now so I don't check every day.

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1266

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

NorwichCat11 wrote:

Fresnostate alum,
Usually they have not been this good. Recently they have surprised me. The other two deserve to be on this list because they suck in football (not talking BB here). Wyoming is like Idaho, has some good years - then mmmehhh.

Usually Fresno hasn't been good? They've been good most years since I started watching them in 1985. They've had 2 losing season since 2000 and 11 winning seasons. They've had 6 losing seasons the 28 years I've been watching them.
We've been to more bowl games than any other MWC team 21 and more wins in them w/ 10.
All time record of 569-389-27 and their conf. titles are in my sig.

Tk, fantasy football is starting and expansion is dead right now so I don't check every day.

FSA looks like we'll be going at it in January in the Fiesta.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... redictions

BePcr07 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:45 am **Posts:** 139

tkalmus wrote:

FSA looks like we'll be going at it in January in the Fiesta.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... redictions

I wouldn't be all that surprised if Fresno St received at At-Large BCS bid. I could see another MAC champion making their way into the BCS. Northern Illinois has a chance if they can get through Indiana which is a weird thing to be saying. I would say Bowling Green, but I'm not sure they can get through Mississippi St. Also, the MAC is no slouch conference compared to the other non-AQ conferences. From the Mountain West, Fresno St seems to be the only option. Boise St is a "heck no" after getting embarrassed by Washington. San Diego St was probably the only other hope, but they got shamed as well. Conference USA has no contenders. And that leaves the Sun Belt. Western Kentucky. I'm on the bandwagon this season if they can knock out Tennessee. Who knows!

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:14 pm

tkalmus wrote:

Fresno St. Alum wrote:

NorwichCat11 wrote:

Fresnostate alum,
Usually they have not been this good. Recently they have surprised me. The other two deserve to be on this list because they suck in football (not talking BB here). Wyoming is like Idaho, has some good years - then mmmehhh.

Usually Fresno hasn't been good? They've been good most years since I started watching them in 1985. They've had 2 losing season since 2000 and 11 winning seasons. They've had 6 losing seasons the 28 years I've been watching them.
We've been to more bowl games than any other MWC team 21 and more wins in them w/ 10.
All time record of 569-389-27 and their conf. titles are in my sig.

Tk, fantasy football is starting and expansion is dead right now so I don't check every day.

FSA looks like we'll be going at it in January in the Fiesta.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... redictions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've heard this sh*t before w/ the other Carr. We were supposed to go to a BCS and Carr was on the SI cover yada yada. Then this up and coming team Boise St. beat us. Or that other time we were #16 and 8-0 getting beat at the end by #1 USC 50-42. We proceeded to lose the rest of our games that year. 1985 was our best team 11-0-1 finished #16. Switzer voted us #1 since we were the only undefeated team. Oklahoma won the title that year, he did it for spite since BYU was awarded the Title b/c they were the only unbeaten the year before and beat 6-5 Michigan in the Holiday bowl and Oklahoma was #2 entering the Orange bowl, they lost to Washington who finished #2.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 4:19 pm

First college football game I ever remember watching was the 1984 Freedom Bowl, Iowa 55, Texas 17.

freaked4collegefb · **Joined:** Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:37 pm **Posts:** 7266

Article out of Norfolk(previously posted in another thread)discussing "possibility" that JMU will make a decision to move to an FBS conference "like" the SBC sometime next month.Link at http://hamptonroads.com/2013/09/reports ... pear-false

tute79 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 1620

So JMU had been wiating until September for a consultant's report (on the FBS upgrade possibility) to be finalized.
They apparently now have that in hand....

I get a hoot from the quote by the ODU PRESIDENT saying that "we're weary of this expansion process.."
WAIT A MINUTE - Who was it that upgraded from FCS (CAA Confernece, in fact) to join C-USA in the midst of this "expansion process" ?
Could it be - - - - ODU ?

JMU has an invitation to become SBC member #12, we know for sure. Have CUSA and /or MAC extended invitations ?

tkalmus · **Joined:** Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:40 pm **Posts:** 1266

tute79 wrote:

So JMU had been wiating until September for a consultant's report (on the FBS upgrade possibility) to be finalized.
They apparently now have that in hand....

I get a hoot from the quote by the ODU PRESIDENT saying that "we're weary of this expansion process.."
WAIT A MINUTE - Who was it that upgraded from FCS (CAA Confernece, in fact) to join C-USA in the midst of this "expansion process" ?
Could it be - - - - ODU ?

JMU has an invitation to become SBC member #12, we know for sure. Have CUSA and /or MAC extended invitations ?

So JMU wants CUSA, then MAC, then SBC...great reporting lol

CUSA would take them if they want to expand to 16, but apparently they aren't ready just yet.

This is why (though that writer can't comprehend it) it makes sense for JMU to "announce that its moving to FBS" soon (though likely not until they are no longer in the playoffs). That way it puts pressure on CUSA to at least discuss whether or not they are a good fit before they join another conference.

Same thing goes for the MAC, who would/could put pressure on UMass to join in all sports so that they can take JMU. But if UMass declines, then JMU could still possibly join as a fb only member although that may not be ideal for them.

The SBC would take them in a heartbeat to finally nail down their 12th member for the CCG, but they are just the conference of last resort for JMU, who would only join up assuming they can't get full membership to CUSA or the MAC, and that they preffer full SBC membership to fb only membership in the MAC.

Fresno St. Alum · **Posted:** Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:45 pm

tkalmus wrote:

tute79 wrote:

So JMU had been wiating until September for a consultant's report (on the FBS upgrade possibility) to be finalized.
They apparently now have that in hand....

I get a hoot from the quote by the ODU PRESIDENT saying that "we're weary of this expansion process.."
WAIT A MINUTE - Who was it that upgraded from FCS (CAA Confernece, in fact) to join C-USA in the midst of this "expansion process" ?
Could it be - - - - ODU ?

JMU has an invitation to become SBC member #12, we know for sure. Have CUSA and /or MAC extended invitations ?

So JMU wants CUSA, then MAC, then SBC...great reporting lol

CUSA would take them if they want to expand to 16, but apparently they aren't ready just yet.

This is why (though that writer can't comprehend it) it makes sense for JMU to "announce that its moving to FBS" soon (though likely not until they are no longer in the playoffs). That way it puts pressure on CUSA to at least discuss whether or not they are a good fit before they join another conference.

Same thing goes for the MAC, who would/could put pressure on UMass to join in all sports so that they can take JMU. But if UMass declines, then JMU could still possibly join as a fb only member although that may not be ideal for them.

The SBC would take them in a heartbeat to finally nail down their 12th member for the CCG, but they are just the conference of last resort for JMU, who would only join up assuming they can't get full membership to CUSA or the MAC, and that they preffer full SBC membership to fb only membership in the MAC.

MAC had 13/14 set before w/ Marshall for all sports and UCF fb only. Maybe they do that w/ JMU and UMass if UMass refuses all sports. Or just don't renew UMass for fb when they're up and replace them w/ Delaware or Illinois St. for 14 all sports JMU & UD/ISU

Sun Belt Conference Expansion & Realignment Thread

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