From the perspective of most G5 schools, the BE was their measuring stick for many years. Without UM, they were seen as a collection of lucky schools that found themselves in the right place at the right time. The implosion of the BE last year was a dream come true for them, because it left a vacuum of power that they all hoped to fill.

Then in the first year of existence, the AAC takes down the B12 champ in a BCS bowl game and wins both NCAA basketball tournaments. So it was like all the stars were aligning for them and then the rug got pulled out from under them.

(04-16-2014 04:30 PM)redbirdTD Wrote:  The ONLY reason ecwho AND LOUISVILLE were invited up, was a desperate need to backfill a conference that had most of it's members pilaged by the big boy leagues.

There I fixed it for you. The ACC wasn't pillaged but they clearly were expanding to protect themselves from being pillaged and it still took Maryland leaving after they had already proactively done this to get you in. The Big 12 also wanted no part of you at any point even with only 10 teams no less and right there beside of WVU.

I honestly could care less if some teams like you left, or the C7 bolted if that's what it took to get us out of CUSA3.0. Thanks for leaving the door open. When people try to point this out, so what. I wished it happened earlier cause it was great for us and we were still in line ahead of all these other G5 haters. Probably like you with the ACC/Big12 deserved to be in a couple other moves earlier.

Quote:Try to keep things in perspective. It is called pure dumb luck. Be grateful. LOL!

No it's not. If anything you can say ECU was one of the biggest ones that got in the AAC on their own merrits of what we built, mostly our fan support. It certainly wasn't our 70k person city or market, infact we are about the only school that doesn't have a market and overcame perceived warts of where we were born out of that had held us back.

Louisville obviously higher up the ladder and has a better overall athletic program, that's not the context of this conversation. I have no problem with you guys, you deserved to move up years ago even if you were a non thought to the others in those conferences that didn't want you.

I'm not a hater. There are in fact a lot of hatters of the AAC below us that are jealous though that would love nothing more than the AAC to be ripped apart so their schools could move up and simply so the others like ECU, Tulsa etc wouldn't have what they have.

(04-17-2014 06:18 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 05:55 PM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

Think about it from the MAC perspective. In football, the American is a G5 conference. It doesn't have a tie-in to a contract bowl or really any elite level bowl tie-ins. Its TV contract is much more comparable to the MAC's than to any of the P5 conferences. The AAC might have a better collection of schools and a larger TV contract than the MAC, but for all intensively purposes, both conferences are in the same boat for football.

All of the rhetoric coming from the American; however, paints a different picture. The American and AAC fans have been pretty consistent in saying "we aren't a G5 conference", "we aren't like those other non-power conferences", "we are a power conference", "we are a lot closer to the P5 than the MAC". Now, one could argue that that is simply good marketing on the American's part and that it is ever conference for itself. However, I can also see where that type of thinking/marketing could rub other G5 fans the wrong way. It is, after all, the same type of attitude that many P5 fans have toward the American.

All that "sounds" like it makes sense....but consider this....

L-ville is a G5 member right now....on July 1, they are a P5 member.

Same for Rutgers.

What conference are they coming from?

When is the last time a MAC full member was solicited to switch conferences? The MAC is where better schools park their football when the were in non football conferences. UCF, Marshall, Temple and UMass have done it. The MAC finally got smart and got rid of UMass, because they were getting no ROI.

NIU is the MAC flag bearer and had a nice run 2 years ago, but when their AD used that run to get a better job...he went to a CUSA school in ECU.

I just laid out facts about conference affiliation and conference re-alignment...that shows the American is right on the heels of the P5 and that the MAC is well behind the American. Maybe they don't want to hear it, but it doesn't mean its not true.

We're better off without that AD, our home scheduling has been embarrassing for the past decade. Naturally, ECU can pay more so he went there. I think the AAC is still better in football than the MAC but it's pretty close now that you won't have Louisville. There isn't this big divide that there used to be. And if we don't have UMass that will help too.

I think the MAC fans just don't like the AAC fans acting like they're P5 level (on average, I know some P5 teams suck).

(04-17-2014 09:29 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the AAC is still better in football than the MAC but it's pretty close now that you won't have Louisville. There isn't this big divide that there used to be. And if we don't have UMass that will help too.

There is a huge divide in fan support, coaches pay, scheduling ability, and TV. That's why you have a really hard time holding on to coaches or AD's.
The MAC will have a few teams with flashy records because you got some really bad teams at the bottom you run the records up on. Your teams seem to get exposed in bowl time as well. NIU for example led the overrated charge last year. Talking top 10 and limping to the end.

(04-17-2014 09:56 AM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 09:29 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the AAC is still better in football than the MAC but it's pretty close now that you won't have Louisville. There isn't this big divide that there used to be. And if we don't have UMass that will help too.

There is a huge divide in fan support, coaches pay, scheduling ability, and TV. That's why you have a really hard time holding on to coaches or AD's.
The MAC will have a few teams with flashy records because you got some really bad teams at the bottom you run the records up on. Your teams seem to get exposed in bowl time as well. NIU for example led the overrated charge last year. Talking top 10 and limping to the end.

I was talking on the field competition.

Our teams only get exposed some of the time, like everybody else. In 2010 NIU lost in the MAC championship game but then pummelled Fresno in the bowl. In 2011 we barely beat Ohio in the championship game and then handled Arkansas State in the bowl. Against FSU the odds were long, but it was still close going into the 4th quarter. Last year we weren't as good, no doubt, as the defense wasn't there. We went undefeated in the MAC regular season but also 2-0 vs. the Big 10. Still we were overrated at times and it was appropriate we lost to Bowling Green as a game against Baylor or somebody like that would have been ugly.

The MAC does have a weaker bottom than the AAC. But UMass will be gone, Coach Bowden is improving Akron, and CMU is improving as well. I think that will help some.

Even WITH the direct competition with the rest of the G5 for the access slot, I will be pulling for any C-USA, MAC, MWC, SBC or even FCS team this fall when they face part of the cartel.

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

CUSA hates the AAC because we raided their conference. The same can be said why UC, USF, and UCONN despise the ACC, Big 12, and B1G for raiding/destroying the BE.

(04-17-2014 11:17 AM)panama Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

IMO, it is not disdain for the AAC, it is your fans attitude toward the MAC. Some of your fans trash this conference every chance they get. I think that deep down, you know that the MAC is a Peer Conference(in football), not the MWC. Also before anyone does it, dont give me the crap about the BCS game. You had to use the Big East slot(or as I call it, their Bus Pass) to get there, and STILL needed help from NIU and Fresno!

(04-17-2014 11:28 AM)bctn8n Wrote:  CUSA hates the AAC because we raided their conference. The same can be said why UC, USF, and UCONN despise the ACC, Big 12, and B1G for raiding/destroying the BE.

I dislike the ACC because they are the ACC.

I don't dislike the B12 and B10... They didn't "destroy" the BE. The Big East was a doomed enterprise, fatally beset by conflicting agendas and loyalties. It never was going to work.

Besides which, the real "puppet master" was ESPN which, I believe, orchestrated the destruction to devalue a conference that had indicated they were going to challenge ESPN's offer. Of course that is mere speculation on my part, because it would be a criminal offense, but I don't blame the B10 nor the B12 which got a grand total of 1 and 2 BE teams respectively.

(04-17-2014 11:54 AM)lance99 Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 11:17 AM)panama Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

IMO, it is not disdain for the AAC, it is your fans attitude toward the MAC. Some of your fans trash this conference every chance they get. I think that deep down, you know that the MAC is a Peer Conference(in football), not the MWC. Also before anyone does it, dont give me the crap about the BCS game. You had to use the Big East slot(or as I call it, their Bus Pass) to get there, and STILL needed help from NIU and Fresno!

Lulz, peer conference more than the MWC? In what world?

(04-17-2014 10:11 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I was talking on the field competition.

Sure. That however is the least consistent aspect from year to year, teams and even conferences eb and flo. It's hard to just look at one season and say this is all that matters. I also from the other side think once you go back beyond 4 or so years history is really pretty much worthless as most of the coaches, players, administrators are mostly gone from those schools, conference situations change.

I think you take a 3 or 4 year window of success as well as those other parts that are also major foundational things like support and money etc that make the success far more sustainable. If a team has good support they are making money, and if they are making money they can hire good coaches and build more facilites and usually sustain themselves more. That's ultimately the major difference between conferences.

(04-17-2014 10:14 AM)Chappy Wrote:  Even WITH the direct competition with the rest of the G5 for the access slot, I will be pulling for any C-USA, MAC, MWC, SBC or even FCS team this fall when they face part of the cartel.

I'll root for the FCS but anything that puts the MW in a better standing I'm all for rooting against any other G5 team....unless I really don't like that other team.

(04-17-2014 12:01 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 10:11 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I was talking on the field competition.

Sure. That however is the least consistent aspect from year to year, teams and even conferences eb and flo. It's hard to just look at one season and say this is all that matters. I also from the other side think once you go back beyond 4 or so years history is really pretty much worthless as most of the coaches, players, administrators are mostly gone from those schools, conference situations change.

I think you take a 3 or 4 year window of success as well as those other parts that are also major foundational things like support and money etc that make the success far more sustainable. If a team has good support they are making money, and if they are making money they can hire good coaches and build more facilites and usually sustain themselves more. That's ultimately the major difference between conferences.

Well, I don't watch a football game simply because there are lots of people in the stands, and I don't watch it because a particular school has a big budget, nor do I watch it because the coach is paid a lot. I watch it because of what's on the field.

In the NFL, Olympics, etc. nobody cares about anything other than whether they win or not. NIU is 4-4 vs. the Big 10 in their last 8 games, with a tiny fraction of the budget, and all of them road games. I can live with that even if we have to get a new coach every few years. Even Boise couldn't keep their coach and they were paying him $1 million a year or more. I don't see that changing.

Would I like to have the budget and greater attendance of a typical AAC school? Sure. We don't need a huge stadium or anything but something a little bigger would be ideal. It's hard to get there though, with attendance, scheduling and budgets being a chicken-and-egg situation.

(04-17-2014 10:14 AM)Chappy Wrote:  Even WITH the direct competition with the rest of the G5 for the access slot, I will be pulling for any C-USA, MAC, MWC, SBC or even FCS team this fall when they face part of the cartel.

Yea I might be hoping to get the access bowl if my team is good but I just can't root for cartel schools (including that school in south bend) over G5 schools.

(04-16-2014 05:55 PM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  The American and AAC fans have been pretty consistent in saying "we aren't a G5 conference", "we aren't like those other non-power conferences", "we are a power conference", "we are a lot closer to the P5 than the MAC". Now, one could argue that that is simply good marketing on the American's part and that it is ever conference for itself. However, I can also see where that type of thinking/marketing could rub other G5 fans the wrong way. It is, after all, the same type of attitude that many P5 fans have toward the American.

(04-16-2014 09:28 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  love how the comments alternate between questioning why anyone would possibly speak ill of the AAC followed by obnoxiously bragging. duh.

This pretty much answers the question. Even if it's a minority of fans, there are enough fans of the new AAC schools who have pretty much been complete a-holes on the boards of the conferences they are leaving that even Buddha would be fed up at this point. And some of them have been around for almost two complete lame-duck years. It's getting old.

(04-17-2014 11:28 AM)bctn8n Wrote:  CUSA hates the AAC because we raided their conference. The same can be said why UC, USF, and UCONN despise the ACC, Big 12, and B1G for raiding/destroying the BE.

This is definitely true too. "Raided" doesn't begin to describe it. You all took 7 of 12 teams. And not even all at once, but in 3 or 4 different raids, making it even harder for CUSA to respond strategically.

Rice has now been screwed by the breakup of the SWC, the breakup of the WAC16, and the destruction of CUSA 2.0. So, yeah, we're a little grumpy.

(04-18-2014 01:03 PM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 05:55 PM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  The American and AAC fans have been pretty consistent in saying "we aren't a G5 conference", "we aren't like those other non-power conferences", "we are a power conference", "we are a lot closer to the P5 than the MAC". Now, one could argue that that is simply good marketing on the American's part and that it is ever conference for itself. However, I can also see where that type of thinking/marketing could rub other G5 fans the wrong way. It is, after all, the same type of attitude that many P5 fans have toward the American.

(04-16-2014 09:28 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  love how the comments alternate between questioning why anyone would possibly speak ill of the AAC followed by obnoxiously bragging. duh.

This pretty much answers the question. Even if it's a minority of fans, there are enough fans of the new AAC schools who have pretty much been complete a-holes on the boards of the conferences they are leaving that even Buddha would be fed up at this point. And some of them have been around for almost two complete lame-duck years. It's getting old.

(04-17-2014 11:28 AM)bctn8n Wrote:  CUSA hates the AAC because we raided their conference. The same can be said why UC, USF, and UCONN despise the ACC, Big 12, and B1G for raiding/destroying the BE.

This is definitely true too. "Raided" doesn't begin to describe it. You all took 7 of 12 teams. And not even all at once, but in 3 or 4 different raids, making it even harder for CUSA to respond strategically.

Rice has now been screwed by the breakup of the SWC, the breakup of the WAC16, and the destruction of CUSA 2.0. So, yeah, we're a little grumpy.

Never really realized how badly realignment has treated Rice. Three conference have completely come apart around them over a little over 20 year period. At least CUSA remained viable. In fact, travel issues actually improved a bit for Rice with the latest moves.

(04-17-2014 11:54 AM)lance99 Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 11:17 AM)panama Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

IMO, it is not disdain for the AAC, it is your fans attitude toward the MAC. Some of your fans trash this conference every chance they get. I think that deep down, you know that the MAC is a Peer Conference(in football), not the MWC. Also before anyone does it, dont give me the crap about the BCS game. You had to use the Big East slot(or as I call it, their Bus Pass) to get there, and STILL needed help from NIU and Fresno!

The MAC went 0-5 in bowl games. Even the mighty CUSA and Sun Belt could muster at least one win.

(04-17-2014 10:11 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 09:56 AM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 09:29 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the AAC is still better in football than the MAC but it's pretty close now that you won't have Louisville. There isn't this big divide that there used to be. And if we don't have UMass that will help too.

There is a huge divide in fan support, coaches pay, scheduling ability, and TV. That's why you have a really hard time holding on to coaches or AD's.
The MAC will have a few teams with flashy records because you got some really bad teams at the bottom you run the records up on. Your teams seem to get exposed in bowl time as well. NIU for example led the overrated charge last year. Talking top 10 and limping to the end.

I was talking on the field competition.

Our teams only get exposed some of the time, like everybody else. In 2010 NIU lost in the MAC championship game but then pummelled Fresno in the bowl. In 2011 we barely beat Ohio in the championship game and then handled Arkansas State in the bowl. Against FSU the odds were long, but it was still close going into the 4th quarter. Last year we weren't as good, no doubt, as the defense wasn't there. We went undefeated in the MAC regular season but also 2-0 vs. the Big 10. Still we were overrated at times and it was appropriate we lost to Bowling Green as a game against Baylor or somebody like that would have been ugly.

The MAC does have a weaker bottom than the AAC. But UMass will be gone, Coach Bowden is improving Akron, and CMU is improving as well. I think that will help some.

Your whole conference got exposed (again) during the bowl season.

(04-16-2014 04:44 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  In the the land of the blind there is much jealousy over the one eyed man...

(04-18-2014 01:29 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 11:54 AM)lance99 Wrote:  

(04-17-2014 11:17 AM)panama Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 03:17 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I've been roaming around the various boards of the five conferences and have seen a LOT of animosity toward the AAC from all the others. I don't even understand the MAC disdain. Its not just the Big East.

IMO, it is not disdain for the AAC, it is your fans attitude toward the MAC. Some of your fans trash this conference every chance they get. I think that deep down, you know that the MAC is a Peer Conference(in football), not the MWC. Also before anyone does it, dont give me the crap about the BCS game. You had to use the Big East slot(or as I call it, their Bus Pass) to get there, and STILL needed help from NIU and Fresno!

The MAC went 0-5 in bowl games. Even the mighty CUSA and Sun Belt could muster at least one win.

Yeah, the MAC implode at the end of the season/post-season.

I was impressed with what they've done football-wise the last few years, tho.

Sunbelt has a few dangerous football programs as well.

AAC, I have to admit (ucf's bcs win or not), has the best collection of schools overall. But from AAC to Sunbelt, there isn't as much daylight between the G5 as ucf's bowl win doesn't come close to Boise's recent record.

If AAC strings 3 out of the next 4 seasons as the "Access Bowl" getters, then I will put "AAC = G5 handsdown #1" in concrete.