(10-04-2015 01:45 PM)MU42 Wrote:  When you have literally never accomplished anything like most of this conference then potential is so fun to talk about.

Well.....Rice is 3-0 all-time in football vs Alabama. Look it up. We own them. I guess that is accomplishing something (albeit in the distant past.) Still, it's not never for us. Carry on.

(10-04-2015 09:08 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 01:45 PM)MU42 Wrote:  When you have literally never accomplished anything like most of this conference then potential is so fun to talk about.

Well.....Rice is 3-0 all-time in football vs Alabama. Look it up. We own them. I guess that is accomplishing something (albeit in the distant past.) Still, it's not never for us. Carry on.

We're 3-2 against them.

(10-04-2015 09:08 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(10-04-2015 01:45 PM)MU42 Wrote:  When you have literally never accomplished anything like most of this conference then potential is so fun to talk about.

Well.....Rice is 3-0 all-time in football vs Alabama. Look it up. We own them. I guess that is accomplishing something (albeit in the distant past.) Still, it's not never for us. Carry on.

Rice was not a school I was talking about. I was more referring to these startups within the last 10-15 years. They all seem to have a self awareness problem. They all think very highly of themselves to have never done anything.

(10-03-2015 10:44 AM)BoKnows Wrote:  I don't think I'm biased when I say this but CUSA's greatest potential is in the programs at: UTSA, Charlotte, UAB, and ODU.

Except for Charlotte (who I believe has ECU-type potential), those are all significant market shares with no competition from pro teams. ALL of those programs are just in their infancy (although UABs is a self imposed infancy).

People, Those will be our bellcows in 10 years. I firmly believe that. When UAB returns, it wont be the same UAB. Although we took 3 steps back, I believe the road ahead looks much brighter.

When I was watching the Charlotte game last night, I saw a program that has tons of potential to represent CUSA on the highest level. Even though they got blown out, it was a hardfought, close game through the early going. For a start-up program, you can't ask for more at this point.



The rest of our conference is great too. However, I wonder if their peaks have been reached. A program like Rice basically is what it is. After playing for 100 years, they've settled into a mindset of how good they will/can become, relative to the other teams in their city/state.

I genuinely feel that the expectations of these newer programs are to lead this conference and become difference-makers. That's what we need in this "G5" era, which pits us against each other in different ways.

In 5-10 years, I feel confident that we'll be as good as CUSA was before the last defections, and one from that group (UTSA, ODU, Charlotte, UAB), will be what UCF was leading to their Fiesta Bowl win.

By that time, I'm hoping our established programs like USM, La Tech, and Marshall, are all playing up to their established high standards. They are the tradition/pillars of this conference and have my utmost respect.

Prediction: In 10 years we will be the best conference outside of the "P5" structure.

If that is our best in the future, I hope we've dropped football or the good Lord has come and I'm outta here.