(06-01-2020 03:11 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Here’s a wild notion. What if FAU and FIU made a move to the A-Sun to save on travel and went Indy in football. I bet schools would jump all over the opportunity to play these schools due to fertile recruiting grounds.

Would the risk be worth taking?

(06-01-2020 03:11 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Here’s a wild notion. What if FAU and FIU made a move to the A-Sun to save on travel and went Indy in football. I bet schools would jump all over the opportunity to play these schools due to fertile recruiting grounds.

Would the risk be worth taking?

(06-02-2020 12:14 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  I'm far from a fan of either school, but it's crazy to me how there's so much idea to kick out F_U when they're some of the most well rounded programs in CUSA.

(06-02-2020 12:19 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(06-02-2020 12:14 PM)Auburn_Blazer Wrote:  I'm far from a fan of either school, but it's crazy to me how there's so much idea to kick out F_U when they're some of the most well rounded programs in CUSA.

Their football teams are both on current upswings, but basketball is a flaming dumpster at both. Baseball has been good, more so at FAU, and FIU has a good soccer team typically. But I'm not sure they're really "well rounded." They also have poor attendance for both revenue sports, especially FIU. And FIU's football stadium is high school level with inadequate press and coach facilities.

(06-02-2020 01:44 PM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I think they could get better than a CUSA schedule in football as an independent. They might be able to get 1 SEC school to come down most years. But would the Atlantic 10 or some other conference would want their other sports?

(06-02-2020 02:31 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  I dont know how they would feel about it. And I understand this is a hypothetical question...

So my hypothetical answer would be

I think all the schools with the possible exception of NJIT and Bellarmine would welcome both. Let them have football as an indy like Liberty does.

A few years down the road, KSU and UNA decide they want to explore FBS. Having FIU and FAU in the same conference may even make North Florida and FGCU look a little harder at starting a football program. Then you have
Liberty
UNA
Kennesaw State
FIU
FAU
FGCU
UNF
All playing football. The ASUN may be able to petition the NCAA to sponsor FBS football.

Then I would work out a deal with UMass and Army on some kind of a scheduling agreement. Or even joining as football members only.

(There you go NoDak)

(06-02-2020 01:17 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  To answer OP's question, I do think both schools could make it as independents if they joined the A-Sun for other sports. They've been fairly successful at landing 1:1 series thanks to the recruiting exposure. Might get tougher if they remain a threat to win, but I think the list of teams doing 1:1 would be decent and add in some 2:1s for bigger schools. Might be able to get a 2:1 type deal with some really big teams if they play at Joe Robbie.

That said, I don't know if it's beneficial for them to do that. Hard to know the costs, potential revenue, and potential savings. Certainly the A-Sun would save money versus CUSA. I tend to think it would be financially positive since they could probably get 3 P5 games per year including UCF every other year for one of them. Then the rivalry game for one of them. And then they just need two fill a few spots with northern teams looking for recruiting exposure like UConn, UMass, etc.

Let's say something like this for FAU:

H - NC State (1:1)
A - Michigan (buy game)
A - Wisconsin (2:1)
H - Rutgers (1:1)
A - UCF (1:1)
H - UConn (1:1)
A - UMass (1:1)
H - West Virginia (1:1)
A - Buffalo (1:1)
A - Liberty (1:1)
H - Florida A&M (buy game)
H - FIU (1:1)

If they could successfully pull that off, that gives you 3 P5 home games, a G5 home game, an FCS game, and FIU. They'd certainly sell a hell of a lot more tickets than for a CUSA schedule.

Of course, they'd be sacrificing the Access Bowl opportunity, but it's going to be rare for a CUSA team to beat out AAC and MWC teams. It'll take a perfect season of not only F_U going undefeated but also the AAC and MWC champs having two losses and no one like App State looming in the tall grass. I'm also not real sure that F_U could successfully negotiate a bowl tie-in as anything more than a backup. They don't exactly travel well. Maybe the Boca Bowl and the Bahamas Bowl?

(06-02-2020 03:10 PM)whittx Wrote:  

(06-02-2020 01:17 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  To answer OP's question, I do think both schools could make it as independents if they joined the A-Sun for other sports. They've been fairly successful at landing 1:1 series thanks to the recruiting exposure. Might get tougher if they remain a threat to win, but I think the list of teams doing 1:1 would be decent and add in some 2:1s for bigger schools. Might be able to get a 2:1 type deal with some really big teams if they play at Joe Robbie.

That said, I don't know if it's beneficial for them to do that. Hard to know the costs, potential revenue, and potential savings. Certainly the A-Sun would save money versus CUSA. I tend to think it would be financially positive since they could probably get 3 P5 games per year including UCF every other year for one of them. Then the rivalry game for one of them. And then they just need two fill a few spots with northern teams looking for recruiting exposure like UConn, UMass, etc.

Let's say something like this for FAU:

H - NC State (1:1)
A - Michigan (buy game)
A - Wisconsin (2:1)
H - Rutgers (1:1)
A - UCF (1:1)
H - UConn (1:1)
A - UMass (1:1)
H - West Virginia (1:1)
A - Buffalo (1:1)
A - Liberty (1:1)
H - Florida A&M (buy game)
H - FIU (1:1)

If they could successfully pull that off, that gives you 3 P5 home games, a G5 home game, an FCS game, and FIU. They'd certainly sell a hell of a lot more tickets than for a CUSA schedule.

Of course, they'd be sacrificing the Access Bowl opportunity, but it's going to be rare for a CUSA team to beat out AAC and MWC teams. It'll take a perfect season of not only F_U going undefeated but also the AAC and MWC champs having two losses and no one like App State looming in the tall grass. I'm also not real sure that F_U could successfully negotiate a bowl tie-in as anything more than a backup. They don't exactly travel well. Maybe the Boca Bowl and the Bahamas Bowl?

You're not getting 1-1's with any P5 or UCF. You would have a 2-Play at Hard Rock against BYU and a 1-1 with NMSU in there as well.