(04-24-2014 11:05 AM)Check Yosef Wrote:  I said southeast to southwest, I know some don't consider Missouri southern but I think historically they have seemed more southern then any other geographical region

Missouri is primarily a midwestern, but its a border state and a quarter to a third of the state in the southeast corner is southern.

However, when there is serious discussion of bringing in Liberty, who has never shown the ability to succeed at the FSC level that UMass has, turning down UMass because:

(04-24-2014 10:44 AM)Check Yosef Wrote:  Minutemen ranked 123

I know app was ranked 126 and geo south 124 and geo state was also already ranked, but app and geo south get a pass from most people because they are in their FBS transitional.

... is absurd. The formal transitional process in terms of being neither eligible for the FCS championship nor a bowl game may only take two years, but clearly it takes, at a minimum, an entire recruitment to senior class cycle for the development transition to complete.

When crafting reasons that the Sunbelt shouldn't just take the money and run with UMass until a clear candidate emerges in its region, the geographical argument has a lot more weight to it than the competitiveness of the program argument.

(04-24-2014 12:09 PM)TheRevSWT Wrote:  Reason to add UMass: Basketball games for us. Would help raise the profile of the league. (I know they aren't bringing their basketball here, but we could get a few games with them)

Reason not to add UMass: WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER TEAM.

That's up in the air, which is an excellent reason to not add UMass now. Whether or not a 12th team is needed for a CCG has not yet been decided. How much extra money it means for the full-time FB schools in the Sunbelt hinges on whether its required to get a CCG. On a 50/50 split distributed as a travel subsidy, its $125,000 in the year that you go to play in Massachusetts, which ought to be a little extra money, but not much. With a CCG that can be bid for between ESPN, FS1, NBCSN and CBSSN, its probably a bit more than that.

Unlike an FCS call-up, there is June 1 2014 deadline on making the decision for the 2015/16 year, because, after all, UMass is already FBS. So the Sunbelt is not under the same decision deadline as it has been with FCS call-ups. It can make the decision after the CCG decision is made, one way or the other.