Hello, Sun Belt fans. Just wondering what your reaction is to the additions of FAU and FIU to your football conference. Howard Schnellenberger, FAU's head coach, brings a familiar name and face to the Sun Belt.

FAU brings a strong baseball program to the conference and had a great season in 1-AA football. I think the only concerns most fans of SBC teams have about both stepping up to 1-A is the football attendence especially considering that many of us already have that concern of our own. Also they both have very young football programs (3rd and 4th year of football for FIU and FAU this coming season). From a geographical standpoint, the addition of Troy State as well as the 2 Florida schools will be a big plus for our conference. Hopefully all it will work out.

once the the Florida Schools get their attendance up they will be great for the SunBelt. We will get a first hand look at FAU as they travel to Denton the 2nd Week of the season.
Hopefully this season several of the Sun Belt schools can emerge from the pack.

I can't wait to see them in our conference. I hope they will continue to grow and compete, to bring up the attendence.

Attendance is a concern for us, I think that maybe we made the
jump to D-1A to early, yet the opportunity did present it self.
A conference affiliation is a must to have a success at the higher
level. I am interested to see how we can compete next year with
the teams in the SBC, the coaches seem to be pushing this team
to it maximun every year.

Bytor Wrote:Attendance is a concern for us, I think that maybe we made the
jump to D-1A to early, yet the opportunity did present it self.
A conference affiliation is a must to have a success at the higher
level. I am interested to see how we can compete next year with
the teams in the SBC, the coaches seem to be pushing this team
to it maximun every year.

That's get news to hear the coaches doing what they need to do to get the team to perform at a high level. I think being in 1A will bring the attendance up a good bit. I hope ya'll have some success next year to bring the attendance up even higher.

Attendance next will have a lot of determinating factors, we start the
season with three tough road games: 9/4 at Hawaii (Verbal commit)
9/11 at N.Texas and 9/18 at MTSU. Our first home opponent is yet to be determined and could be critical especially if we start the season
0-3, having one win before a home game would be nice. And it looks like we are going to have 4-5 home games next year, which will not help the attendance. To early to tell right now, but will remain hopefull that things will work out for the best.

Bytor Wrote:Attendance next will have a lot of determinating factors, we start the
season with three tough road games: 9/4 at Hawaii (Verbal commit)
9/11 at N.Texas and 9/18 at MTSU. Our first home opponent is yet to be determined and could be critical especially if we start the season
0-3, having one win before a home game would be nice. And it looks like we are going to have 4-5 home games next year, which will not help the attendance. To early to tell right now, but will remain hopefull that things will work out for the best.

I know those first 3 are tough but I think ya'll we do fine. I would also like to see ya'll get a win before the first home game. We had that same problem last year, but we got through it. Just hang in there the best is yet to come from the Sunbelt Conference.

The main concern for us is the attendance. The on field product is fairly competitive will only get better as time passes.

Hopefully the three teams on tap for the Owls start-up in D1-A will do their parts and welcome us in quietly

I think its great that FAU and FIU are aligned in a conference together and preserving the 'Shula Bowl' rivalry. I only wish that my school (UCF) and USF would just cut the crap and align together be it Big East, C-USA, or MAC, I don't care. Just commit to a yearly rivalry. That FAU/FIU rivalry will surely get the fans together, improve attendance, and gain prominence in the Florida football world. It definitely won't hurt the Sun Belt in helping get exposure in the Sunshine State. Good luck to you guys.

moloch_322 Wrote:I think its great that FAU and FIU are aligned in a conference together and preserving the 'Shula Bowl' rivalry. I only wish that my school (UCF) and USF would just cut the crap and align together be it Big East, C-USA, or MAC, I don't care. Just commit to a yearly rivalry. That FAU/FIU rivalry will surely get the fans together, improve attendance, and gain prominence in the Florida football world. It definitely won't hurt the Sun Belt in helping get exposure in the Sunshine State. Good luck to you guys.

Thanks, good look to UCF this season. We were scheduled to play you guys in 2005 but I understand that game has been canceled. Hopefully in the future in both football and baseball.

Things couldn't get much worse for UCF football after their 3-9 season and many suspensions. Hopefully O'Leary will turn things around in '04. But we still have basketball and baseball to look forward too :)

SwampHound Wrote:

moloch_322 Wrote:I think its great that FAU and FIU are aligned in a conference together and preserving the 'Shula Bowl' rivalry.  I only wish that my school (UCF) and USF would just cut the crap and align together be it Big East, C-USA, or MAC, I don't care.  Just commit to a yearly rivalry.  That FAU/FIU rivalry will surely get the fans together, improve attendance, and gain prominence in the Florida football world.  It definitely won't hurt the Sun Belt in helping get exposure in the Sunshine State.  Good luck to you guys.

Thanks, good look to UCF this season. We were scheduled to play you guys in 2005 but I understand that game has been canceled. Hopefully in the future in both football and baseball.

We're cancelled? Ah oh well, can't do anything about it now. That would have been something, playing 3 Flordia schools in the same year.