(12-15-2015 07:02 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  Ohio
Marshall
James Madison
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Troy
FIU
FAU

I'd be tickled pink with that first nine.

As somebody else in the thread so eloquently put it... it doesn't matter what conference we're in, we're not perceived to be any better or any worse.

If the perception is all the same, I'd much rather play in a conference that is geographically close-knit than in one that is as far-flung as the Sun Belt or Conference USA currently is.

(12-14-2015 06:41 PM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Nice footprint with teams that could beat any other G5 team on any given day.

Nine Team conference: Southern Miss. Ark State. LaTech. UL-Lafayette. W. Kentucky. Georgia Southern. Appalachian State. Middle Tenn. Marshall.

12 team conference: Southern Miss. Ark State. LaTech. UL-Lafayette. W. Kentucky. Georgia Southern. Appalachian State. Middle Tenn. Marshall. Old Dominion. Charlotte. Troy

Replace Troy with East Carolina.

another thing to keep in mind with the MAC is that because the rivalries are so deep it might be hard to take one school without taking its rival- Ohio/Miami, Toledo/BGSU, Akron/Kent, CMU/WMU come to mind.

(12-15-2015 01:03 PM)ken d Wrote:  So, essentially, what you are talking about is rearranging the teams in C-USA and the Sunbelt. If you were to divide them by football attendance, you would have one conference of nine schools (if you include UAB), seven of which have been together to meet the requirement for a basketball autobid.

CUSA becomes:

UTSA
UTEP
Marshall
Southern Miss
UL-Lafayette
Arkansas State
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UAB

But, (1) do they have enough inventory to get a media contract with a bigger headline number than the MAC with only nine schools? And (2) do they have enough schools to sponsor enough specific sports and team sports to qualify as an all-sports FBS conference?

As long as the CFP payout adds $1m for each school up to 12, and there are some financial benefits to divisional play in the main team sports for such a widely flung set of schools, then contingent on this being attractive at all (which I doubt), I think they'd look to add three more.

Leave the MAC out of this. Their footprint is compact enough and doesn't overlap with others, while the Sun Belt and CUSA directly overlap.



If I had could realign the conferences in my own form and fashion, here's what I would do:

First off, I'd do a southwestern aligned conference.

Western Division
New Mexico State
UT-El Paso
North Texas
Rice
UT-San Antonio
Texas State

Eastern Division
UL-Lafayette
UL-Monroe
Arkansas State
Louisiana Tech
Wichita State (word has it that they are reinstating football)
Missouri State

The conference would be based out of New Orleans and San Antonio, with bowl games in New Orleans at the Superdome, Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, Little Rock at War Memorial Stadium, and Austin at Texas Memorial Stadium.

Secondly, I'd do an eastern aligned conference.

Northern Division
App State
Old Dominion
Marshall
Charlotte
Middle Tennessee
Western Kentucky

Southern Division
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
Troy
Coastal Carolina

The conference would be based in Charlotte and Atlanta, with bowl games in Nashville at Vanderbilt Stadium, Charleston at Johnson Hagood Stadium, Montgomery at ASU Stadium, and Lynchburg at Williams Stadium.

The non-football schools, like UTA and UALR, would have to jump down to the FCS or a basketball-only conference. FIU, FAU, and UAB would be pushed back into the FCS due to the attendance rule not being met.

To answer the question posed in the OP's thread title:

It would look like every other G5 conference out there: crap

(12-15-2015 03:05 PM)perimeterpost Wrote:  another thing to keep in mind with the MAC is that because the rivalries are so deep it might be hard to take one school without taking its rival- Ohio/Miami, Toledo/BGSU, Akron/Kent, CMU/WMU come to mind.

Toledo would leave BG behind. As much as we like beating their asses, if moving to a better conference and Toledo can't play BG anymore. I think the school is fine with that, if that gets EMU and other doormats off the schedule that bring in no value.

I think Kent could live without Akron being in the conference because having one OOC game every year preset is nice and fairly easy to do. However Kent would likely not want to lose playing against a bunch of other MAC schools like BG, Ohio, and Miami and that is too many games for OOC in football to really make it work.

(12-16-2015 12:15 AM)Sultan of Euphonistan Wrote:  I think Kent could live without Akron being in the conference because having one OOC game every year preset is nice and fairly easy to do. However Kent would likely not want to lose playing against a bunch of other MAC schools like BG, Ohio, and Miami and that is too many games for OOC in football to really make it work.

This is a great point and pops up when I think of Ohio leaving the MAC.

Then the team would play 2 MAC schools in football OOC every year like Marshall is doing and BG, Kent, Miami every year in basketball OOC.

So if the options are;

A) Move to the AAC and be at a competitive disadvantage in budget, recruiting and attendance in that conference. Schedule the MAC heavily OOC.

B) Stay in the MAC where the school is near the top in budget & attendance but play attractive OOC schedules.

Option B sounds a lot more sensible. The students and alumni get fired up for all MAC home games. Miami the most but the others have some pull.

Option A is what Marshall tried with CUSA 2.0 to see its program slide with mediocre seasons. They won 12 last year with 3 MAC schools on the OOC schedule so were denied an access bowl over 11-2 Boise State. What a failure.

(12-15-2015 07:02 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  Ohio
Marshall
James Madison
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern

There were reported talks before ODU and ASU moved to FBS between Ohio, Marshall, JMU, ODU and Appalachian State.

Coastal Carolina makes for another school that could be in this configuration and that ties you to the Georgia schools.

Add 3 more schools to go to 12; FAU, FIU, MiamiU. That gives the conference x2 schools in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida plus one in WV and SC.

Frontier Athletic Association
North: MiamiU, Ohio, Marshall, James Madison, ODU, App State
South: FAU, FIU, GaSouthern, GaState, Coastal Carolina, Charlotte

MAC stays at 10 because it can still play its championship game and split the revenue less ways.

CUSA losing 5 then reloads with Ark State, Louisiana and Texas State

SBC losing 7 schools is down to 4 (Idaho, NMSU, Troy, ULM) and is finished as an FBS conference.

The MAC, CUSA and FAA then all have tight geography and rivalries.

Okay. Here is my idea which includes schools that said they want FBS.

North Plains: East:
Northern Illinois
Illinois State
Northern Iowa
Mankato State
St. Cloud State
North Dakota State

North Plains West:
North Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Montana
Montana State
Idaho

SWC since Rice and SMU could still hold the rights over.
West:
New Mexico State
North Texas
SMU
Texas State
UTSA
Sam Houston State
(UTEP will join the MWC.)

SWC East:
Lamar
Rice
Tulsa
Wichita State(could go to MWC as number 14) or Missouri State instead.
La. Tech
Arkansas State

Gulf Coast Region: West:
La-Monroe
La.-Lafayette
McNeese State
Southern Mississippi
Jackson State
Central Arkansas

Gulf Coast East:
UAB
Middle Tennessee State
Troy
South Alabama
Jacksonville State
Alabama St

East Coast: South:
FAU
FIU
North Florida (Could add football)
East Tennessee State
Georgia Southern
Chattanooga

East Coast: North:
Georgia State
Coastal Carolina
Appalchian State
Western Carolina
Eastern Kentucky
Mercer

North East 12:
James Madison
Marshall
Toledo
Ohio U.
Delaware
Army
U. Mass.
Buffalo
Stony Brook
Towson
New Hampshire
Central Conn. State

Indiana State, Youngstown State, Western Kentucky, Dayton, Southern Illinois all could join the MAC to fill in spots. The teams are still in the footprint.

It looks good David but listing 65 schools in a realignment post is hard to follow.

That is why I prefer to just stick with the changes when realigning unless I'm only discussing 1-2 conferences.

(12-14-2015 10:10 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(12-14-2015 09:14 PM)Kruciff Wrote:  

(12-14-2015 07:09 PM)rednblackattack Wrote:  Shouldn't this include the AAC?

Is the AAC a part of CUSA / SBC / MAC ?

The vast majority of America sees no difference.

You gonna make his head explode.

CUSA : Marshall, Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion

Sunbelt : Arkansas State, Louisiana, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Texas State, Appalachian State.

MAC: Ohio (but they'll never leave)

Those are who you would have to start with first. Nice South based conference. Lots of rivalry potential which is what college football is all about.

I've said it before but I think it is worth repeating.

The missed opportunity at a "best of the rest" was when Creighton left the Valley.
They could have reached out and raided the Belt and MAC trading hoops prestige for being an FBS brand and providing a landing spot for any of the MVFC with FBS aspirations and the means to pursue it.

What is the criteria of being "the best"? Here's a stab at some arbitrary units of measurement.

The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC in regards to academics per the 2016 USNWR college rankings-

1. Rice (#18)
2. UMass (#75)
3. Miami (#82)
4. Buffalo (#99)
5. Ohio (#135)
6. UAB (#149)
7. Ball State (#168)
8. Idaho (#168)
9. Kent State (#175)
10. Bowling Green (#185)


The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC according to football winning percentage over the past 10 seasons ('05-'14)-

1. Northern Illinois (.647)
2. Ohio (.562)
3. Toledo (.556)
4. Central Michigan (.547)
5. La Lafayette (.537)
6. Arkansas State (.532)
7. UTSA (.528)
8. Ball State (.516)
9. Bowling Green (.508)
10. Troy (.504)


The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC in men's basketball by NCAA Tournament wins (all time)-
1. Western Kentucky (15)
2. UTEP (14)
3. UAB (10)
4. UMass (7)
4. Ohio (7)
4. New Mexico State (7)
7. Miami (6)
8. Kent State (4)
8. LaTech (4)
10. Ball State (3)
10. Central Michigan (3)
10. Eastern Michigan (3)
10. Old Dominion (3)

Except FB season is over for non-bowl-eligible schools, and with it UMass's membership in the proposed CUSA/MAC/SBC pool.

Of those, considering that we can safely rule out the central 10 members of the MAC from participation in something with no net gains for them, considering increase travel costs, that leaves:

Academic:
1. Rice (#18)
2. Buffalo (#99)
3. UAB (#149)
4. Idaho (#168)

FB winning %:
1. Northern Illinois (.647)
2. La Lafayette (.537)
3. Arkansas State (.532)
4. UTSA (.528)
5. Troy (.504)

All time Tourney wins:
The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC in men's basketball by NCAA Tournament wins (all time)-
1. Western Kentucky (15)
2. UTEP (14)
3. UAB (10)
3. New Mexico State (7)
5. LaTech (4)
6. Old Dominion (3)

So based on that:
NIU, ULL, stAte, UTSA, Troy, add for Bball WKU, UTEP, UAB, NMSU, LA Tech, ODU

Just need one more to round out 12.

(North &/or) "Eastern" Division: ODU, UAB, Troy, WKU, NIU, _______
(South &/or) "Western" Division: NMSU, UTEP, UTSA, stAte, LA Tech, ULouisiana

That 12th would be in the "Eastern" division. What is #6 in FB winning all-time (excluding the central 10 of the MAC)? Would they fit into that sprawling Eastern division?

(12-19-2015 05:58 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Except FB season is over for non-bowl-eligible schools, and with it UMass's membership in the proposed CUSA/MAC/SBC pool.

Of those, considering that we can safely rule out the central 10 members of the MAC from participation in something with no net gains for them, considering increase travel costs, that leaves:

Academic:
1. Rice (#18)
2. Buffalo (#99)
3. UAB (#149)
4. Idaho (#168)

FB winning %:
1. Northern Illinois (.647)
2. La Lafayette (.537)
3. Arkansas State (.532)
4. UTSA (.528)
5. Troy (.504)

All time Tourney wins:
The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC in men's basketball by NCAA Tournament wins (all time)-
1. Western Kentucky (15)
2. UTEP (14)
3. UAB (10)
3. New Mexico State (7)
5. LaTech (4)
6. Old Dominion (3)

So based on that:
NIU, ULL, stAte, UTSA, Troy, add for Bball WKU, UTEP, UAB, NMSU, LA Tech, ODU

Just need one more to round out 12.

(North &/or) "Eastern" Division: ODU, UAB, Troy, WKU, NIU, _______
(South &/or) "Western" Division: NMSU, UTEP, UTSA, stAte, LA Tech, ULouisiana

That 12th would be in the "Eastern" division. What is #6 in FB winning all-time (excluding the central 10 of the MAC)? Would they fit into that sprawling Eastern division?

the next school in winning % from '05-'14 is Marshall at .504, which would fit in the East in your scenario. Omitting 10/12 teams from the MAC drastically changes the hypothesis of the OP, and I guess some folks would be surprised to see how dominant MAC teams are in these rankings.

After reading through this thread, I have to agree with the guy that questioned the criteria. The best at what? And how do you determine it? Every metric has something against it. Academic prowess doesn't have any bearing on athletics. Winning percentage? Against who and for how long? Non-revenue sports? History? Then you have a guy talking about the Florida schools and UAB shifting back to FCS? Get real.

Why would anyone willingly encourage the regional redundancy and concentrate programs starting to separate? What would it look like? In theory, it'd be a highly competitive conference in both revenue sports with parity from top to bottom. In reality, it'd be filled with the institutions that have given up on making it into a power conference and resigned themselves to being there.

(12-19-2015 05:58 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  Except FB season is over for non-bowl-eligible schools, and with it UMass's membership in the proposed CUSA/MAC/SBC pool.

Of those, considering that we can safely rule out the central 10 members of the MAC from participation in something with no net gains for them, considering increase travel costs, that leaves:

Academic:
1. Rice (#18)
2. Buffalo (#99)
3. UAB (#149)
4. Idaho (#168)

FB winning %:
1. Northern Illinois (.647)
2. La Lafayette (.537)
3. Arkansas State (.532)
4. UTSA (.528)
5. Troy (.504)

All time Tourney wins:
The top 10 schools in CUSA/MAC/SBC in men's basketball by NCAA Tournament wins (all time)-
1. Western Kentucky (15)
2. UTEP (14)
3. UAB (10)
3. New Mexico State (7)
5. LaTech (4)
6. Old Dominion (3)

So based on that:
NIU, ULL, stAte, UTSA, Troy, add for Bball WKU, UTEP, UAB, NMSU, LA Tech, ODU

Just need one more to round out 12.

(North &/or) "Eastern" Division: ODU, UAB, Troy, WKU, NIU, _______
(South &/or) "Western" Division: NMSU, UTEP, UTSA, stAte, LA Tech, ULouisiana

That 12th would be in the "Eastern" division. What is #6 in FB winning all-time (excluding the central 10 of the MAC)? Would they fit into that sprawling Eastern division?

Plus, we forget the top FCS programs that wants to be FBS.

How many schools want James Madison?
How many schools want North Dakota State?
How many schools want Stony Brook?