(04-18-2018 07:39 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: Here is a wild thought: what if in the 2003-2004 alignment circus by the ACC that was originally targeting Miami, Syracuse, and BC that in turn became Miami, VT, and Syracuse, then just Miami and VT in hopes of luring Notre Dame until finally settling on BC if someone in that room said "let's be really forward thinking and add Syracuse and Pitt and then see if that's enough to lure Notre Dame and if it does we go to 16 but if not we've got a pretty solid group"
The Big East is then in a funny place. they've got the Catholic 5, Notre Dame, UConn, Rutgers, WVU, and Temple football. Would the first 6 be willing to rebuild a football league for their 3 football schools and a Temple program that was getting booted? Could those 4 find a home in C-USA? If they do that means UCF and Marshall stay in the MAC and Tulsa/Rice/SMU/UTEP stick with the WAC.
The end result is a much different landscape going into and beyond the 2010-2013 realignment.
Leaving the Big East for CUSA would have been too much of a step down, I think. More likely that CUSA gets even more gutted than in our timeline.
Big East
FB: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina*, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, South Florida, West Virginia
NFB: DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova
CUSA
East: Central Florida, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, UAB
West: Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP
Perhaps there might have been an earlier split between the football and non-football Big East schools. Even then CUSA would have gotten the shaft.
Big East
DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, St. Louis, Villanova, Xavier
"AAC"
East: Central Florida, Connecticut, East Carolina, Rutgers, South Florida, West Virginia
West: Cincinnati, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, TCU, Tulane
CUSA
East: FAU, FIU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, UAB
West: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP