These are 3 schools, that is not debatable.

(10-28-2021 08:29 PM)LaTex14 Wrote:  

This would be great. They are all already FBS and Liberty is pretty much a top 25 team the last couple of years. Their baseball and basketball teams are good too. They should see if ARMY has any interest for football only. UMASS, UCONN and Army would all be in the same general area.

Obviously this isn't official or settled yet but it's a smart move from the conference. UTEP gets their travel partner and Liberty & UConn bring legitimacy and brand. Even tho UConn football isn't high quality, UConn the name is a quality brand. Liberty, even with it's issues, brings a lot to the table. I'm liking this move. This explains why some of the FCS schools have mentioned they haven't been contacted yet. CUSA is making a play for established programs first and has plenty of time to pick the right FCS programs that are READY to move up. I feel better about this than I have in a week.

(10-28-2021 09:01 PM)WKUApollo Wrote:  Obviously this isn't official or settled yet but it's a smart move from the conference. UTEP gets their travel partner and Liberty & UConn bring legitimacy and brand. Even tho UConn football isn't high quality, UConn the name is a quality brand. Liberty, even with it's issues, brings a lot to the table. I'm liking this move. This explains why some of the FCS schools have mentioned they haven't been contacted yet. CUSA is making a play for established programs first and has plenty of time to pic the right FCS programs that are READY to move up. I feel better about this than I have in a week.

All true, and glad to hear it.

(10-28-2021 08:48 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  Could this encourage Marshall to stay?

Heck no. We been looking to get out of this league for a while now and be part of building a true east coast/southeast conference which is where we are going. I would like to see this happen so that CUSA survives.

(10-28-2021 09:01 PM)WKUApollo Wrote:  Obviously this isn't official or settled yet but it's a smart move from the conference. UTEP gets their travel partner and Liberty & UConn bring legitimacy and brand. Even tho UConn football isn't high quality, UConn the name is a quality brand. Liberty, even with it's issues, brings a lot to the table. I'm liking this move. This explains why some of the FCS schools have mentioned they haven't been contacted yet. CUSA is making a play for established programs first and has plenty of time to pic the right FCS programs that are READY to move up. I feel better about this than I have in a week.

I agree. Would not surprise me if CUSA don’t come out of this whole mess smelling like roses.

(10-28-2021 08:48 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  Could this encourage Marshall to stay?

No, it would not. UConn does nothing for Marshall, adding another trip way out west to NM hurts, and while having a close team in Liberty would help, it wouldn't offset having 2 VA schools in the Sun Belt now in ODU and JMU. I don't see anything CUSA could do to make Marshall not sign on that dotted line beyond getting JMU to sign also along with Liberty and get ODU to change their mind...all of which isn't happening. 99% certain that ship has sailed, though until it's 'official' anything is possible in theory.

As it most usually always is, adding a "football only" school like UCONN is likely for just 4-5 years while FCS addtions (Tarleton State, McNeese State etc) get established.

It helps a lot that Liberty is interested. It's a good add, and It's one less FCS school that needs to be pulled up. UCONN is awful in football, but maybe being in a conference helps them improve. At least they're already FBS.

Would Jacksonville State be a good FCS call up to give FIU a rival within distance?

(10-28-2021 08:48 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  Could this encourage Marshall to stay?

Hell no. They need to go. Let the remaining schools rebuild the conference the best they can without the constant distraction of the three schools who thankfully found their forever home and are leaving.

Good luck and good riddance!

(10-28-2021 09:13 PM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  As it most usually always is, adding a "football only" school like UCONN is likely for just 4-5 years while FCS addtions (Tarleton State, McNeese State etc) get established.

It wouldn't matter here because NCAA Division 1 rules require FBS conferences to have EIGHT full members.

With New Mexico State and Liberty and without Marshall the league only has seven. Are you suggesting there's an FCS addition that won't require 4-5 years? Who?

(10-28-2021 09:15 PM)Ourland Wrote:  It helps a lot that Liberty is interested. It's a good add, and It's one less FCS school that needs to be pulled up. UCONN is awful in football, but maybe being in a conference helps them improve. At least they're already FBS.

I don't think UCONN football will stay bad forever. They do have brand recognition and they were good at football not that long ago. New Mexico State - they may be bad at football forever.

(10-28-2021 09:15 PM)Ourland Wrote:  It helps a lot that Liberty is interested. It's a good add, and It's one less FCS school that needs to be pulled up. UCONN is awful in football, but maybe being in a conference helps them improve.

Didn't help them much when they were in the AAC. UConn is in a tough position, and joining CUSA could help both institutions, so that's a good idea. But I'm not sure it really does much to make UConn a decent football school/program. Problem is they don't help CUSA with the 8 full members stuff. Liberty and NMSU does of course, but UConn can't replace the need for an 8th member, at least that's my understanding.

Happy to read this news tonight, and I really hope it happens.

Missouri State come on down!

That’s one FCS call up I could live with. Don’t know if Delaware has any interest in moving up.

(10-28-2021 08:50 PM)roundsound Wrote:  The Dakota twins would be a nice add for fcs. But how is their basketball?

Both are good in basketball. I've been working at NDSU for 8 years. It seems like we've gone to the dance 4 of those years. We've had a couple wins at the tourney as well, including against a highly ranked Oklahoma team. And as much success as we've had in basketball, I think SDSU on balance is even a stronger in basketball than we are. Both have 5,000-6,000 seat arenas and strong basketball fanbases.

(10-28-2021 09:21 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  Missouri State come on down!

That’s one FCS call up I could live with. Don’t know if Delaware has any interest in moving up.

Very possible Delaware is going to the MAC if UMASS is taking all sports there.

Let's say we get NMSU, UConn, and Liberty, that gives us 7 full and one football only. All we need at that point is only one FCS callup to get us to 8 full and 1 football only.

In that scenario, having UConn gives us 9 football, which means 8 league games. Done...

That gets us back to a full conference and we can work on others to move up, giving them more time to be ready.

(10-28-2021 09:24 PM)NDSUGopher Wrote:  

(10-28-2021 08:50 PM)roundsound Wrote:  The Dakota twins would be a nice add for fcs. But how is their basketball?

Both are good in basketball. I've been working at NDSU for 8 years. It seems like we've gone to the dance 4 of those years. We've had a couple wins at the tourney as well, including against a highly ranked Oklahoma team. And as much success as we've had in basketball, I think SDSU on balance is even a stronger in basketball than we are. Both have 5,000-6,000 seat arenas and strong basketball fanbases.

OK, you're hired! I'll give you a call once the Missouri State deal is finalized.