I was doing a thought exercise last night about what could have happened in college football had the NCAA not allowed conferences with under 12 teams to host a conference championship game and these are the conclusions I came to. I know it's kind of long so either enjoy or skip it.

- Sun Belt would have kept NMSU as FB only affiliate and would of needed to add EKU (since they were passed for Coastal) to get the SBC to 12.

- Big XII needed 2 so it makes sense that BYU + Cincinnati would have been added.

- AAC adds UAB to replace them and return to 12.

- the 13 team C-USA (having freshly raided the SBC) potentially adds JMU because of ODU's influence to get back to 14.

- Eventually UConn leaves the AAC for the Big East because the basketball still isn't what they want it to be

- GAST actually leaves the Sun Belt to take their place in the AAC East

- SBC responds by adding Liberty since they passed on them earlier and are in dire need of a #12.

- Things simmer down for a time before OU/UT announce their moves to the SEC

- Big XII needing to get back to 12 then adds Houston and UCF

- AAC adds Charlotte and Rice to get back to 12

- C-USA holds at 12

- USC/UCLA announce moves to the B1G

- SMU/SDSU announce moves to the PAC-12

- AAC adds North Texas to replace SMU

- MWC adds either UTSA or UTEP to replace SDSU.

At this point I saw 1 of 2 things happening.

Possibility 1: The Sun Belt at 12 (but most likely losing 2 to the C-USA) and C-USA choose to merge:

Sun Belt East: Jacksonville State*, Troy, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, ULM
Sun Belt West: ULM, La Tech, TXST, SHSU*, UTEP or UTSA, NMSU

C-USA South: FAU, FIU, GASO*, Coastal Carolina*, WKU*, MTSU
C- USA North: App State*, Marshall, Liberty*, ODU, JMU, EKU*

Possibility 2: Because merger talks could still have gone sour the C-USA might have added App State and GASO. As a result the 10 team Sun Belt adds Jax State and Sam Houston to get themselves back to 12.

ACC: As is.
AAC: East: USF, GAST, UAB, CLT, ECU, Temple | West: Memphis, Tulane, North Texas, Rice, Tulsa, Navy FB
B1G: As is.
Big XII: As is.
C-USA: "North": JMU, ODU, Marshall, App, WKU, GASO | "South": MTSU, FAU, FIU, Southern Miss, LT, UTEP or UTSA
Indy: Notre Dame, Army, UConn FB, UMass FB
MAC: As is.
MWC: As is except either UTSA or UTEP replaces SDSU
PAC-12: As is + SDSU and SMU for 12
SEC: As is.
Sun Belt: East: Liberty, EKU, Coastal, Jax State, Troy, South Alabama | West: A-State, ULM, UL, TXST, SHSU, NMSU

Therefore the only FBS team that wouldn't been added in the grand scheme of things is Kennesaw State. It seems 14 wouldn't have been as practical and we wouldn't of seen C-USA push back to 14 or the AAC/SBC expand to 14. There are also so many other ways this could have gone. Just wanted to share with you all.

Makes me happy that 10 teams were allowed to host championships and that the Sun Belt ended up the way it did.

That version of CUSA probably goes E/W and MU/WKU slide west while the Florida schools are East

(06-28-2023 10:49 AM)herdfan2013 Wrote:  That version of CUSA probably goes E/W and MU/WKU slide west while the Florida schools are East

With Judy in charge you never know haha.

I’m pretty sure the solar system could have imploded and Southern Miss still would have left CUSA.

(06-28-2023 03:42 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  I’m pretty sure the solar system could have imploded and Southern Miss still would have left CUSA.

Yep, C-USA was poorly run and everyone wanted out. Nothing above would've changed that. Also, don't see any reason C-USA would be stronger than SBC in this scenario, as UL, App and CCU were the teams that made the SBC football strong and all are still there, plus Liberty. The last step of the above is that the SBC drops the football only NMSU for USM and three of Marshall, ODU and JMU (Liberty having the other spot already) and C-USA has to promote even more FCS teams if they want to keep their Champ Game.

We're just going along with y'alls ride hoping to string some SBC CFB playoff banners in our trophy room even if they are not ours...

In the end was it more the NCAA that helped shape the Sun Belt or the Big 12? If the Big 12 hadn’t lead the effort (with itself only having 10 teams) then deregulation would have probably never happened.

(06-28-2023 10:40 AM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  I was doing a thought exercise last night about what could have happened in college football had the NCAA not allowed conferences with under 12 teams to host a conference championship game and these are the conclusions I came to. I know it's kind of long so either enjoy or skip it.

- Sun Belt would have kept NMSU as FB only affiliate and would of needed to add EKU (since they were passed for Coastal) to get the SBC to 12.

- Big XII needed 2 so it makes sense that BYU + Cincinnati would have been added.

- AAC adds UAB to replace them and return to 12.

- the 13 team C-USA (having freshly raided the SBC) potentially adds JMU because of ODU's influence to get back to 14.

- Eventually UConn leaves the AAC for the Big East because the basketball still isn't what they want it to be

- GAST actually leaves the Sun Belt to take their place in the AAC East

- SBC responds by adding Liberty since they passed on them earlier and are in dire need of a #12.

- Things simmer down for a time before OU/UT announce their moves to the SEC

- Big XII needing to get back to 12 then adds Houston and UCF

- AAC adds Charlotte and Rice to get back to 12

- C-USA holds at 12

- USC/UCLA announce moves to the B1G

- SMU/SDSU announce moves to the PAC-12

- AAC adds North Texas to replace SMU

- MWC adds either UTSA or UTEP to replace SDSU.

At this point I saw 1 of 2 things happening.

Possibility 1: The Sun Belt at 12 (but most likely losing 2 to the C-USA) and C-USA choose to merge:

Sun Belt East: Jacksonville State*, Troy, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, ULM
Sun Belt West: ULM, La Tech, TXST, SHSU*, UTEP or UTSA, NMSU

C-USA South: FAU, FIU, GASO*, Coastal Carolina*, WKU*, MTSU
C- USA North: App State*, Marshall, Liberty*, ODU, JMU, EKU*

Possibility 2: Because merger talks could still have gone sour the C-USA might have added App State and GASO. As a result the 10 team Sun Belt adds Jax State and Sam Houston to get themselves back to 12.

ACC: As is.
AAC: East: USF, GAST, UAB, CLT, ECU, Temple | West: Memphis, Tulane, North Texas, Rice, Tulsa, Navy FB
B1G: As is.
Big XII: As is.
C-USA: "North": JMU, ODU, Marshall, App, WKU, GASO | "South": MTSU, FAU, FIU, Southern Miss, LT, UTEP or UTSA
Indy: Notre Dame, Army, UConn FB, UMass FB
MAC: As is.
MWC: As is except either UTSA or UTEP replaces SDSU
PAC-12: As is + SDSU and SMU for 12
SEC: As is.
Sun Belt: East: Liberty, EKU, Coastal, Jax State, Troy, South Alabama | West: A-State, ULM, UL, TXST, SHSU, NMSU

Therefore the only FBS team that wouldn't been added in the grand scheme of things is Kennesaw State. It seems 14 wouldn't have been as practical and we wouldn't of seen C-USA push back to 14 or the AAC/SBC expand to 14. There are also so many other ways this could have gone. Just wanted to share with you all.

Makes me happy that 10 teams were allowed to host championships and that the Sun Belt ended up the way it did.

An article of interest.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/college-foo...59284.html

Pretty realistic "what if". I only wonder that if the rule change hasn't happened maybe EKU wouldn't have been called up since Idaho would also have stuck around as a football only member. But with the distance, maybe they would've been pushed out and replaced by some like EKU eventually.

(06-30-2023 05:49 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  In the end was it more the NCAA that helped shape the Sun Belt or the Big 12? If the Big 12 hadn’t lead the effort (with itself only having 10 teams) then deregulation would have probably never happened.

That’s a fair point.

Big XII surviving and adding the 4 they did also helped get our CUSA3 here too.