By my count (and apologies if I missed your schools) there are 33 teams slated to be in the SBC, CUSA & Former BE in the next few years:

Alabama-Birmingham
Arkansas State
Central Florida
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Georgia State
Houston
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
Marshall
Memphis
Middle Tennessee
Navy
North Texas
Old Dominion
Rice
South Florida
Southern Alabama
Southern Mississippi
Southern Mississippi
Temple
Texas State
Texas-El Paso
Texas-San Antonio
Troy
Tulane
Tulsa
Western Kentucky

If it were up to you to divvy up these teams into new conferences how would you do it? Best of the Rest? Regional Rivals/ Shadow Power Conference?

Why is Southern Miss on there twice?

Split squad.

I am not going to try and divide them. I am assuming Tulane, Memphis, SMU, and Houston back to CUSA. I take these four and the CUSA-14 and distribute them. From there, it is fill in the blanks.

CUSA/NORTHEAST:
Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, three more.
Others: Stony Brook? Fordham? Navy? Temple? JMU? WKU?

CUSA/SOUTHEAST:
FIU, FAU, UAB, three more.
Others: Georgia State, ?????

CUSA/GULF:
Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Tulane, La Tech, Houston or Rice.

CUSA/SOUTHWEST:
Tulsa, SMU, UNT, Houston or Rice, UTSA, UTEP.
Probably move either Houston or Rice to Gulf Division.

An alternative would be three divisions of 8 teams combining SE and Gulf into one division.

As an aside, Thamel's observations were previously stated by CUSA Commish Banowsky when he visited ODU and I posted on this board.

i like the status quo

(03-14-2013 02:25 PM)AirRaid Wrote:  i like the status quo

Wouldn't we all?

(03-14-2013 02:25 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  I am not going to try and divide them. I am assuming Tulane, Memphis, SMU, and Houston back to CUSA. I take these four and the CUSA-14 and distribute them. From there, it is fill in the blanks.

CUSA/NORTHEAST:
Marshall, ODU, Charlotte, three more.
Others: Stony Brook? Fordham? Navy? Temple? JMU? WKU?

CUSA/SOUTHEAST:
FIU, FAU, UAB, three more.
Others: Georgia State, ?????

CUSA/GULF:
Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Tulane, La Tech, Houston or Rice.

CUSA/SOUTHWEST:
Tulsa, SMU, UNT, Houston or Rice, UTSA, UTEP.
Probably move either Houston or Rice to Gulf Division.

An alternative would be three divisions of 8 teams combining SE and Gulf into one division.

As an aside, Thamel's observations were previously stated by CUSA Commish Banowsky when he visited ODU and I posted on this board.

Theres really little reason to bring up even more FCS schools. I believe the list contains 32 FBS or transitions schools. Thats enough for 2 16-teams conferences, or 2 10-schools conferences and one 12 team conferences. Four conferences is probably not the way to go.

You have to be mindful if you want to do an accurate grouping of schools - certain schools will NOT want to be tied with others.

I'm dividing this pile into conferences.

SWC: UTEP, Rice, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, Southern Miss, Ark. State

EAC: UMass, Temple, Memphis, Cincinnati, UConn, UCF, USF, Navy, ECU

Gulf Athletic: Troy, FIU, FAU, UL-L, UL-M, USA, Ga. State, WKU

C-USA: ODU, Charlotte, Marshall, MTSU, LT, UAB, UTSA, North Texas

The best of the rest is already in the former BE, excluding Southern Miss. So its already done.

(03-14-2013 02:15 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Why is Southern Miss on there twice?

To go for the world record of an 0-24 season.

(Sorry USM fans had to do that one despite my high regard for the Eagles and fans).

Make.It.Stop.

It doesn't matter. Just call the four divisions the Sun Spots, Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and the Solar Storms. Then pray that they don't go Super Nova.

(03-14-2013 01:43 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  By my count (and apologies if I missed your schools) there are 33 teams slated to be in the SBC, CUSA & Former BE in the next few years:

Alabama-Birmingham
Arkansas State
Central Florida: Tremendous football
Charlotte
Cincinnati: Tremendous football and basketball tradition
Connecticut: Tremendous basketball, nat'l titles, state flagship
East Carolina: Tremendous football fanbase and tradition
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Georgia State
Houston: Tremendous football tradition, new stadium
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
Marshall
Memphis Tremendous basketball tradition
Middle Tennessee
Navy: Great national following, respected football program
North Texas
Old Dominion
Rice
South Florida: Tremendous wins during short FBS history & recruting
Southern Alabama
Southern Mississippi
Temple: Tremendous basketball tradition in top-5 media market
Texas State
Texas-El Paso
Texas-San Antonio
Troy
Tulane: New on campus stadium & great academic institution
Tulsa
Western Kentucky

If it were up to you to divvy up these teams into new conferences how would you do it? Best of the Rest? Regional Rivals/ Shadow Power Conference?

I've made my picks

(03-14-2013 03:10 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  You have to be mindful if you want to do an accurate grouping of schools - certain schools will NOT want to be tied with others.

I'm dividing this pile into conferences.

SWC: UTEP, Rice, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, Southern Miss, Ark. State

EAC: UMass, Temple, Memphis, Cincinnati, UConn, UCF, USF, Navy, ECU

Gulf Athletic: Troy, FIU, FAU, UL-L, UL-M, USA, Ga. State, WKU

C-USA: ODU, Charlotte, Marshall, MTSU, LT, UAB, UTSA, North Texas

The seven in the proposed new SWC should have just split from CUSA and formed a new conference (a la the Big East). Under NCAA regs, they would have met the 7 teams together for six years and started this conference next year. They may not have even been required to pay exit fees, depending on how the CUSA rules were written. Instead, they were mesmerized by Big East dreams and dollars.

(03-14-2013 04:24 PM)Texas2Step Wrote:  

(03-14-2013 01:43 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  By my count (and apologies if I missed your schools) there are 33 teams slated to be in the SBC, CUSA & Former BE in the next few years:

Alabama-Birmingham
Arkansas State
Central Florida: Tremendous football
Charlotte
Cincinnati: Tremendous football and basketball tradition
Connecticut: Tremendous basketball, nat'l titles, state flagship
East Carolina: Tremendous football fanbase and tradition
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Georgia State
Houston: Tremendous football tradition, new stadium
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
Marshall
Memphis Tremendous basketball tradition
Middle Tennessee
Navy: Great national following, respected football program
North Texas
Old Dominion
Rice
South Florida: Tremendous wins during short FBS history & recruting
Southern Alabama
Southern Mississippi
Temple: Tremendous basketball tradition in top-5 media market
Texas State
Texas-El Paso
Texas-San Antonio
Troy
Tulane: New on campus stadium & great academic institution
Tulsa
Western Kentucky

If it were up to you to divvy up these teams into new conferences how would you do it? Best of the Rest? Regional Rivals/ Shadow Power Conference?

I've made my picks

This is utter crap. (I mean this in as constructive and friendly a way as is possible.)

That conference's media contract would barely cover its travel expenses. I'm not going to call people out, but at least four of your teams are perennial homecoming opponents.

EDIT: And you should compare pictures of Tulane's stadium to MM Roberts. I'm not blowing smoke here... Tulane is a school I'm intimately familiar with.

If you're going to merge everyone and re-divide everybody, the only way to do it is by geography.
Without concern for who doesn't want to be in a conference with each other. If not, whats the point of this exercise?

(03-15-2013 11:28 PM)AlaIllTex Wrote:  If you're going to merge everyone and re-divide everybody, the only way to do it is by geography.
Without concern for who doesn't want to be in a conference with each other. If not, whats the point of this exercise?

Basically, there is no point. Nobody really wants to do that. If they did, it would exist. They actually are avoiding doing that. You could make a conference of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma teams. It would make about 28 cents in media revenue--which is why its not going to get done. Plus about half the teams you need to make it would avoid it like the plague because they dont want this or that team in it. Bottom line--its never happening.

(03-15-2013 11:28 PM)AlaIllTex Wrote:  If you're going to merge everyone and re-divide everybody, the only way to do it is by geography.
Without concern for who doesn't want to be in a conference with each other. If not, whats the point of this exercise?

Never happen. There are divisions within these groups of schools. For example: UConn has won actual national championships in basketball and have made a BCS bowl/won a BCS league. They have a large budget, and a generally larger fan base than most of these schools. Without picking on anyone, I am sorry, but they are just not going to be in a conference with Sun Belt/MAC teams that draw 10K fans a game located in small town Ohio for example, just to have better geography. Whether you want to believe that or not, that's just the way it is. There are tiers within this group. Another example, USF has nearly 50K students, sits in the #13 market, has been ranked in the top 25 during 4 or 5 seasons, to a high of #2, has defeated numerous "big name" opponents, has averaged 50K fans a game the last 6 years, with a high of 70K (actually 69K and change) for a home game against FSU, with several other crowds over 60K. They just aren't going to desire to share a conference with a FAU, South Alabama, or Troy for example (nothing against those fine schools). UC has been to 2 BCS bowls and taken crowds of nearly 30K to BCS bowls. Teams like these, whether budgets, stadium size, fan bases, history, etc. are just on a different tier. They just are. And they are the ones likely to get picked up if there are more shakeups. That is why you won't see geographical conferences.

(03-14-2013 03:10 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  The best of the rest is already in the former BE, excluding Southern Miss. So its already done.

This is correct. Although I would add Tulsa to that list.

(03-14-2013 01:43 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  By my count (and apologies if I missed your schools) there are 33 teams slated to be in the SBC, CUSA & Former BE in the next few years:

Alabama-Birmingham
Arkansas State
Central Florida
Charlotte
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Georgia State
Houston
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
Marshall
Memphis
Middle Tennessee
Navy
North Texas
Old Dominion
Rice
South Florida
Southern Alabama
Southern Mississippi
Temple
Texas State
Texas-El Paso
Texas-San Antonio
Troy
Tulane
Tulsa
Western Kentucky

If it were up to you to divvy up these teams into new conferences how would you do it? Best of the Rest? Regional Rivals/ Shadow Power Conference?

As an Aggie/SEC fan, what's your point in lumping all these schools together?

From this seat, it looks like a big school (yet insecure) troll trying to get his jollies off by insinuating these schools are similar to one another when it's clear that there is a great disparity in athletic budgets, investments in facilities & history, etc.