(11-27-2012 11:53 AM)laureleagle Wrote:  

(11-27-2012 11:41 AM)PirateHeist Wrote:  

(11-27-2012 11:38 AM)laureleagle Wrote:  Seriously. Just put us out of our misery.

No reason to want to be in the BE once all the good teams leave... especially if they are bringing up more teams with terrible football.

Nope. I'm sick of pretending that all of our rivals leaving for another conference while we stay behind in this hell hole of a conference is a good thing.

It's my most sincere hope that USM will have enough allies to make it in with us next time. And there'll be a next time, probably sooner than anyone can even predict.

(11-27-2012 11:29 AM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  Would you rather travel to N.O. or Birmingham? Next question...

Can i say neither?

(11-27-2012 11:10 AM)AndreWhere Wrote:  When I hear crap like that, my first thought is that the conference needs something in its bylaws about expansion vs. performance. If a team has won championships, fills up their stadium, etc., they should pay a much lower exit fee when they get called up. If, on the other hand, a team like Tulane gets called up, the exit fee should be increased. That said, I won't miss Tulane all that much; but they should definitely have their pockets lightened on the way out.

Yes, conferences need sliding scale exit fees.

(11-27-2012 11:51 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  Congrats Coogs, you have basically screwed Rice by existing in the same city as us. I have to think the only reason we aren't in the BE is being in the same town as UH. If SMU/Tulane was in Houston and we were in Dallas/NO (or there was a no football UT-Houston and Andre Ware had played for University of Dallas) I think we'd have been invited to the BE.

Whether the BE will be appreciably better at this point, I don't know.

I don't believe this conspiracy theory but if true is nothing but karma for Rice holding UH out of the SWC until the 1970's. It should have happened in the 1950's and had it happened then UH would have been seen as more of a traditional SWC member instead of an outsider struggling for respect from the membership.

(11-27-2012 08:32 PM)Caltex2 Wrote:  I don't believe this conspiracy theory but if true is nothing but karma for Rice holding UH out of the SWC until the 1970's. It should have happened in the 1950's and had it happened then UH would have been seen as more of a traditional SWC member instead of an outsider struggling for respect from the membership.

It's just amazing that UH has grown far too powerful for rice to do anything about and can crush Rice like a bug now. If one of the major conferences ever want a Houston presence, UH will get the nod over Rice every time. Rice will never join the nBE because UH will simply block them. All Rice can do is sit there and watch as UH keeps on growing and growing.

I mentioned this before, Rice's stadium renovations is a response to the new Cougar Stadium on its way.

(11-27-2012 11:30 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(11-27-2012 11:29 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(11-27-2012 11:27 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(11-27-2012 11:26 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Tulane really? Now that isn't one I would have expected. I could have seen ECU, Marshall, UAB, and even USM going before Tulane.

MARKETS!!!!!!!!

I know we can make an argument about who would deliver more of a given market, but New Orleans TV DMA is ranked 51 to Birmingham's 42 (for example). Market may be part of the picture, but it doesn't explain everything.

Money, academics, and the fact that they actually can build a new stadium.

No need for them to build a stadium now. With all the nBE teams coming in, surely they will fill the dome now.

ESPN's Brett McMurphy: "Rest of ECU sports to join Big East after a current Big East team leaves for ACC."

(11-27-2012 08:51 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  ESPN's Brett McMurphy: "Rest of ECU sports to join Big East after a current Big East team leaves for ACC."

Good to hear, makes sense.

(11-27-2012 08:51 PM)PurpleReigns2012 Wrote:  ESPN's Brett McMurphy: "Rest of ECU sports to join Big East after a current Big East team leaves for ACC."

In my uneducated opinion, the football-only membership makes no sense for either the conference or ECU. That quote from McMurphy seems to bring a very small bit of common sense to what happened. I'm not sure why an all-sports membership couldn't be announced now, but this makes the invitation much like the CUSA invitation for ECU.