You said you saw the Villanova game, right? Definitely an anomaly...

Anyway, we actually throw short passes all day - not this four verticals nonsense. We will probably make an attempt against y'all to experiment with a more balanced attack with some new offensive players to help protect Heinicke.

I haven't read thru this entire thread....but I think ODU has a great upside. Large budget, great fan support and in an area that plays into their favor. I do think it will take a couple of years for them to make the transition, but I will be surprised if they don't turn out to be a good addition. CUSA certainly needs them to.

(06-28-2013 06:55 PM)GoGold Wrote:  I haven't read thru this entire thread....but I think ODU has a great upside. Large budget, great fan support and in an area that plays into their favor. I do think it will take a couple of years for them to make the transition, but I will be surprised if they don't turn out to be a good addition. CUSA certainly needs them to.

Classy post GoGold! I wouldn't be surprised if the Monarchs don't take but one (1) year to make the transition! I like our chances against all of our opponents this year! Some games, however, I like our chances a lot more!

(06-28-2013 06:51 PM)Monarch_Pride Wrote:  You said you saw the Villanova game, right? Definitely an anomaly...

Anyway, we actually throw short passes all day - not this four verticals nonsense. We will probably make an attempt against y'all to experiment with a more balanced attack with some new offensive players to help protect Heinicke.

You better, I can see Rick Smith dialing up some early blitzes to test the O-line.

(06-24-2013 03:50 PM)monarx Wrote:  Its not like moving from CUSA to the AAC is like going to the SEC. Its not much of a step up, it may not even be a step up at all in 5 years...

With all respect, you are incorrect. C-USA football is a shell of what it was.

If invited, Marshall and Southern Miss would jump to the AAC.

(07-05-2013 12:08 PM)chess Wrote:  

(06-24-2013 03:50 PM)monarx Wrote:  Its not like moving from CUSA to the AAC is like going to the SEC. Its not much of a step up, it may not even be a step up at all in 5 years...

With all respect, you are incorrect. C-USA football is a shell of what it was.

If invited, Marshall and Southern Miss would jump to the AAC.

There is no question that the AAC is a superior conference to CUSA. However, given that it isn't a P5 conference, the difference isn't as significant as ECU fans like to tell themselves. Think of the SEC vs the ACC as a football conference. The SEC is the better conference top to bottom, but there are years when the top teams in the ACC can compete with the top teams in the SEC. Pretty much every year the top ACC teams can compete with the average SEC teams. The point is this, the fact that you are in a weaker conference isn't a death sentence for an individual program. The AAC's superiority is a reflection of just that, the conference's superiority. A CUSA team has the potential to be just as good or better than top AAC teams.

(07-05-2013 12:48 PM)Fatalisk Wrote:  Think of the SEC vs the ACC as a football conference. The SEC is the better conference top to bottom, but there are years when the top teams in the ACC can compete with the top teams in the SEC.

CUSA to AAC is much closer than ACC to SEC. The best overall team out of CUSA/AAC is in CUSA with Southern Miss.

Once UTSA, ODU, and Charlotte get full FBS squads (4 years of recruiting) that margin is going to shrink even more.

Good points here. ODU knows from experience that any given team in a generally weaker conference can play with the big boys, we've been doing it basketball for some time now. I expect in a year or 2 we'll be doing it in football. In terms of rpi, it's just as important to have no really lousy teams pulling the conference down as it is to have 3-4 really good teams. What we need is top to bottom fairly equal teams, no bottom feeders! Each school decides its own destiny based on it's success, the conference you are in is not as important. See Butler.

The ACC is to the SEC what CUSA is to the AAC currently. And there are plenty of teams in the ACC better than the SEC any given year. The difference is the separation between CUSA and the AAC will grow smaller as time passes and the newbies recruit to CUSA/AAC/MWC standards. If you're not a power 5 team it doesnt really matter what conference you are in. These ECU guys have convinced themselves that they've arrived and finally reached the football promised land in the AAC, when reality is they're in the same leftover group as the rest of the Go5. We need to join together and get the playoffs expanded to include each 1A conference's champion rather than arguing over which conference sucks the least. And if I were an AAC fan, I would forget about thumping my chest about football anyhow, because the AAC is pretty good in basketball as long as they keep Cincy, UConn and Memphis. Thats where the biggest difference is IMO.

Back to topic. I wanted ODU from day one before they were even talking about it. Huge upside large market and money. They will quickly make the transistion and be competitive in conf usa. Glad to have you guys and look forward to coming down in near future and hope your fans will make trip to Huntington.

(07-05-2013 01:59 PM)wh49er Wrote:  

(07-05-2013 12:48 PM)Fatalisk Wrote:  Think of the SEC vs the ACC as a football conference. The SEC is the better conference top to bottom, but there are years when the top teams in the ACC can compete with the top teams in the SEC.

CUSA to AAC is much closer than ACC to SEC. The best overall team out of CUSA/AAC is in CUSA with Southern Miss.

Once UTSA, ODU, and Charlotte get full FBS squads (4 years of recruiting) that margin is going to shrink even more.

I'm not sure how this could be verified given the talent discrepancy between the SEC/ACC and the AAC/CUSA. It's a different scale of difference. That was never my point anyway.

(07-05-2013 02:59 PM)monarx Wrote:  The ACC is to the SEC what CUSA is to the AAC currently. And there are plenty of teams in the ACC better than the SEC any given year. The difference is the separation between CUSA and the AAC will grow smaller as time passes and the newbies recruit to CUSA/AAC/MWC standards. If you're not a power 5 team it doesnt really matter what conference you are in. These ECU guys have convinced themselves that they've arrived and finally reached the football promised land in the AAC, when reality is they're in the same leftover group as the rest of the Go5. We need to join together and get the playoffs expanded to include each 1A conference's champion rather than arguing over which conference sucks the least. And if I were an AAC fan, I would forget about thumping my chest about football anyhow, because the AAC is pretty good in basketball as long as they keep Cincy, UConn and Memphis. Thats where the biggest difference is IMO.

One need only look at the bowl hierarchy to see which conference has a higher objective outside perception. The AAC will have multiple bowls against P5s... CUSA may have 1. In addition, the AAC will have 6+ bowls while CUSA (with 16 teams) may have only 4 bowls.

As far as the on field ability of each team... I don't foresee a huge difference in the next few years. Both AAC and CUSA will probably have some bottom feeders and some upper level teams. I do think that the AAC teams will have more success OOC and more opportunities against the P5 as time goes on. Should be interesting to see which direction the divide grows or recedes.

(07-05-2013 12:48 PM)Fatalisk Wrote:  

(07-05-2013 12:08 PM)chess Wrote:  

(06-24-2013 03:50 PM)monarx Wrote:  Its not like moving from CUSA to the AAC is like going to the SEC. Its not much of a step up, it may not even be a step up at all in 5 years...

With all respect, you are incorrect. C-USA football is a shell of what it was.

If invited, Marshall and Southern Miss would jump to the AAC.

There is no question that the AAC is a superior conference to CUSA. However, given that it isn't a P5 conference, the difference isn't as significant as ECU fans like to tell themselves. Think of the SEC vs the ACC as a football conference. The SEC is the better conference top to bottom, but there are years when the top teams in the ACC can compete with the top teams in the SEC. Pretty much every year the top ACC teams can compete with the average SEC teams. The point is this, the fact that you are in a weaker conference isn't a death sentence for an individual program. The AAC's superiority is a reflection of just that, the conference's superiority. A CUSA team has the potential to be just as good or better than top AAC teams.

Fair enough. I agree.