UTEPDallas
Heisman
Posts: 6,015
Joined: Oct 2004
Reputation: 336
I Root For: UTEP/Penn State
Location: Dallas, TX
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RE: 2018 Final Conference Rankings (Massey Composite)
(01-10-2019 09:10 AM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote: (01-10-2019 07:56 AM)BePcr07 Wrote: (01-10-2019 06:45 AM)quo vadis Wrote: (01-10-2019 02:44 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote: It was a good year for the Sun Belt, but it’s not an unfamiliar spot. They’ve finished 3rd best among the G5 3 times in the last 6 seasons (2018, 2016, 2013).
Interesting. I had assumed the SB had always been around last. Not sure why.
The Sun Belt always gave me that sense, as well. But, after thinking, the top of the conference is GOOD. It does carry some dead weight. It should rid itself of Texas St and UL Monroe. Keep the remaining 8 and invite FAU, FIU, MTSU, WKU, SOMS, UAB, LT, NTX.
West: North Texas, Arkansas St, Louisiana Tech, UL Lafayette, Southern Miss, UAB, South Alabama, Troy
East: Wesrern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St, Appalachian St, Coastal Carolina, Georgia St, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Florida International
This new Sun Belt would be very good.
FAU and FIU were the dead weight when they were in the Sun Belt. They left the Sun Belt to join CUSA with MTSU, WKU, and UNT who were all thinking they were taking a step up when in reality it was a step to the left. On top of that they added UNCC, ODU, UTSA, and UTEP which further drove down CUSA's historic competitiveness until now they find themselves at the bottom of the FBS with the worst media deal, worst conference payout, and worst travel expenses compared to budget.
Meanwhile, instead of raiding the bottom teams of adjacent conferences, the Sun Belt added historically strong teams from the FCS who were ready to compete right away. The rest is history.
What historical competitiveness?
C-USA has been bad since July 1, 2005.
It was a legit basketball conference in its first version. It was a 3-5 bid league and football was becoming competitive with TCU, Louisville and Southern Miss.
In its second version, it was a one bid league under Calipari’s Memphis who eventually left and got the Tigers in trouble. UTEP and UAB challenged Memphis but it wasn’t enough to beat them. The rest of the conference were RPI killers which hurt UTEP and UAB. Our football champs were constantly embarrassed in OOC and bowls. The only time the 2.0 shined was when ranked Houston hosted ranked Southern Miss in the CCG with a BCS bid on the line for Houston which we all know lost.
3.0 is not that different from 2.0 from a competitive standpoint but we don’t have a team or two in football and basketball that’s separating from the rest. Like 2.0, 3.0 are a bunch of mediocre teams beating other mediocre teams. Some people call it parity. I call it mediocrity. Yes, UTEP is guilty as charged. We had an AD who kept coaches for too long. Mike Price should’ve been fired after the 2009 season and Tim Floyd after the 2014 season. Luckily that AD retired and those two coaches are gone but it’ll be hard to motivate the fanbase again. We went from a solid 28k-30k in football and 8k in basketball to 17k and 5k respectively.
That’s why I laugh when people look at 2.0 as this conference that was like the MWC of Utah, BYU and TCU. It sucked losing teams to the Big East/AAC but UCF didn’t take off until they left. Same for Houston and Memphis. SMU is still SMU, Tulane still sucks and Tulsa and East Carolina tanked.
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