The Sun Belt has some bad teams, and I wouldn’t want any part of the SBCW, but top to bottom I’m not sure how one can argue we’re close to them right now. Who knows though, I get the sense that the G5 is a lot like the FCS in that the balance of powers can change quickly within conferences.

(06-01-2022 10:01 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 12:55 AM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  I’m certainly not rooting against any conferencemates, but this is a ground-up rebuilding process for the conference. I’d say CUSA has 5-6 FCS quality programs. NMSU, UTEP, SHSU, FIU and JSU certainly are. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but CUSA is bringing in a couple of true FCS programs that’ll be better than the perennial bottom feeders in the FBS. We’re in a worse position than the WAC or the Sun Belt ever were in. It’s just about how things build back up.

Even more so now than when I made my original statement, I’m confident we’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat in CUSA. As much as I hate the thought of us playing FBS ball, I really think we lucked out getting into CUSA when we did. It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful.

Can't wait for our 1st fb game vs SHSU. I hope the Miners can at least score and keep the Bearkittens under 60. Very scary.

I’d be worried too, especially after lil SFA gave you a scare a couple of years ago. We ain’t Bethune-Cookman, baby.

(06-01-2022 04:06 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 10:01 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 12:55 AM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  I’m certainly not rooting against any conferencemates, but this is a ground-up rebuilding process for the conference. I’d say CUSA has 5-6 FCS quality programs. NMSU, UTEP, SHSU, FIU and JSU certainly are. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but CUSA is bringing in a couple of true FCS programs that’ll be better than the perennial bottom feeders in the FBS. We’re in a worse position than the WAC or the Sun Belt ever were in. It’s just about how things build back up.

Even more so now than when I made my original statement, I’m confident we’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat in CUSA. As much as I hate the thought of us playing FBS ball, I really think we lucked out getting into CUSA when we did. It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful.

Can't wait for our 1st fb game vs SHSU. I hope the Miners can at least score and keep the Bearkittens under 60. Very scary.

I’d be worried too, especially after lil SFA gave you a scare a couple of years ago. We ain’t Bethune-Cookman, baby.

NMSU is a historically bad FBS team. Definitely one of the worst in all of FBS. SHSU has been one of the best FCS teams recently, highlighted by your natty. I agree that the top of the FCS and bottom of the FBS overlap and/or that the top of the FCS is probably better than the FBS bottom feeders. But NMSU regularly beats FCS schools. Not necessarily the Dakotas or SHSU, but I think you may be a little overly optimistic about grabbing "some easy FBS" wins.

(06-01-2022 04:06 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 10:01 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 12:55 AM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  I’m certainly not rooting against any conferencemates, but this is a ground-up rebuilding process for the conference. I’d say CUSA has 5-6 FCS quality programs. NMSU, UTEP, SHSU, FIU and JSU certainly are. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but CUSA is bringing in a couple of true FCS programs that’ll be better than the perennial bottom feeders in the FBS. We’re in a worse position than the WAC or the Sun Belt ever were in. It’s just about how things build back up.

Even more so now than when I made my original statement, I’m confident we’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat in CUSA. As much as I hate the thought of us playing FBS ball, I really think we lucked out getting into CUSA when we did. It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful.

Can't wait for our 1st fb game vs SHSU. I hope the Miners can at least score and keep the Bearkittens under 60. Very scary.

I’d be worried too, especially after lil SFA gave you a scare a couple of years ago. We ain’t Bethune-Cookman, baby.

In that game we were starting the rebuild of the worst era in our recent history. We had gone 2-33 over the previous 3 years when we played SFA. We've come a long way from that game. I think you guys will do fine in FBS but the first years will struggle to reach above .500.

"It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful." quote from Eat Em Up 11

Yep, maybe if you can win some fbs games you can get as many as 14k into your stadium. By the way, can you seat 14k. I'm just axing because I know squat about your stadium and as far as fcs teams go they don't have too many seats. Maybe you can seat 15k, man that's a lot. *snicker*

The best FCS are definitely as good as some FBS, until you get to the 2 and 3 deep. Which come October & November you will be. Completely different playing an FBS game and playing 12. Portal may help in transitions now, we’ll see. NMSU and FIU are currently bad, the same cannot be said anymore about UTEP. And LT having a bad year means zilch for the 2023 and on seasons. I peg SHSU & JSU conference wins coming in at 3-4 and that’s allowing for an upset.

(06-01-2022 05:00 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  "It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful." quote from Eat Em Up 11

Yep, maybe if you can win some fbs games you can get as many as 14k into your stadium. By the way, can you seat 14k. I'm just axing because I know squat about your stadium and as far as fcs teams go they don't have too many seats. Maybe you can seat 15k, man that's a lot. *snicker*

I’m not too sure that’s a concern. If we can pull 10k for the first few years I’ll be pumped. Bowers seats 14k officially I believe, but attendance has exceeded it multiple times, most notably in the 1990s when Steve McNair and Alcorn State came to town which drew 17,000 people. Also went over capacity for the semifinals in 2011.

But you’re correct, by average FCS standards Bowers is inadequate and we draw poorly despite successful play.

(06-01-2022 05:34 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  The best FCS are definitely as good as some FBS, until you get to the 2 and 3 deep. Which come October & November you will be. Completely different playing an FBS game and playing 12. Portal may help in transitions now, we’ll see. NMSU and FIU are currently bad, the same cannot be said anymore about UTEP. And LT having a bad year means zilch for the 2023 and on seasons. I peg SHSU & JSU conference wins coming in at 3-4 and that’s allowing for an upset.

That’s kind of what I expect to happen. I don’t expect to roll in and beat up on LaTech or WKU or Liberty. Those are established successful FBS caliber programs. But cmon now, there’s no need to fake humble worries about FIU, NMSU or JSU. They’re not exactly the standards for FBS level ball at the moment. Sagarin has FIU behind Tarleton State and Abilene freaking Christian!! We beat those schools all the time. I can’t lie, if we don’t go 4-4 in year one, I’ll be disappointed.

By the way, with Kill at the helm I DO think NMSU can be an asset to CUSA football down the road. Just not going to happen immediately.

(06-01-2022 06:51 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  That’s kind of what I expect to happen. I don’t expect to roll in and beat up on LaTech or WKU or Liberty. Those are established successful FBS caliber programs. But cmon now, there’s no need to fake humble worries about FIU, NMSU or JSU. They’re not exactly the standards for FBS level ball at the moment. Sagarin has FIU behind Tarleton State and Abilene freaking Christian!! We beat those schools all the time. I can’t lie, if we don’t go 4-4 in year one, I’ll be disappointed.

Sagarin once had non scholarships Harvard ranked something like 32nd in the final poll of the season.

(06-01-2022 04:06 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 10:01 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 12:55 AM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  I’m certainly not rooting against any conferencemates, but this is a ground-up rebuilding process for the conference. I’d say CUSA has 5-6 FCS quality programs. NMSU, UTEP, SHSU, FIU and JSU certainly are. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but CUSA is bringing in a couple of true FCS programs that’ll be better than the perennial bottom feeders in the FBS. We’re in a worse position than the WAC or the Sun Belt ever were in. It’s just about how things build back up.

Even more so now than when I made my original statement, I’m confident we’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat in CUSA. As much as I hate the thought of us playing FBS ball, I really think we lucked out getting into CUSA when we did. It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful.

Can't wait for our 1st fb game vs SHSU. I hope the Miners can at least score and keep the Bearkittens under 60. Very scary.

I’d be worried too, especially after lil SFA gave you a scare a couple of years ago. We ain’t Bethune-Cookman, baby.

Our football teams have only played twice. Both teams had losing records both years.

1990 UTEP won a close one 17-10.

2003 UTEP won another nail biter 59-14.

Both schools should have good teams when we next meet.

(06-01-2022 07:01 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 06:51 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  That’s kind of what I expect to happen. I don’t expect to roll in and beat up on LaTech or WKU or Liberty. Those are established successful FBS caliber programs. But cmon now, there’s no need to fake humble worries about FIU, NMSU or JSU. They’re not exactly the standards for FBS level ball at the moment. Sagarin has FIU behind Tarleton State and Abilene freaking Christian!! We beat those schools all the time. I can’t lie, if we don’t go 4-4 in year one, I’ll be disappointed.

Sagarin once had non scholarships Harvard ranked something like 32nd in the final poll of the season.

Right you are. Sagarin has always bbeen an extremely unreliable ranking system especially when including FCS and FBS teams. There are countless posts in many forums decrying the ridiculous ratings released by Sagarin.

(06-01-2022 07:02 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 04:06 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 10:01 AM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 12:55 AM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  I’m certainly not rooting against any conferencemates, but this is a ground-up rebuilding process for the conference. I’d say CUSA has 5-6 FCS quality programs. NMSU, UTEP, SHSU, FIU and JSU certainly are. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but CUSA is bringing in a couple of true FCS programs that’ll be better than the perennial bottom feeders in the FBS. We’re in a worse position than the WAC or the Sun Belt ever were in. It’s just about how things build back up.

Even more so now than when I made my original statement, I’m confident we’ll be able to be competitive right off the bat in CUSA. As much as I hate the thought of us playing FBS ball, I really think we lucked out getting into CUSA when we did. It’ll allow us to grab some easy FBS wins and hopefully bring in some fans as well as develop the infrastructure needed to be successful.

Can't wait for our 1st fb game vs SHSU. I hope the Miners can at least score and keep the Bearkittens under 60. Very scary.

I’d be worried too, especially after lil SFA gave you a scare a couple of years ago. We ain’t Bethune-Cookman, baby.

Our football teams have only played twice. Both teams had losing records both years.

1990 UTEP won a close one 17-10.

2003 UTEP won another nail biter 59-14.

Both schools should have good teams when we next meet.

2003 was the year we lost to Cal Poly. We were an awful team.

You know, I appreciate the JSU and SHSU fans being this bold. It will help fuel the fire when we all start playing. I say keep it up. Personally I think SHSU probably goes 5-3 or 4-4 in conference play year one. JSU I think will be 2-6 or 3-5. They both should be better than FIU or NMSU right away. Obviously there are a lot of new coaches so that may change quickly. UCF went from 0-12 to 13-0 in two seasons. A lot can change very quickly.

I think there is a lot of potential here and we could have a nice conference after a few years. The top of the FCS can play with the G5 but the middle of the MVFC are not on par with the middle of CUSA. Last year Illinois state lost 28-0 to WMU. WIU lost to Ball St 31-21. UND lost to Utah State 48-24. I know these aren’t CUSA teams but that gives you an idea how those schools have faired.

It’s hard to predict but Jax St has always performed better against greater competition. However g5 schools are often not greater competition. I kinda doubt we go 2-6. Even in a bad year we beat FIU and FSU all the while losing to fcs teams. I believe had we had a more disciplined team we would have performed much better.

(06-01-2022 08:55 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  They both should be better than FIU or NMSU right away.

Underestimate Jerry Kill at your own peril. NMSU will be good, especially with their rivalry with UTEP to add spark.

(06-01-2022 10:40 AM)whupemall Wrote:  I used Sagarin ratings to compare everything. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do for an apples-to-apples comparison, especially since FCS teams were involved.

Just in case anyone missed this. I said it for a reason.

If there's a better ranking system out there which ranks FBS and FCS on the same scale, please post a link. I'll be happy to re-do my list, which wasn't intended to say how awesome FCS teams are, but quite the opposite:

The MVFC -- the absolute, top-tier, undisputed, creme-de-la-creme conference in FCS (and it's not even close) -- would only be an average G5 conference, and nearly half its members would be fighting to stay out of the FBS cellar.

No other FCS conference even compares.

JSU, SHSU, and JMU have their work cut out for them.

(06-02-2022 04:27 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 08:55 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  They both should be better than FIU or NMSU right away.

Underestimate Jerry Kill at your own peril. NMSU will be good, especially with their rivalry with UTEP to add spark.

Agree. I expect NMSU will be much better much sooner than most think. I hope our local rivalry is played as the last football game of the season.

Jax St and SHSU will prove to be good additions. Even CUSA detractors concede that it will be a pretty strong basketball conference but I think the conference will surprise a lot of folks by being a good G5 football conference as well. Give it a couple of years.

(06-02-2022 11:16 AM)whupemall Wrote:  

(06-01-2022 10:40 AM)whupemall Wrote:  I used Sagarin ratings to compare everything. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do for an apples-to-apples comparison, especially since FCS teams were involved.

Just in case anyone missed this. I said it for a reason.

If there's a better ranking system out there which ranks FBS and FCS on the same scale, please post a link. I'll be happy to re-do my list, which wasn't intended to say how awesome FCS teams are, but quite the opposite:

The MVFC -- the absolute, top-tier, undisputed, creme-de-la-creme conference in FCS (and it's not even close) -- would only be an average G5 conference, and nearly half its members would be fighting to stay out of the FBS cellar.

No other FCS conference even compares.

JSU, SHSU, and JMU have their work cut out for them.

CONFERENCE PLAYERS DRAFTED
SEC 65
Big Ten 48
Big 12 25
Pac-12 25
ACC 21
AAC 19
Mountain West 11
Missouri Valley Football Conference 8
C-USA 6
MAC 6
Sun Belt 6
Independent 5
Big Sky 3
SoCon 2
SWAC 2
CAA 1
CIAA (DII) 1
Great American (DII) 1
Gulf South (DII) 1
Ivy 1
MEAC 1
MIAA (DII) 1
Patriot 1
South Atlantic (DII) 1
WAC 1

I get you guys. I understand what you're saying.. But let's look at it empirically. Look at the massive decline in attendance.. Yes GUNS, we know thats a loaded stat.. But when bragging about 10K in the stands.... CMON

Now, if that boosts new members numbers, awesome... maybe they get to 15-20K

Attendance in CUSA was 25-28K when we joined... I am not saying anything bad about CUSA. I know attendance has declined overall... but is that our schools that arent doing the job to get people in and to buy in?