shaft

Just to stir the pot. Say there's no merger and CUSA goes back to 12. Why are folks lobbying for Mid Tenn (as one poster wants to call them)? Wouldn't FAU make more sense. Brings more of the Miami market, better facilities, Florida recruiting. CUSA-East Marshall/ECU FIU/FAU UAB/Southern Miss CUSA-West Tulane/LA Tech Rice/Tulsa UTEP/UNT

I think everyone knew they were looking at a scheduling alliance to pre-date the move to a full merger/new conference. The real question is are these reports that there isn't going to be a full merger ever? Or is just that it's going to be an alliance first? The big difference between the two options would be the need for expansion candidates. A scheduling alliance with merger to come would like be 10 teams in each conference. No merger/new conference could mean two 12 team conferences.

So you want to go with pro-UTSA blog over the newspaper link, that post dates your blog, and happens to be the title post for this thread? The ball is in UTEP's court not UTSA's.

What article says UTSA is third behind the three teams that are "in" ? If its only an alliance, UTEP isn't moving and this is a non-issue. All the new found UTSA love on the board is fun an all, but completely ignores the real needs of the MWC teams.

Yeah, but they wouldn't be a better option than any of the teams out west. Do you really think any of the MWC schools are going to want UTSA over San Jose State?

I bet we can fill those slots with D1/FBS opponents. There are now 125 FBS teams. Plus we won't be the only team who's schedule changes because of conference realignment. SBC and WAC teams will also have holes to fill.

UTSA in the West? There's is absolutely nothing to support that. Even if the runners are willing to whatever the alliance asks, why would the Pacific & Mountain Time Zones schools want that?

I like how your answer to @Tulsa is "needs to be replaced with a home game"

So if those 3 are in, the real question is what UTEP is going to do? It seems like they would only change affiliations if there is a full merger/new conference. Full Merger: MWC Hawaii Fresno State UNLV Nevada Utah State Colorado State Air Force New Mexico Wyoming UTEP??? CUSA Tulsa UNT Rice Tulane LA Tech or UTSA??? Southern Miss UAB FIU ECU Marshall Two Conference Scheduling Alliance: MWC Hawaii Fresno State San Jose State UNLV Nevada Colorado State Air Force New Mexico Wyoming Utah State CUSA UTEP Tulsa UNT Rice Tulane Southern Miss UAB FIU ECU Marshall

Jazz heads? We had an overall good attendance year and the weather for the last game was horrible.

Don't be an ass and wrong. Like it or not LA Tech has a higher college football profile than any of the Merger/Alliance expansion candidates including UNT. But as we found out when CUSA added UTEP for the 12th spot, profile isn't everything. And let not compare anyone to ULM. Monroe is one of the worst program in FBS and by far the worst team in the Sun Belt. We should be embarrassed to be in conference with the War Hawks, they are the only team in the Belt that hasn't been able to go .500 in the past 11 years.

Problem is you've got 13 teams for 10 slots at best.

Where did you get that from? If it was a full merger UTEP was looking at going West. But it looks it going to be a scheduling alliance first, before it becomes a full merger later. UTEP has also been pretty public about wanting to keep Texas ties, but looking forward to a few more Western games.

If its true...Just think of the drinking games we could play every time this guy scores.

We won't know if its going to be an alliance or a merger until June. The university presidents have agreed to meet every 60-90 days and update what their different committees have been working on. They have to decide on their operational structure before they can pick and expansion option An alliance would likely have both conference go to 10. A full merger could keep the number low at 16 or 18. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/brett-mcmurphy/18065204/new-c-usa-mwc-league-will-be-completed-by-early-june

Maybe I missed it but has anyone seen any national new coverage of Georgia State's move to the Sun Belt? I never saw the headline on ESPN College football page and had to search out the story?

I'll preface this with I would love for UNT to be in the same conference with LA Tech. They'd be a good rival; half days drive, regional relevance, higher profile, etc. etc. But the real question is what Tech done since getting passed over for 12th spot in CUSA 7 years ago? UNT passed a new athletic fee, built a new stadium, upgraded its football coach, been the NCAA BB tournament twice, built a new business building, and increased student enrollment. LA Tech has launched a capital campaign to further themselves for UL-M, which is a pretty low standard, but what have they built?

I think the GA Addition gives us a good idea of what's really going on. LA Tech & UTSA said they wanted to see how things played out with the alliance/merger. The school presidents all agreed on Georgia State because of the market and previous connection to the SBC, but were ready to wait out the merger as well. CAA comes along and tries to hold GA State up for an extra $750k, and the SBC throws their new little buddy a break. I just don't like the new SBC divisions. East FIU FAU WKY MTSU GA St Troy West USA ULL ULM ARK St UNT +1

Sssshhh. Don't tell Bensen.

Can we change the title of this thread to "Merger Tweet"

Why? The Vandal fans I've encountered are raving lunatics. They play in an airplane hanger, they were horrible when they were in the Belt. They don't deserve to be in FBS/D1/Big Boy Football.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-state/georgia-state-ready-for-1411838.html "Finances played into the timing. Georgia State must pay an exit fee of at least $250,000 to leave the CAA. The conference is scheduled to vote on Tuesday whether to increase the exit fee to $1 million, which sped up negotiations. Levick said Georgia State will not participate in Tuesday's vote. There also will be a $300,000 entry fee to join the Sun Belt." The SBC made the move to save GA State $750k.

UAB & UTEP's Board of Regents have voted to authorize the school presidents to change conference, which is a pretty good sign. One of the major hold ups to a full merger seems to be leaving money on the table from the departing schools, by shifting to scheduling alliance then first, they can keep that cash.

With more signs pointing to full merger than scheduling alliance, one thing no one is talking about is the possibility of some sort of combination of the two. While the schools are working their way out of the current conference it is possible to operate in a scheduling alliance with each other until the new conference is ready to go. This let's CUSA hang out and collect Memphis' buyout, while the alliance renegotiates its TV deal. The bad news about this is it means they could delay adding teams for one season while they work everything out.

The real question is will colorado state get the LSU treatment from the NCAA when it comes to punishments?