Eagle1855

I don't know, there wasn't a single undefeated team left out. All Baylor or TCU had to do was win one more game. They didn't. Boo hoo. None of this will be solved until they expand to 8, take the conference championships from each P5 conference + three at-large.

All this talk about having a presence is Arkansas and Louisiana really means nothing to North Texas. UNT needs to be a household name in its own state, first and foremost. I couldn't possibly care less about how we do in TV's in the state of Arkansas. I want Central Texas and Houston-area recruits to grow up knowing about UNT's football program. Adding Texas State is the best option for NT. And that's all I care about.

The problem was also that he'd been coaching a bunch of suburban kids who were average athletes that knew a quality offensive system backwards and forwards and got punched squarely in the mouth when we rolled into Norman, admitting as much when he said he was surprised by the speed of the players. From that point forward, it was pretty obvious he was way out of his element. He should have been a QB coach. Then an OC. After that, he'd have had a good enough understanding of the college game to know you need to have grown-up defensive schemes in place and that you can't run a bunch of dump passes and bubble screens against LB's and safeties who are bigger and faster than your skill players. In my opinion, Morris is a different kind of hire entirely.

I think he's going to do well at SMU. And by so doing, SMU will continue to separate themselves from UNT athletics. They've done it with basketball. They'll do it with football. But we'll always have the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Of course, it's doesn't have to be that way. There's just nothing on the horizon that suggests otherwise, in football or basketball. This is one instance where I'd love to be wrong.

This answers some of my above question. I should have just waited for your post.

I thought this too, at first. Then I thought, he's kind of stuck in the middle of this, whether by his own doing or otherwise. The board is above him, passing down this sentence. It's his job to pass it along. He could make a stand, but he'd likely be out of a job (and we have no way of knowing that he hasn't stood up to them, for the football team, in this process). I imagine he'd have a tough time finding another job with a university if the reason he lost his last job was due to disagreement/insubordination with the board. But I may have this wrong. Does the president of a University have the ability to go against the recommendations or wishes of its board?

I'd love to have Army back in the C-USA fold. I would assume you'd have to put them in the East, send someone else West. Of course, this would also put RV back on the OOC scheduling trail...

I agree, but I fear we, as a conference, could beat Big XII and SEC teams a couple times a year, and no one's ever going to think highly of a group that includes FAU, FIU, MTSU, WKU, ODU, et. al. Just my opinion. But I'd love to be wrong for once in my life*. *jokes

It would have made a hell of a lot more sense to implement an 8-team playoff years ago. Then you could have had six 12-team BCS conferences. Each would play one non-conf game (no FCS games) and 11 conference games every year. Each conference's true champion would get one of 6 spots reserved for conference champions with two at-large for highest-ranked non-BCS and another highly-ranked non-champ BCS team. Then we wouldn't have had the mess of the 2010-13 realignment. And the regular season means everything. You can maintain the spirit of bowl season. And at the end of the day, there's one true champion declared at the end of each season. But none of it matters now.

I would say our best bet is to build up North Texas. We've seen time and time again that the moment a program gets an invite to what is perceived to be a better conference, they're gone. There's no sense of community or responsibility to the greater sum. And I'm not sure there should be. There's only one person to look out for and that's Number One. TCU worried about TCU. It worked out for them. A&M worried about A&M, it paid off. Texas State won't hang back in the Sun Belt if C-USA comes calling. I think the only BCS conference SMU would ever have a chance of ending up in is the ACC, if it decided to spread its wings and grab at Texas team on its way to a 16-team conference. Their renewed commitment to basketball would be an asset. A&M would bar any move to the SEC; Texas, Baylor, TCU, Tech have no incentive to add another D/FW area program; the academics aren't good enough for the B1G; and the Pac 12 just doesn't seem like a good fit, culturally or academically.

Speaking of, anyone heard any sort of timeline for replacing UAB? How soon could that feasibly happen?

C-USA would have a say in that we've got a pretty good-sized exit fee in place. But SMU and UH have zero incentive to let us into the AAC. UTSA will go AAC before we ever get considered. There's nowhere for us to go. Our option is to win and to win often; to build a program that is associated with winning. That's it. That's all we can control. Right now, I'm not sure that's the path we are on.

yeah, but I can't imagine the Board allows that to happen. 50k UAB fans showing up for the final game -- showing everyone what it would have been like if the program had ever been given a fair shake -- won't be good for U of A brass...

It's over. It's all over.

Yes. And they are immediately eligible, per NCAA.

pieces of sky falling all around me.

I think the fact that we just built a new stadium and invested substantially in other football-related facilities shows we are a long way away from that.

Such clairvoyance. And so it is.

More everything, sky waitress!

Portland State isn't sexy, but as I understand it, UNT will also be playing at home that weekend as well, yes? So that's the team I'll be excited to go see.

The only addition that does us (UNT, my only interest, as I couldn't care less about C-USA as a whole) any good is to add another 30k+ student Texas school to the mix. More eyes. More brand awareness. And, if you go by the sheer number of times we've played one another, an historic rivalry. ULL does nothing for UNT. Neither does NMSU (which is halfway to California) or Arkansas State. But another in-state football game every year? That's good for UNT -- a school that's comparatively unknown, outside of D/FW. And this is why I beat the Texas State drum.

Asking BYU to join C-USA would be like asking Will Muschamp to take the UNT defensive coordinator job.

i don't think we can drop a team, but if we could, either of the F_U's would be fine with me. otherwise, add Texas State.

Is that possible? I thought these were separate money issues.

I'd love to fill their stadium with green. Send them into a silent count at home.