The COVID-19 pandemic has left little choice. C-USA and the Sun Belt have to realign

[meangreen11]

Between C-USA and the Sun Belt, there are 24 schools that could easily be split into two 12-team conferences or three eight-team conferences.

Former Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, who led the conference from 2012-19, has always believed there’s too much overlap between his former league and C-USA.

“I still firmly believe that North Texas and Texas State and UT-San Antonio need to be in the same conference,” he said. “(Louisiana-Lafayette) and La. Tech need to be in the same conference. Southern Miss and South Alabama need to be in the same conference. That’s the same for Troy and UAB, and Charlotte and App State.”

One solution would be to merge the C-USA West and the Sun Belt West and then do the same for the East.

That means Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, La. Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Arkansas State, North Texas, Rice, UTSA and UTEP would be lumped together in the West

In the East, it would be Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Marshall, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy and Coastal Carolina.

If C-USA and the Sun Belt dissolved to create three more regional conferences, independent football programs like UConn, Liberty, New Mexico State and UMass could also factor in as members.

read more:  https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/article242750786.html

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by meangreen11

[wardly]

ULM should not be invited into any reorganization of CUSA/SBC. La. Tech will never play them , and with only a $16 athletic budget, lowest in D1, the War Hawks should drop down. I also would not include UTEP [reference NMSU], as they are geographically undesirable, and none of the programs east of UNT want to travel to El Paso. That would leave a 10 school conference, which seems to work for the Big 12. However, I don't see any of this occurring. I think we will wait until 2023/2025 when P5 T.V. contracts are up for renewal and see what happens. Arizona ,Arizona State could leave PAC 12 and move to Big 12, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State could move to SEC, Teas could go independent, hell could freeze over. Who knows?

[untbowler]

4 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

Between C-USA and the Sun Belt, there are 24 schools that could easily be split into two 12-team conferences or three eight-team conferences.

Former Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, who led the conference from 2012-19, has always believed there’s too much overlap between his former league and C-USA.

“I still firmly believe that North Texas and Texas State and UT-San Antonio need to be in the same conference,” he said. “(Louisiana-Lafayette) and La. Tech need to be in the same conference. Southern Miss and South Alabama need to be in the same conference. That’s the same for Troy and UAB, and Charlotte and App State.”

One solution would be to merge the C-USA West and the Sun Belt West and then do the same for the East.

That means Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, La. Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Arkansas State, North Texas, Rice, UTSA and UTEP would be lumped together in the West

In the East, it would be Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Marshall, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy and Coastal Carolina.

If C-USA and the Sun Belt dissolved to create three more regional conferences, independent football programs like UConn, Liberty, New Mexico State and UMass could also factor in as members.

read more:  https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/article242750786.html

 

you forget UTA and UALR are also non-football Sun Belt. 

Personally think UTA, UALR, ULM should all drop to Southland Conference. Troy should move to Southern Conference or Big South

Edited May 15, 2020 by untbowler

[Rudy]

Hell, why doesn't UTA add football?  One more drivable road trip. Yay for us!!

[GrandGreen]

There are plenty of choices, the most likely nothing will change. 

[UNTexas]

How about we just leave CUSA altogether. This situation is a massive step back for our entire athletic department. 

[Wag Tag]

More regional games are going to be a Financial must for all Conferences.

[dml7007]

Love to see this form. Far fetched but would be a great conference. 
 

football schools 

North Texas

SMU

Houston

Rice

UTSA

Texas State 

La Tech

U LA

Arkansas state

Tulane

Basketball and others 

UTA

UArk lr

 

 

 

 

[Arkstfan]

5 hours ago, untbowler said:

you forget UTA and UALR are also non-football Sun Belt. 

Personally think UTA, UALR, ULM should all drop to Southland Conference. Troy should move to Southern Conference or Big South

They are useful for hoops and volleyball where you can hit two schools on one flight by having them. 

[NM Green]

No bueno. no south Alabama no ULM no uta no Little Rock. Please get us out of this proposed configuration. 
GMG

[NT93]

Maybe my perception is skewed, but I see UNT, Marshall, Southern Miss, Rice, UTEP, UAB, Troy, and La Tech as a step above the rest.  I might even add MTSU and Ark. St to my list.

I’m not saying these schools necessarily have the best football programs, just that, in my opinion, they have better name recognition.

[Mean Green Matt]

How about for this one season we just do a Texas Conference. North Texas, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, and UTEP in the North. Texas, TAMU, UTSA, Texas State, Houston, and Rice in the south. 

[C Rod]

1 hour ago, Mean Green Matt said:

How about for this one season we just do a Texas Conference. North Texas, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, and UTEP in the North. Texas, TAMU, UTSA, Texas State, Houston, and Rice in the south. 

I actually set up this conference in NCAA Football ‘14 on PS3 and it’s been a blast to play. I call it the BigTex conference. 😂

[Aquila_Viridis]

Why would anyone care what words come out of the small mind of KB?

[Rudy]

13 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

Why would anyone care what words come out of the small mind of KB?

I think he's just trolling us to let us know he's still around and has a UNT poster on his ceiling above his bed. 

[untjim1995]

This should’ve already happened a few years ago. We are all wasting time and money doing this ridiculous conference setup. 
 

Im a huge proponent of the MWC, but without that as an option, the only other play is to fix our current situation in the easiest way. Getting UTEP, UTSA, Rice, TX State, us, La Tech, Arky State, ULL, USM, UAB, Troy, and South Alabama just makes sense. Add in UTA/UALR for hoops. Again, this just makes too much sense.

[RBP79]

https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/university-of-southern-mississippi/article83199052.html

More from Hattisburg..

[wardly]

6 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

This should’ve already happened a few years ago. We are all wasting time and money doing this ridiculous conference setup. 
 

Im a huge proponent of the MWC, but without that as an option, the only other play is to fix our current situation in the easiest way. Getting UTEP, UTSA, Rice, TX State, us, La Tech, Arky State, ULL, USM, UAB, Troy, and South Alabama just makes sense. Add in UTA/UALR for hoops. Again, this just makes too much sense.

Either drop ULM and UTEP to get to 10 football playing programs, or exchange NMSU for ULM to stay at 12. Five Texas programs plus NMSU makes up West, others make up East. I would prefer have just 10 programs and play a round robin, but since none of this is ever going to happen its a mute point.

[RBP79]

So once again CUSA is left at the alter when it comes to TV contracts. So this is the best Judy Macleod and staff could do??  

I mean with Pac12/and some MWC schools appearing to not want to play this year I would of thought we could of got a better deal...assuming we play..there is a reason why the prestige of CUSA has disappeared and the buck stops in Irving.

[buff64]

Don't forget Tarleton is now a D-1 school and WT is now close .

[FirefightnRick]

1 hour ago, buff64 said:

Don't forget Tarleton .

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/05/15/western-kentucky-football-steven-duncan-transfers-to-fcs-tarleton-state/amp/

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

1 hour ago, RBP79 said:

So once again CUSA is left at the alter when it comes to TV contracts. So this is the best Judy Macleod and staff could do??  

I mean with Pac12/and some MWC schools appearing to not want to play this year I would of thought we could of got a better deal...assuming we play..there is a reason why the prestige of CUSA has disappeared and the buck stops in Irving.

We are set up for failure when your conference tournament is inside a football practice facility...

Please no ULM they are the poorest team in the FBS and have awful facilities and teams. I would rather have an uneven number, like the AAC now, than have the horrid programs like ULM 

We all thought this move to the CUSA was going to be a step in the right direction, but it feels that if we were in the SBC right now we would be a better program... maybe not

[drex]

No no no to Northeast Louisiana.  By the way, if Benson had a mirror above his bed instead of a UNT poster he might do better.

[southsideguy]

Screw the teams I don't want Benson back, but not not sure Judy is any better?  Hate to say it out loud but I think Wren would run circles around those two and would be a lot better for CUSA.  I prefer to keep him here.

[MCMLXXX]

5 hours ago, RBP79 said:

https://www.sunherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/university-of-southern-mississippi/article83199052.html

More from Hattisburg..

That  column is originally from 2016. It says updated but still a lot of outdated info.

Edited May 16, 2020 by MCMLXXX