Teams to Replace UH, Cincinnati, and UCF?

[DeepGreen]

49 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

They are truly awful. LSU, CU, WVU, and Wisconsin are all considered the worst in the other power conferences, but its impossible for me to imagine any of them being worse than Tech.

Ever go to an LSU game in Baton Rouge?  Worst fans on earth.

[untjim1995]

11 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

Ever go to an LSU game in Baton Rouge?  Worst fans on earth.

Ive been there a few times--still didn't find them as awful as Tech fans, but that probably had more to do with us being a bought OOC game to LSU, unlike the Tech series where we beat them twice and should have won a third game if we hadn't fumbled away the game on a breakaway TD that got punched out by their safety. Those Tech fans were ready to fight every time we played, even in Irving...

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

2 hours ago, ColoradoEagle said:

SMU doesn't have veto power, lol. We're well ahead of those schools in a hypothetical conference realignment. UTSA doesn't even have their own football stadium. UTSA, Marshall, and La Tech (especially the last two) run on a Sun Belt level athletic budget. UTEP is in a no man's land travel-wise, and is not enticing to anyone. Rice Stadium is always embarrassing on TV and they haven't had a winning season in 7 years.

There's no telling what will happen with all of this. That said, we're in a better position than a lot of people think, just not the position we could ideally be in.

 

Exactly. They have the same amount of bowl wins and wins since 2010 as us. Nothing is special about what they’ve done, and people act like this is the 70s where they were cheating.

If I’m being unbiased here, we are one of the more top contenders in cusa to move up. 

[Jonnyeagle]

1 minute ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Exactly. They have the same amount of bowl wins and wins since 2010 as us. Nothing is special about what they’ve done, and people act like this is the 70s where they were cheating.

If I’m being unbiased here, we are one of the more top contenders in cusa to move up. 

And also our academics are much better than most of them as well

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

Just now, Jonnyeagle said:

And also our academics are much better than most of them as well

People are saying ODU and Southern Miss, but those places are far from ideal and USM is such a poor campus and overall athletic department. ODU has won 3 games in the last 3 years, unfortunately one was against us, but they still would be at the bottom of the pile. I could imagine if we have a solid year in football, we move up sooner than later

[RBP79]

18 hours ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Criteria

 

5 hours ago, MeanGreenTeeth said:

Tech fans are the worst in the world...

If you had to live Lubbock you might be a little "Touched" also ....

[denton_days]

You could very well make a case for UNT, and I'd hope that the university would put their best foot forward in trying to get into the ACC, but I know we're not getting any shares of that, and that's fine. I think the only other C-USA teams that have a shot would be Marshall (marginally better chance than us) and UAB. I think it would be better to hope for a shakeout that puts us with a couple other promising schools that can rise themselves up out of the bottom of the barrel as a conference. 

[GrayEagle]

My choices are UAB, Rice and North Texas.  We would likely have to expand our stadium to 40,000.

Hopefully, Temple and East Carolina pull out and Navy decides to go independent in the near future and the conference moves further south. 

 

[wardly]

Teams I have seen listed for AAC expansion are Boise,SDSU, Colorado State,[ I can't see a MWC team move to AAC but I have been wrong before],Buffalo,UAB WKy,LA.Tech, Liberty [Jesus come with them],App State, Coastal Carolina,ULL,UTSA, and UNT.The" BACKSNAPPERS"of Parker College of Chiropractic Medicine got a strong maybe.

[MCMLXXX]

We are mentioned here.

https://www.si.com/college/2021/09/08/big-12-expansion-aac-mike-aresco-reaction

[Jonnyeagle]

19 minutes ago, MCMLXXX said:

We are mentioned here.

https://www.si.com/college/2021/09/08/big-12-expansion-aac-mike-aresco-reaction

[PlummMeanGreen]

46 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

My favorite scene of that movie, although the Jeff Daniels diarrhea scene was close to it.  
 

🦅

Edited September 9, 2021 by PlummMeanGreen

[MeanGreen22]

I think people need to remember that, yes, football plays a huge role in conference realignment. But so does the athletic department as a whole, the facilities, endowment, student enrollment, etc. You put all those together and UNT definitely should be on a short list for any potential conference “upgrade.”

Edited September 9, 2021 by MeanGreen22

[ADLER]

If further Big 12 expansion takes SDSU, Boise St, and/or Colorado St from the MWC and Memphis and possibly USF from the AAC, the media deals will be decimated for both G5 leagues.

I don't see joining with the remnants of either conference as being particularly beneficial to North Texas.

If the above situation materializes, it would probably be better to have the CUSA-East schools join the AAC-East and have the three remaining tiny privates from the AAC-West join CUSA-West to salvage both leagues, and cherry-pick the Belt to get to 12 or 14.

It's nobody's dream scenario outside of the Big 12's invitees, but it does provide regional opponents and promote rivalries.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by ADLER

[Mike Jackson]

On 9/7/2021 at 10:25 PM, DentonStang said:

The top end of the AAC out performed the PAC on the whole and the ACC minus Clemson. The B12 is safe adding them (and hopefully SMU and Memphis later)

If the “performance” you are talking about isn’t eyeballs on their regular season games in person, on a TV screen, or revenue generated it’s meaningless.  SMU doesn’t bring college football eyeballs on screens with them in a market significant amount.

[Mike Jackson]

3 hours ago, ADLER said:

If the above situation materializes, it would probably be better to have the CUSA-East schools join the AAC-East and have the three remaining tiny privates from the AAC-West join CUSA-West to salvage both leagues, and cherry-pick the Belt to get to 12 or 14.

It's nobody's dream scenario outside of the Big 12's invitees, but it does provide regional opponents and promote rivalries.

 

I have been saying this for years since we joined the CUSA with Houston and SMU departing it.  These basically lateral moves only get a temporary small bump in your athletic department’s revenue.  If a conference move isn’t getting your team in a new TV market vs teams in those markets that a relevant those moves are pointless.  You could craft a conference of all star P5 underdog brands and still be left with G5 revenue.  (For reference anyone who attended SMU and Houston games at Apogee know they outdrew Indiana when they came to Apogee).    I don’t know what the long term out of conference scheduling will look like but the smaller number of conference games required the better IMO if that allows us to schedule home & home series with bigger regional brands like OSU, Tech, Houston, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Missouri.  The biggest regional brands (OU, A&M, LSU, UT, Nebraska) are never coming to Apogee with its current capacity.  

[Arkstfan]

CUSA 2.0 had good TV value. They lost teams and CUSA end up with a small contract and a stipend to self-produce content which months earlier had been the proof CUSA tv was superior to Sun Belt because the SBC was self-producing some content. Networks cut the richer payment under the old deal. 
 

The AAC tv contract is going to go that direction losing three valuable brands. Any given Saturday a grenade lobbed into the stands at Tulsa or Tulane might not hurt anyone. 
 

ESPN pays for three things. One content that brings eyeballs. Two content that brings subscribers. Three something cheap to fill a hole. 
 

AAC has done a decent job bringing viewers but lot of their linear content was on ESPNews. The channel for I don’t like the game on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU. After ACC network launched Sun Belt started getting some of those slots on the 12 day selection. 
 

Two things I’m pretty certain are true. 
1 AAC is about to get a nasty haircut from tv with rights moving more in line with MWC or worse. 
2 University presidents aren’t generally savvy enough to recognize item one, they just know the donors have said get us in AAC and they will leap at the offer to be in yet another geographically ridiculous conference to get new uniform patches and satisfy the grumblings from when AAC was clearly head of the class in G5

[El Paso Eagle]

21 minutes ago, Arkstfan said:

CUSA 2.0 had good TV value. They lost teams and CUSA end up with a small contract and a stipend to self-produce content which months earlier had been the proof CUSA tv was superior to Sun Belt because the SBC was self-producing some content. Networks cut the richer payment under the old deal. 
 

The AAC tv contract is going to go that direction losing three valuable brands. Any given Saturday a grenade lobbed into the stands at Tulsa or Tulane might not hurt anyone. 
 

ESPN pays for three things. One content that brings eyeballs. Two content that brings subscribers. Three something cheap to fill a hole. 
 

AAC has done a decent job bringing viewers but lot of their linear content was on ESPNews. The channel for I don’t like the game on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU. After ACC network launched Sun Belt started getting some of those slots on the 12 day selection. 
 

Two things I’m pretty certain are true. 
1 AAC is about to get a nasty haircut from tv with rights moving more in line with MWC or worse. 
2 University presidents aren’t generally savvy enough to recognize item one, they just know the donors have said get us in AAC and they will leap at the offer to be in yet another geographically ridiculous conference to get new uniform patches and satisfy the grumblings from when AAC was clearly head of the class in G5

A lot of AAC fans that were talking trash a short time ago are now having to worry. Bottom line (IMO), if the remaining G5 schools don't put their BS differences aside and start working together they will be screwed. I believe it is only a matter of time before the P5/4 schools pull away and the G5/6 schools will be left to find for themselves. G5 schools that don't want to compromise should not be scheduled by other G5 schools not in their same conference.

[MCMLXXX]

The New Big 12's Revenue Potential; Six Additions Instead Of Four? | SicEm365

[Mike Jackson]

On 9/8/2021 at 8:25 AM, MDH said:

UTSA, La Tech, Rice, Marshall are all ahead of us given SMU, recent history. I think our best hope is that we pair up with UTEP and head to MWC. Assuming the 2-3 of the schools come from C-USA, I want no part of what's left behind.

I buy Marshall.  But UTSA, La Tech, and Rice?  😂 Give me a break.  Those teams don’t draw flies in Dallas.  (Marshall wouldn’t either but that wouldn’t be one the reasons the AAC brings them in.)  SMU no longer has the bargaining power it once had.  The leadership of the AAC would 100% foolish to let SMU veto UNT in favor of any of those schools.  You only bring in UTSA in hopes that you MIGHT want to have rotating neutral field sites for a conference championship game.  The Alamodome is an attractive location and having UTSA in the conference make negotiating with the that location easier.  Rice is a money losing athletic department in a no win market with A&M, Tech, Houston, and the Longhorns ahead of them.  Rice has all the disadvantages in the Houston market like we have in the DFW area market plus they are small and private.  The AAC is now in survivor mode and SMU has no place to go except MAYBE the MWC.  Because you know they aren’t going to the Sun Belt and guess who is waiting for them in CUSA 😉😂😂😂

Edited September 9, 2021 by Mike Jackson

[Arkstfan]

2 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

A lot of AAC fans that were talking trash a short time ago are now having to worry. Bottom line (IMO), if the remaining G5 schools don't put their BS differences aside and start working together they will be screwed. I believe it is only a matter of time before the P5/4 schools pull away and the G5/6 schools will be left to find for themselves. G5 schools that don't want to compromise should not be scheduled by other G5 schools not in their same conference.

Cooperation has never happened before. I don’t think there is a G5 AD or president strong enough to get it to happen. AAC will backfill and life goes on. 
 

If I were wagering the realistic list of AAC backfill looks like this. 
 

UAB. If Memphis is left behind their preference is almost certainly UAB. They had a bit of a rivalry. They are competent in hoops and football generally. 

I think a Texas school is on the list and Rice scratches the private schools back while UTSA is the best fit in the mind of the state schools if they feel obligated to go to Texas because it’s a new market  

FAU has been one of the consistently better CUSA schools in a nice market and adjacent to the bigger Miami market. 

ODU has a whomping big budget. Market is the largest without an NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, or MLS team. Basically size of Oklahoma City but no FBS in-state that is close. Va Tech is 300 miles and Virginia is 160. The nearest school is ECU who pushed to add them to CUSA. 
 

Air Force hasn’t been happy with MWC and isn’t shy about that. If Navy stays, making Air Force vs Navy a league game cuts into the third wheel status they have in Army-Navy. 
 

Colorado State having a rough time mostly of late but decent history and makes AFA travel better.  
 

New  Mexico helps the hoops reputation. Decent academic rep.

Wyoming, another small market but another that can help AFA travel  

Dark horses a pick em of Louisiana, App State, Coastal Carolina depending on mood of ESPN and longest shots of all Georgia State  big market some modest hoops success and FIU in the Miami market 

It is entirely possible all AAC picks come from CUSA. But I will be surprised if AAC picks anyone for all sports football membership that isn’t on this list. 
 

EDIT 

I am adding two names. 
Marshall because ECU is likely to advocate for them. 
USM because Tulane is likely to advocate for them. 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Arkstfan

[untjim1995]

19 minutes ago, Mike Jackson said:

I buy Marshall.  But UTSA, La Tech, and Rice?  😂 Give me a break.  Those teams don’t draw flies in Dallas.  (Marshall wouldn’t either but that wouldn’t be one the reasons the AAC brings them in.)  SMU no longer has the bargaining power it once had.  The leadership of the AAC would 100% foolish to let SMU veto UNT in favor of any of those schools.  You only bring in UTSA in hopes that you MIGHT want to have rotating neutral field sites for a conference championship game.  The Alamodome is an attractive location and having UTSA in the conference make negotiating with the that location easier.  Rice is a money losing athletic department in a no win market with A&M, Tech, Houston, and the Longhorns ahead of them.  Rice has all the disadvantages in the Houston market like we have in the DFW area market plus they are small and private.  The AAC is now in survivor mode and SMU has no place to go except MAYBE the MWC.  Because you know they aren’t going to the Sun Belt and guess who is waiting for them in CUSA 😉😂😂😂

Whether the MWC loses anyone or not, I can easily see SMU, Rice, Tulsa, and Tulane going West as a block. Gives the MWC DFW, Houston, Tulsa, and New Orleans as new markets, and especially if they don't lose anyone else, that would giv them 16 teams in new markets that are connected to states near them. See those 4 get in a division with UNM, UNLV, Utah State, and Nevada. 

The AAC would then have to basically start over, as they would only have ECU, Temple, and Navy, as I see USF and Memphis will join the Big XII eventually, too. At this point, I think regionality will become the play here. I can see Army getting a football only invite, along with Appy State, ODU, Marshall, FAU, MUTS, WKU, Coastal Carolina, and UAB. That's 12 teams. Then, the SBCUSA realigns geographically. We end up playing UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, ULL, La Tech, USM, Arky State, Troy, and South Alabama in a Gulf States Conference.

[Mike Jackson]

53 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Whether the MWC loses anyone or not, I can easily see SMU, Rice, Tulsa, and Tulane going West as a block. Gives the MWC DFW, Houston, Tulsa, and New Orleans as new markets, and especially if they don't lose anyone else, that would giv them 16 teams in new markets that are connected to states near them. See those 4 get in a division with UNM, UNLV, Utah State, and Nevada. 

The AAC would then have to basically start over, as they would only have ECU, Temple, and Navy, as I see USF and Memphis will join the Big XII eventually, too. At this point, I think regionality will become the play here. I can see Army getting a football only invite, along with Appy State, ODU, Marshall, FAU, MUTS, WKU, Coastal Carolina, and UAB. That's 12 teams. Then, the SBCUSA realigns geographically. We end up playing UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, ULL, La Tech, USM, Arky State, Troy, and South Alabama in a Gulf States Conference.

Your 4 team block departure proposal to go to the MWC makes sense.  However that block without a school with a major city or state in its name wouldn’t be  attractive to the MWC imo.   Moving with one partner is out of the question if their plus 1 is Rice that is essentially has the impact of bring into 1 school in revenue and dividing it by 2.  Only the Sun Belt would be interested in that maybe.  And while UTSA or UTEP might want to partner with SMU and go west I don’t see SMU wanting to go with one of them to do so.  The smartest move for SMU imo would be a 4 team block going to MWC but exclusively trying to capture all/most of the remaining G5 CFB fan eyeballs in the state of Texas.  So that would the candidates would be Rice, UTSA, Texas State, UTEP and UNT.  Regionally the MWC would favor UTEP out of those candidates I think.  So it would be Texas State, UNT and UTSA.  One of those 3 get left out.  Unfortunately from the viewpoint of the MWC I think it’s between UNT and Texas State.  I would hope the existing rivalries with both SMU and UTSA would be the check mark that gets us in.  I suspect Rice, Tulsa, and Tulane don’t excite TV partners courting a MWC package.  If you don’t have a long (or recent) history of winning on big stages or a state/major city in your school’s name you are at a major disadvantage generating interest in from fans of schools you travel too.  The laymen easily has a vague understanding what/who North Texas, Texas State, Houston, Texas and UTSA  represent and what they are.  They are large population schools as academic institutions.  Conversely they don’t know who or where Tulane and Rice are.  And Tulsa isn’t exactly a well known major city and the publicity from the Watchmen on HBO and the Race Riot it featured wasn’t exactly good. 
 

SMU can snub us all they want but it only hurts them in the long run.  Like it NASCAR is you are too busy trying to block someone behind you, you probably get passed by several others you never saw as a threat.  Embrace us a partner in getting athletic department revenue and then try to kick our ass on the field.

[UNTLifer]

7 minutes ago, Mike Jackson said:

SMU can snub us all they want but it only hurts them in the long run.  Like it NASCAR is you are too busy trying to block someone behind you, you probably get passed by several others you never saw as a threat.  Embrace us a partner in getting athletic department revenue and then try to kick our ass on the field.

See, here's your problem.  This makes too much sense to ever happen.

[Legend500]

Good to see we're back on the "SMU snubs us" bs, which was true last century, but hasn't been true in a long time. You don't sign agreements until practically 2040 with schools you're trying to suppress. It was already out of date when I joined this board in 2003, now it's just sad.

With Houston and UCF gone, any realignment among the G5 is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. 

The AAC's new media deal will be as trash as CUSA's and SBC's. For some schools in the AAC, that will be a real problem - both Tulane and Tulsa rely on that revenue to keep their programs afloat. For teams like Rice, moving to the AAC would question their entire program - the donors already think it's a loss-leader, widening the loss by flying over teams to play at Navy won't make things any better.

If I'm Judy, I pull a preemptive strike for regionalism, and immediately invite Texas State and Louisiana. At that point, any CUSA team in the West would be foolish to trade all those in-state schools for the opportunity to play at ECU. Then, maybe, the commissioners of the AAC, CUSA and SBC can sit down and come up with a model that will keep the G5 afloat. 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Legend500