Sounds Like We're Losing Another C-USA Member

[UNT 90 Grad]

Big East, Big Easy. It was only a matter of time.

[Coffee and TV]

Do we even want the MWC at this point? I'll be honest, I get tons of channels for college football and I don't remember seeing them on much. I know NBC Sports has a few games, do they have any sort of ESPN contract? CBS Sports?

EDIT: The Mountain doesn't exist anymore either.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Coffee and TV

[CurveItAround]

Tulane's announcement said they were going in 2013. If our earlier assumptions were correct, Tulane was going to be in our division and coming to Denton. La Tech likely moves west now and shows up on our schedule. Just got a little tougher.

[NT03]

We can still blame SMU , right ?

[cwb]

This guy thinks it is a great addition.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21161039/more-of-the-same-lame-tulane-is-going-to-be-joining-the-big-east

[aztecskin]

I wouldn't mind pulling MTSU, Ark St, WKU and maybe FAU or TxSt. As for travel? Isn't that what the non-con is for?

[Mean Green Scrappy]

I wouldn't mind pulling MTSU, Ark St, WKU and maybe FAU or TxSt. As for travel? Isn't that what the non-con is for?

When you have 14 and 16 team leagues it doesn't leave much room for non-conference games and traveling. I'm not saying you need a division that is coast to coast, but frankly an all Texas league or division seems boring and I would bet recruits wouldn't like it. They probably want to showcase their talents in different parts of the country too.

[oldguystudent]

As far as I can tell, if you're not in ACC/BigXII/BigX/Pac12/SEC, your conference just simply doesn't matter. They've created an amazing delineation of haves and have nots. Put us in CUSA, Mountain West, Sunbelt. It doesn't matter. The Big East is making a mockery of itself, so I just don't know how long it can sustain in it's current clusterloving state.

At this point, I want to see only three things

1) Conference road games that I can reasonably attend without having to buy a house and take a second on it

2) Karl Benson nowhere within a thousand mile radius of Denton

3) How's about a freaking win once every few months?

[FroggyStyle]

As far as I can tell, if you're not in ACC/BigXII/BigX/Pac12/SEC, your conference just simply doesn't matter. They've created an amazing delineation of haves and have nots. Put us in CUSA, Mountain West, Sunbelt. It doesn't matter. The Big East is making a mockery of itself, so I just don't know how long it can sustain in it's current clusterloving state.

At this point, I want to see only three things

1) Conference road games that I can reasonably attend without having to buy a house and take a second on it

2) Karl Benson nowhere within a thousand mile radius of Denton

3) How's about a freaking win once every few months?

You can call it whatever you want but the reality is, The Big East is still a few steps above CUSA/MWC/MAC and Sun Belt. From a "have's" perspective, I can tell you that we still view The New Big East much more favorably than the other 4 conferences.

Edited November 27, 2012 by FroggyStyle

[emmitt01]

You can call it whatever you want but the reality is, The Big East is still a few steps above CUSA/MWC/MAC and Sun Belt. From a "have's" perspective, I can tell you that we still view The New Big East much more favorably than the other 4 conferences.

Who is "we"? You're still the little brother that UT and OU let play so you won't cry to mommy.

[oldguystudent]

You can call it whatever you want but the reality is, The Big East is still a few steps above CUSA/MWC/MAC and Sun Belt. From a "have's" perspective, I can tell you that we still view The New Big East much more favorably than the other 4 conferences.

I acknowledge that the Big East is currently above the others, but am just not sure it can sustain. It's a circus that's going to have mighty Tulane playing San Diego State. That just doesn't scream multi-millions per school television contracts to me.

Also, they are severely diluting their basketball, which has been the conference bread and butter forever.

So yes. Currently a step higher than the other four, but for how long? The split, a la the old 1A and 1AA is coming, if not via official recognition as a separate level of football, then de facto via the silly bone of "access bowl," which will likely never, ever, in the entirety of the new playoff's existence, result in an actual semi-final bid. Of that I have no doubt. That the MAC, SBC, MWC, and CUSA will be on the way down, I have no doubt in my mind. Which way does the Big East end up? That's the wild card.

Also, I realize you've been trolling this place pretty hard, but good on the Frogs for forgoing the move to the Big East and somehow finagling their way into the Big XII. It'll probably result in fewer 11-win seasons, but given the state of the two conferences, it appears to be a much more solid move for the Frogs, especially with their emphasis on football and baseball over basketball.

Edited November 27, 2012 by oldguystudent

[smoothfresh]

It doesn't matter if we are in the Big East, CUSA, MWC or Sun Belt... when the "new" BCS comes into effect only one team from any of those conferences gets into one of the big games.

It all boils down to wins....win the games on your schedule and see how it plays out.

The selfish part of me hopes whatever conference we are in we have teams close to us.. the potential for increased attendance and reasonable away game trips.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Some Tulsa fans on the C-USA board are confident they won't be in C-USA any more in 2014:

The only thing keeping me from falling off is that I know we won't be in C-USA in 2014. Just not sure if it's going to be east or west.

Some speficic chatter that it'd likely be west but my gut feel is still 50/50. We'd be taking at least one team west too.

This is the likely scenario i've heard too, but I heard possibly 2 more coming with us. Who knows at this point, but it's looking like next year will be our last in C-USA.

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=602628&page=2

Edited November 27, 2012 by Mean Green 93-98

[filmerj]

I imagine the new access bowl, which takes the highest ranked of the five remaining conferences is what makes the BE appealing. The perception of playing better teams is what is driving the exodus to BE. That and TV money.

[Harry]

Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN

Tulane prez in March: "My view is Big East is not a power conference & anyone who thinks they are doesn’t know athletics"

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[untjim1995]

I don't care for this Frog's posting style, but he does have a point about being in the "haves". To me, the biggest winner in the realignment game was Utah. They went from the MWC to the stability and prestige of the Pac-12. They are in a conference that will be around forever. In second place on the winner's podium is TCU. The only thing that will hurt them is if/when the Texas/Oklahoma schools leave town. In third place, is UTSA, who went from a start-up to a decent league, even after the defections of CUSA occur.

As it stands right now, with Tulane and ECU gone, and probably seeing Tulsa and UTEP leaving very soon, we are probably just a little better off. We got La Tech, RIce, and UTSA as close games and will probably get ULL and MUTS back as conference mates, which is just fine. If CUSA loses Marshall, USM and UAB, though, which is possible, and we replace them with Troy, WKU, and Arky State, then our big move to CUSA will really amount to the SBC adding Rice and La Tech, then dropping ULM, USA, and FAU.

I thought back when the MWC was considering expanding that we would be a great fit out west and I still think that. But I also recognize that we have never shown anyone in that league any reason to add UNT to their conference. Our performance on the field and on the court has been less than stellar by all accounts, plus our attendance and media buzz is dreadful. I know that they will add Utah State and SJSU next year. I also truly believe that Boise State, BYU, and SDSU will be back there in the next two years. So, this is that league if that all holds up:

Boise State, Hawaii, BYU, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, Utah State

UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, AFA, Colorado State, New Mexico

That basically leaves them with 1-3 spots available. The no brainer here is UTEP since they used to be in the old WAC with all of them at different times. If they expand beyond that, the teams that make the most sense here are UH or Rice and then SMU or UNT. Its easy to see UH jumping to that pretty quickly, which probably lets Rice jump ship to the BE to replace them. At that point, the biggest competitors for the last spot are SMU, UNT, and Tulsa. I'd love to see us get that spot with UH and UTEP, but I can see either SMU or Tulsa getting that spot over us because of recent performance and media market coverage. You would think we would dominate because of our numbers in the DFW market, but we don't even register as a blip on the local media radar, so, again, we will probably watch SMU run right by us.

[UNT90]

How are you suppose to slice your wrist again ? Up and down or side to side ?

As a UNT fan, it seems you would have figured this out the first 100 times

[GrayEagle]

Banowsky should have seen this coming and not taken in Charlotte and Old Dominion. They were pushed by ECU which will be gone by the time they will be active members. Even then Charlotte won't be ready for football. We knew that ECU would bolt the first chance they got. PLEASE don't allow their other sports to remain in CUSA. It needs to be an all-sports conference.

Although a whopping nine teams have moved from CUSA to the Big Least there is still a decent core of schools that hold interest for me. Tulsa, Rice, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, and UTEP are universities that I'd like to remain with. Although I think that UTSA was rushed into CUSA before they were ready, I think that they would make another good rivalry. My favorite addition would be Louisiana but maybe we should just stay at 12.

[Arkstfan]

Tulane (and their 3,000 seat hoops arena) aren't worried about the athletic side of it. Tulane draws a significant number of students from the Northeast. It's all about recruiting students who pay full price.

[Wag Tag]

Anybody know exit fees ?

[glick1980]

Nightmare scenario would be MWC takes Rice, UTEP, Tulsa and UTSA and we are left in another conference without any teams in our region. I am positive this is what will happen.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Anybody know exit fees ?

$7 million, I believe.

[FirefightnRick]

Rather than waiting for CUSA to expand I seriously hope RV is on the phone with the Big 12

I agree.

Rick

[untjim1995]

Nightmare scenario would be MWC takes Rice, UTEP, Tulsa and UTSA and we are left in another conference without any teams in our region. I am positive this is what will happen.

To me, the nightmare scenario is the MWC takes UTEP, UH, SMU, and Tulsa. Then the Big East gets USM, UAB, Rice, and La Tech to join their league. That would be the ultimate kick-in-the-groin to me as a UNT fan. Basically, we would have no choice but to ask the SBC to take us back--or to have most of the SBC move up to CUSA. Only upside is that we would get Texas State as an in-state conference rival again, which would be a cherry on top of a turd sandwich.

[CurveItAround]

To me, the nightmare scenario is the MWC takes UTEP, UH, SMU, and Tulsa. Then the Big East gets USM, UAB, Rice, and La Tech to join their league. That would be the ultimate kick-in-the-groin to me as a UNT fan. Basically, we would have no choice but to ask the SBC to take us back--or to have most of the SBC move up to CUSA. Only upside is that we would get Texas State as an in-state conference rival again, which would be a cherry on top of a turd sandwich.

How big of a cherry are we talking about?