CUSA is now the worse football conference?

[letsgiveacheer]

I was at Barnes and Noble this morning and noticed that the football magazines are starting to arrive. One of them ( I forget which ) ranked the conferences and (following the BCS conferences) had the following: AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, MAC and finally CUSA.

I know you can't read too much into things like this but still, it was disapointing.

[glick1980]

I was at Barnes and Noble this morning and noticed that the football magazines are starting to arrive. One of them ( I forget which ) ranked the conferences and (following the BCS conferences) had the following: AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, MAC and finally CUSA.

I know you can't read too much into things like this but still, it was disapointing.

CUSA was rated the worst last year before the defections.

[PlummMeanGreen]

North Texas' long time friend Mr. Perception seems to have followed us to CUSA if you believe these pre-season college football soothsayers.

(1) When North Texas once again duplicates our NCAA Division 1 era of Abner Haynes of which he & Leon King "ONLY" (and admirably) integrated the Southwest & Deep South traditionally caucasian NCAA Division 1 schools and whose team went to a Sun Bowl;

(2) When North Texas once again duplicates the Mean Joe Greene era whose quality produced record numbers of NFL draft choices including 2 #1's in Denton and with one of those teams that a top ranked Frank Broyles' coached Arkansas Razorbacks team needed some last minute home-cooking to over-turn a Ron Shanklin caught winning touchdown;

(3) When North Texas once again duplicates the era of Hayden Fry when in only 6 years he beat schools many in the present Sun Belt still cannot get on their schedules while during the Fry era the Top 20 (now
Top 25) rankings barrier was broken by his Mean Green and last count no program in the Sun Belt has done the same since the league's inception;

(4) When North Texas once again duplicates a few of Corky Nelson's years particularly one season (1988) when we beat the Texas Longhorns except for 2 terrifically terrible "homer" calls that even embarrassed Longhorn fans were shaking their heads even apologizing to some of us as they left DKR Memorial knowing which team had really won that game along with that same Corky Nelson-coached Mean Green team which went on to beat 2 other Southwest Conference teams;

(5) When North Texas once again duplicates Darrell Dickey's 4 bowl teams which got us enormous national publicity (albeit gol' darn it he still left Denton under .500 and with this MG fan who still feels to this day was way too critical of him);

Nevertheless, when North Texas duplicates all of the aforementioned it will be then that our old nemises Mr. Perception takes a back seat where it needs to stay for many, many decades.

And when our winning pendelum swings back (as it always does) it will be the 5,000,000,000 more population strong geographical footprint in the new Conference-USA which will be the biggest beneficiary of UNT's upcoming winning ways except this time around...before a much larger constituency of UNT students and alums than we ever had in my student days in the 70's and such larger numbers which will more easily fill that palace of a college football stadium located in Denton, Texas, America, between those 2 Texas interstates which former Dallas Cowboy Super Scout Gil Brandt called "a Taj Mahal of a college football stadium."

Still the most amazing part concerning these upcoming pre-season college football magazines will be how so many of them will still rank this Fall's NCAA FBS teams and conferences based on last years records never-minding that some of those football programs had very large numbers of graduating seniors. I cannot forget how ULaLa was ranked to finish last in the SBC one year only to see them win it, go to the NO's Bowl and then beat the MWC's San Diego State Aztecs. Uh.......go figure because after all...they were picked to finish last by pre-season prognosticators of that summer preceeding that Rajun Cajun football team's very successful Fall.

I think most of us like where we are now much better than where we've been no matter what all these college football scribes and soothsayers are saying now.

Bottom Line Is: Conference-USA is depending on North Texas to catch its light'ning in a bottle once again.

GMG!

Edited May 25, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[North Texas Shep]

Still an upgrade from the SunBelt.

[JesseMartin]

Even if based on last year's records...wouldn't it be reasonable to have the MAC after AAC and MWC? And not even counting the changes and FBS newcomers, wouldn't Sun Belt be last either way?

[Runner]

I have to disagree. I would put MWC over AAC and C-USA third.

[UNT90]

I have to disagree. I would put MWC over AAC and C-USA third.

CUiSA 4th behind the MAC.

[ragpicker]

PlummMeanGreen, on 25 May 2013 - 4:27 PM, said:

North Texas' long time friend Mr. Perception seems to have followed us to CUSA if you believe these pre-season college football soothsayers.

(1) When North Texas once again duplicates our NCAA Division 1 era of Abner Haynes of which he & Leon King "ONLY" (and admirably) integrated the Southwest & Deep South traditionally caucasian NCAA Division 1 schools and whose team went to a Sun Bowl;

(2) When North Texas once again duplicates the Mean Joe Greene era whose quality produced record numbers of NFL draft choices including 2 #1's in Denton and with one of those teams that a top ranked Frank Broyles' coached Arkansas Razorbacks team needed some last minute home-cooking to over-turn a Ron Shanklin caught winning touchdown;

Excellent points.

(3) When North Texas once again duplicates the era of Hayden Fry when in only 6 years he beat schools many in the present Sun Belt still cannot get on their schedules while during the Fry era the Top 20 (now

Top 25) rankings barrier was broken by his Mean Green and last count no program in the Sun Belt has done the same since the league's inception;

(4) When North Texas once again duplicates a few of Corky Nelson's years particularly one season (1988) when we beat the Texas Longhorns except for 2 terrifically terrible "homer" calls that even embarrassed Longhorn fans were shaking their heads even apologizing to some of us as they left DKR Memorial knowing which team had really won that game along with that same Corky Nelson-coached Mean Green team which went on to beat 2 other Southwest Conference teams;

(5) When North Texas once again duplicates Darrell Dickey's 4 bowl teams which got us enormous national publicity (albeit gol' darn it he still left Denton under .500 and with this MG fan who still feels to this day was way too critical of him);

Nevertheless, when North Texas duplicates all of the aforementioned it will be then that our old nemises Mr. Perception takes a back seat where it needs to stay for many, many decades.

And when our winning pendelum swings back (as it always does) it will be the 5,000,000,000 more population strong geographical footprint in the new Conference-USA which will be the biggest beneficiary of UNT's upcoming winning ways except this time around...before a much larger constituency of UNT students and alums than we ever had in my student days in the 70's and such larger numbers which will more easily fill that palace of a college football stadium located in Denton, Texas, America, between those 2 Texas interstates which former Dallas Cowboy Super Scout Gil Brandt called "a Taj Mahal of a college football stadium."

Still the most amazing part concerning these upcoming pre-season college football magazines will be how so many of them will still rank this Fall's NCAA FBS teams and conferences based on last years records never-minding that some of those football programs had very large numbers of graduating seniors. I cannot forget how ULaLa was ranked to finish last in the SBC one year only to see them win it, go to the NO's Bowl and then beat the MWC's San Diego State Aztecs. Uh.......go figure because after all...they were picked to finish last by pre-season prognosticators of that summer preceeding that Rajun Cajun football team's very successful Fall.

I think most of us like where we are now much better than where we've been no matter what all these college football scribes and soothsayers are saying now.

Bottom Line Is: Conference-USA is depending on North Texas to catch its light'ning in a bottle once again.

GMG!

[ragpicker]

ragpicker, on 25 May 2013 - 10:43 PM, said:

[shaft]

2012 CUSA was pretty bad. Southern Miss tanking + OOC records + defections really hurt the conference.

2013 CUSA will be a lot better (and it doesn't hinge on UNT).

CUSA has never had a "breakout team." No Boise, Utah, Hawaii, Marshall, Fresno. CUSA's best team was Tommy Bowden's Tulane team that was snubbed by the BCS, followed by Sumlin's Houston team that choked against S Miss in the conference finals.

What CUSA really needs is a break out team, but that's not in the cards for 2013. Maybe LA Tech can do it, but I just don't see it without a bowl last year.

Instead the new CUSA will get a year to gel before adding its next teir of members.

[GrayEagle]

I don't know that CUSA is the worst conference in the FBS but it's fallen a long way. It's hard to expect more when its top teams have been cherry-picked for the last two years. Even with that, we could have been a solid third had we taken Arkansas State and Louisiana rather than the two F_Us. Of course, we gained market and recruiting base but in terms of strength we took a step back.

We still have a good nucleus to build on. Southern Miss will return to the Top 50 in a couple of years. It will take that to recover from the disaster that Neil Johnson left. Ditto for Louisiana Tech although Sonny just left the team depleted of experience. They will still have the best running back in the conference. Marshall will have the best quarterback/offense in CUSA and will likely be a Top 50 team this year. North Texas is beginning to pick up steam talent-wise and should be an upper echelon member in the future. UTSA seems to be taking a much faster track than I expected, probably due to Coach Larry Coker. Middle Tenn should be a contender and UAB will be improved.

I'd say that CUSA is third, albeit by a thin margin. We still have Tulsa and East Carolina for another year and I believe that in addition, Rice, Marshall, Louisiana Tech, North Texas and Middle Tenn will have at least .500 seasons with possibly Southern Miss and UAB as well. That couldn't happen in the weakest conference.

Also, don't forget the MAC has UMass, Akron, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Miami. The Belt has newbies South Alabama, Texas State and Georgia State with only eight teams this year.

[shaft]

, we could have been a solid third had we taken Arkansas State and Louisiana rather than the two F_Us. Of course, we gained market and recruiting base but in terms of strength we took a step back.

1. Arkansas State and UL-L do nothing in terms of perception. Their good, but their Sun Belt good.

2. The Florida schools brought geography. CUSA needed East Coast teams to fill out the two divisions.

3. Psst. We're a step back for CUSA.

I don't really care about rankings based on last year, since the college football landscape looks dramatically different.

CUSA is going to take anohter perception hit after this season, especially if Tulsa & ECU win the divisions.

[untjim1995]

CUSA is a better fit for us than the SBC was, albeit a lot smaller advantage than what we envisioned when we first joined the league. Its still better for us. CUSA is not a good league, but neither is the SBC. It is what it is. The top end of the MWC and the top end of the AAC are very strong, and the MAC will throw out a NIU or Ball State BCS buster every once in a while, but the bottom of those leagues (or middle of the MAC) is not much better than anything the SBCUSA throws out.