As football fests begin, ranking the FBS conferences

[Harry]

9. Conference USA

Top four: Marshall, North Texas, Rice, UTSA

Conference USA does house the non-major team with the best shot at an undefeated season: Marshall has the talent, experience and schedule to make a run at 13 wins. But the well quickly runs dry after the Thundering Herd, UTSA, Rice and North Texas; Conference USA's bottom third is as bad as it gets, so the pressure is on Doc Holliday's gang to do all of the heavy lifting. Well, at least most of it: UTSA could be one of the great surprises in the country. The league as a whole is still one of the nation's weakest.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/07/14/fbs-football-conference-rankings-aac-acc-big-12-big-ten-cusa-mac-mwc-pac-12-sec-sun-belt/12613255/

[oldguystudent]

Just gotta stay in the top quartile for a few years. We'll be fine. No 1-11 seasons, no losses to Sunbelt teams. We'll be fine.

[Tyler Maryak]

Just gotta stay in the top quartile for a few years. We'll be fine. No 1-11 seasons, no losses to Sunbelt teams. We'll be fine.

I agree. How many televised games will we have this season? How many did we have in the Sunbelt? Sad that the quality of the conference is down, but things are still looking up for us!

[Ben Gooding]

I expect some CUSA wins in week 1&2. Not a ton, but some. The conference as a whole just can't go O'for.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Ben Gooding

[Mean Green 93-98]

Surely the conference won't go O-fer the first two weeks.

Almost sure wins: Old Dominion over Hampton, Marshall over Miami (OH), MTSU over Savannah State, FIU over Wagner

Probable wins: FIU over Bethune Cookman, UTEP over UNM, UNT over SMU, Southern Miss over Alcorn State

Good shots: WKU over Bowling Green

[IslandEagle]

9. Conference USA

Top four: Marshall, North Texas, Rice, UTSA

Conference USA does house the non-major team with the best shot at an undefeated season: Marshall has the talent, experience and schedule to make a run at 13 wins. But the well quickly runs dry after the Thundering Herd, UTSA, Rice and North Texas; Conference USA's bottom third is as bad as it gets, so the pressure is on Doc Holliday's gang to do all of the heavy lifting. Well, at least most of it: UTSA could be one of the great surprises in the country. The league as a whole is still one of the nation's weakest.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/07/14/fbs-football-conference-rankings-aac-acc-big-12-big-ten-cusa-mac-mwc-pac-12-sec-sun-belt/12613255/

National publication continue to rank the MAC higher than they deserve. It's kind of like the inflated opinion they have of the big ten.

[Mean Green 93-98]

National publication continue to rank the MAC higher than they deserve. It's kind of like the inflated opinion they have of the big ten.

Surely you agree that the MAC has been a stronger football conference the past couple of years than C-USA and the Sun Belt...right?

[ColoradoEagle]

The two conferences were 3-3 against each other last year. With the exception of Ohio's blowout of a bad Tulsa team, and Marshall's blowout of a horrid Miami, the games were decided by a touchdown or less. The author dedicates half his CUSA write-up to how bad the bottom third is, yet fails to mention anything in his MAC section about how bad their bottom is: Miami OH (0-12), Western Michigan (1-11), UMass (1-11), Eastern Michigan (2-10). Also we replaced a 3-9 Tulsa with 8-4 Western Kentucky.

[Mean Green 93-98]

The two conferences were 3-3 against each other last year. With the exception of Ohio's blowout of a bad Tulsa team, and Marshall's blowout of a horrid Miami, the games were decided by a touchdown or less. The author dedicates half his CUSA write-up to how bad the bottom third is, yet fails to mention anything in his MAC section about how bad their bottom is: Miami OH (0-12), Western Michigan (1-11), UMass (1-11), Eastern Michigan (2-10). Also we replaced a 3-9 Tulsa with 8-4 Western Kentucky.

The MAC has had quite a bit more relevance in the rankings than C-USA or the Belt.

[Ben Gooding]

Surely the conference won't go O-fer the first two weeks.

Almost sure wins: Old Dominion over Hampton, Marshall over Miami (OH), MTSU over Savannah State, FIU over Wagner

Probable wins: FIU over Bethune Cookman, UTEP over UNM, UNT over SMU, Southern Miss over Alcorn State

Good shots: WKU over Bowling Green

I was referring g to CUSA teams v P5 teams. The conference needs to win a couple of those.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I was referring g to CUSA teams v P5 teams. The conference needs to win a couple of those.

Oh. Not too likely.

[rws69]

Surely the conference won't go O-fer the first two weeks.

Almost sure wins: Old Dominion over Hampton, Marshall over Miami (OH), MTSU over Savannah State, FIU over Wagner

Probable wins: FIU over Bethune Cookman, UTEP over UNM, UNT over SMU, Southern Miss over Alcorn State

Good shots: WKU over Bowling Green

Possible upset: UNT over UT

[Jason Howeth]

My biggest beef with this MAC business is that everyone seems to be jumping on a Ball State bandwagon that seems undeserved. Even the CBS rankings had them in the 30s last season. Sure, they went 10-3, but that's not necessarily hard to come by when you play E Michigan (2-10), W Michigan (1-11), Kent State (4-8), Miami (OH) (0-12), Army (3-9), Akron (5-7), and Virginia (2-10) and an FCS team. The other teams they played weren't spectacular either. Additionally they were beaten by a (decent) Ark St. team in the bowl game.

But the biggest problem with them of all? UNT was the only other regular season opponent to beat them besides Northern Illinois! Take N Illinois from that conference and they're probably worse than the Sun Belt.

[untjim1995]

The MAC always gets lots of East Coast love because they surround a ton of media markets that will vote them up--hence, the MAC top teams getting ranked or receiving votes, while SBCUSA schools don't get that lucky, with smaller media outlets that traditionally follow them.