Commissioners of ‘have-not’ conferences fire back at SMU’s June Jones

[Harry]

Jones didnt stop there. He even went as far as to say that if his radical idea isnt considered, Group of Five schools will simply start dropping football.

Now, Group of Five commissioners, who vehemently disagree with Jones concept, are firing back.

We have no interest in doing that and have no plans to discuss or look into it, American Athletic commissioner Mike Aresco told ESPN.com. Our position is clear. We are an integral part of the fabric of FBS college football.

Our conference is and will be extremely competitive and our goal is to play at the highest level, compete for playoff and host bowl spots and challenge the Power Five. We want to be in the power conference conversation and, sooner than later, be regarded as the sixth power conference.

Read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/07/commissioners-of-have-not-conferences-fire-back-at-smus-june-jones.html/

[malonish]

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the Juneses and do not

necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any Ponyfan / sane person.

[Travis]

Ha. It is a radical idea. A part of me likes it if the big conferences truly break away completely to form a new league.

[tylermeangreen]

Ha. It is a radical idea. A part of me likes it if the big conferences truly break away completely to form a new league.

.........leaving the "haves" to have to play one-another in out-of-conference games. Wonder how many "undefeateds" we would see then among the so-called "haves" given they would have to play only one-another for every game every season? One? None?

The more interesting thing is Jones admitting that SMU will be a "have-not" when they originally, in fact, thought that their leaving CUSA to join the Big East was going to make them a "have".

Alas, now no Big East as they envisioned and now SMU is still not a "have".

SMU has seen athletic reality give it a big ole kick in the cojones! I couldn't be happier!

[Eagle1855]

.........leaving the "haves" to have to play one-another in out-of-conference games. Wonder how many "undefeateds" we would see then among the so-called "haves" given they would have to play only one-another for every game every season? One? None?

Likely won't matter once there's an 8- or 16-team playoff. Which is i$n$e$v$i$t$a$b$l$e.

[oldguystudent]

Did June Jones catch hammer with his head en route from Hawaii to Dallas? I really always had a pretty good impression of him until he came here. Maybe the lack of getting leid everywhere he goes has turned him into a poor man's love child of Al Davis and Donald Trump.

[TIgreen01]

Say what you will about this particular idea, but the man definitely thinks outside the box. The way things are heading now, I think the outcome he predicts may be inevitable if we're in a vacuum. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but it's definitely going to take some out of the box thinking to lead us out of this mess.

[malonish]

.........leaving the "haves" to have to play one-another in out-of-conference games. Wonder how many "undefeateds" we would see then among the so-called "haves" given they would have to play only one-another for every game every season? One? None?

The more interesting thing is Jones admitting that SMU will be a "have-not" when they originally, in fact, thought that their leaving CUSA to join the Big East was going to make them a "have".

Alas, now no Big East as they envisioned and now SMU is still not a "have".

SMU has seen athletic reality give it a big ole kick in the cojones! I couldn't be happier!

A step above C-USA in terms of marketability/popularity and talent. Not as big a step as P5/G5 so I'm not delusional.

[UNTFan23]

A step above C-USA in terms of marketability/popularity and talent. Not as big a step as P5/G5 so I'm not delusional.

It'll be interesting to see how things shake now that Louisville and Rutgers took their ball and moved to greener pastures.

AAC 2013 record

TEAM	        CONF	OVR
UCF	        8-0	12-1
Louisville	7-1	12-1
Cincinnati	6-2	9-4
Houston	        5-3	8-5
SMU      	4-4	5-7
Connecticut	3-5	3-9
Rutgers	        3-5	6-7
South Florida	2-6	2-10
Temple	        1-7	2-10
Memphis	        1-7	3-9

CUSA 2013 Record

EAST	        CONF	OVR
Marshall	7-1	10-4
East Carolina	6-2	10-3
MTSU     	6-2	8-5
FAU	        4-4	6-6
UAB	        1-7	2-10
Southern Miss	1-7	1-11
FIU      	1-7	1-11

WEST	        CONF	OVR
Rice	        7-1	10-4
UTSA	        6-2	7-5
North Texas	6-2	9-4
Tulane	        5-3	7-6
Louisiana Tech	3-5	4-8
Tulsa	        2-6	3-9
UTEP	        1-7	2-10

CUSA had 6 out of 14* teams that had a losing record (43%) versus the AAC having 5 teams out of 10* (50%) having a losing record.

I'd watch a SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, ACC game (in that order) before I watch an AAC game, assuming North Texas or CUSA game isn't on at the same time. The only AAC team I even casually followed was Louisville. I might watch an AAC game this season if the match-up seems interesting enough. Maybe if UCF has a shot at making a playoff spot?

I would say the AAC is marginally more marketable since they've had a couple teams make a splash but that's about it. The AAC is just CUSA Version 2.0 with a couple extra additions. The people who really push marketability are the fans of the member schools and those people aren't biased, right?

*Louisville (12-1) and Rutgers (6-7) left and were replaced with East Carolina (10-3), Tulsa (3-9), & Tulane (7-6).

Edited July 21, 2014 by UNTFan23

[malonish]

I never said we blow out the water compared to C-USA. AAC is CUSA-2.0 and CUSA is Sun Belt 2.0. Both individuals improved and Big East essentially disappeared leaving the big 5.

As in all things I can't wait to see what happens. Even train wrecks become interesting at some point. THE HORROR oh hey that was cool.

[Rudy]

Did June Jones catch hammer with his head en route from Hawaii to Dallas? I really always had a pretty good impression of him until he came here. Maybe the lack of getting leid everywhere he goes has turned him into a poor man's love child of Al Davis and Donald Trump.

I think he's always been this way, he just never got the exposure in Hawaii as he does here.

[emmitt01]

.........leaving the "haves" to have to play one-another in out-of-conference games. Wonder how many "undefeateds" we would see then among the so-called "haves" given they would have to play only one-another for every game every season? One? None?

The more interesting thing is Jones admitting that SMU will be a "have-not" when they originally, in fact, thought that their leaving CUSA to join the Big East was going to make them a "have".

Alas, now no Big East as they envisioned and now SMU is still not a "have".

SMU has seen athletic reality give it a big ole kick in the cojones! I couldn't be happier!

Look for Indiana, Kansas, Boston College, Iowa State, etc. to be in high demand.