G5 shakeup?

[UVA_Guy81]

Yesterday our local news said that the SB will invite ODU and Marshall leaving only 5 in CUSA.

I also heard they might also be trying for JMU, Southern Miss and maybe Liberty.
I read on a couple of places that the MAC might be looking for a couple of schools. If so, it’d likely be WKU and MTSU since the Sun Belt is still pissy about a bunch of those teams leaving for CUSA in the first place and wouldn’t be an option for some of those schools. Otherwise, all the schools remaining in CUSA are screwed.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

I also heard they might also be trying for JMU, Southern Miss and maybe Liberty.
I read on a couple of places that the MAC might be looking for a couple of schools. If so, it’d likely be WKU and MTSU since the Sun Belt is still pissy about a bunch of those teams leaving for CUSA in the first place and wouldn’t be an option for some of those schools. Otherwise, all the schools remaining in CUSA are screwed.

I'm shocked the cusa has survived this long, TBH. And isn't the MAC already pretty big?

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I'm shocked the cusa has survived this long, TBH. And isn't the MAC already pretty big?

They’re at 12 at the moment. So going to 14 wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary with the SEC going to 16, B1G having 14 and ACC having 14 for football.

 

[RobToxin]

 

[tabascojet]

What sport is Rice even remotely good at besides baseball?

 

[Hitman Hart]

Fau and charlotte....yes
Utsa and uab...maybe
Unt and rice....no

ya, thats right, you better say yes to UNCC, tubby

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Six schools accept invitations to join American

Six schools -- Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB -- have accepted invitations to join the American Athletic Conference.

www.espn.com

So not a surprise at all that all six accepted the invite to get out of CUSA.

 

[tabascojet]

Six schools accept invitations to join American

Six schools -- Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB -- have accepted invitations to join the American Athletic Conference.

www.espn.com

So not a surprise at all that all six accepted the invite to get out of CUSA.

Aac just weekend the brand significantly imo....picking teams to get TV markets only works if you have a product people will seek out outside the local team.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Aac just weekend the brand significantly imo....picking teams to get TV markets only works if you have a product people will seek out outside the local team.

They're pretty much the CUSA of around 15-20 years ago. If you look at some of those new school’s basketball arenas, they barely look like they’d be fit for a high school game.

 

[tabascojet]

They're pretty much the CUSA of around 15-20 years ago. If you look at some of those new school’s basketball arenas, they barely look like they’d be fit for a high school game.

Please bring out the red white and blue divisions again!!

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

They're pretty much the CUSA of around 15-20 years ago. If you look at some of those new school’s basketball arenas, they barely look like they’d be fit for a high school game.

Idk man. CUSA basketball was really good back then with Louisville, Memphis, Cincinnati, and Marquette. Charlotte wasn't a slouch neither.

Just take this conference now to the back of the woodshed and give it mercy.

 

[Fitbud]

I also heard they might also be trying for JMU, Southern Miss and maybe Liberty.
I read on a couple of places that the MAC might be looking for a couple of schools. If so, it’d likely be WKU and MTSU since the Sun Belt is still pissy about a bunch of those teams leaving for CUSA in the first place and wouldn’t be an option for some of those schools. Otherwise, all the schools remaining in CUSA are screwed.

The CUSA is screwed and UTEP is particularly screwed.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

The CUSA is screwed and UTEP is particularly screwed.

UTEP and even FIU I’d say as well. I think WKU and MTSU would at least have a chance to get in the MAC if they’re interested in adding schools.

 

[Kace-1]

The Dukes moving up to FBS has one of those ideas that's been kicked around for a little while now. Looks like it might finally happen.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

The Dukes moving up to FBS has one of those ideas that's been kicked around for a little while now. Looks like it might finally happen.

So that’d leave FIU, WKU, MTSU, UTEP and Louisiana Tech. Even if they added Liberty, I think the damage would’ve already been done.

 

[Kace-1]

So that’d leave FIU, WKU, MTSU, UTEP and Louisiana Tech. Even if they added Liberty, I think the damage would’ve already been done.

They'd be looking at either trying to merge with the SBC straight up or adding some FCS teams.

 

[BamaDude]

The AAC screwed up by going to 14 teams. Adding UTSA to expand their Texas reach was a good idea; adding Rice and North Texas, not so much. Likewise, nabbing UAB to get one of CUSA's most consistent teams & a presence in the market that watches more college football games than any other - regardless of conference affiliation - was also a smooth move.

Adding FAU was also understandable, since they had lost UCF to the Big 12. But adding Charlotte - a fairly new program without a big following - was a real head-scratcher. A better move would have been to add Appalachian St. - a proven winner with a decent following. I know that the city of Charlotte is a decent-sized metro area & serves as ESPN's southern hub, but the university doesn't deliver that demographic.

So, by over-expanding in Texas and grabbing the wrong North Carolina team, the AAC just watered down its product to the point of potentially falling behind both the Mountain West & the Sun Belt; and, in the process, weakening CUSA to the point of being raided further by the SBC & potentially the MAC, as well.

The Sun Belt may have the trump card in this FBS lower-tier re-shuffling. By adding Southern Miss, that means they can shift Troy & South Alabama to the Western Division to make room for the addition of Marshall, Old Dominion & James Madison in the East - all the while thumbing their noses at former members FIU, MTSU & Western Kentucky, who left the Belt for CUSA a few years back - and at Louisiana Tech, who abandoned the Belt for the WAC just before the SBC added football to its conference sports lineup.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

The AAC screwed up by going to 14 teams. Adding UTSA to expand their Texas reach was a good idea; adding Rice and North Texas, not so much. Likewise, nabbing UAB to get one of CUSA's most consistent teams & a presence in the market that watches more college football games than any other - regardless of conference affiliation - was also a smooth move.

Adding FAU was also understandable, since they had lost UCF to the Big 12. But adding Charlotte - a fairly new program without a big following - was a real head-scratcher. A better move would have been to add Appalachian St. - a proven winner with a decent following. I know that the city of Charlotte is a decent-sized metro area & serves as ESPN's southern hub, but the university doesn't deliver that demographic.

So, by over-expanding in Texas and grabbing the wrong North Carolina team, the AAC just watered down its product to the point of potentially falling behind both the Mountain West & the Sun Belt; and, in the process, weakening CUSA to the point of being raided further by the SBC & potentially the MAC, as well.

The Sun Belt may have the trump card in this FBS lower-tier re-shuffling. By adding Southern Miss, that means they can shift Troy & South Alabama to the Western Division to make room for the addition of Marshall, Old Dominion & James Madison in the East - all the while thumbing their noses at former members FIU, MTSU & Western Kentucky, who left the Belt for CUSA a few years back - and at Louisiana Tech, who abandoned the Belt for the WAC just before the SBC added football to its conference sports lineup.

No doubt a couple of teams hold grudges against the way WKU left from what I’ve heard (Ark St and ULL). I still think that WKU can end up in the MAC with MTSU.

 

[Fitbud]

The AAC screwed up by going to 14 teams. Adding UTSA to expand their Texas reach was a good idea; adding Rice and North Texas, not so much. Likewise, nabbing UAB to get one of CUSA's most consistent teams & a presence in the market that watches more college football games than any other - regardless of conference affiliation - was also a smooth move.

Adding FAU was also understandable, since they had lost UCF to the Big 12. But adding Charlotte - a fairly new program without a big following - was a real head-scratcher. A better move would have been to add Appalachian St. - a proven winner with a decent following. I know that the city of Charlotte is a decent-sized metro area & serves as ESPN's southern hub, but the university doesn't deliver that demographic.

So, by over-expanding in Texas and grabbing the wrong North Carolina team, the AAC just watered down its product to the point of potentially falling behind both the Mountain West & the Sun Belt; and, in the process, weakening CUSA to the point of being raided further by the SBC & potentially the MAC, as well.

The Sun Belt may have the trump card in this FBS lower-tier re-shuffling. By adding Southern Miss, that means they can shift Troy & South Alabama to the Western Division to make room for the addition of Marshall, Old Dominion & James Madison in the East - all the while thumbing their noses at former members FIU, MTSU & Western Kentucky, who left the Belt for CUSA a few years back - and at Louisiana Tech, who abandoned the Belt for the WAC just before the SBC added football to its conference sports lineup.

I think the AAC took the six teams to simply get rid of CUSA.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I think the AAC took the six teams to simply get rid of CUSA.

Wouldn’t surprise me. I’m not sure if this is correct but I think if the conference completely dissolves, that none of the schools would have to pay exit fees. If I were all these other schools that are or about to be announced as leaving, I’d be on the phone with the MAC to get WKU and MTSU in there to make sure that that move would put the final nail in the coffin of the conference.