untjim1995

The conference situation you openly choose and have stated is CUSA because of the regional drive ability. I’m suggesting a conference that a team 45 minutes to the south used to become a very solid and recognizable program. I’d prefer something that raises our profile, you know, with an actual existing conference. You don’t offer anything. Shocker...

Solid conference you are fighting for, Grandpa Green... https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/College-football-conference-ranking-exiting-2018-season-SEC-Big-Ten-Big-12-ACC-127681896/ https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2018-college-football-conference-power-rankings-sec-back-on-top-but-where-does-the-big-ten-land/amp/

I go to UNT games. I’d like it even more if we were playing games against teams I think would raise our profile more than the F_Us and the likes of ODU and Charlotte. But it’s cool that you like our setup. So does the majority of our fanbase. It’s why I firmly expect to be in a relegated level of play for good in football within 5-10 years.

What can he do? And what is a new commissioner going to change? It’s not like you can get any better teams into the league that is going to make a network pay more for CUSA coverage.

La Tech was never in the MWC. Minor detail... you are right that we aren’t prolly getting a MWC invite, but even if we did, folks in our fanbase have made it obviously clear they don’t want it because it’s better to drive to a game than have us be in a better league. That’s reality that I cannot defeat, which I gladly admit. It is what it is. And Utah was the equal to Boise State today, at best. BYU is a tough one to replace for all of the MWC, for sure. And now let’s compare to CUSA. Our best teams that have national recognition are Southen Miss, Louisiana Tech, and Marshall. No way that compares to Boise State, Fresno State, or Utah state, who are their big 3 programs now. I wouldn’t expect you to understand this. You’re Old Denton to the tee...

But Grand Green thinks playing Rice and UTEP makes it great!! Go CUSA!!

Yeah, TCU really couldn’t handle the altitude when they were playing out west... And, maybe, just maybe, you can for travel against those teams out west for the other programs because you actually get more money from being in a conference that gets Decent non P5 coverage. Crazy thought there. But hey, you can drive down to Houston to watch us play rice!! And you can fly to El Paso, which takes the same time to fly to ABQ, but forget about that, because El Paso., brah!! when I say you get what you deserve, make no doubt about it, I mean you’ve got the perfect setup for you—UNT being in a conference that lets you see the play teams that nobody cares about in this current world of college sports. You are everything that New Denton needs to get away from. And I mean everything...

Before TV networks really skyrocketed the influence on how conferences are setup, SMU had us by the balls by their influence and money. No SWC, no CUSA. Now, it’s their presence in our market. No TV network wants overlap. Rice and UH aren’t going to be in a conference again, just as we have never been with SMU. Networks want TV sets in multiple markets. While SMU really cannot stop us anymore from joining their conference, the networks do it instead.

Here’s what I think: CUSA sucks compared to the MWC for the sports people care about. Travel to the west coast is the same as travel to the East Coast. F_U is no different, travel wise than playing SDSU or SJSU. Playing ODU or Marshall is no different than playing Boise State or Fresno State from a travel perspective. The Big West was bad for us because we quarter-assed it on a funding and facility standpoint. Meanwhile, BSU, Nevada, and Utah State all moved up. The programs who couldn’t compete financially fell back, like Idaho and NMSU, and us for a while. The MWC is NOTHING like the Big West. Look at bowl tie ins, BCS bowl berths, basketball tourney berths, and overall attendance comparisons. Really stupid to even try to make that comparison, actually. And we don’t dominate anything at all in this league. But we have upside others don’t have from location and enrollment—but it’s potential until someone gives us a chance and we take it and run with it. That hasn’t happened at all for us yet. Judy McLeod is a terrible commissioner, but she can’t do much about the current setup of the conference because idiots before her thought that adding ODU and Charlotte would keep East Carolina around. Just dumb... UNT can’t base plans on a future Big 12 breakup because they don’t have the clout. If we did, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now, playing in a lower G5 league with very little respect. Basically, I want the best for us. The AAC and MWC are steps up in that direction. CUSA and SBC are basically looked at as being the same nationally. I think a step up would be awesome for our program. Playing Boise State, FSU, SDSU, and AFA would be so fun. So would playing UNM, Utah state, Nevada, and UNLV in basketball. It beats the absolute dogshit out of our current schedule. It’s not even close. But it’s fans like you who will get what we deserve. You want SBCUSA schedules so you can go to games easier by driving. You prefer games in podunk Louisiana over games in Colorado against CSU or AFA. You like a game against F_U over a game in California against better name teams in SDSU and FSU. Congrats on getting what you want for our program. You represent the clear majority and I don’t. So, enjoy our ride into the new relegated level of play for football. Way to go...

The big question is what happens when the GOR expires for the Big XII in 2025. A few things to keep in mind. The LHN doesn’t run out until 2031. They aren’t giving up that money. ESPN may end it prematurely or change it into something else, but they aren’t getting out of that payment. If that’s a problem for another conference, Texas may say that they will support a GOR extension to 2031 or they may just go independent until the LHN expires and then join a conference that they want to join down the road. Other sports become an AAC member, for example, until 2031. KU will go to the B1G. This is the worst kept secret in conference realignment. KU is an AAU institution, like every other program has been when entering the B1G. They make so much money on research, which dwarfs athletics. The B1G gets another new market, great hoops, and another research school to celebrate. OU isn’t AAU, but they are the leader in most national merit scholars. I suspect that they will have lots of options because of football and the fact that they deliver national interest. The others have some level of interest and uncertainty. OSU and Tech hope the big brothers coattails bring them into a new conference setup. KSU probably doesn’t get that lucky because of its remoteness. WVU wants the ACC, but they are probably an AAC school. Iowa State will be an AAC program for sure. That leaves BU and TCU, both of which seem like really good fits for the MWC. I don’t see a Big XII existing (like the SWC), but it could be a Big East/AAC deal, where other schools regionalize together from the leftovers, MWC mountain schools, and western AAC schools. We have to pray we get into that setup if it happens—because otherwise, we are probably stuck in a far flung conference with even less good programs than we have now.

You can’t make networks want your product if they don’t value the teams...and they dont value CUSA. The way forward is to regionalize this thing and make it a solid rival-driven league. For an example: NMSU-UTEP UNT-UTA UTSA—Texas State La Tech—ULM Rice—ULL Arky State—UALR UAB—USM 12 teams for football, 14 for hoops. Would be so much better than what anyone has currently in the SBCUSA.

The thing that makes little sense to me is that ODU was a 14 seed this year while Marshall was a 13 seed last season. I felt like ODU was better than last year’s Marshall team, but the conference was looked down at because last year had a solid MUTS team that blew it in the conference tournament and got left out. This year, Belmont made it as an at large, when they weren’t as good as MUTS last year. CUSA just gets zero respect in the revenue sports.

The conference would be wise to find a center of their far-flung conference and go there. WKU, ODU, MUTS, and UAB all have solid fanbases. This thing needs to be somewhere Memphis...

It’s not even possible for me to disagree more than I do with this post.

True on SMU, but no conference is going to overlap TV markets anytime soon. We are never going to be in a conference with SMU unless the Upper G5’s recognize cost is bigger than revenues at our level.