[What Group of 5 teams can make the jump to Power 5?]

P5 and G5 will go away soon enough. 

[Interesting Tweet From AAC Fansite....Telling UTSA To Step Up (facilities)]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:22 PM, TheColonyEagle said:

Man, you can see what is headed UTSA's way and it could be ugly. They seem to be a house of cards....they seriously have to keep winning 10+ games every year in football to keep what little credibility they have. What happens if they have back to back 6 win seasons? What if Traylor turns out to be a bust? They can't afford to buy him out. 

If there are 10 possible outcomes for UTSA in the coming years, it seems 8 of them are bad. What a risky situation.

UTSA is like a college athletics ponzi scheme....the crash is gonna be painful.

Interesting take. There's a saying, "give it the ol' college try". Seems fitting. 

Continual conference realignment really caught us off guard. We were supposed to stay FCS for 5 years, then look for an FBS home. We couldn't ignore the WAC offer when they came calling, but it disbanded after one year. Fortunately CUSA came calling, then the AAC. It's been a blur for a 13 year old program that services mostly lower socioeconomic peoples. 

UNT endowment 217.8M FY2020

UTSA endowment 277M FY2021

[Interesting Tweet From AAC Fansite....Telling UTSA To Step Up (facilities)]

On 4/21/2023 at 9:08 AM, SUMG said:

Rice, always seems to get a pass. But for the money they have.....they don't seem to put much into facilities either. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this....

You're not wrong. Nothing screams awesome about any facility at Rice. I live in Houston and have watched soccer, baseball, basketball, and football.  Bsaeball was great 30 years ago, but it is good enough. The diamond dimensions are identical to all ncaa diamonds. Same with basketball. Soccer? it's just like all high school fields. Football? Rice stadium sucks compared to modern stadiums. 

[2023 AAC transfer portal rankings]

4 hours ago, DentonStang said:

The answer is two fold:

1.  As your numbers show we focus less on HS recruiting and bring in smaller classes (NIL is easier to leverage within the rules with transfers) 

2. If you aren't needed, you are encouraged to hit the portal and move on to some place you can play, or leave the team and get on academic scholarship.  Your numbers don't show transfers out.

 

1. What is it 35K a player at SMU? Hey, SMU can legaly pay players now. I loved Pony Exce$$ 30 for 30. I still crack up at James being the lone boy scout from that era.

2. True, but I think more of it will be shopping services until enough collectives get burned.  

[2023 AAC transfer portal rankings]

On 1/23/2023 at 12:05 PM, bstnsportsfan3 said:

do you have a link to this?

My bad, I should have posted the link. Josh Pate mentioned SMU doing really well, so it was 247 sports. 

[2023 AAC transfer portal rankings]

Looks like SMU is running away with it at 17 players and 14 of them being 3 stars and 2 of them being 4 stars.  This ranks them 6th overall. Tulsa 1 4*, Temple 1 3*, and Tulane 1 3*.

La Tech did better than the 6 new AAC schools. Interesting data. None of us joining the AAC have a 3 star or higher. 

Power of the NIL at play? 

[So what P5 is gonna hire Traylor?]

14 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

I doubt Traylor is inasmuch demand as some think.

He is viewed as doing very well in a very poor conference.  He also was in luck to have inherited a franchise type QB 

UTSA has a lot going for it and Traylor will certainly get looks.   However, I am not sure there are P5 programs that want him.  Yes, I read TTU wanted him, but like Littrell rumored offer to Kansas St; I have my doubts.  

Addition:  If those quoted buyout numbers are true, I think UTSA will keep him for a long time. 

He's in high demand. 2 OCs have now gone on to P5s; Illinois and now Oregon. He and his family loves Boerne Texas and his kids are in school. It's gonna have to be the right school. 

Yes, he inherited Harris, but he's also coached the entire team up. Way fewer unsportsmanlike, fewer procedure penalties, etc. We may not be conference champs, but we win 8 games a year. And after Wilson? I'll take that. 

[So what P5 is gonna hire Traylor?]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:05 AM, TheColonyEagle said:

Was Frank Harris Traylor’s recruit? 

No, officially Frank Wilson's. I realy think Coker staff started the process, though. Harris has been a student at UTSA since 2017. Thank god he wasn't wasted under Wilson.  Many fans at that time felt Narcisse was the better QB. I really don't know who they were watching, but it clearly wasn't UTSA. I never once thought any QB on UTSA roster was better than Harris.

[The next CUSA School? (So glad we are leaving)]

On 12/7/2022 at 6:12 AM, outoftown said:

Liberty is going to do some things on the field to this run-down conference that they might have to ask forgiveness for after. Lots of low-budget schools locked into a conference with them and their high budget. If they go 13-0 and 12-1 season after season, could they actually endanger the AACs grasp on the playoff because folks will get so used to seeing them ranked?

They won't have Freeze anymore, so we'll have to see how they might fall off or stay the same.  But they clearly have a money advantage AND the desire.

[The next CUSA School? (So glad we are leaving)]

On 12/7/2022 at 5:17 AM, StealthEagle84 said:

C-USA is the new Sun Belt from 20+ years ago. A conference made up of teams making the fresh jump to D-1 football. Sad how far C-USA has fallen in the last decade. 

They get what they deserve. Imagine a 2 time conference champ being sent to a bowl game on a Friday afternoon during a legit work day. Literally, played in the last CUSA game of the year and playing in the second earliest game. 

This CUSA sucks ass...

[Can someone explain Tulane to me]

15 hours ago, TheColonyEagle said:

What is the difference between last season and this season? 

COVID Seniors, maybe? If you look at college football as a whole, there were many "upsets" and a school like Tulane, which is an undesirable football destination, the ability to give recruits one extra year of development is huge. I don't know for sure, but that's my guess. Blue blood P5 schools have to keep that pipeline moving, whereas G5s actually benefited from super seniors. James Madison killed it this year. 

[UNT providing Free Tickets for C-USA Championship Game for UNT Students]

I would love to blame Judy, but this is all TV's doing. Either way, Friday sucks...

[See Y'all Friday]

Good luck ...

Here's to as injury free game.

[If I was AAC commish...]

14 hours ago, 97and03 said:

And without any real investment. 
 

...And without any fans in the stands. 

[CUSA Championship is on a Friday?]

22 hours ago, Pavlovs Eagle said:

I saw in today's "Thank you Season Ticket Holders" email from UNT that the CUSA Championship game is on Friday?  Who's awful planning is that?   

At least the last time we appeared in this game it was on a Saturday.

2021 was the first year of the Friday Championship game.

[If I was AAC commish...]

1 hour ago, Marcelo said:

Too many underestimate the value of Rice University being in the same conference. If Rice decides to get really serious about athletics, it has the resources necessary to do so and become a top-tier program. Not to mention the superb academics it brings to the table. 

Meh, they've had since 1996 to give a care.

[If I was AAC commish...]

1 hour ago, VideoEagle said:

The international name recognition of Rice is unbelievable! 

Nice joke! 

[If I was AAC commish...]

3 minutes ago, NT80 said:

These were the reasons I believe also for the addition of six replacing three.   All are in large metro areas too, thinking growth of those schools will continue.  

Rice will never grow, though. 

[If I was AAC commish...]

15 minutes ago, Marcelo said:

I like that Rice was included. 

Why do you feel this way?

[If I was AAC commish...]

Only 4 teams from CUSA would have been invited to the American. UNT, UTSA, UAB, and FAU.

We could play an 8 game schedule while rotating through all the teams more frequently. (UNT, SMU, UTSA, Tulsa) (Tulane, UAB, Memphis, ECU)  (FAU, USF, Navy, Temple) Play annually then you rotate the other 8 teams in the 5 remaining games.  These annual teams would be regional type rivals. Schedule the other 5 games as home and home and we'd rotate through the entire conference no less than every 4 years. 

 

[Lame CUSA may only qualify five (5) for Bowls]

11 hours ago, NT80 said:

I think if UTSA wins Conference they would get choice of the five CUSA Bowls.  I bet they would take New Orleans; indoors and party city.   

The other Bowls probably then get decided by ESPN.   UNT would have a good shot at Ft. Worth, to bring a crowd.  Assignments may depend on school's finals, graduations and conflicts too.

ESPN has a lot of pull. I think we play Coastal in the NO bowl no matter what. It was embarrassing to see 30 UTSA fans in the stands on Saturday and that being 26 more than Rice had. Rice simply does not pull its weight anymore. Houston area  doesn't care about Rice anymore than Rice cares about Rice.

[Congrats to UTSA]

On 11/19/2022 at 4:53 PM, Cr1028 said:

How do they get the trophy before the champ game?

The trophy was probably already made for each division before Marshall, USM, and ODU jumped abruptly to the Sunbelt.

That wouldn't surprise me one bit to see this repurposed. LOL

[Congrats to UTSA]

19 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

It doesn’t make sense in other sports either. It’s incredibly unstable having multiple teams claiming league titles for the same year. You don’t see the NBA/NFL/MLB crowning a regular season champion. 
 

 

It does for post season consideration in baseball, basketball, etc. CUSA might actually be on the forefront here knowing the playoffs are about to expand and divisions in all conferences are going away. SEC confirmed they will not have divisions. We've already seen a non-SEC winner make the natty and actually win it all 3 times. Alabama over LSU, Alabama over Georgia, Georgia over Alabama. 

[Charlotte Hires Biff Poggi]

On 11/15/2022 at 10:37 PM, DentonLurker said:

It’s so weird trying to figure out what his role even really was at Michigan. On their game notes, he’s listed as “Associate Head Coach/Special Advisor” listed under Analysts. He’s not even a position coach. So strange. How is the Associate Head Coach not even a position coach?

At Alabama this title/position is called "Saban coach rehab clinic" for recently failed coaches that need insight as to how top notch programs are run. I think they are used also for their experience to grade in real time performance on the field while understanding all the HC duties/communications/recruiting for "the process" of being a head coach. 

Use Sark as an example. Look at him Pre-Alabama and Post-Alabama. His demeanor is completely different. Hes having some great results and some dud reults, but he'd definitely handling it better than ast USC or Washington.  He was in this "analyst role" before leaving for the Falcons and then returning to Alabama for the 2019&2020 seasons. 

Weird that this guy was that already at Michigan, so no you aren't missing anything. A rich guy who may or may not know football that is "on cheap" for Charlotte. 

[Charlotte Hires Biff Poggi]