This all hinges on The Big East

[Harry]

If the Big East moves quickly and cherrypicks CUSA it would have major ramifications. Or they could stand pat and disappear into oblivion. The card they still have is their BCS bowl autoqualifier status. That won't go away for a couple of years. My guess is they will move quickly to add teams.

The question is, if you are SMU or Houston, do you accept a Big East invite if it comes? My thought would be yes because even only 2-3 years of auto-qualification would be better than what CUSA offers them now.

[bleedgreen4ever]

I agree. They would accept if they get invited.

[playoffpush]

SMU and Houston would be idiots not to accept. The AQ tag as brief as it may be gets you a lot more credibility.

[forevereagle]

They better move. If they don't, it is an admission of defeat. I don't see how they can just sit and wait for it to happen. If the WAC can stay afloat, surely the Big East can.

[El Paso Eagle]

If the Big East moves quickly and cherrypicks CUSA it would have major ramifications. Or they could stand pat and disappear into oblivion. The card they still have is their BCS bowl autoqualifier status. That won't go away for a couple of years. My guess is they will move quickly to add teams.

The question is, if you are SMU or Houston, do you accept a Big East invite if it comes? My thought would be yes because even only 2-3 years of auto-qualification would be better than what CUSA offers them now.

If this happens --

The Big East….. could have teams in the Southwest

The Big 12 has 9,10,.. teams

The Big 10 has 12 teams

Looks like the PAC 12 is the only one who understand this conference name thing

[Wag Tag]

If the Big East moves quickly and cherrypicks CUSA it would have major ramifications. Or they could stand pat and disappear into oblivion. The card they still have is their BCS bowl autoqualifier status. That won't go away for a couple of years. My guess is they will move quickly to add teams.

The question is, if you are SMU or Houston, do you accept a Big East invite if it comes? My thought would be yes because even only 2-3 years of auto-qualification would be better than what CUSA offers them now.

U r dead on. This could b a windfall for UNT. We may not have the record but CUSA and the MWC will not have any other options for DFW! I could c them both make a move. CUSA adds us and La Tech. MWC adds us and UTEP.!

[Side Show Joe]

I never thought Texas would let TCU into the Big 12. Now the talk about SMU to the Big East or SEC makes some sense. If these rumors are true that both conferences are interested in SMU, and want to come out of realignment with a team in the metroplex, that could be good news for us.

Who am I kidding, with our luck, we will prpbably still be in the Sun Belt when all this is over.

[UNTflyer]

I think the Big East expands and they keep their BCS AQ status. UCF, SMU, and Houston will be the first invites followed by possibly Marshall (if West Virginia stays), Army, and Navy.

[LongJim]

I never thought Texas would let TCU into the Big 12.

I had not heard anything saying Texas did not want TCU. The prevailing opinion was that TCU did not deliver any new markets to the Big 12 TV contract. Texas has said over and over that they want as many games in Texas and this area as possible. OU has said the same thing. Grabbing TCU IMO, is a bit of a pre-emptive move to keep the SEC from making any inroads into DFW and to further isolate aTm. Not the only reason, but one of them.

[UNTcrazy727]

I think the Big East expands and they keep their BCS AQ status. UCF, SMU, and Houston will be the first invites followed by possibly Marshall (if West Virginia stays), Army, and Navy.

That would make C-USA a lot less attractive to join. I'd still join, but I wouldn't be thrilled doing it.

[NT80]

If the Big East moves quickly and cherrypicks CUSA it would have major ramifications. Or they could stand pat and disappear into oblivion. The card they still have is their BCS bowl autoqualifier status. That won't go away for a couple of years. My guess is they will move quickly to add teams.

That BCS auto-qualifier is their golden goose. I see the Big East reloading (asap)as it is more secure being the hunter than the hunted. The Big12 finally realized this and pounced.

Here is a NY Times article on the Big East's quandry...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/sports/ncaafootball/big-east-loses-texas-christian-putting-football-future-in-doubt.html

[PlummMeanGreen]

That would make C-USA a lot less attractive to join. I'd still join, but I wouldn't be thrilled doing it.

You are the first to post what many of us have been thinking.

We need some nasty photos of the MWC Commissioner. Black mail works every time!

GMG!

[DeepGreen]

Couple of thoughts-

-SMU to the SEC is laughable

-Big East will add East Carolina over Marshall

-Big East will be an AQ conferance because the conference is in that Eastern Media market

UNT's only hope in all of this realignment is if the MWC and CUSA want to maintain a presence in DFW/Texas for recruiting.

[Comet7745]

Without TCU in the Big East, I don't know why SMU is a viable BE candidate now. The BE is much better off focusing on regionalism. They brought TCU in for BCS viability - it's the only reason they expanded into Texas. Now that they're gone, they really don't want to be stretching out that conference for someone like SMU. If you guys want SMU gone in order to open up a C-USA spot, your best hope is a very improbably Big XII/SEC invite. That's not going to happen. If SMU and Houston truly are serious about going AQ, their best bet is doing the whole C-USA/MWC merger. If that happens, not sure where UNT would sit in terms of new openings.

[Rudy]

The best/most likely scenario for NT right now is to win and make ourselves more attractive. I think this move may have given NT a very small, tight opening to do so.

And yes, that is what she said.

[GreenGuy123]

Yeah our record hasn't been to0 great the past few years...but come on...I think the MWC and C-USA would be stupid not to take us. Especially the MWC if they are to expand.

Pros

-Huge Student Body

-Huge Alumni Base in DFW

-Brand new stadium

-Big 12/SEC caliber head coach.

-Huge Market

-Good Bball program on the rise

Cons

-Bad football record

-No baseball (but not too far away)

...Am I missing something?

[UNT90]

The best/most likely scenario for NT right now is to win and make ourselves more attractive. I think this move may have given NT a very small, tight opening to do so.

And yes, that is what she said.

I think that opening to win to impress was in the previous 2 years. Beating Sun Belt teams isn't going to impress anyone.

[houstonmeangreen]

Yeah our record hasn't been to0 great the past few years...but come on...I think the MWC and C-USA would be stupid not to take us. Especially the MWC if they are to expand.

Pros

-Huge Student Body

-Huge Alumni Base in DFW

-Brand new stadium

-Big 12/SEC caliber head coach.

-Huge Market

-Good Bball program on the rise

Cons

-Bad football record

-No baseball (but not too far away)

...Am I missing something?

UNT has to sell the university's new commitment to football and new funding, as evidenced by the new coaching staff, new stadium and promotion....hopefully RV didn't kill our chances with the LONG TD experiment...I get sooooo pissed when I think about this stupidity.

[DeepGreen]

UNT has to sell the university's new commitment to football and new funding, as evidenced by the new coaching staff, new stadium and promotion....hopefully RV didn't kill our chances with the LONG TD experiment...I get sooooo pissed when I think about this stupidity.

Whatever little opening we had when CUSA last expanded was washed down the toilet with the Todd Dodge experiment.

[playoffpush]

Yeah our record hasn't been to0 great the past few years...but come on...I think the MWC and C-USA would be stupid not to take us. Especially the MWC if they are to expand.

Pros

-Huge Student Body

-Huge Alumni Base in DFW

-Brand new stadium

-Big 12/SEC caliber head coach.

-Huge Market

-Good Bball program on the rise

Cons

-Bad football record

-No baseball (but not too far away)

...Am I missing something?

There is obviously more to it than that.

[NT80]

Whatever little opening we had when CUSA last expanded was washed down the toilet with the Todd Dodge experiment.

It's not all about football record. SMUt was bad when invited to CUSA, and they had no baseball, but they had potential and location. UTEP also has no baseball but edged out UNT for the last CUSA spot because of football facility and attendance. UNT has done better since in both areas.

[playoffpush]

UNT will get a CUSA invite out of this but its not going to be the CUSA it is now.

[GrayEagle]

The best/most likely scenario for NT right now is to win and make ourselves more attractive. I think this move may have given NT a very small, tight opening to do so.

Exactly. If we could somehow manage a break even season this year it could convince a conference that we are turning the corner. A healthy increase in attendance wouldn't hurt either. Let's hope Lane Rawlins can open a few doors as well.

[NT80]

If SMU and Houston truly are serious about going AQ, their best bet is doing the whole C-USA/MWC merger. If that happens, not sure where UNT would sit in terms of new openings.

As I understand it there would be no merger of the conferences, simply the conference champions playing each other and winner to hopefully gain an auto BCS berth. I doubt CUSA/MWC even combined have enough fire power to gain an AQ berth.

Edited October 7, 2011 by NT80

[Mean Green Matt]

I honestly think that attendance is one of the most important things. Not for the reason of revenue though, but because it is hard to convince others to care about us when it appears that we don't care about ourselves. The people on this board are not the problem, but it should be more motivation to drag as many people into Apogee stadium as possible.