big east votes to expand

[smupony94]

And you had the wisdom to turn her down...you're a good man.

Hmmm, SMU coeds or Iowa coeds

[Nacho]

they know they can get any cusa team at any time. no need to rush.
this really hurts the mwc/wac. some of those teams just won't make it.
california and nevada are in very bad shape financially.
sdsu san jose fresno nevada and unlv could face elimination at the next tribal council.

[RGV Pony]

And you had the wisdom to turn her down...you're a good man.

Hmmm, SMU coeds or Iowa coeds

well...the midwest farmer's daughters...really make you feel alright...(David Lee Roth version if it's now playing in your head)

[CalallenStang]

Boston Globe says Villanova is one of the two teams. UCF most likely to be second team.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/e ... plans.html

[NickSMU17]

Wow...TCU better have something in store...or they got shafted again

[Mexmustang]

But if you schedule ND for four semi-conference games, won't that hurt their strength of schedule?

[leopold]

Boston Globe says Villanova is one of the two teams. UCF most likely to be second team.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/e ... plans.html

This is about the best possible scenario for us, so pray this is what happens.

1) If it's TCU its a disaster. Demographically it's SMU-West, only in a BCS conference. Not good for us.

2) Taking two of C-USA's top teams, say, ECU and UCF, won't help us alot, either. It's a weak football confence that gets significanly weaker (last what? 3? 4? C-USA champs) and taking one market along with our minor stake in the Florida market won't help our paltry TV contract.

so....

If it's TCU we don't leave for the MWC even if they offer, which they probably wouldn't. It's now the new WAC.

If one C-USA team goes, grab a Howard Schnellenberger coached FAU team who is getting an on-campus stadium and has their stuff together and plans for the future.

If it's two stay put at 10 teams and nix the conference championship game. Their aren't many, if any, viable candidates after FAU and we may actually make more money in the TV contract if we can keep the same money on the table for 10 schools as their are for 12, ala the Big XII.

[PonyKai]

If TCU goes Big East, perhaps SMU is invited to the MWC to fill the void that TCU left. Similar schools, Dallas market, Texas presence, small private academically prestigious, etc. Yes, there are drawbacks to it...you lost some natural rivalries and the cost of travel would increase, and there's the potential for visiting attendance to take a hit. But looking at the short term and increasing our profile in college football, it may be a very good move. The conference is a big step up competitively; it'll feature Boise St., AFA, Nevada and Fresno. YES, this is a lot like the Super Wac, but we immediately ditch the competitive/attendance dead-weight that is Rice and Tulane. Besides, we can always schedule Rice OOC, and teams traveling from CUSA East to SMU aren't exactly bringing a lot of fans.

If this is a potential scenario, and if SMU is willing to battle a few issues associated with the move, in the short term, it could be a pretty savvy decision. We can always jump to another conference. On the other hand, it is about to lose Utah, BYU, and perhaps TCU. That's three of the top teams out.

BUT, if CUSA loses UCF and/or Houston...you're left with a nationally irrelevant conference where SMU will play ECU every single year in an epic battle to decide who plays a mid-tier SEC team in a pre-January bowl game. Not exactly college football utopia for us.

[GoRedGoBlue]

TCU to the Big East would be to a LESSER conference. Why?

[leopold]

Boise State is the only step up competitively; the other top schools are similiar to UH and ECU - they bounce in and out of the top 25. That's not a BCS conference, which would be the only factor. Rice and Tulane will travel about the same as SDSU and FSU.

There is no profile for the MWC now except for BSU and TCU. If TCU goes, the conference as a whole is irrelevent.

Bottom line:

1) Less TV money.
2) Less exposure.
3) Travel costs skyrocket.

Say what you want to: It's one thing to leave Rice and Tulane for UT and A&M, or Pitt and WVU. It's another to leave them for Wyoming and UNLV.

It's not even close. We won't consider it.

[PonyKai]

Less TV money...is that like saying instead of getting five peanuts, they're going to cut our rations to three peanuts? Less exposure? We just played a game against a school most people forgot was actually D-1A, in a stadium that held maybe 5,000 people, half of which belonged to us. Which ESPN network was it on? Our most high profile games have been our OOC anyways. TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, those have been the games picked up by national networks and have given us the best opportunity to make a "national splash."

I'm not sold that a hypothetical jump is the best move, but toiling in an irrelevant conference minus one of the top 2 programs is a terrible plan of action. Currently, CUSA is ranked 9th out of all conferences, hovering slightly above the toilet where the MAC and Sun Belt reside. It was that way last year too. We have yet to have a BCS buster. 1/3 of our division is basically committed on paper to not fielding competitive programs.

[MustangStealth]

I really don't understand 10 members for football unless they want to offer TCU for football only.

Anyone they invite beyond Villanova will likely be for football only.

[Nacho]

there is only one school in the new mwc worth anything and that is boise.
af is decent but they should go indie.
wyoming sdsu csu unlv are dead weight
nevada is decent-a team we destroyed in the hawaii bowl
byu and utah are gone.
tcu is all but gone
fresno is ok
why would we join this
they will not become a bcs conference.
we need to keep up our steady improvement and wait for a good offer.

[PonyKai]

And how many teams in CUSA are worth more than the lint in your pocket? I'm not suggesting the MWC as an endgame landing spot for us, but the next 1-6 years are very likely crucial to our future in college football. Unless seismac changes happen immediately and we find ourselves being coveted, we may need to take intermediate steps in order to achieve our goal, which is a seat at the BCS table. If TCU leaves the MWC, and UCF and Houston stay in CUSA, then certainly our current home the best opportunity to achieve our ultimate goal. However, if CUSA loses one of its two flagship programs, you're left with basically an utterly worthless conference that will backfill with La. Tech/FAU/NTSU and we're immediately relegated to obscurity, annually battling Tulsa and ECU for the prize of a mean-nothing, pre-January bowl game against an SEC team that by their standards had a terrible year.

On a macro scale it's easy to look at, but I'd be very interested in looking at the different conferences on a micro level with a bunch of stats I don't want to spend the time pulling together. How much of an actual loss in TV revenue would MWC result in? How much would travel costs actually increase? How many traveling fans does each MWC school bring on average to each game 2005-2010? How much would any buyout penalty be? We have all that for our current residence, so it'd be a nice comparison that I'm sure would be made at the appropriate time, or already has been made in preparation.

I'm almost just playing Devil's Advocate because this whole re-alignment ordeal is a great big unpredictable cluster f%^*, and CUSA might well be a great place for us for the immediate future. But we did just play a horribly irrelevant conference opponent in a non-televised game in front of a crowd that is routinely dwarfed by high school football games all over the country. Not exactly the future I want for SMU.

[Nacho]

everyone in cusa wants out
everyone in the mwc wants out
it is a lateral move at best-but frought with all kinds of expenses and travel issues
if byu utah and tcu were still in it then it would make sense.
other changes in bcs conferences are no doubt coming
we need to continue improving and make ourselves attractive when an opportunity arises.
i understand your frustration with cusa but i don't see the mwc as a step up when tcu leaves.