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It's rumors like this that kill tv deals.

"Would UConn and Cincy really rather play San Jose St and Utah St than Tulane and ECU?"

In case you missed the bowl games.

Tulane's bowl game was upsetting SMU at home.
ECU lost it's bowl game!

San Jose State and Utah State both played in bowl games.
And oh yeah ... they both won!

SMU1990 wrote:"Would UConn and Cincy really rather play San Jose St and Utah St than Tulane and ECU?"

In case you missed the bowl games.

Tulane's bowl game was upsetting SMU at home.
ECU lost it's bowl game!

San Jose State and Utah State both played in bowl games.
And oh yeah ... they both won!

Yeah I am sure they would love to travel all the way across the country and three time zones to play them. New Orleans or wherever the hell Utah state plays - their fans would surely love the travel and press coverage they would get from Utah state. And one more thing - it has nothing to do with wins and losses right now - television only.

Wins and Losses matter too!

If it was about Television eyeballs then SMU and Houston would be invited.

In the game of musical chairs SMU and Houston are standing

I sure hope we get in!

UConn is a puzzlement and must feel that they have been left out, let down and somewhat left out to dry with current Beast defections in basketball. One must remember that UConn has very little football history only becoming an FSB level program within the last 15 years. The football program had some initial success going to a bowl game in their 2d year ( maybe 3d year) and have not made much progress since then. Their whole big time sports history is solely with basketball with great men's and women's teams for the last 20 years and little accomplishment in any other sport. In my opinion they will be motivated to secure their basketball interests first, even at the expense of the football program, if that option becomes the best choice. I can easily see them actively seeking to align with the Catholic 7 and forming a new basketball league which will also service all other sports other than football where the Beast is their only option to remain revelant.

Aresco should make sure it's 100% commitment or they have to share a great deal of their tv contract to the big east. We shouldn't be a safe house to traitors so let's make a dime off the defectors if we can otherwise can their football team out. Clearly nobody on the east side wants them.

next up ACC raid - keep speculating all you want, it's going to keep going and going and going..

Where there is smoke, there is fire. With UConn wishing for better BB, SDSU wishing for a western FB partner and the remaining BE wishing for a good media deal and near term stability, strengthening Basketball Power Ratings should be given a priority, along with creating the strongest football membership possible.

Provide UConn reasons to love the new BE by bringing in SDSU BB, while adding secular BB teams such Creighton, Butler and perhaps Gonzaga. This helps lock in the Aztecs and gives western BE basketball strength of schedule, while giving the Huskies, Cincinnati, Memphis and Temple new BE opponents in BB. Compliments SMU and Houston BB and FB too.

SMUer said, in part: If true, this is becoming the biggest joke I've ever heard.

Well, yes. But what is your capsule description of most SMU sports since the end of football I at SMU until the second year or so of the JJ era - and since - and BB before LB?

That alumni magazine with the BE cover has become pretty ironic.

Water Pony wrote:Where there is smoke, there is fire. With UConn wishing for better BB, SDSU wishing for a western FB partner and the remaining BE wishing for a good media deal and near term stability, strengthening Basketball Power Ratings should be given a priority, along with creating the strongest football membership possible.

Provide UConn reasons to love the new BE by bringing in SDSU BB, while adding secular BB teams such Creighton, Butler and perhaps Gonzaga. This helps lock in the Aztecs and gives western BE basketball strength of schedule, while giving the Huskies, Cincinnati, Memphis and Temple new BE opponents in BB. Compliments SMU and Houston BB and FB too.

This makes great sense. The Beast must keep the Catholic 7 at all costs and expand the basketball program as necessary. You could also add Washington University to the conversation.

PoconoPony wrote:

Water Pony wrote:Where there is smoke, there is fire. With UConn wishing for better BB, SDSU wishing for a western FB partner and the remaining BE wishing for a good media deal and near term stability, strengthening Basketball Power Ratings should be given a priority, along with creating the strongest football membership possible.

Provide UConn reasons to love the new BE by bringing in SDSU BB, while adding secular BB teams such Creighton, Butler and perhaps Gonzaga. This helps lock in the Aztecs and gives western BE basketball strength of schedule, while giving the Huskies, Cincinnati, Memphis and Temple new BE opponents in BB. Compliments SMU and Houston BB and FB too.

This makes great sense. The Beast must keep the Catholic 7 at all costs and expand the basketball program as necessary. You could also add Washington University to the conversation.

I like the idea of a St. Louis BB member, but WashU is Division III. St. Louis University is a good option, but is Catholic and a possible candidate for Catholic 7.

What the eff is the BE even doing? As soon as the C7 split, Bulter, Gonzaga and Creighton should have been prepped to join. We are slowly bleeding and our inactivity is making every member uneasy.

Right now all of the conferences are now asking the Network Suits, what they want because that's what's driving some of these realignment choices. The B1G wanted into the mid-Atlantic market and invited Maryland. They wanted into the New York market and ask Rutgers. Why? For their network which gives each school $x for each TV set on a cable system. The Big XII needed the best school available and chose TCU and WVU with WVU way out of their footprint. Why? Because they wanted TV sets on the Longhorn Network. Thus, WVU gets them into WV, Eastern Ohio, and Western PA markets. That is why schools like FSU and GT are more likely targets than VT or UNC, TV sets all over FL and GA are more than TV sets in NC and VA and it pimps the SEC a little bit. That is why none of this makes logical sense. So, we just have to be sure that our billionaire alums tell the powers that be that they control lots of ad money and that money can go wherever we go.

Can't imagine there is no activity. The Presidents and Commissioner must be working behind the scenes. Probably don't want to make their thoughts/choices public, because if they don't work out, it looks bad in the press. For example, did anyone have any idea the MWC was going to make that sweetheart deal with Boise. And the minute we knew about it, it looked so obvious that they had to do something big plus Aresco of course knew, but opted not to match it.

AusTxPony wrote:Can't imagine there is no activity. The Presidents and Commissioner must be working behind the scenes. Probably don't want to make their thoughts/choices public, because if they don't work out, it looks bad in the press. For example, did anyone have any idea the MWC was going to make that sweetheart deal with Boise. And the minute we knew about it, it looked so obvious that they had to do something big plus Aresco of course knew, but opted not to match it.

I agree. The BSU sweetheart deal from MWC suggests that this conference was a bit desparate. It is also incompatible with serving all conference members and will evidentially lead to a NY Yankee problem, the best that money can buy, abiet in small markets, and result in delivering Boise State only into the premier bowls/playoffs vs. the opportunity for any school to rise and fall based on their success in any given year.