BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

Just spitballing.

 

A lot of the Texas stuff is about cockblocking the MWC. Aresco tried for their top four schools and couldn't pull it off. There wasn't a big enough payoff to be worth the buyout/buy in and the distance. AAC took the top end of C-USA football and athletic budgets as well as potential markets.

Saw this from Dennis Dodd today, dunno how accurate it is.

“When word came today the @MountainWest was standing pat (again), the question then became how big the AAC was going to get. 14 teams seems to be way too big per industry sources. 6 apps may be trial balloon to see how number is received.”


There are a couple of 247 guys who are reporting So Miss and Marshall to the Belt, but I have not seen anything of substance to verify that.

 

Old Dominion, which had solid men’s and women’s basketball programs, is willing to gut them and everything else for football. They just couldn’t resist. Had to be like everybody else.

 

When I covered (some) South Florida home games in the 80s it was in the Sun Belt with UAB, Old Dominion and UNCC
Nobody played football
That was when ODU had Mark West

 

"The Sun Belt is targeting Southern Miss, Marshall and Old Dominion from Conference USA along with FCS James Madison, as first reported by The Athletic's Chris Vannini.

Conference USA believes it can add James Madison and FBS independent Liberty inside of the next two weeks if details can be worked out, sources tell Dodd. Should C-USA succeed with those additions, it's believed Marshall and Old Dominion would be apt to stay in a nine-team league with C-USA only losing Southern Miss."

Sun Belt, Conference USA considering adding teams amid AAC expansion


Looks like Southern Miss is gone no matter what. That's kind of a shame, because if C-USA can add JMU and Liberty it might actually mean that the yahoos who were saying that C-USA would be better off after losing its top four teams were right, at least to some degree. JMU would be a nice replacement for Charlotte, and Liberty, while a bit distasteful for largely off the field reasons, has deep pockets. Both schools have a number of competent programs to add. The conference footprint would shrink, and there would be a good reason to pull the conference offices out of Texas and fire Judy McCleod. Given that C-USA had the worst media contract in the FBS, the money should go up a bit. Six schools paying exit fees would help with cash flow and keeping the conference from coming apart at the seams.

 

When can the Mountain West rework its TV deals? I don’t see a football move on the board, but if they could push for Gonzaga and Wichita State to climb aboard it could greatly solidify basketball.

 

Wichita looks possible. I'm not sure that Gonzaga wants to give up a permanent autobid championship.

 

Am I wrong in wondering why C-USA doesn't want Coastal Carolina? Too small a school?

 

All this talk of what happens with third-rate conferences is laughable.

 

GU is good for already an at-large bid from here to kingdom come. Stronger conference means better seed. Not sure about that take.

 

Tragic if the ODU-UTEP rivalry bites the dust.

 

Short history, budget, and what happens when their coach moves on? Can they sustain? Liberty checks a lot of the same boxes and has budget for days.