BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

I think it was set up that CSU, Wyoming and Air Force would play every year and same with BYU and Utah but not beyond that. I know CSU at least did not like playing playing Tulsa and Rice but not BYU or Utah, which did not happen the entire time of the big conference in football.

The meeting to form the Mountain West actually was set up by CSU president at the time, Albert Yates. It had nothing to do with UTEP but keeping those schools mentioned especially together.

The mega WAC was ahead of its time in some ways but the set up was dumb and with a bunch of no names at the time.

 

Here's the setup, with some help from Wikipedia:
Quadrant 1 - Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, San Diego State.
Quadrant 2 - UNLV, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming.
Quadrant 3 - BYU, Utah, New Mexico, UTEP.
Quadrant 4 - Tulsa, TCU, SMU, Rice.
Quadrant 1 always stayed in the Pacific Division, Quadrant 4 the Mountain. In football, Quadrants 2 and 3 would switch places every two seasons. I don't remember how much crossover play was involved.
Yeah, it was a crazy setup. In addition to trying to preserve long-standing rivalries like Wyoming-CSU, there were some concerned with how often BYU would be in town, since local Mormon fans would flock to the stadium to see the Cougars.
I was on the desk the day the formation of what would become the MW was announced. We didn't cover Fresno State directly, but being an hour or so from our home base, they had a lot of alums and fans in our area and it was a big story, especially considering it was just a day or two after Fresno State won the WCWS.

 

Look, I posted this particular tweet for the photo.



And because it lets me dig this GIF out of mothballs.

 

I really hope those speculating that Trump U of Lynchburg would be a great catch for an FBS league are wrong and that that despicable institution rots in football independence forever and ever amen. Talk all you want about enrollment and brand name and all that shit. At its core, it is a hate factory. And women who dare complain about being raped are not spared. To Trumpist pseudo Christians, rape does not exist. "Wives, obey your husbands," gets extended play in such places.
“The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults — ProPublica

 

Liberty offers two things, plenty of money and pretty good football. It also carries a stench, but these are desperate times in the C-USA/Fun Belt neck of the woods.

 

It's going to take years for LU to rid itself of the stench that was the JFJr. administration. Listened to that Gangster Capitalism podcast on LU on the way up to New England last week and was familiar with a lot of the players involved. The only surprise to me was the extent of JFJr.'s alcoholism. I knew he drank. Just didn't think he drank that much and so brazenly on a campus where drinking is forbidden.

I do have some empathy for the athletics programs there that really had nothing to do with the shenanigans going on in the higher levels of administration at the university, but it's really hard (and understandable) to try to separate the two from each other. I think LU remains independent at this point. Sounds like the Sun Belt is taking JMU, ODU, Southern Miss and Marshall to go to 14. I'm not sure there's any benefit to Liberty to move into the corpse of Conference USA. You're already in a basketball league that you dominate and probably will dominate for years to come, save for the odd year when Lipscomb has a contender. They got into NCAA baseball regionals as an at-large last year and the ASun has a decent reputation in that sport. Why would you want to jump into a league that's potentially left with Western Kentucky, MTSU, FIU, UTEP, Louisiana Tech and a bunch of newbies from FCS?

 

I heard that pod as well, and the extent of his grift was just disgusting. Worse, I suspect he'll be back in the picture at some point in the future, given his name and the fact that most of his cronies are still employed at the university anyway.

 

I listened to the podcast and was therefore not surprised to read the story.
Athletics is a brand-driver and is therefore an accessory to all the wretched things that go on there.

 

Don't disagree with that assessment, tap. I just don't think Ritchie McKay and the basketball program had much to do with covering up rape. Though it did benefit with all of the money that JFJr. greedily gobbled up, so as I said, you can't separate the two in reality.

Back to the Sun Belt, JMU is in a very good spot to ascend and I think it needs to make the jump. There is nothing left to accomplish at the FCS level. The Dukes have won national championships there, and they're miles above their closest rivals (Richmond, William and Mary) in terms of facilities, funding, etc. The men's basketball program isn't great, but women's basketball is a consistent NCAA tournament contender and the Dukes nearly made it to the championship series at the Women's College World Series last year. They just opened a new arena and the football stadium has been expanded to 25,000 in recent years with room for more growth if necessary. That's a good number for a Sun Belt school. They'll have a state rival in ODU. It's a smart play and I'm glad to see them making the move. The MAC would have been weird on a lot of levels, but the Sun Belt feels right.

 

The only reason to move up is if it’s a good business decision. I’m not sure that the Sun Belt is move up from that point of view.

 

The Sun Belt has really improved its stature, especially in football, in recent years. For JMU, regular games against App State, Coastal, Georgia Southern and Marshall are a giant step up from playing W&M, Richmond, Albany and Stony Brook. In all sports, it's a bit of a wash. But football, it's absolutely a move up.

 

I wonder how long the non-football schools in the Sun Belt will get to hang around. I think there are three or four.