Big 12 "exploring" adding up to 4 teams... (here we go again)

[A Cousin From Richmond]

Um, no I think your love of wvu is clouding your judgment on the B12CUSAAC and its place in college football.

So which conferences should be considered auto-qualifiers for the playoff?

Also, once you provide your list of auto-qualifiers you better let the playoff committee know they're now taking winners of some conferences as auto-qualifiers now since they do not currently.

You have no idea what you're talking about, as usual.

 

[I Herd dat]

I kind of have to agree with Richmond on this one. I mean you can the ACC is top heavy with the traditional powers, same with the Big 10. Other than ohio state, who has done anything notable in the big 10 in the last decade? Michigan state and Wisconsin accomplish the same things TCU and Baylor have. I don't like WVU as much as the next person, but let's get real here.

 

[wvkeeper(HN)]

BYU is in the Mountain Time Zone.

 

[cocky jeremy]

So which conferences should be considered auto-qualifiers for the playoff?

You have no idea what you're talking about, as usual.

SEC, Pac 12, Big 10 (or 14?), Big 12, ACC

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Houston is pretty much in. Cincy is being pushed hard by WVU as a regional partner. Then you have Memphis and BYU angling as well.

Hopefully if this happens they look at The Herd, USM to move to the AAC.

 

[I Herd dat]

With all those teams gone, is the AAC any better than staying put? I'm kind of tired of jumping around. I loved the Mac and the traditional rivals. Now we don't have those rivals or any money. Dumb

 

[Herd Fever]

In my opinion after the big 12 expands either CUSA or the AAC is going to be done with. There are only so many D1 schools. They need a combination conference of the remaining schools from those two. I still blame the big 10 for all of this. Penn state started it all a long time ago. Joe Paterno was a douche then and his legacy carried on in other ways.. Bad ways

Smells like a WVU Troll to me

 

[Herd Fever]

In my opinion Cincy, BYU, Houston are in with BYU as a football only Member. Now do you add Memphis or Colorado State??

 

[I Herd dat]

Smells like a WVU Troll to me

What are you retarded?

 

[Herd Fever]

What are you retarded?

Exactly

 

[cocky jeremy]

With all those teams gone, is the AAC any better than staying put? I'm kind of tired of jumping around. I loved the Mac and the traditional rivals. Now we don't have those rivals or any money. Dumb

I definitely enjoyed the MAC more. Now it's just a bunch of random teams from all over the place.. makes no sense at all.

 

[I Herd dat]

I agree Jeremy. It's not like we're competing for national championships. I understand the money argument from a bigger conference but look at where that's gotten us recently. I'd much rather play against our local rivals and be able to go to away games to boot. Hell look at Northern Illinois- theyve competed at the same level we could get to in CUSA, so what's the difference? If we ever went 12-0 in CUSA it would be the same result as 12-0 in the MAC, it would simply come down to what our OOC games were. But has that happened yet? No. So why not enjoy college football on a weekly basis instead of trying to reach for irrelevant things just for a little extra 'prestige'.

 

[I Herd dat]

Exactly

I figured as much just by seeing your grammar on other posts.

 

[Herdmeister]

I have thoroughly enjoyed CUSA. I have been to ever venue in the league in which we have played and had a great time in those cities. There was nothing I enjoyed about the MAC. I couldn't get excited about trips to Ypsilanti and Mt. Pleasant, Michigan or Kent and Akron, Ohio.
I would love to be in the AAC if we can afford it. If not, then stay in CUSA and enjoy the ride.

 

[A Cousin From Richmond]

Exactly

I swear, you can't make this stuff up.

 

[TheGreenhouseEffect]

I can't read it , but appears there is a nice Marshall to the AAC in yesterday's Herald Dogpatch.

We aren't going back to the MAC, it's not where Marshall wants to go. Empty stadiums aren't where we want to play.

The AAC is where we should go if they offer. Hamrick I'm sure is in the middle of it, he's made smart moves, and won't let this op go by without taking a shot at getting us in. Logistically , competition wise, it all makes sense.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

I agree Jeremy. It's not like we're competing for national championships. I understand the money argument from a bigger conference but look at where that's gotten us recently. I'd much rather play against our local rivals and be able to go to away games to boot. Hell look at Northern Illinois- theyve competed at the same level we could get to in CUSA, so what's the difference? If we ever went 12-0 in CUSA it would be the same result as 12-0 in the MAC, it would simply come down to what our OOC games were. But has that happened yet? No. So why not enjoy college football on a weekly basis instead of trying to reach for irrelevant things just for a little extra 'prestige'.

MTSU, WKU, Charlotte and ODU are all driveable conference games. Most (if not all) of our OOC games have been as well. Plus, we play at least one MAC team every year for the foreseeable future.

When we made the jump to CUSA to be in a league with the likes of Houston, ECU, UCF, Southern Miss and Tulsa it made all the sense in the world - both financially and competitively. Let's not re-write history and act otherwise.

Things have changed and being in the current version of CUSA is not much of an upgrade (if any) over the MAC, but that doesn't mean crawling back to the MAC is necessarily a good idea. You're too young to remember road trips to Ypsilanti, Buffalo, Kalamazoo, Bowling Green, Akron and Muncie - but they were brutal. Ask people about their experience last year at Kent State. I enjoyed playing Miami, Ohio and Toledo but most of the MAC is a dumpster fire,.

Our schedule this year is excellent. Louisville, MTSU and WKU at home and Pitt and USM on the road represent as good of a group of games as we've had on the same slate in years.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

I have thoroughly enjoyed CUSA. I have been to ever venue in the league in which we have played and had a great time in those cities. There was nothing I enjoyed about the MAC. I couldn't get excited about trips to Ypsilanti and Mt. Pleasant, Michigan or Kent and Akron, Ohio.
I would love to be in the AAC if we can afford it. If not, then stay in CUSA and enjoy the ride.

Thank you. If there's any Herd fan out there who can with 100% accuracy compare the two conferences it's @Herdmeister

Our fans tend to romanticize our time in the MAC but I'm convinced its only because we were so good and so new to FBS. Drop us there in 2016 and we'd hate it just as much as most hate the current version of CUSA.

 

[19MU88]

I can't read it , but appears there is a nice Marshall to the AAC in yesterday's Herald Dogpatch.

We aren't going back to the MAC, it's not where Marshall wants to go. Empty stadiums aren't where we want to play.

The AAC is where we should go if they offer. Hamrick I'm sure is in the middle of it, he's made smart moves, and won't let this op go by without taking a shot at getting us in. Logistically , competition wise, it all makes sense.

I don't want the mac but we do play in empty stadiums....fiu, fau, mtsu....then those that are empty in the west

 

[The Real SamC]

MU did all it could in the lowly MAC. AT THE TIME, you had to win the lowly MAC to go to a ginned up bowl played in frozen Detroit before pretty much nobody. Every other team stayed home. And THAT was an improvement from what the lowly MAC was just before we came in and dominated it (California Raisin Bowl, remember? )

Since then, ESPN has come up with a deal where 6-6 (or less) = a bowl, even for the lowly MAC. Who is to say how long that lasts? Right now ESPN is paying the lowly MACers to fill up random weeknights after baseball season with games that, almost literally, no one attends. Who is to say how long that lasts? For that matter, this whole pay-the-players idiocy is crushing the lowly MAC, and, as the long dark depression gets worse and worse the Rust Belt rusts more and more and as some point, football becomes a luxury they cannot afford.

People look back with false nostalgia on our years in the lowly MAC. It was a means to an end. We rode it all we could.

 

[beefcake0520]

Mwc will pluck Texas schools from cusa. Cusa will cease to exist and 4 16 team regional conf will Coke into existence. There will be a true playoff. G5/p5 will officially split

You better hope they don't split, otherwise its welcome back to the FCS. They did this once when they created 1A and 1AA. In the last 10 years or so we have had way to many FCS moving up, maybe that will affect another separation, maybe it wont. Marshall, Boise etc didn't spend millions upon millions to get to where they are just to be forced back into another FCS situation.

 

[beefcake0520]

With all those teams gone, is the AAC any better than staying put? I'm kind of tired of jumping around. I loved the Mac and the traditional rivals. Now we don't have those rivals or any money. Dumb

Its still better. Even with those teams gone. Anyone who says its not is off their rocker. Lets see, MTSU or Navy? WKY or ECU? FIU of UCF? USF or FAU? I really don't see what all this thought would be about in regards to going to the AAC after cincy and whoever leaves. Its still 100 times better than sunbelt 2.0 we are currently in. TV dollars agree with that.

 

[Gold-n-Blue]

I think Cincy is a lock. Don't discount former Big 12 member Colorado coming back. I have heard they are not enamored with the PAC12 and could make more $$ in the Big 12.

 

[alphasig1053]

I think Cincy is a lock. Don't discount former Big 12 member Colorado coming back. I have heard they are not enamored with the PAC12 and could make more $$ in the Big 12.

Where are you all getting these figures that the b12 pays more than the p12? The latest figures I can find show the Pac 12 making slightly more.

 

[Herd Fever]

Plus Colorado signed a GOR agreement.

 

[mindblown42]

Where are you all getting these figures that the b12 pays more than the p12? The latest figures I can find show the Pac 12 making slightly more.

Big 12 gets to keep 3rd tier. Pac 12 does not.

 

[herdalicious]

Here's all any Marshall fan needs to know about this issue:

1) The Big XII won't be inviting us
2) The more teams they add, the better our chances of escaping what is ostensibly an FCS conference

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Here's all any Marshall fan needs to know about this issue:

1) The Big XII won't be inviting us
2) The more teams they add, the better our chances of escaping what is ostensibly an FCS conference

Correct.

 

[mindblown42]

http://wnct.com/2016/07/27/gov-mccr...er&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=snsanalytics

 

[I Herd dat]

Mind blown- ECU is like the 10th team in the running. I'm sure lots of politicians make a push for the same thing, but that ain't happening.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

http://wnct.com/2016/07/27/gov-mccr...er&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=snsanalytics

ECU to the Big 12?

They have a nice program, but give me a break.

 

[Herdon2]

I know we don't have a shot but wouldn't it be nice if our governor and new candidates would at least go to bat for us whether it be AAC or Big 12.

 

[The Real SamC]

If you buy the idiocy that being IN a place and being SIGNIFICANT IN a place are the same, as has been stated here by an ex ESPN suit then Ohio (where 99.9% of people don't care about UC) and North Carolina (where maybe 95% of people don't care about ECU) are about the same size and NC is growing and Ohio is shrinking. And North Carolina is bigger than Tennessee (where 99.9% of people don't care about Memphis) and Virginia (where 99.9% of people don't care about ODU).

Of course, in the real world, and I am not hating on ECU, fine folks down there, ECU is a regional college covering that kinda poor part of NC between the booming job creator friendly Piedmont and the retiree friendly and shipping container unloading coast. Marginal farms and shut down textile mills. Its following are alumni and folks right around Greenville. ECU does not bring NC to a league, be it the AAC or the B12 or whatever. It brings SOME of the Greenville, NC market, a market smaller than ours.

Fact is that the easiest thing in the world for a pol to do is to play the "I like all the state schools" thing and send a letter asking to be in some league or asking for a free federal rat research complex or whatever. Even 100% anti-Marshall politician John Raese mentioned "our Thundering Herd" when he gave his spiel about the state when voting at the GOP convention. It is easy and meaningless.

ECU's fans' problem is that when they talk to their co-workers who went to (or did not go to) UNC or NCSU or Duke is that they are totally unimpressed with whatever ECU did last Saturday, because all they care about is the ACC, and if, by some miracle, ECU got in the B12 or the B10 or even the SEC, they would not care either. ECU has a case of "little brother" that makes ours look like a speck.

 

[I Herd dat]

The one thing I'll say about ECU is the actually put fans in the stadium, unlike us. I'm sick and tired of seeing game with half empty seats. We talk a big talk but don't walk the walk. A lot of schools have the same problem- WVU, Pitt, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, half the PAC 10 schools just to name a few. If you look at their seats on Saturday, they don't fill half the game either. But if we keep having 15,000 empty seats on a regular basis, we're not going anywhere. How many wins, size of market blah blah blah... Start filling the seats for games outside of Louisville, WVU or VT and then start asking for acceptance in the AAC. We like to put the cart before the horse.

How many games have been a sellout in CUSA for us? Like zero? Come on

 

[andy4theherd]

"us"

*wink* *wink* *wink*

 

[The Real SamC]

Yep. Guarantee he is a secret Spamie.

 

[I Herd dat]

Whatever.. I know you don't like honest opinions because the sometimes interfere with disillusion, but the fact is I'm right.

 

[beefcake0520]

The one thing I'll say about ECU is the actually put fans in the stadium, unlike us. I'm sick and tired of seeing game with half empty seats. We talk a big talk but don't walk the walk. A lot of schools have the same problem- WVU, Pitt, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, half the PAC 10 schools just to name a few. If you look at their seats on Saturday, they don't fill half the game either. But if we keep having 15,000 empty seats on a regular basis, we're not going anywhere. How many wins, size of market blah blah blah... Start filling the seats for games outside of Louisville, WVU or VT and then start asking for acceptance in the AAC. We like to put the cart before the horse.

How many games have been a sellout in CUSA for us? Like zero? Come on

We are in the upper half of the G5 in attendance.............with the schedules we play I would say that is pretty darn good. The only time it was better was when we first came back to 1A, that luster wore off. Would going to the AAC improve the attendance, yes to a degree but not with some of the teams there. I think Navy would be a good draw, I dunno about temple. The rest we already have history with and kinda know how it would be but I don't think that is a fair assumption either due to most of our time with them being under Snyder and crappy seasons. We don't average 15k empty seats either, I would say its more 8-11K empty.

 

[I Herd dat]

8-11k empty in a 39,000 seat stadium is a problem. Upper half of G5 doesn't mean anything. If we want a bigger bid then we can't be 'above average'. Boise can't even get a bid to the big 12 despite their history of dominance the last decade. And yet we want to make our case because it's the upper half of G5 in attendance and because we had a couple decent seasons in a mid major conference. I would love nothing more than to have that prestige, but realistically it takes one step at a time. Build the atmosphere, fill the seats, schedule and beat the team's first, then get the invite. It doesn't work the other way around. Look at the debacle that Syracuse is in- they got to the ACC because of tv market- yet they still suck, even more so than before. Jumping to a better conference isn't going to fill our seats permanently. Like you said, the luster wears off. Beating Louisville and South Carolina would be a great start, but are people going to show up against ODU after that? I doubt it

 

[The Real SamC]

I go to Marshall games to see Marshall.

I'm old enough to have seen MU come and go from the MAC to playing random independents to the SoCon back to the MAC and then to 2 versions of CUSA. The local media gins up a "rivalry" with this one and that one, but truth be told we don't have any rivals, at least any who will play us.

There are not any teams in this AAC that has any more appeal as a team than CUSA. Not saying the level of football is not better, or that there would not be more competive games, but I'm going to MU-North Texas to see MU, not North Texas. And I would go to MU - Tulane to see MU. In fact I have.