Conference USA Football: Who are the Missouri State Bears?
On Friday, Conference USA announced they would add a 12th team in the Missouri State Bears as a full member. The first season in FBS for the Bears will come in
Missouri State to C-USA
- Thread starter The Real Mongo Slade
- Start date
Subtraction by addition.
What a gods awful conference. Really have to wonder what the school thinks they’re actually going to get out of this, besides a little more money from broadcast rights. Better enjoy having your games air on facebook and youtube. Well, at least for the five to ten more years that the SEC and Big 427 decide to keep FBS football around.
What a gods awful conference. Really have to wonder what the school thinks they’re actually going to get out of this, besides a little more money from broadcast rights. Better enjoy having your games air on facebook and youtube. Well, at least for the five to ten more years that the SEC and Big 427 decide to keep FBS football around.
No one outside of the fan bases cares one whit about the second division of college sports. They can call it I-AA, or I-A and a half, or non-playoff I-A, or change the P4 to Premier Division and leave I-A to us, or whatever. It won't be on ANY kind of TV, it won't be available for gambling, it won't have its scores reported nationally, it won't matter. How many people really care who won D2 basketball or I-AA football last year? How many people even know?
BTW, CUSA is no longer on facebook, it signed a new deal. It is actually worse. CUSA's entire October schedule will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights on ESPN, with other games on CBSSN on Thursday and Friday. ZERO Saturday games all month. September and November games will mostly be on ESPN+.
As with the MAC, it is just impossible to get any live gate when you play weeknights. Many people need to take off, at least two half-days to travel to games, and most people are not in a position to do that. Totally kills the atmosphere. Doesn't work to have more than one weeknight game every other year.
I had to look it up, but Missouri State has over 25K students, joined D1 in 1982, and has a 18K seat stadium and an 11K seat arena. Its in the part of Missouri that abuts Arkansas, which is culturally southern, so there is that.
You can bet on WNBA games, betting on college football is not going to suddenly end due to change in how the teams are classified.
Marshall fans care about who won the NAIA championship, because that is where we poach our basketball recruits from.
Nice to hear from you, Samantha. How many games did you make it to the baseball stadium that you insisted would never be built?
Missouri State is a school that I thought would be in this position 20 years ago.
Wanting MU to get out of CUSA, which they did, and no matter where they end up, "woe is me, new FCS" blah blah.
MU is out of CUSA for the foreseeable future, be happy about that.
"no matter where they end up"
Not true. Would have been better off in the American, or possibly (for the short term) independent.
""woe is me, new FCS" blah blah""
Not sure what that comment is about.
"MU is out of CUSA for the foreseeable future, be happy about that."
For the "foreseeable future", do you expect them to go back?
blah,blah... (Dork)
The reality is that, while moving from CUSA to the SBC was the right decision, for us at the time, CUSA is still a I-A conference, and bashing it serves no purpose. Remember the enemy is THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!!!! which refuses to accept it status as a member of the G5, even to this day. CUSA can do what it wants, its no real threat to us. Let the kids play.
And, it is right to worry about the future of the G5 (and, IMHO, the future of all but about 20 programs in the P4). The focus of evil in the sports world, ESPN, is fast putting together its flawed vision of AAA NFL. And, as easy as it is to say "let them go", the fact is that no one really cares about the second tier of anything. We, and a lot of other teams, have spent a lot of money to play at a level no one will care about.
And, it is right to worry about the future of the G5 (and, IMHO, the future of all but about 20 programs in the P4). The focus of evil in the sports world, ESPN, is fast putting together its flawed vision of AAA NFL. And, as easy as it is to say "let them go", the fact is that no one really cares about the second tier of anything. We, and a lot of other teams, have spent a lot of money to play at a level no one will care about.
SBC is the right spot for us. The American is constantly trying to hold itself together and being an independent would have been a death sentence. No conference revenue sharing, no TV deals, having to find 12 quality opponents wanting to play when getting an OoC slate has been a chore, and no bowl tie-ins.
Oh yea. Going independent would have been great.
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The American is now a glorified CUSA. The best teams have left it. The schools that were formerly in CUSA now American, wouldn't get the fan base any more excited than the current Sun Belt...I doubt anyone's going to circle their calendars for Marshall to play mighty Temple.
The SBC actually has proximity and does value geography and rivalries. It's about as good of a fit for MU as you could get.
MU couldn't afford to be independent, they also don't have the name brand either. You need one or the other, or be Notre Dame and have both.
Foreseeable future because the NCAA football makeup could change in an instant. But for all the G5 conferences, SBC appears to be the most secure.
My thoughts are all over the place on the idea of the uber-elite split. I think your point is valid and compelling. On the other side of the coin, I am not sure that anyone really cares about what we have been doing the last 10 years either, and it will only get worse no matter if we "let" them go or not. I just do not see the trend towards independence and autonomy for the uber-elite stopping or reversing. Given the situation that is going to place us in, I tend to favor going our own way. I don't think it will be LESS relevant nationally and we could potentially create something that is far superior in interest and experience to the local and regional fan bases. It is not that I want it per se, but it might be the best play with the cards we are holding. As for media, I get your point that no one cares below the top level, but if you make the top level small enough there is literally not enough football content at the highest level to satisfy all of the legitimate media opportunities/demand. We could very well become part of a regional media system that has some teeth.
IMO it would be wise for the "G5" schools and maybe some of the P4" schools to make a statement that if these elite schools want to put the screws to the rest of us maybe we will refuse to play them. The thought of say 30 super schools playing an "NFL" type schedule may just scare their greedy lil hearts to reconsider things. I really think it is in their best interest to keep the other 100 schools in some type of a arrangement. I personally don't want to play a 3.0 version of 1aa. At least now we have the opportunity to occasionally play a school like Notre Dame and pull off an upset and gain some national exposure. Otherwise, we return to the days of , "we beat Appy" and nobody cares outside of Huntington or Boone.
Clearly the vision of the focus of evil in the sports world, ESPN, and the college football system as we know it, are at odds with one another.
ESPN, indeed, wats a AAA NFL. The sloughing off of excess teams in the P4 is the next thing to come. Leaving out other sports, does the SEC really need Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, or Texas A&M? Does the Big 10, really need Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, or Northwestern? Does the ACC really have anything to offer to the pot past Clemson, Florida State, and Miami? Does the Big (sic) 12 have anything at the top level at all?
Now, you can argue TV stuff, like "Illinois = Chicago" or "Rutgers = NYC" or "Maryland = the DMV", but really? A team being in a big place and losing every year is that big of a deal?
The ESPN vision is 20-30 teams, all playing each other. And no one else. BIG!!!!!!!!!! games, every week.
The college football system that has been in place for a long time has been something like this, for someone like, say, Michigan State or Virginia Tech, Kentucky or North Carolina, or Oregon State: Play a G5, play a couple of lesser teams from other P4s, go 500 in conference, go to some medium bowl. Go on the circuit as being "Gator Bowl Champions" .
Rather many will be relegated out of whatever ESPN calls its AAA NFL. And not matter. And, even if I'm wrong and they are kept nominally in, iKentucky, or WVU, or Virginia, or Houston, or Indiana, or you name it, we can list them all for the next hour, they will N E V E R make the playoffs.
And in the ESPN world, its one winner and 130 losers. Is some Iowa fan really going to care that they finished, again, 5th in a division and got to play Pitt in a half empty pro stadium in December.
ESPN = evil.
You are on the right track but your number of teams is too low... Eventually the 60-65 biggest schools will break away to become AAA NFL (three conferences of 20 teams makes sense). The reason ESPN will have that many schools included is because they need the games to fill all the time slots on their 9 platforms.
Also, there will be some P4 teams that are left out, but those teams won't include teams that routinely sell out for football - Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas AM, etc will be in the big leagues as will Nebraska, Iowa, etc.
The teams that are currently P4 that should be worried about not being included fit three criteria - Small fan bases (lack of crowd/atmosphere/tv product), geographically irrelevant (not in a major city), terrible football programs (no tradition/history/marketing)... With that said, Vandy, Kansas, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Purdue, etc should be very concerned about the changing landscape of college football.
If the bottom feeders of P4 and the P5 tried this, the big dogs would laugh us out of the room... And then only schedule games against each other (which is exactly what they want and have already started to do). It would speed up the process of the big 60 or so leaving the rest of us behind. They could claim it was "our" idea since we refused to play them. On a side note, when we play App now, no one outside of Huntington or Boone cares so there is no returning to those days.
Gee, I thought that much/most of the population in Missouri was found in and around the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas. So Mizzou State is in the "boondocks" down somewhere near Arkansas. Heck, I thought the big State school down that way was Southeast Missouri State, or "SEMO", which is also a D1 school in basketball and, i believe, FCS in football (in the Ohio Valley Con., I think, with the Morehead States of the world). Or is it a similar League? Anyway, I'm pretty sure SEMO is in with the likes of EKU, Morehead in some Conference. Not sure about Mizzou State.
Missouri State is the bigger school 23 k students SEMO has 9k……Located in Springfield, MO.
I think a big issue is having too many G5 conferences.
Cut out CUSA and the MAC. Merge the remaining Pac-uh...2? With the MWC. Keep the SBC and keep the AAC.
You'll have the G5 conferences who actually can give attention to games with the Power conferences.
While it may seem like the Power conferences don't want the G5 conferences around, the padding of the schedule is going to be necessary. The CFP isn't going to be fun when the champions all have 2-3 losses...especially if NIL keeps getting out of hand.
You are right about eliminating conferences - which is how this whole "realignment" BS should have played out.
When CUSA got totally dismantled by the AAC and Sun Belt, that conference should have folded or been relegated to FCS... Same with the PAC12, which is apparently playing as a two-team league this year and trying to backfill with the MWC if possible.
A P4 with 64 teams and a G4 with 64 teams would make the most sense, but no one is thinking about what makes sense... Instead we have UCLA and Rutgers in the same conference, the PAC12 with two members as of next year, CUSA being filled in by FCS teams that should not move up, a handful of independents that refuse to join any league, etc... It's madness and there is no body to reign it in.
Imagine if the nerdy but very academic and wealthy schools like Stanford and Duke, actually decided to openly pay players (we all know they did before), but said, "screw it, we are going to brag" and enter into bidding wars with the likes of Alabama or LSU, schools with money but absolutely not nearly as much as they have.
Or better yet, schools begin to offer degrees through "accelerated paths" or some BS thing, so if the athlete signs with the school and stays for a period of time, they get a degree as well...even if they didn't do sh*t.
Or better yet, schools begin to offer degrees through "accelerated paths" or some BS thing, so if the athlete signs with the school and stays for a period of time, they get a degree as well...even if they didn't do sh*t.
They should call the G5 conferences "Jobber" conferences, because that is what they are there for, to put over the "big boys",
"Fox Sports announced today that it will start a post-season basketball tournament for teams who do not make the field of 68. The field will be made up of 'Power 5' teams only, which is how the new event is being sold to those conferences. Essentially, Power 5 teams that do not make the NCAA tournament will be able to play each other and not risk losing to a Mid-Major program like is the case in the NIT."
Looks like the NIT is becoming the "Mid-major" tournament... As soon as the big boys figure out how to end allowing all conference champions a bid to the NCAA tournament, they will.
Looks like the NIT is becoming the "Mid-major" tournament... As soon as the big boys figure out how to end allowing all conference champions a bid to the NCAA tournament, they will.
Over half the teams in the P4 conferences usually make the big dance so a tournament for the leftovers would only have the interest of the fans of the schools involved imo. A lot of those teams would enter that tourney with losing records. Doesn't sound like a money maker to me. A bad decision on FOX's part imo but it's their money.
That's the thing though, it won't lose money... There is drastically more interest in 17-14 Indiana vs. 17-14 Notre Dame than say 23-8 MTSU vs. 23-8 South Florida... The reason for that being, Indiana and Notre Dame have way more fans and brand recognition than the other matchup (thus it will draw more advertising dollars).
It's a smart TV move... But it sucks that mid-majors will no longer have the chance to beat some of those mediocre P5 teams in the NIT.
The NIT hasn't been relevant since the Nixon administration. Other tournaments lower than it have never been relevant.
Fox can spend all the money it wants, the number of people interested in losing team vs. losing team playing their 40th game of the year, in the midst of the NCAAs and all of the other sports going on in that time is minimal.
Fox can spend all the money it wants, the number of people interested in losing team vs. losing team playing their 40th game of the year, in the midst of the NCAAs and all of the other sports going on in that time is minimal.
