Sagarin has C-USA as the worst conference in the country. Marshall is ranked 93rd behind 5 MAC schools.
Sagarin Ratings
- Thread starter Y.A.G Si Ye Nots
- Start date
‘86 - fixed it for you, but agree with your post.
Not just NIU, but WMU, Toledo, Ohio, even EMU rising up, all have been consistent and actually made a New years bowl. No one in CUSA has ever done that and no one including us has been consistent (damn 2016 year). Closest we came was us in 2014, I am not sure WKU ever had a chance at it. The MAC has improved a bit, but both conferences have the cellar dwellers consistent to each season, CUSA tends to have more. We probably have more in common with the belt than we do with the MAC in all honesty as far as perception goes. If there were no fees involved etc, I would say go to the MAC, bring along MT and WKU. Would make a decent rounded conference, but we also have to remember than a few years since realignment, CUSA was rated higher than the MAC, so just on that subject, its all a cycle, we are currently low in the cycle. As far as bowls, we seem to have a slight leg up on the bowl picture when they lost their P5 bowl, but we may lose ours as well at some point. We do play less bowls against the belt as well.
I am not trying to criticize the Marshall admin because Lord knows the fans wanted to make the move as well, but moving out of the MAC was the dumbest thing ever. I was one of the few who did not want to do it at the time it happened. I am a fan of local rivalries and geography where I can go to away games. My favorite game is still Marshall vs Ohio. It was becoming an awesome rivalry, even better than Miami. But of course there was also Miami, BG, Akron, Toledo.. games where it had local flavor. On top of that, the MAC still has games during the week on national TV and I really don't care if it's on Tuesday night. Its better than being on the CBSSNNSNCNS netwrok. I miss the MAC and wish we could get back in it.
The problem is the bad teams in CUSA are really really bad... And the good teams aren't New Years Day good.
I would say that in a given year that CUSA is "better" on average than the MAC. And by that I mean that if you lined up the 12 teams in the MAC and played head-to-head against their CUSA counterpart in the standings, CUSA would have the winning record.
The difference is the MAC has 2-3 really awful teams and CUSA has half the league in that category, including arguably the two worst teams in all of FBS in UTEP and Rice.
I would say that in a given year that CUSA is "better" on average than the MAC. And by that I mean that if you lined up the 12 teams in the MAC and played head-to-head against their CUSA counterpart in the standings, CUSA would have the winning record.
The difference is the MAC has 2-3 really awful teams and CUSA has half the league in that category, including arguably the two worst teams in all of FBS in UTEP and Rice.
The MAC is also geographically sound... they dont have teams in Ohio and Texas and Florida..
This is absolutely true... Perhaps that is the best reason for why Marshall should have stayed in the MAC. At least you had some regional rivalries, Miami, Toledo, Akron for example. In CUSA as far as rivalries go, its pretty much WKU and that's it, and Bowling Green isnt exactly across the street. Fans don't care about playing games against UTSA, UTEP, FIU, UAB, etc. Teams with whom MU has no historical, geographic or competitive connection.
Remember!!
When Marshall joined CUSA it was definitely a move up! Football and Basketball!!
The move wasn’t just for sports, it was for the University as a whole! Suddenly our footprint went from Just Ohio to about 1/3rd of the US
Thats huge, it gets Marshall’s name out there!
When Marshall joined CUSA it was definitely a move up! Football and Basketball!!
The move wasn’t just for sports, it was for the University as a whole! Suddenly our footprint went from Just Ohio to about 1/3rd of the US
Thats huge, it gets Marshall’s name out there!
I will give you that, at the time we made the move, 2005... But then all the decent teams in CUSA bolted (ECU, UCF, Memphis, Houston, Tulane, SMU) and left us with CUSA bottom feeders and I-AA call ups.
As for getting the university name out there, its a fallacy. You think we are bringing in any more students from Texas, Louisiana or Mississippi because we are in CUSA?
The only real football related argument for CUSA is the only argument that matters – Money... Apparently we are making more of it now versus when we were in the MAC due to additional TV deals and bowl tie-ins.
Now outside of football, CUSA is light years better than the MAC. Mens basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, pretty much every sport.
I agree 100%. I also follow WVU and feel the same way about the Big 12. Playing Kansas State and Texas Tech is lame. It was way more fun when it was VT, Pitt, Louisville. Not that WVU had a choice in the matter in that case, but if they did have a choice, like Marshall did, I wouldn't have made the change. Even a Big East that is weaker than the Big 12 was more fun because of local rivalries. I know there is a bigger picture, but not necessarily for fans who love the sport more than they love the prestige, like myself.
[QUOTE="RhinoD,
Now outside of football, CUSA is light years better than the MAC. Mens basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, pretty much every sport.[/QUOTE]
Is it light years ahead in basketball? Seems like CUSA is a one trick pony in the dance just like the MAC. Kent State and Ohio have made deep runs recently just like once in a while a CUSA team might like MTSU. Memphis is gone, there is no more prestige in basketball.
Now outside of football, CUSA is light years better than the MAC. Mens basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, pretty much every sport.[/QUOTE]
Is it light years ahead in basketball? Seems like CUSA is a one trick pony in the dance just like the MAC. Kent State and Ohio have made deep runs recently just like once in a while a CUSA team might like MTSU. Memphis is gone, there is no more prestige in basketball.
In 2005 (we accepted the invite in 2004) CUSA was arguably the highest rated G5 or nonBCS conference (only a BCS affiliate without the auto bid), though the MW and WAC were the BCS busters. Money was the biggest reason for the change, at that time the MAC was terrible with meager TV revenue and we lost money in bowl games (at that time, the conference did not have a policy in place where teams in bowls would be taken care of by the conference, but they have that now like CUSA does). The other sub reasons for leaving the MAC was the possible increase in fan interest due to more household names being brought into the stadium, but a bad coaching hire offset what that could have been. If things would have stayed the same, membership etc, CUSA would still be better than the MAC and on par or better than the MWC, but times change I guess. ECU, Memphis, Houston, USM etc were more attractive than EMU, CMU, Buffalo and considered more of more prestige. The other benefit was a more southern presence that we seemed to want. We got left behind along with USM (in my opinion the only other deserving school of going along with the pack) and the rest is history. There just wasn't enough "name" schools left behind to carry the conference and continue CUSA as it was known in the past. Basketball was better than the MAC at that time as well, Memphis ruled the conference almost every year, and most years we had another tournament entry with them (UTEP, UAB etc). So then vs. now isn't a fair comparison. I would agree 100% that the MAC is a better conference as of 2018, but CUSA still has a leg up in the bowl picture (less sunbelt opponents, and still one P5 bowl game affiliate). The MAC has improved substantially in almost every area regarding football and how they do business, basketball is a wash. I think we have better top teams, but it all averages out. Ohio, Miami, Toledo are good rivalries we once had yearly, we were getting there with ECU, we all hated UCF, and USM we all saw as the CUSA we most closely mirrored. All that obviously changed with time.
Coach Snyder might not have had the best results at Marshall but its pretty hard to blame him for "what could have been" given he inherited a decimated roster from Bob's transgressions at the end of his tenure. Even with the less than stellar results, Mark still had a high level of talent which helped Doc year one.....
Kinda true, Snyder did come in with issues in the program BUT he had time to recruit after the fact and do something with it, his tell all year was 2009, he had the talent set up to win at least 8 games and him getting to 6 got him canned. He recruited different than Doc, but I can't honestly say he didn't bring in some good players, he did, he just couldn't do anything with it. Mark just couldn't compete, especially against P5 squads, none that he played he even kept the score respectable and talk about coaching blunders that cost games, couldn't count them all, especially the UCF battles. Doc took what Mark left and did the best he could to adapt them to what he wanted to do. Doc is a much better talent judge and would have liked to have seen what he could have done vs. the old CUSA instead of Mark. I don't blame Mark for what he inherited but he obviously wasn't the man for the job to at least get a low bowl a few years after he took the job, something Doc did do.
I, personally, feel that Mark's biggest issue was surrounding himself with a staff that was there to help the whole versus their own part. With him being a new HC, he needed guys like Heater to work with/for him versus young guys who are trying to make their own name. That lead to a lack of discipline from not only the assistants but even more certain kids on the roster. He has/had a good # of his guys make the NFL but he also struggled putting together a cohesive, trusting unit.
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