D
Dcr36Supposed to go official tomorrow. UCF, Houston, SMU, BSU and SDSU are the sure things, bumping the league up to 10. Navy may still want in, but has some "loose ends to tie up." AFA similar to Navy, but everything I've read suggests they aren't nearly as interest. Temple is in the works as a back-up. If Navy and AFA join, it may not be until 2015.
I liked the Big East when it was the six original choices, but honestly, it's incredible how much less attractive this conference is without BYU. The distance between BYU and it's replacement (SDSU) is staggering.
Two of the sure shots (SMU and SDSU) are historically bad teams that are only being talked about because of VERY recent success, and "TV markets." Temple, if included, falls under this category as well.
Two of these teams (Navy and UCF) failed bowl eligibility this year with schedules made up of C-USA teams.
Temple's turnaround has been a fun story, but their schedule is so unimpressive nobody picked them up for bowling last year even though they finished 8-4. Plus, they got booted from the BE after winning like 6 conference games in 10 years. If they have success in the BE, I think that speaks less of Temple's improvement and more of how far the BE has fallen.
The service academies are pretty good these days and I would've loved to share a conference with them, but I'd never bet anything significant on their continued success.
Add in the fact that Sumlin and Jones are both big targets on the coaching carousel this year, and you have the most haphazardly-constructed, short-sighted attempt at maintaining AQ status I've ever seen.
I know most of us are over this story, but since we were once a big part of it I figured it deserved some sort of recognition.
I liked the Big East when it was the six original choices, but honestly, it's incredible how much less attractive this conference is without BYU. The distance between BYU and it's replacement (SDSU) is staggering.
Two of the sure shots (SMU and SDSU) are historically bad teams that are only being talked about because of VERY recent success, and "TV markets." Temple, if included, falls under this category as well.
Two of these teams (Navy and UCF) failed bowl eligibility this year with schedules made up of C-USA teams.
Temple's turnaround has been a fun story, but their schedule is so unimpressive nobody picked them up for bowling last year even though they finished 8-4. Plus, they got booted from the BE after winning like 6 conference games in 10 years. If they have success in the BE, I think that speaks less of Temple's improvement and more of how far the BE has fallen.
The service academies are pretty good these days and I would've loved to share a conference with them, but I'd never bet anything significant on their continued success.
Add in the fact that Sumlin and Jones are both big targets on the coaching carousel this year, and you have the most haphazardly-constructed, short-sighted attempt at maintaining AQ status I've ever seen.
I know most of us are over this story, but since we were once a big part of it I figured it deserved some sort of recognition.