I have a question for Ohio fans: If you could blow up all the lower tier football conferences and start over with a blank sheet of paper, which names would you write down as the most desired teams with which to form your new conference? Realistic candidates only (no Notre Dame). Include top tier FCS teams if you like.
Which MAC members would you bring to this new conference? (I'm mainly interested in who you think are the most valuable MAC members.)
I'll bite. I'd value (in no particular order) ease of travel, traditional rivalries (which is what makes college football better than pro), recruiting, and TV exposure potential. Also, I'm assuming that "lower tier football conferences" does not include the Big East, and this is for football only. Also also, I'm including the final Sagarin ranking from last year since it ranks FBS and FCS teams alongside each other.
With that, I present to you the "Mountain East Conference" (Average Sagarin of 104, compared to 126 for the MAC):
North Division (Average Sagarin of 98)
Toledo (92)
Bowling Green (163)
Buffalo (185)
Temple (66)
Army (73)
Navy (55)
Delaware (52)
South Division (Average Sagarin of 109)
Ohio (104)
Miami (77)
Marshall (113)
East Carolina (85)
Memphis (173)
Middle Tennessee (138)
Appy State (75)
Teams would play 8 conference games (6 division, 2 non-division).
In the North, Toledo and Bowling Green are on an island all by themselves, but you get access to the Detroit recruiting grounds. The other teams give solid exposure to the Philly/NJ recruiting base. You get 2 major rivalries, including arguably the biggest in college football, with the potential for a third major rivalry in Temple/Delaware (you could swap Villanova for Delaware and lock up a third rivalry, but I'm assuming Villanova goes Big East).
In the South, you get lots of hate (Ohio/Miami, Ohio/Marshall, Marshall/Miami, Marshall/ECU, Marshall/Appy State (an old FCS rivalry)) with the potential for Memphis/Middle Tennessee to become a major rivalry. Memphis is a gateway to southern recruits, and the Carolinas are always a recruiting hotbed.
EDIT: I should add that I'm valuing the MAC teams from the perspective of "which fit into this new conference the best" and not "which are most valuable to the MAC right now", which is why Northern Illinois is not included.
Last Edited: 4/23/2011 9:52:41 AM by C Money