There is no WAC.

I think it's more likely that the WAC would try to raid CUSA.  They would view those schools as more on their level than the Sun Belt schools. 

If expansion included Temple for football/basketball and WKU for all sports, that would benefit the MAC. 

Tom Dienhart of Rivals just posted on his twitter today :


Rivals' Houston site reports a super conference of 20 teams may be formed among the best of the Mountain West and C-USA.about 4 hours ago via web
Then later:

1. Rather than a 20-team C-USA/MWC, I'm told it may be more likely that C-USA adds two teams to grow to 14. The additions: TCU and Temple.12 minutes ago via web

If and a big "if" Temple goes to CUSA it will be for all sports including basketball.

FWIW department, a Temple fan posted the below in the CUSA board regarding the possibility of
Temple joining CUSA.


I'm not really sure. I dont even know how I feel about it. I think in a perfect world, we fit better institutionally in the ACC and BE, but it's a big upgrade over the MAC for football. It's probably a wash for basketball. I kinda wish the CUSA schools were better at basketball, in which case, I'd be all for it. It's just out of nowhere reall

yhttp://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=448003

No more directionals!!!!!  We've already gone way past our daily allowance.

I have to agree with Love on this.  No offense to either WKU or Mid Tenn or whoever, but if the MAC is seriously contemplating such a move, it might as well just drop to FCS/D-IA or whatever.  Right now both the MAC and the Sun Belt appear to be nothing more than glorified wannabees.  As has been stated many times by many people on here, OUr program will hopefully be able to some day get out of this joke of a conference.

GO BOBCATS!

To finish the sentence...disband.

Let the so-called mid-major programs go independent. Take up four or five big money games per year and go build a program with the cash. 

Being locked into playing low-revenue, never-watched games is a recipe for disaster in this college football landscape. 

Get two powerhouse Big Ten schools on the schedule every year and play them at their place or at a neutral site. Play one low-level Big Ten team every year and get them to do a game at Peden every three years. I'll take the money, pay the coaches and update the facilities and take our chances. Play an SEC team every year. Play one of the service academies every year. Play Marshall, Miami, Kent State, Akron, Toledo and BG. 

That would be an acceptable, even exciting vision for the future of the program, I think. We'd take some lumps some years, but it'd be a program legitimized and more valuable, solvent.

Otherwise, make the MAC into its own version of the Ivy League and play football at a regional level and stop trying to compete with the Wal-Marts of college football.

We're sitting on the fence right now. Either get in the scrum or be above it.

It's getting tiring propping up the corpse the likes of Eastern Michigan. Just euthanize this conference and let everyone fend for themselves.

BL, you know better than to hinge the discussion on "market size"!  After all, the Big Ten's "big score" was market 105 (Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney)!  Or was it?  Actually, it was the 'Huskers.

Shall I continue?  Yes, I think I shall.  Tallahassee (No. 106), Boise (No. 112), Lansing (115), Lafayette (123).  Shall I continue?  Yes!!!!  Columbia-Jefferson City (137), Lubbock (143), Gainesville (160), Charlottesville (183).

The fact is that many of the BCS schools are not in largely populated areas.  I've just picked on a few places. You can spend the rest of the evening discovering other out-of-the-way places that are popular by going over this list: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/2009-2010-dma-ranks.pdf.

If we leave the MAC where do we go? Ideally, the best of the MAC and C-USA East need to disband and form 2 new confrences; I think the Big East might even be involved if the football/basketball split ever occurs.

The Temple/TCU is one of the other scenarios we have heard recently. A lot of this could hinge on the decision that BYU plans to make. The news of the C-USA/MWC merger with a play-in championship game for a birth in a one of the BCS games might keep BYU interested to stay on board instead of going independent. I think thats why the BYU going independent talk has quieted down since the news broke. Make no mistake about it, both CUSA and MWC are trying to gain BCS bowl bids. My hunch is that the two of them will work together to get it done.

CMU is probably the most coveted MAC school, if any of them are coveted. After that I don't know what other schools would be above us.

I know this is not going to be a popular opinion on this board but I think we need to stop pointing the finger at the MAC as the culprit. If you think its crucial for Ohio to move to another conference why is it that Boise State has a preseason #3 ranking out of the WAC which may be the very worst conference in college football? They've been able to run through that conference every year and pick up some Fiesta Bowl victories in the process. Twenty years ago I would have said the MAC was holding Ohio back when it was 1 bowl and no television. The opportunites are there today we have to take advantage. Ohio needs to do what Boise State has done by winning and building up its financial support.

To address another issue is whether Peden Stadium is sufficient to attract a fan following, again here I would have said 20 years ago it wasn't up to par. I know parents who have gone on college tours recently asking about the football team that plays in that big stadium. The structure is of a 40,000 seat stadium if the endzones were filled in with seats (granted thats not the case). Its a major college caliber stadium. The biggest need I see is more premium seating for the stadium. Redeck the main grandstands and eliminate that annoying causeway in front of the first row, two more rows of seats can be fitted in. What should be done is installing benchbacks in the first 10 rows like the Phillips Club. I think you could fit 2,000 more seats within the main grandstand by reducing wasted space. Raise the new rows higher to improve the line of sight to the field. I can't think this would cost very much in today's economy compared with other ideas like the Indoor Practice Facility which given that other MAC schools have them is not reflected by greatly improved recruiting (think Western Michigan here). Down the road if the OHIO makes a couple of BCS bowls then a major improvement like an IPF would be justified.