Greetings from Herd Country! I've posted here several times in the past and I had to re-register because it looks like you guys have gotten a new website. Looks good.

Its time for football season again. Hopefully some of you can make the trip down to Huntington on September 10th. Being that its a late game, I figure its possible some of you will be staying in the Huntington area.  Here are a few Hotels/Motels I would recommend:

1. The Holliday Inn and Suites in Downtown Huntington (304) 523-8880‎. 800 Third Avenue, Huntington, WV‎  Its within walking distance of "Pulman Plaza" Here is a link to all the things down at Pullman http://www.pullman-square.com/

2. Holliday Inn and Suites "Huntington Mall"....3551 Rt. 60 East, Barboursville, WV‎ - (304) 733-3338‎. This is the newer Hotel in the area and is minutes from the mall, good restraunts among other things.

3. Comfort Innn....249 Mall Rd, Barboursville, WV‎ - (304) 733-2122‎. Nice Hotel located just off the main belt of the Huntington Mall.

There has been a lot of changes in the area. Particularly a lot of things going on around campus. The new "Recreational Center" just across the football stadium is now open. A picture of it is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MUreccenter_crop.jpg

The Football Stadium  upgrades are underway. The football stadiums is getting two new scoreboards, and upgraded audio among other things. They have been working on some plans to build some new skyboxes and possibly a second tier deck on the east side of the stadium.

Tons of other projects going on with upgrades to the Arena in Basketball, a new Baseball stadium, among other things. There has truely been a lot of change since our new AD, Mike Hamrick got on campus. Lots of talk right now with conference expansion etc. Its certainly an exciting time.

I hope many of you make the trip down and spend the day. I'll be pulling for you guys to win every game except for one.    Good Luck this year!

OhioCatFan, good to hear from you. I hope everything is going good. The new board looks great.

 To answer your question about the Marshall boards, I think the best one going is www.herdfans.com   Check it out if you get a chance. Lots of good people over there. The other two that I know of is www.herdnation.com and www.herdhaven.com

So how do you feel about this years team? I'm assuming you guys are favored in the East? How about the West? Is it expected to be somebody other than Central Michigan in the West? What about Temple? They supposed to be even better this year? I hear they have a good running back?

Here is what I am hearing here in Huntington based on conference realignement:

This past Thursday the commisioner of the Mountain West Conference and C-USA met in Colorado to discuss a 20 team merger/partnership that would presumably start in 2014. Basically the champion in each Division would matchup in a championship game at the end of the year with the winner getting an automatic BCS bowl bid. Here is a couple links to that:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/19/2414774/mwc-c-usa-talking-about-merged.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/wires/08/20/2060.ap.fbc.mwc.cusa.talks.0232/


ESPN is rumored to be driving the bus on this. The commisioner of C-USA has supposedly briefed all the AD's in the league about the direction they intend to go. Supposedly something could take place in the next couple weeks. A lot of this hinges on the decision that BYU makes. It seems very possible that the MWC/C-USA merger takes place. If the offer to get a deal done means a spot in a BCS game you can bet for sure that it will get done.

I had heard some other things a while back like CUSA might be looking at adding some more Eastern Teams at the request of schools like ECU and Marshall. Schools that would make traveling a little easier on these schools. I dont know if its true but I've heard that Marshall has recommended Ohio, Miami and Toledo during some talks but that just "hear-say". My guess is that any expansion will be a result of going to a 16 team league that is more regionally friendly for Marshall and ECU. I've heard Temple, Buffalo and Akron also mentioned as possibilities from the MAC. Again, all of this was just rumor talk possibilities that I've heard from various people that may or may not really have any connections. The best advice I can give is to just be prepared the best way possible so that you could be ready if an oppurtunity would arise.

One thing is for sure, I think some big things are in the works. To many changes, and upgrades are going on here for something not to be in motion. We're getting upgrades on the football stadium and the basketball arena as I type. New scoreboards all over campus, new softball field, new rec center, along with plans to expand the football stadium with skyboxes etc. As it stands right now, the stadium will accomodate a hair over 40K but is reportedly expandable to 55K. Here is a link to the stadium upgrades and new proposed baseball stadium and hotel.

http://www.digitalsignageexpo.net/DNNArticleMaster/DNNArticleView/tabid/78/smid/400/ArticleID/3552..

Pictures are here: Just hit the "previous or next" on the top right hand corner to go through all the images. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4880863&fbid=420441693109&id=291719428109#!/photo..

Baseball stadium and Hotel:
http://www.sundaygazettemail.com/News/201008190657
 

We just got done securing a 1-1 with Purdue and Louisville. The WVU contract is up in a couple years but supposedly a new deal is being worked out. Our AD said the other night in a special event in Charleston that we would only accept 1-1's from here on out with WVU.


Our AD also recently stated that some big announcements for us are coming in the next 4-5 months. Nobody I've talked to really knows for sure whats coming down the pipe but we should know whats going on by the first of the year. I'm guessing that it has to do with more facility improvements.

The first thing I thought about when hearing about this was the travel involved which made me skeptical also. However after talking to several people about it, the way I understand it now is that we would do our normal thing in CUSA like we've always been doing with the exception playing a championship game between the CUSA and MWC champion which would determine the automatic BCS bid. In oher words there would be very little "cross division" games being played. There had been some other rumors flying that Tulane and UAB would be forced out and would likely land in the Sunbelt to get CUSA to a 10 team league. I've also heard that to make the transition more geographically correct, TCU would come over to CUSA in a swap for UTep. With Utah leaving the MWC and possibley BYU that would give each division 10 teams. Bascially 9 conference football games, with the champion of each division meeting in the championship for the BCS bowl. Essentially it would look like this on paper:

East:

1. Houston
2. TCU
3. East Carolina
4. Marshall
5. Memphis
6. Southern Miss
7. Rice
8. SMU
9. Tulsa
10. UCF

West:

1. UTep
2. Air Force
3. Colorado St.
4. New Mexico
5. San Diego St.
6. UNLV
7. Boise St.
8. Fresno St.
9. Nevada
10. BYU or Wyoming


If I here of any devolpments I'll let you know. And I agree I like the friendly rivalry between Ohio and Marshall. It goes back a long way. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be conference mates again, if not then I'm confident  that the home and home series will continue. I think its a good game with good regional appeal.

Hey WAM....who's your starting QB?

What happened to the transfer QB from Clemson?

Don't look for a "merger" between the WAC and CUSA. Do look for "cooperation" between the conferences to place their top teams in a BCS bowl.

Why any school would want to be part of a 10-team division is a trifle puzzling.  It's tough enough winning a division title in a 6-team division. 

Due to finances, MAC schools are not well positioned to be attractive candidates for other conferences. 

You make a good point but it really wouldnt be any different for us with the exception of one game. In our setup we play every team once in our division and then have three cross division games for a total of 8 conference games anyway. Basically in a 10 team league we would only be playing one more conference game. Instead of playing four "out of conference" games we'll be limited to three that we can play. Ohio, WVU and then whoever.

That's not the question, JCW.  But, I'll answer it anyway: Right now we are not, but I've learned never to prejudge the future.  Yes, I did learn a few of the finer points of English usage from a certain former catcher for the N.Y. Yankees!

Here is a link to the Herdnation.com Vistor's Guide.

marshall.rivals.com/showmsg.asp

Some pics of the new scoreboards going in.

THANK YOU!!! I couldn't think of the perfect joke, but you nailed it. I don't understand the scoreboard "covering" the M - looks awkward.

I bet when the hill is full you won't even be able to see that from the playing field....Oh wait that's our scoreboard and clock!  never mind.