Well looks like ECU fans want FAU to be first on the list to join the CUSA….and a fight breaks out on the Rivals Message Board about how we are better or not.  Strange.  UCF fans ended up saying the same things they were saying in our infamous flame war.

Here is the link: http://eastcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1324&tid=114288446&mid=114288446&sid=1084&style=2

The question I pose is this:

Aside from the vastly superior marketing and bowl tie-ins, do we really want to join CUSA?  Would it be better to stay in the Sun Belt and try and continue the trend of the Sun Belt being better in Football than CUSA…perhaps stealing their bowl tie-ins in the process?  ECU wants out, (Topic Galleries - Courant.com) and UCF would love to get out too if it had the chance.  Do we jump on a sinking ship just because it is bigger and hope for the best or stay on our little boat and ride the tide to the ACC or Big East.

"Face it UCF. You're scared to death of FAU, and for good reason. I don't blame you. "

haha we already had it out with UCF fans, glad we're not the only ones who think like this

Wow,

Now THATS some hate going on on those fourms. LOL

There is another thread about FIU as a possiblity as well. Im not sure how thats a possiblity with thier programs in general Dissaray. The Stadium is about the only positive thing going for them right now with all the NCAA sanctions and performance of the teams.

My god, can you imagine the postion FAU would of been if we would of had our stadium open this year? Thats REALLY holding us back.

FAU is in a better position today than UCF was just before they joined CUSA (of course, since then UCF has made huge strides). CUSA would be a great fit for FAU. They are a far more lucrative conference than the SBC (look at media markets, bowl tie ins, etc.). The institutions are similar (academically) to FAU, except their athetic facilities are (currently) much better.

Memphis is likely #1 on the Big East's list if they need another team. ECU and UCF are also not far behind. UCF and ECU are both fairly isolated in the geography of the new CUSA. It's not so much fun to play so many schools in a different time zone. It would make a lot of sense for the SBC and CUSA to reorganize into two conferences that don't overlap, but that would make too much sense.

Trivia: UCF is the school with the largest enrollment not in a BCS auto-bid conference.

owlfamily said

Wow,

Now THATS some hate going on on those fourms. LOL

There is another thread about FIU as a possiblity as well. Im not sure how thats a possiblity with thier programs in general Dissaray. The Stadium is about the only positive thing going for them right now with all the NCAA sanctions and performance of the teams.

My god, can you imagine the postion FAU would of been if we would of had our stadium open this year? Thats REALLY holding us back.

They can't even hire a f'ing basketball coach  >:( lol you wanted the stadium by this year  ;D

SeminOWL2006 said

Well looks like ECU fans want FAU to be first on the list to join the CUSA….and a fight breaks out on the Rivals Message Board about how we are better or not.  Strange.  UCF fans ended up saying the same things they were saying in our infamous flame war.

Here is the link: http://eastcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1324&tid=114288446&mid=114288446&sid=1084&style=2

The question I pose is this:

Aside from the vastly superior marketing and bowl tie-ins, do we really want to join CUSA?  Would it be better to stay in the Sun Belt and try and continue the trend of the Sun Belt being better in Football than CUSA…perhaps stealing their bowl tie-ins in the process?  ECU wants out, (Topic Galleries - Courant.com) and UCF would love to get out too if it had the chance.  Do we jump on a sinking ship just because it is bigger and hope for the best or stay on our little boat and ride the tide to the ACC or Big East.

We're throwing rocks at a hornet's nest again…

The upside of CUSA is exactly what you stated… better marketing, better bowl tie-ins. Whether CUSA teams would provide better competition is something you could debate all day long. I definitely think we could step into CUSA and hold our own. I would not be as confident if we were stepping into the Big East or the ACC. I do hope that in five years we could be competitive with Big East/ACC teams and I'm sure Schnellenberger has the same vision.

Jab979 said

owlfamily said

Wow,

Now THATS some hate going on on those fourms. LOL

There is another thread about FIU as a possiblity as well. Im not sure how thats a possiblity with thier programs in general Dissaray. The Stadium is about the only positive thing going for them right now with all the NCAA sanctions and performance of the teams.

My god, can you imagine the postion FAU would of been if we would of had our stadium open this year? Thats REALLY holding us back.

They can't even hire a f'ing basketball coach  >:( lol you wanted the stadium by this year  ;D

Quoted for Truth!

UCF is scared……..very very scared…….

Everyone of their fans i talk to from down here are happy that they didnt play us this past year…..and very happy they wont be facing us this year!

SeminOWL2006 said

Well looks like ECU fans want FAU to be first on the list to join the CUSA….and a fight breaks out on the Rivals Message Board about how we are better or not.  Strange.  UCF fans ended up saying the same things they were saying in our infamous flame war.

Here is the link: http://eastcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1324&tid=114288446&mid=114288446&sid=1084&style=2

The question I pose is this:

Aside from the vastly superior marketing and bowl tie-ins, do we really want to join CUSA?  Would it be better to stay in the Sun Belt and try and continue the trend of the Sun Belt being better in Football than CUSA…perhaps stealing their bowl tie-ins in the process?  ECU wants out, (Topic Galleries - Courant.com) and UCF would love to get out too if it had the chance.  Do we jump on a sinking ship just because it is bigger and hope for the best or stay on our little boat and ride the tide to the ACC or Big East.

I would not read too much into it,  Hummel is a UCF hater and it proposed FIU, FAU, Troy, TCU to CUSA.  He basically said what you said before that we were nothing before CUSA..  The Big difference btw UCF and FAU or FIU at present is that we had strong alumni base (we had 28K to crappy Citrus Bowl where you mugged once a year) and money.  Much like FAU/FIU we did not have facilities nor was our team very good (ex Baseball which strangely has gone down in CUSA but that coach is toast so future is bright)

The only way FIU/FAU gets invite to CUSA is by leadership in your front office by increasing Alumni support and building facilites.  You must be a better program then some other member of CUSA who would get kicked out OR taken by BCS conference.

The majority of the activity in that thread was UCF Fans bombing ECU board bc one of our members was banned and then ECU fan went our board and crowed about it.  Then UCF fans went and posted anything against what Hummel and his buddy was posting about.  When we went to ECU board we set a online record for their board at 247 members, the Admin there then proceeded to Ban every member on the board that night (even if you did not post but just showed up)

Was it very childish on both fan bases, YES but then again "fan" is based off word Fanatic.

FAU is doing it the correct way if you can get new leadership to rally the fan base and start selling out your stadium to U-LM (ie a non important game).

Good luck this year

Nunzio42 said

Everyone of their fans i talk to from down here are happy that they didnt play us this past year…..and very happy they wont be facing us this year!

I think Kevin Smith would have run through us and they would have clenched the W last year. We all know how bad we were against the run.

I would be more confident if we played them this year, say in the NO Bowl. Their fans say that would never happen because they won't end up ranked that low in their conference. They may very well be right…it's not like there are many outstanding teams in CUSA… but I wouldn't be surprised if they fall from the perch next season.

To be fair, I think we have the same chance of ending up #2 or #3 in the conference. Last year had some close victories… 39-32 over ULL, 34-31 over ASU…. so closer than we would have liked. I would like to see us put 2-3 TDs between us and opponents this year to really substantiate the wins.

In an ideal world, we'd come out of the gate swinging 4-0 after a narrow victory over Texas and good wins over Minnesota and Michigan State… after which we'd hopefully get ranked, which in turn would drive up attendance at SBC games against us because everybody loves a shot at an upset.

Not that we have to carry this on our backs… obviously other SBC teams have a chance to shake up the college football world… I wish Troy had Haugabook going into games against tOSU and LSU.