bob, honestly, i know you'll never admit it because you are too humble… but troy does not belong in the sun belt

this is a team who hung with georgia and florida, hung with florida state last season (or 2 seasons i ago? i forget when it was exactly) and crushed oklahoma state (who in turn, crushed us)

i don't believe FAU is destined to be in the belt a long time, but i certainly think troy has graduated from the belt already… especially if they take the belt championship this season (hopefully they won't)

i can see troy calling up the SEC and encouraging them to kick out charter member vanderbilt, who can't compete in any sport other than baseball in the conference… troy would make a great addition to the SEC, maybe not in talent YET, but certainly in the very very near future… alabama, auburn and troy… it seems natural to me

as for FAU… i say it 1,000,000 times… all this talk about mizzou now "having" to play this conference championship game and it's not "fair" that west virginia and ohio state don't "have to"… all conferences are going to have get this conference championship game to "even the playing field" and the big east will expand to 12 teams… UCF, FAU, Memphis, Troy (though not the greatest of geographic fits), Notre Dame (finally humbled by its atrocious past couple of seasons)…. all possibilities

Thanks for the compliment.

When Troy starts running the table in other sports (it needs a better hoops team and a new arena, which is planned … most other sports are solid), it should move up. But right now, the only quick step up would be CUSA, which is in a shambles despite offering some nice regional rivalry possibilities. I have heard talk of one or more CUSA teams comign to the 'Belt, making it a pretty nice conference.

I would love to see Troy in the Big East or SEC, but we have to be patient. I'm not sure the SEC would ever be an option because 'Bama and 'Burn will reportedly NEVER play Troy (they're catching hell for that position this year), and would blackball Troy from entering the conference. Vanderbilt (despite not being able to beat MTSU) has great academics and does well in other sports.

I would love to see Troy, FAU, UCF, USF, USM, maybe MTSU and UAB, and some others, in one league. Rivalries every week!

i don't care what happens, really, i prefer the big east, but that's because i see what schnelly has done and i see where this program is going… i just want OUT of the sun belt OR the sun belt to completely revamp itself to make itself respectable… we need more bowl tie-ins, we need to stop with these manslaughters to SEC and Big 12 teams…

also, i prefer the big east because i wanna stare down USF every single season and beat them every single season… overrated, cocky bulls… we can hang with them and we can beat them (if we don't have big east refs who call a B.S. punt interference call late in the fourth quarter)

I think that if we do become a part of the Big East, USF will naturally become a great in state rivalry. Unless FIU's new staduim brings in some great recruits, I just dont see them moving up anytime soon.

What a surprise UCF won't play someone in football.. seems like a common occurrence. I'm not sure how Troy did against them when they played but I know since we almost beat them when we were I-AA they won't play us anymore

Was talking with a coworker and we discussed this we came up with this,

Big East

NORTH CONFRENCE

Connecticut
Cincinnati
Rutgers
Pitt
Syracuse
???? ( I need one here, I don't think Notre dame would do it and they'd go big 10 anyway.)

SOUTH CONFRENCE

FAU
UCF
USF
West Virginia
Louisville
Troy

I think this would be a VERY balanced conference that would generate some respect. I just need help figuring in who would go into that last north spot.  Any thoughts?

owlfamily said

Was talking with a coworker and we discussed this we came up with this,

Big East

NORTH CONFRENCE

Connecticut
Cincinnati
Rutgers
Pitt
Syracuse
???? ( I need one here, I don't think Notre dame would do it and they'd go big 10 anyway.)

SOUTH CONFRENCE

FAU
UCF
USF
West Virginia
Louisville
Troy

I think this would be a VERY balanced conference that would generate some respect. I just need help figuring in who would go into that last north spot.  Any thoughts?

i would refer you to the post in Open Forum where i chart out (in serious depth, may i add :P ) my thoughts on the big east when it expands

pitt jumps to the big ten, so they get their 12th team… that leaves 7 big east teams, 5 to expand

they need to be careful here, because ALL of their additions would be from CUSA, MAC or the Belt, which would all be the now-classic "taking a chance on South Florida" scenario… USF payed off for them… they need to MAKE SURE they are following that model

Big East North Division
UConn
Notre Dame (they are already associate members… they need a full-time conference)    EXPANSION
West Virginia
Rutgers
Syracuse
Cincinnati

Big East South Division
USF
Louisville
UCF EXPANSION
Florida Atlantic EXPANSION
Troy EXPANSION
Memphis EXPANSION  (basketball move for the big east)

Troy mostly beat UCF, and knocked it from the playoffs.

The Troy games at UCF ranked very high in attendance - No. 2 or 3 at one time (32,000-plus), thanks to lots of Troy alumni in that part of Florida.

Keep in mind that a school has to be good in more than one sport to graduate to a better conference.

I would think that Notre Dame would NOT want to go Big East due to the rivalry aspect of all those Big Ten Schools. Itd be sweet no doubt but I just dont think they would see a Big East as a step in the right direction for them.

Both of these thoughts have GREAT rivlaries (The orignal point of this thread) You could really see FAU-TROY and UCF-USF as a natural. Plus as we all saw UCF and USF would travel well.

Lets keep our fingers crosed.