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CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: FAU to the AAC?

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Roscoeowl said

Really wish we could have gotten a new arena in place and a few other facilities upgraded by now.  We have football facilities that can pretty much match or beat any other top G5 program in the country, unfortunately everything else will probably get us relegated to the lesser of any new G5 conferences if it happens.

We need schools people have actually heard of to ever have a chance to get people in the stands.   I think a lot of the AAC programs would help us improve with that, unfortunately if AAC needs to add in the near future they'll be looking for what can we provide for them now not our potential for the future.  Right now other than football we are pretty far off par in all of our other athletic facilities compared to all of the AAC programs.


Honestly anything different would probably be better than what the current Cusa has become.  Lol.  This conference has become pathetic.
Posted On: Jul 28th 2021, 10:44 AM #402655
I'm really just hoping that the P5 conferences don't merge, but poach from the AAC, opening the door for us to move there. Other than that, if I'm Prez Kelly I'm lobbying the ACC to expand and include us and UCF, based on our academics having improved in recent years, and the ability to form conference rivalries with in-state schools like UM and FSU, once we have better TV revenue.

Going to the ACC is a long-shot, I know. But with conferences possibly scrambling to compete with the SEC and an expanded playoff coming soon, I would be trying to go big in the expansion/realignment. 
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Roscoeowl said

Really wish we could have gotten a new arena in place and a few other facilities upgraded by now.  We have football facilities that can pretty much match or beat any other top G5 program in the country, unfortunately everything else will probably get us relegated to the lesser of any new G5 conferences if it happens.

We need schools people have actually heard of to ever have a chance to get people in the stands.   I think a lot of the AAC programs would help us improve with that, unfortunately if AAC needs to add in the near future they'll be looking for what can we provide for them now not our potential for the future.  Right now other than football we are pretty far off par in all of our other athletic facilities compared to all of the AAC programs.  


Honestly anything different would probably be better than what the current Cusa has become.  Lol.  This conference has become pathetic.  
Posted On: Jul 28th 2021, 12:44 PM #402655


While it is a legacy brand, it’s also by far the worst FBS conference in the country from a competitive standpoint 
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Rick said

Taking the conversation in a slightly different direction here, but the whole thing is getting ridiculous from a naming standpoint.

The BIG 12 hasn't had 12 teams for a while, so that's that.

The BIG 10 now has 14 teams, but they didn't they change their name to the BIG 14 either.

Now, the Southeastern Conference is going to have five teams nearly in the center of the country.

Arkansas and Missouri joining the SEC was a stretch but "passable" in representation but Texas A&M got a TOTAL pass.

Texas and OU, forget about it - center of the country.

Rant over.

 :Laughing:

Posted On: Jul 23rd 2021, 9:05 PM #402633


Yes, I agree completely. The last round of restructuring went against geography in many ways. Now there will be numerous teams from the old Southwest conference playing in the Southeast Conference. Missouri should have been in the BIG10 with the last shift. Colorado would have also been an appropriate fit. Far better than Maryland and Rutgers. I also would prefer teams like West Virginia and Pittsburgh in the BIG10. Iowa State is a an appropriate addition this time around. Kansas fits, but they do not bring much to the table for football. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

GO OWLS!!!

2017 and 2019 Conference USA Champions
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It has been talked about many times on here, but FAU’s location and recent winning ways in football (and years of good baseball) are probably not going to overcome the other sports and the anemic football attendance to get an invite “up” unless that league the Owls move to has been devastated with its top teams being poached.  Is it a move up to the AAC if the top half of the teams have moved to other conferences?  In my opinion, the best option would be to start pleading with UCF, USF, and even FIU to become the cornerstone of a new conference and beg like crazy to bring in other state-supported schools in the South and Atlantic regions.

Don’t think in terms of the current conferences - think in terms of who you best align with and can maybe convince to partner.  Outside of FL beg schools like App State and UNCC for a NC footprint, Georgia Southern and Coastal for GA and SC, ODU and Marshall for VA and WV.  Memphis and UAB to cover TN and AL. That is 12 from across CUSA, SBC, and AAC and it would create a single league that is arguably better than the current AAC.  Going forward, follow the SEC plan and just look for schools who are proving they put football first to create a football-led conference.

It would also have the benefit of controlling some costs because the footprint makes sense.  That “geographic sensibility” in and of itself probably dooms the plan 😀
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owlsdad said

It has been talked about many times on here, but FAU’s location and recent winning ways in football (and years of good baseball) are probably not going to overcome the other sports and the anemic football attendance to get an invite “up” unless that league the Owls move to has been devastated with its top teams being poached.  Is it a move up to the AAC if the top half of the teams have moved to other conferences?  In my opinion, the best option would be to start pleading with UCF, USF, and even FIU to become the cornerstone of a new conference and beg like crazy to bring in other state-supported schools in the South and Atlantic regions.

Don’t think in terms of the current conferences - think in terms of who you best align with and can maybe convince to partner.  Outside of FL beg schools like App State and UNCC for a NC footprint, Georgia Southern and Coastal for GA and SC, ODU and Marshall for VA and WV.  Memphis and UAB to cover TN and AL. That is 12 from across CUSA, SBC, and AAC and it would create a single league that is arguably better than the current AAC.  Going forward, follow the SEC plan and just look for schools who are proving they put football first to create a football-led conference.

It would also have the benefit of controlling some costs because the footprint makes sense.  That “geographic sensibility” in and of itself probably dooms the plan 😀
Posted On: Aug 3rd 2021, 9:26 AM #402691

Throw in Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Maryland and Pitt. I mean, we're not gonna get any of those schools… But! This has always been the general area of the country where, at least I, think we should focus for geography for rivals for cost and so on. Read one of the millions of conference realignment articles last night, where C-USA just splits, east and west. I'd take that. Everyone west of UAB joins the WAC or Mountain or Sunbelt and so on (or maybe they try to figure out their own thing??) and the east tries to bring in JMU and Liberty and I don't know, ARMY? It's not crazy. Crazy is losing three hours to play North Texas on a Thursday…
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Looks like UCF is Big 12 bound, with Cincy and Houston from the AAC. If the AAC wants another Florida school, I really hope we’re in a position to be that school 
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Hope OUR people are beating on that door NOW!!!!!
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owlmart said

Looks like UCF is Big 12 bound, with Cincy and Houston from the AAC. If the AAC wants another Florida school, I really hope we’re in a position to be that school 

Posted On: Sep 4th 2021, 8:54 AM #402992

Yeah, our only hope this round is that they really really want to keep that 2nd FL school for a travel partner for USF. Other than that, I don't think we're in an attractive position yet.  I'm hoping this happens tho, I would love to see us get out of this pathetic lame duck conference.  It would only help the program grow playing other programs people have actually heard of.  
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Roscoeowl said

owlmart said

Looks like UCF is Big 12 bound, with Cincy and Houston from the AAC. If the AAC wants another Florida school, I really hope we’re in a position to be that school 

Posted On: Sep 4th 2021, 8:54 AM #402992

Yeah, our only hope this round is that they really really want to keep that 2nd FL school for a travel partner for USF. Other than that, I don't think we're in an attractive position yet.  I'm hoping this happens tho, I would love to see us get out of this pathetic lame duck conference.  It would only help the program grow playing other programs people have actually heard of.  
Posted On: Sep 4th 2021, 10:17 AM #402994

That's exactly it.  It depends on if south Florida wants another Florida school.  I think they'd rather hold us down than help us elevate

I think UAB is gone.   That's the top AAC choice. We have to hope a ton of other eastern schools don't go.  Let them take Rice army etc and ODU I wouldn't mind

I think we need to form an eastern based conference once the AAC is done

Take the 7 cusa members

Take app state , Charleston southern and the 2 Georgia sbc schools

Take southern miss or one of liberty or James Madison.

Try to get to 12 out of that list with who is left once the AAC is done
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UNT seems like an (other) obvious choice for the AAC. I have no idea what shakes out after but, times like these, I'm very aware that our basketball is played in a high school gym (but thanks for the new locker rooms, money-people, if you're visiting here) while baseball is on some little league sandlot Erector Set reference… Five more hours? My liver's never gonna make it.
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