Is It Time for The Sun Belt and CUSA to Realign? – From the Bird's Nest

[NewsCopy]

Some have suggested this for some time now. Maybe the time is right.

The rest of the story
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[Redgineer]

Some have suggested this for some time now. Maybe the time is right.

The rest of the story
ESPN 1420

Jay still reads RP.

[CoolCajun123]

Oh yes, Jay knew how to perfectly realign the conferences before this article came out. He is a genius!

[Duckster]

All these conference realignments for G5 conferences have been messy geographically. Sure, aligning with CUSA West will be more attractive for UL. Can't help but think when and if it comes down
to it some cherry picking takes place beyond ULM not making the cut.

[Bigbuf]

Jay still reads RP.

You do not have to read far into the article to see who Jay is referencing. Also, it's not a far stretch to come up with a realignment scheme...after all this board has pondered it many times and it's not full of intellectual heavyweights. Not to mention...you just accused Jay of plagiarism.

"That's the thought of Michael Smith, a staff writer from Sports Business Daily, who believes it's time for the Sun Belt and Conference USA to combine and divide according to geography."

[CajunEXPRESS]

You do not have to read far into the article to see who Jay is referencing. Also, it's not a far stretch to come up with a realignment scheme...after all this board has pondered it many times and it's not full of intellectual heavyweights. Not to mention...you just accused Jay of plagiarism.

"That's the thought of Michael Smith, a staff writer from Sports Business Daily, who believes it's time for the Sun Belt and Conference USA to combine and divide according to geography."

It almost seems NMSU would be an important element given that UTEP has no travel partner. No doubt none of the Alabama schools want to be in the SBC/CUSA West. What happens to ULM is very interesting, but it is not unprecedented for schools to be voted out, see Idaho, and NMSU.

[Bigbuf]

It almost seems NMSU would be an important element given that UTEP has no travel partner. No doubt none of the Alabama schools want to be in the SBC/CUSA West. What happens to ULM is very interesting, but it is not unprecedented for schools to be voted out, see Idaho, and NMSU.

Nothing is perfect, i suppose some tweeking would need to happen.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Nothing is perfect, i suppose some tweeking would need to happen.

Agreed. Not only that, but A-St prefers to be associated with the Alabama schools. A lot of egos, and emotional hangups need to be addressed for sure.

[Bigbuf]

Agreed. Not only that, but A-St prefers to be associated with the Alabama schools. A lot of egos, and emotional hangups need to be addressed for sure.

24 team conference though... quite a bit to work out like bowls...combining the bowls would leave 9 spots. More than the usual amount of teams may be left out.

[CajunAmos]

24 team conference though... quite a bit to work out like bowls...combining the bowls would leave 9 spots. More than the usual amount of teams may be left out.

The one thing I thought about a 24 team conference would be that it might be easier to get everyone together and then basically operate like two twelve team conferences regionally within the twenty four team overall conference. Scheduling would be very interesting.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I wasn't clear. Two twelve team conferences. The reason I listed it as CUSA/SBC was because I didn't know if the West would be CUSA or SBC.

[Ragin4U]

You do not have to read far into the article to see who Jay is referencing. Also, it's not a far stretch to come up with a realignment scheme...after all this board has pondered it many times and it's not full of intellectual heavyweights. Not to mention...you just accused Jay of plagiarism.

"That's the thought of Michael Smith, a staff writer from Sports Business Daily, who believes it's time for the Sun Belt and Conference USA to combine and divide according to geography."

Come on man. ALL knowledge emanates from RP.
Of course, I cant tell you where I heard that.

[CajunNation]

The article Jay mentioned left out NMSU and ULM.

Jay admitted he left out ULM in his rough drafts, but added NMSU and never thought about JMU.

Bottom line is that an orderly merger will not happen. There are too many variables at play and schools will never voluntarily associate with schools they view as beneath them or as undesirable.

A new SWC will form with everyone wanting to be with everyone else.

CUSA remnants will add with the same thinking.

There will be 1 or 2 current FBS schools left out, and the SBC will be kaput but that is the circle of life.

[CajunAmos]

Just a bit of info. If I'm remembering correctly, supposedly Rice & SMU own the name rights for the Southwest Conference.