Conference realignment "Rumors" "tweets" "etc"

[macphisto]

46 minutes ago, GoBulls84 said:

Florida State is routinely in the top 10-20 teams in TV ratings for the year, at least for the handful of years I could pull up looking back. And they've only been further rising as Norvell has rebuilt the program. The biggest tripping block with Florida State is the same tripping block for the other top ACC targets: nobody knows just exactly how much getting them out of the GOR will cost.  

The Pac2 and Mountain West have already been in talks on a scheduling agreement to give Wazzou and the Beavs a full slate next year. They've essentially already opened the door to merging the MW under the Pac name. I think most likely scenario is the conference remaining a west coast conference.

 FSU offers no benefit to the B1G. SEC makes more sense.

I doubt the MW/Pac stays west coast as a broader scope is more appealing.

[Triple B]

1 hour ago, belgianbull said:

That's true. But he is the leader, and I am sure there are differing opinions among AD's. The AAC could have gone in different directions when Houston, U Conn, UCF, and Cincy left the conference.

There were 3 options.

A) keep the  Eastern, South  Eastern, Middle América footprint but add the best available teams. App State, Marshal, Toledo, Army,... type teams. Fair enough Army will join.

B ( best option) create a national brand and add the best Mountain West teams + WSU and OSU

C. Go after big Metropolitan schools with very little success in football and small fan bases ( Rice, Charlotte, North Texas). All conference USA teams by the way. Add 6 of them instead of 3.

I really think C was the worst option

B) Just because you put it as an option that Aresco had doesn't mean it ever really was a viable one that he/AD's chose not to do.

A) Worst option for several reasons. If you're trying to stir up more local interest, the casual USF/TB area fan would see little difference in the ones you suggested and the ones we added. Hell, some probably think App State is still FCS. And if you think winning is going to be key in getting out of the AAC, why add teams that may make that harder? The Kanigits proved that no one really cares who's in the conference you're winning, just win it, multiple times.

 

[belgianbull]

13 minutes ago, Triple B said:

B) Just because you put it as an option that Aresco had doesn't mean it ever really was a viable one that he/AD's chose not to do.

A) Worst option for several reasons. If you're trying to stir up more local interest, the casual USF/TB area fan would see little difference in the ones you suggested and the ones we added. Hell, some probably think App State is still FCS. And if you think winning is going to be key in getting out of the AAC, why add teams that may make that harder? The Kanigits proved that no one really cares who's in the conference you're winning, just win it, multiple times.

 

Unless Aresco is lying, but he said the following recently:

"We have concluded, however, that the best way to proceed for our outstanding student-athletes is to not look westward. Instead, we plan to focus any expansion efforts on schools that allow for sensible and sustainable competition and student-athlete well-being within our strong geographic footprint" ( sorry about the font but copied and pasted it directly from the article)

Toledo ( ranked again), Marshall, App State are considerably better programs than Rice, North Texas, and Charlotte. 

Its is debatable regarding fan interest, but there is no doubt that these programs bring bowl games and big OOC wins, including against Texas A and M and Virginia Tech.

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by belgianbull

[Roaming Bull]

1 minute ago, belgianbull said:

Unless Aresco is lying, but he said the following recently:

"We have concluded, however, that the best way to proceed for our outstanding student-athletes is to not look westward. Instead, we plan to focus any expansion efforts on schools that allow for sensible and sustainable competition and student-athlete well-being within our strong geographic footprint" ( sorry about the font but copied and psated it directly from the article)

Toledo ( ranked again), Marshall, App State are considerable better programs than Rice, North Texas, and Charlotte. 

Its is debatable regarding fan interest, but there is no doubt that these programs bring bowl games and big OOC wins, including against Texas A and M and Virginia Tech.

 

Aresco might be afraid of upsetting current members by adding too many competitive schools. He doesn’t seem like the strongest or best leader at times, but he finds a way to survive.

[Outlaw]

8 hours ago, Triple B said:

We already showed we can throughout our history. There will need to be other reasons a P5 will want us if there's a next go round.

When was the time usf was ranked in football? We missed the chance to move up because we were the absolute worst team in football when it mattered most to get out of the aac. Now we are stuck in purgatory hoping to make a full  rebound into top25 status and make a case for the next time a power conference considers bringing In more schools.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Outlaw

[Triple B]

17 hours ago, belgianbull said:

Unless Aresco is lying, but he said the following recently:

"We have concluded, however, that the best way to proceed for our outstanding student-athletes is to not look westward. Instead, we plan to focus any expansion efforts on schools that allow for sensible and sustainable competition and student-athlete well-being within our strong geographic footprint" ( sorry about the font but copied and pasted it directly from the article)

First, when you copy and paste something from an article, an option should show to Paste as plain text instead. Click that and your paste will show like your normal text here.

As far as the option, I remember him saying that but was there ever any serious evidence from schools possibly involved that this was going to be any way doable to begin with? Feelers may have been sent out but came back "thanks, but no thanks". The MWC probably believed that with our top 3 teams leaving, they may be in a stronger position .... especially if they might be working something out with the Pac 2 in the future. I did not see OSU/WSU joining this conference.

17 hours ago, belgianbull said:

Toledo ( ranked again), Marshall, App State are considerably better programs than Rice, North Texas, and Charlotte. 

Its is debatable regarding fan interest, but there is no doubt that these programs bring bowl games and big OOC wins, including against Texas A and M and Virginia Tech.

Didn't say they weren't better programs right now than those added, just what does it matter? If winning is as important as some think to expansion, why add more obstacles. Win the conference, make some noise with the ooc schedule and see what happens.

Edited November 29, 2023 by Triple B

[belgianbull]

20 minutes ago, Triple B said:

First, when you copy and paste something from an article, an option should show to Paste as plain text instead. Click that and your paste will show like your normal text here.

As far as the option, I remember him saying that but was there ever any serious evidence from schools possibly involved that this was going to be any way doable to begin with? Feelers may have been sent out but came back "thanks, but no thanks". The MWC probably believed that with our top 3 teams leaving, they may be in a stronger position .... especially if they might be working something out with the Pac 2 in the future. I did see OSU/WSU joining this conference.

Didn't say they weren't better programs right now than those added, just what does it matter? If winning is as important as some think to expansion, why add more obstacles. Win the conference, make some noise with the ooc schedule and see what happens.

Absolutely agree with win the conference against the opposition you got. But I do think the better teams you add to the AAC, the more opportunities you get for top 50 wins, and in turn opportunity getting back to being ranked in the top 25.  Strength of schedule will be important once playoffs start

This year was a transition year so I liked the weaker schedule we played in order to get positive momentum going, but at some point I wouldnt see these teams as obstacles but as opportunities to get back closer to where we were.

Also another reason to want the best possible teams added to the AAC is that we dont know whether we will get out; Power 5 is not guaranteed,  and we might be in the AAC for a while.  So why not make the AAC the best it can be.

Edited November 28, 2023 by belgianbull

[Triple B]

8 hours ago, Triple B said:

We already showed we can throughout our history. There will need to be other reasons a P5 will want us if there's a next go round.

 

52 minutes ago, Outlaw said:

When was the time usf was ranked in football? We missed the chance to move up because we were the absolute worst team in football when it mattered most to get out of the aac. Now we are stuck in purgatory hoping to make a full  rebound into top25 status and make a case for the next time a power conference considers bringing In more schools.

5 years ago. I know it's in your DNA to blame CJS for everything but he's not the reason we missed the chance to move up this last time.

[Outlaw]

2 minutes ago, Triple B said:

 

5 years ago. I know it's in your DNA to blame CJS for everything but he's not the reason we missed the chance to move up this last time.

His record didn't help our case at all... Strong's last year didn't help. He was our last coach to coach a ranked team. Golesh has hope for the future, but it maybe too little too late for a stetch of time that is unknown. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Outlaw

[DontPushMe]

5 hours ago, belgianbull said:

Bad news for the AAC. Ultimately WSU and OSU will become part of the Mountain West. Look at the Mountain West trying to poach UTSA, and perhaps even Memphis next.

AAC Ad's should be moving to fire Aresco.

 

Who cares. No one in the AAC has any value, even less so the dross that was just added. They can all go and nothing will change for us. Utsa will draw a crowd of a few dozen family and friends of the players at rayjay. It'll be no different if they're swapped out for whatever other pointless programs the AAC would add if they left. 

 

The one who should leave is us. Independent is our only hope.