What happened with our former conference mates???

[slowdown]

Houston wasn't very good anyway, Cincinnati lost some key players and coach, and UCF under Malzahn was already on the path the mediocrity.  So add the tougher schedule and it tracks. 

In year one you can't expect all the improvements that the money and recruiting/exposure would bring. 

[Brad]

2 hours ago, slowdown said:

In year one you can't expect all the improvements that the money and recruiting/exposure would bring. 

Some learn that lesson the hard way.

[OhioBull]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:11 AM, TromBull12 said:

I cut my USF football teeth starting in the 2006 range.  I've always been of the belief that the only substantive difference between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,' was history and money. 

I honestly thought that if given the chance, we could go toe to toe with anyone (when we were consistently good).

Our former football conference mates are making me rethink that. 

Those who shall not be named 6-6

Cincinnati- 3-9

Houston 4-8

What happened to them?!?! I thought they were all solid programs that would transition just fine. Did they all lose a lot of talent or is this the future we all pine for...?

To be fair I did look up...

Rutgers 1 winning season out of 9

Louisville 6 winning seasons out of 9

I didn't include Pittsburgh or Syracuse because they never made it to the AAC.

 

 All these teams that transitioned were down.  Cincinnati, Houston, and those not named were all going to be mediocre this year anyway.  Tulane / SMU would be in the championship game even if those teams were still in the conference.  So, moving up to a tougher conference, just made it look even worse.

[Bull94]

47 minutes ago, OhioBull said:

 All these teams that transitioned were down.  Cincinnati, Houston, and those not named were all going to be mediocre this year anyway.  Tulane / SMU would be in the championship game even if those teams were still in the conference.  So, moving up to a tougher conference, just made it look even worse.

seems like a coincidence that all 3 were in "transition" .

I guess WVU has been in transition for the past 12 years....used to play BCS bowl games and finished ranked in top 10 regularly while in BE now they finish 7-6 on average every year.

53-54 big 12 record since joining.

Fact is most teams that move up will become mediocre.

just like Miami when they left the BE. went from winning national championships to never playing in acc champ game.

last year

UCF 9-5

Cincy 9-4

Houston 8-5

[TallyBull]

So which is it? Setting aside the money (which we can't really do in real life, I get it), would you rather be a top 3 team in the AAC year-after-year, or a bottom 3 team in an autonomous conference? Put another way, would you rather be Boise State or Purdue?

[Bull94]

28 minutes ago, TallyBull said:

So which is it? Setting aside the money (which we can't really do in real life, I get it), would you rather be a top 3 team in the AAC year-after-year, or a bottom 3 team in an autonomous conference? Put another way, would you rather be Boise State or Purdue?

personally I'd rather be at the top. leads to better bowls and playoff appearances. can always schedule tougher ooc.

FSU would be stupid to go to SEC. they would never sniff the same success they can have in acc.

[TallyBull]

9 minutes ago, Bull94 said:

personally I'd rather be at the top. leads to better bowls and playoff appearances. can always schedule tougher ooc.

FSU would be stupid to go to SEC. they would never sniff the same success they can have in acc.

Same here. Some would pejoratively call it being the "tallest midget," but they get respect from fans of more traditional schools. Consider, e.g., pre-2023 popular perceptions of schools like BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Boise State, Tulane, compared to Purdue, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Syracuse, Duke, etc. I'd much rather be a respected G5 power than a P5 also-ran. 

To be clear, I am NOT saying you don't make the move up if given the opportunity. Of course you do. You then try to become a P5 power. I'm ONLY saying that if not given that choice, and setting money aside, I'd rather be a G5 power with hope/prospects/trophies than a P5 also-ran with no hope/no prospects/no trophies at any level.

[Triple B]

7 hours ago, slowdown said:

In year one you can't expect all the improvements that the money and recruiting/exposure would bring.

In our year one, we were 2 wins away from a New Year's bowl game ....

[belgianbull]

3 hours ago, Bull94 said:

seems like a coincidence that all 3 were in "transition" .

I guess WVU has been in transition for the past 12 years....used to play BCS bowl games and finished ranked in top 10 regularly while in BE now they finish 7-6 on average every year.

53-54 big 12 record since joining.

Fact is most teams that move up will become mediocre.

just like Miami when they left the BE. went from winning national championships to never playing in acc champ game.

last year

UCF 9-5

Cincy 9-4

Houston 8-5

Louisville did well this year.

TCU was in the championship game last year

Pitt had some good years. Rutgers was decent this year.

UCF are still in a bowl game and had a big win against Oklahoma State. Cincy will be ok. No reason why WVU cant be successful

We had some of our best years in the Big East, were ranked, and beat a lot of elite teams. When we rejoin a Power 5 conference there is no reason why we can't be successful

[Bull94]

19 minutes ago, Triple B said:

In our year one, we were 2 wins away from a New Year's bowl game ....

not to mention, they were invited awhile ago. they've been pitching the big 12 to recruits for years.