Originally Posted by
Sugar Land Cajun
Since Tulane, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP are in C-USA and in our region, they would likely be a part of any reallignment scenario. I would hope that UTEP could return to the MWC. That would leave Marshall, E. Carolina and UCF as the other teams looking for a home and not likely left out of anything. Perhaps the Big East would expand its football to 12 members and would include Memphis, UCF, E. Carolina and Marshall.
Assuming that takes place, my new conference scenario would look like this:
North
Tulsa, SMU, N. Texas, Ark. State, LA Tech, UAB
South
UL, S. Miss, Tulane, Houston, Rice, Troy
That would leave the SBC with:
ULM, MTSU, FIU, FAU & WKU and needing 1 more member to survive.
Under that South Division scenario, imagine UL's future football schedule to be something where fans could literally drive to all of our divisional games and most of our conference games with minimal travel expenses for the university. And, natural rivalries are built that would be exciting for our fans.
My only concern in this scenario would be for MTSU as they are left out and are an up and coming program.
Potential Future Schedule:
S. Miss, Tulane, Houston, Rice, LA Tech, Ark. State, SMU, Tulsa, N. Texas, UAB plus 2 non-conference games. We would be in Houston and Dallas every year with alternating games v. Houston/Rice and SMU/N. Texas. These are huge recruiting areas where we need the exposure. For the 2 non-conference games, we can open up with a more competitive team like the MAC and a second money game v. teams like Texas A&M, LSU, Texas, Tennessee, etc. with a 2 for 1 contract.
No more ULM, FIU, FAU, WKY, MTSU and no more 1AA games.