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Schools with big enrollments - MTSU, WKU...etc. need to either step it up to something better than the SunBelt or face falling further into obscurity. They should have joined the MAC years ago when it was talked about. Instead of a MAC east and west, they could have done a north and south. Maybe have Ohio U., Miami, Ball State in the south with WKU and MTSU (Arkansas State is getting serious about football too)
I just don't see how a "Sun Belt" kind of league would survive the 8-conference concept.
i don't know if big enrollment does the trick. the way i see it, the majority of BCS schools are public universities the flagship institutions of their state and have a state wide appeal. I'm using the idea that some states have one flagship, some two. Such as Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota being examples of schools in states with one; Michigan/Michigan State, Indiana/Purdue, Arizona/Arizona State, Alabama/Auburn being examples of schools in states with two flagship public universities.
the more regional schools have a hard time matching the draw of the flagships and I don't think enrollment can change that equation unless said institutions can draw strength from being in large metro areas (which might support the programs the way that you see in Florida with UCF, FIU, and FAU in the Orlando and Miami metro areas trying to compete with the flagships, UF and FSU)
good question. as population grows, the number of schools that could handle the top rung of college sports (particularly football) grows. You can see this in the addition of schools in a Sun Belt state like Florida.
However, there are limits. I just don't see, for example, schools in the MAC being able to compete with their bigger brothers in the Big Ten. I'd prefer they had a tournament set up of their own.
For the record, I may be pushing the limits a bit with that 96 but I have to say I did so because (1) I think that 12 is the optimum conference size (I'd also like to see an 11 game round robin schedule for 12 team conferences and a championship game only if there is a season's end tie...but that's another issue) and (2) I felt, based on the current set up, that 8 conferences would blanket the nation very nicely.
I think Texas would be the better example (since we did just add 2 more and even before this year, had the MOST ), and I know it's your vision. Not trying to knock.... but I believe that when your in FBS, you have every right to compete against the "big boy" conferences.
Besides, there are several southerners who would kill if their school couldn't participate, no matter how small it is.
When I was in Texas, I wanted to see a return to the glory days of the SWC. I also wanted my Alma Mater, North Texas to step up and play with the big boys....sink or swim, and after sinking for a few seasons, we would hope they would learn to swim.
Problem is, they have yet to figure out how to get in the water.
They wanted an annual game with TCU, sort of a local rivalry, but TCU was not interested. Either because attendence at North Texas games is so poor, or heaven forbid, they may lose sometime, TCU wanted no part of it.
SMU has played a few times, but keep in mind SMU has reverted back to the old school tradition of keeping the program smaller and on campus, using Ford Stadium instead of the Old Texas stadium like they did back in the heyday of SMU power
As for North Texas, well, consider the following points. (I graduated from there, so I have the right to complain) North Texas wants to be a major university, but it is run like a teachers college......as in....on the cheap. It is the lower class/ looked down upon college of the region by all the phonies and fakes of the Dallas scene, and since Dallas is the nearest big city and thus source of employment as well as press coverage, that is a problem. North Texas football would get maybe a half a column on the Sunday Sports section, SMU and TCU get a couple pages each. Same for TV.......UNT may get their score mentioned on the Saturday night Sports show, but not as often highlights or clips from the game. North Texas remains the red head stepchild of the region.
Consider this too: the two most prestigious programs at North Texas are music and fine arts. North Texas has the nationally ranked Music prgram as well as a contemporary art school that would easily beat out SMU or anyone else in the region as far as prodcution of the newest and best. Past that, it is run on the cheap. Much of the student body is transfers in from other colleges, as in Well I partied too much at Texas and flunked out so here I am" . And demographically, it is a big school, one of the biggest in the state. HOWEVER look at how many students it has on campus....MOST students are commuters, and a large number of those are grad students, many who live in the metroplex and commute in for a couple of Classes a week. Grad programs are solid there, but grad students often tend (not always) to already have jobs, family, liffe and no interest or time for riving back on Saturday to follow football.
Then there is the new stadium....they call it "Apogee Stadium" Should be "APOLOGY STADIUM" It barely seats enough to meet attendence standards for FBS football. Rather than build a university size 50-60K seat stadium, they went small, just like their goals.
Back to the old sink or swim. Some people said they should not build a bigger stadium because they would not fill it. True, they would not fill it NOW but when they have the big stadium, start bringing in schools that will play and fill a big stadium (Like OSU orTexas Tech) THEN They would get more recognition, more money, better recruiting ......And alumni Support. Instead, they bring in schools like Nichols State or South Central Missouri School for the Blind and Infirmed and wonder why no one cares ...I suggested they build a larger stadium now and bring in schools that will bring a sellout, schools with a high Alumni base in the metroplex, Texas would play there is they knew they were getting a cut of 65000 seats.....but as it is, they would not want to pay in front of 32000 when they could go elsewhere and make more money.
This would take time, but North Texas is not the kind of forward thinking institution, which is to be expected whn the board of regents are more concerned with having enough money to pay the electric bill each month vs making a grander statement that eventually would fulfill itself. Until then, the goals will remain, "Set little goals and low standards and accept mediocrity"
Realignmet as you suggested would do a favor to these programs like North Texas in the long run, because they would be able to pull in recruits who were passed over by Texas and Oklahoma who have something to prove. (It worked in Oklahoma State and Houston)
When I was in Texas, I wanted to see a return to the glory days of the SWC. I also wanted my Alma Mater, North Texas to step up and play with the big boys
the SWC is, IMHO, not only the opposite of the current world of big time college sports, but the right tonic to take to cure the current beast.
The SWC is the anti-expanded-footprint conference. The SWC's footprint was Texas. OK, and Fayetteville. But let's face it, the conference was built around those Lone Star schools and was a joy because it was such an internal, homegrown battleground. Everyone in everyone else's face. Peas in a pod. Heck, everyone of those schools had its own hand signal beyond that famed hook 'em horns.
Fans were never better served than to have all that local competition, those alumni bases around where all the schools played.
The SWC was done in by scandal and by its very desire to expand its foot print. Apparently Texas and A&M thought they had more in common with Iowa State and Colorado than they did with SMU or TCU. A pity.
who needs an expanded footprint? All you'd have to do to get out of that ridiculous situation is to have the major conferences (the BCS schools) keep their separate identities, but combine their t.v. revenue along the lines of the NFL. It would do wonders for competition and it would allow each conference to remain local.
Then again, it won't be able to offer the fabulous rivalry that will begin this year when West Virginia starts to play Baylor. That'll be one to pack the stands, won't it?
I wish Texas could have its own conference again, but that's just not the world we live in anymore...
no. sadly you live in a world that can't keep UT and A&M in the same conference.
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), and I know it's your vision. Not trying to knock.... but I believe that when your in FBS, you have every right to compete against the "big boy" conferences. 
