Conference Realignment

[Big Guy]

Why would the MAC want UCONN as a football affiliate? The MAC has already gone down that path and affiliate teams have left the moment they get a better offer. I still think that UCONN ends up in a revised ACC if the ACC loses teams like FSU and Clemson.

Why don't UMASS fans appreciate being in a conference first and try to succeed there first before talking about jumping to the AAC which has shown no interest in us to date.

[stevemaz]

ACC expansion later this year..

Schools that remain (BC, Cuse, Duke, WF, Ga Tech, Cal, Stanford, SMU, and maybe Miami

Adds: UConn likely #1 on their list
Western expansion (Wash St, Oregon St, San Diego St)?
Sneaky great add for the next 50 years: UMass

[Quann]

I'm kind of shocked the ACC hasn't sealed the deal with ConU yet. Seems like a no brainer if they want to keep their league relevant and intact. The only reason why they wouldn't is the state of their football program. I guess that shows that this is all about football and having the best basketball program in the country right now still doesn't move the needle.

[TruBluMaroon]

ACC expansion later this year..

Schools that remain (BC, Cuse, Duke, WF, Ga Tech, Cal, Stanford, SMU, and maybe Miami

Adds: UConn likely #1 on their list
Western expansion (Wash St, Oregon St, San Diego St)?
Sneaky great add for the next 50 years: UMass

Like the foreword thinking! I imagine a few people here don’t buy green bananas

[eldonabe]

I'm kind of shocked the ACC hasn't sealed the deal with ConU yet. Seems like a no brainer if they want to keep their league relevant and intact. The only reason why they wouldn't is the state of their football program. I guess that shows that this is all about football and having the best basketball program in the country right now still doesn't move the needle.

Unless you are the Big East......

[Quann]

Question for the Football guys in the know. What is our 2025 schedule going to look like? How many minimum MAC teams do we have to schedule as part of the conference for year 1? We already have 10 games scheduled but only 2 against MAC teams (Bowling Green and Buffalo). So we can easily add 2 MAC games to get to 12. Then who do we drop and how many games? Selfishly, I'd like to keep the Temple, BC and UConn games on there, those will be fun. I also love having Army on there. They have a lot of work figuring out the buyouts for 2025. I looked at 2026-29 and they have some work there too. Looks like we are signed up with Army through 2028 and we have a lot of Temple matchups as well. I'm really excited about the football schedule over the next 5 years, should be fun.

[e_parade]

Question for the Football guys in the know. What is our 2025 schedule going to look like? How many minimum MAC teams do we have to schedule as part of the conference for year 1? We already have 10 games scheduled but only 2 against MAC teams (Bowling Green and Buffalo). So we can easily add 2 MAC games to get to 12. Then who do we drop and how many games? Selfishly, I'd like to keep the Temple, BC and UConn games on there, those will be fun. I also love having Army on there. They have a lot of work figuring out the buyouts for 2025. I looked at 2026-29 and they have some work there too. Looks like we are signed up with Army through 2028 and we have a lot of Temple matchups as well. I'm really excited about the football schedule over the next 5 years, should be fun.

Army is trying to get out of games thanks to joining the AAC for football, so that one will likely be easy to drop/move. We'll almost certainly keep UConn and BC.

So with dropping Army and adding 2 games we're at 5, and we'd need 3 more. Liberty would be another easy drop/move since they also joined a conference and need to change up schedules. We're at 6, need 2 more.

At that point we have 2 P5 away games (Missouri and Iowa), we'd probably keep one of them and try to get the other rescheduled. That would leave the game with Troy, which I assume we'd try to reschedule for a later year.

With that we'd be able to keep Temple (H), BC (A), UConn (A) and Missouri/Iowa (A), with the other 8 games being MAC. That would give a 5-7 split for home/away though, so if we want 6-6 we'd need to also keep Troy and reschedule one of the non-Temple games.

[stevemaz]

ACC expansion later this year..

Schools that remain (BC, Cuse, Duke, WF, Ga Tech, Cal, Stanford, SMU, and maybe Miami

Adds: UConn likely #1 on their list
Western expansion (Wash St, Oregon St, San Diego St)?
Sneaky great add for the next 50 years: UMass

Like the foreword thinking! I imagine a few people here don’t buy green bananas

This may even go further.. 3 super conferences of 24 teams. Forget where we have been and where we are now and look to what we should and will become.. as the 25th ranked Public School that plays FBS and being in the 2nd wealthiest state I can see the possibilities. 3 24 team super conferences is not out of the question

1. Big Ten adds Notre Dame and Kansas or Texas A&M to get to 20.
2. SEC adds Fla St, Clemson, NC and Virginia to get to 20
3. SEC then says fuck it, lets go to 24.. adds NC ST, Va Tech, Miami, and Ga Tech (maybe Houston and Baylor)
4. Big 12 gets into the act.. replaces Kansas and goes to 24 by adding Pitt, Louisville, SMU, BC, Syracuse, WF, Duke, Oregon St, and Wash st
5. Big Ten finishes it off by adding Stanford, California, UConn and yes..UMass..

I started this way back in 2014 because i believed there was going to mass movement and here we are. What school out there is more qualifed than UMASS.. i dont see any.. Fan support will go through the roof. Say we get to 15k at football next year..expect that to double just by being a better conference. Remember the Pats are going to blow for many years to come and the window for building a fan base is here. And yes, Boston can be considered a tv market for UMass. If both UMass and BC were in one of the 3 power conferences, there is no doubt UMass would be more popular..

National Champs 2034!!

[Steve81]

FCS Daily Dose: WKU’s Decision Or Non-Decision Will Impact FCS-to-FBS Realignment
https://herosports.com/fcs-wku-decision ... ment-bzbz/

Western Kentucky could commit to the MAC after July 1st. Time will tell.

From the article.

And some more massive dominos may fall as Clemson joined Florida State as the second school to sue the ACC as it seeks to exit the conference.

But in the shorter term and in the FCS-to-FBS realignment realm, eyes are on what the MAC and CUSA do next. More specifically, what Western Kentucky decides to do.

When UMass accepted an invite to join the MAC in late February, it created a wave of reactions, including in the FCS. UMass was thought to be a prime candidate to join CUSA as its 12th and potentially final member. If so, that would have stopped FCS-to-FBS movement for the time being. CUSA has recently added FCS members Jacksonville State, Sam Houston, Kennesaw State, and Delaware.

With UMass joining the MAC instead, it creates conversation on who the 12th CUSA team will be, and if the MAC will want a 14th team.

A pivotal team in this is current CUSA member Western Kentucky.

The Toledo Blade’s Kyle Rowland reported there is mutual interest between the MAC and WKU.
...
If WKU decides to join the MAC, the MAC is probably done expanding at 14 members. If WKU does not join the MAC, the MAC is probably done expanding for the time being.

Conferences usually like an even number of teams, but playing with 13 members isn’t abnormal. In fact, the MAC played with 13 teams when UMass was a member in the early-to-mid 2010s.

Matt Brown wrote, “Industry sources have also told me if WKU could not be persuaded, the MAC is unlikely to target an FCS program in the immediate future.”

And he tweeted: “My best guess RIGHT NOW is that they wait if they can’t get WKU. There’s no immediate pressure to do anything or reach on anybody.”

[DEM]

^
Western Kentucky might be better for the MAC strictly from an athletics program (basketball and football) standpoint, but I'd personally prefer to see Delaware instead, if that's a possibility, as they'd be more of a peer for UMass and could make for nice rivalries along with Buffalo.

I was just looking at the construction of C-USA, and if I were Delaware or UMass, it wouldn't appeal to me at all compared to the MAC or even the Sun Belt. At least with the Sun Belt, their eastern division has some potential rivalries with institutions like James Madison and Marshall. C-USA seems like a less rational/cohesive hodgepodge of programs.

If the MAC made up its mind to pursue and admit Delaware, and somehow entice Temple back (probably farfetched, but perhaps not quite impossible), the MAC would have a nice eastern division that included UMass, Temple, Delaware, and Buffalo.

[stevemaz]

^
Western Kentucky might be better for the MAC strictly from an athletics program (basketball and football) standpoint, but I'd personally prefer to see Delaware instead, if that's a possibility, as they'd be more of a peer for UMass and could make for nice rivalries along with Buffalo.

I was just looking at the construction of C-USA, and if I were Delaware or UMass, it wouldn't appeal to me at all compared to the MAC or even the Sun Belt. At least with the Sun Belt, their eastern division has some potential rivalries with institutions like James Madison and Marshall. C-USA seems like a less rational/cohesive hodgepodge of programs.

If the MAC made up its mind to pursue and admit Delaware, and somehow entice Temple back (probably farfetched, but perhaps not quite impossible), the MAC would have a nice eastern division that included UMass, Temple, Delaware, and Buffalo.

I dont think Temple is far fetched at all as AAC could implode or be forced to try to add some sun belt's or CUSA's. In Fact, wouldnt surprise me if Temple, Delaware, Army, and Navy all end up in the MAC (Army and Navy all sports)

[Quann]

^
Western Kentucky might be better for the MAC strictly from an athletics program (basketball and football) standpoint, but I'd personally prefer to see Delaware instead, if that's a possibility, as they'd be more of a peer for UMass and could make for nice rivalries along with Buffalo.

I was just looking at the construction of C-USA, and if I were Delaware or UMass, it wouldn't appeal to me at all compared to the MAC or even the Sun Belt. At least with the Sun Belt, their eastern division has some potential rivalries with institutions like James Madison and Marshall. C-USA seems like a less rational/cohesive hodgepodge of programs.

If the MAC made up its mind to pursue and admit Delaware, and somehow entice Temple back (probably farfetched, but perhaps not quite impossible), the MAC would have a nice eastern division that included UMass, Temple, Delaware, and Buffalo.

I dont think Temple is far fetched at all as AAC could implode or be forced to try to add some sun belt's or CUSA's. In Fact, wouldnt surprise me if Temple, Delaware, Army, and Navy all end up in the MAC (Army and Navy all sports)

That would be incredible. I love your maroon covered glasses Steve

[DEM]

I dont think Temple is far fetched at all as AAC could implode or be forced to try to add some sun belt's or CUSA's. In Fact, wouldnt surprise me if Temple, Delaware, Army, and Navy all end up in the MAC (Army and Navy all sports)

That sounds good, but if circumstances did somehow align to give the MAC the opportunity to admit all those programs, that would give the conference 17 programs, which I'd think would be an undesirable number (16 seems more ideal).

I saw on the MAC conference forums a few months ago (before the UMass to MAC move), a Temple fan suggested the MAC go after Delaware, UMass, and Temple, along with UConn as a football-only. That could be an alternative optimal scenario that gives the MAC 16 (football) programs.

[ZooMass84]

ACC expansion later this year..

Schools that remain (BC, Cuse, Duke, WF, Ga Tech, Cal, Stanford, SMU, and maybe Miami

Adds: UConn likely #1 on their list
Western expansion (Wash St, Oregon St, San Diego St)?
Sneaky great add for the next 50 years: UMass

Like the foreword thinking! I imagine a few people here don’t buy green bananas

This may even go further.. 3 super conferences of 24 teams. Forget where we have been and where we are now and look to what we should and will become.. as the 25th ranked Public School that plays FBS and being in the 2nd wealthiest state I can see the possibilities. 3 24 team super conferences is not out of the question

1. Big Ten adds Notre Dame and Kansas or Texas A&M to get to 20.
2. SEC adds Fla St, Clemson, NC and Virginia to get to 20
3. SEC then says fuck it, lets go to 24.. adds NC ST, Va Tech, Miami, and Ga Tech (maybe Houston and Baylor)
4. Big 12 gets into the act.. replaces Kansas and goes to 24 by adding Pitt, Louisville, SMU, BC, Syracuse, WF, Duke, Oregon St, and Wash st
5. Big Ten finishes it off by adding Stanford, California, UConn and yes..UMass..

I started this way back in 2014 because i believed there was going to mass movement and here we are. What school out there is more qualifed than UMASS.. i dont see any.. Fan support will go through the roof. Say we get to 15k at football next year..expect that to double just by being a better conference. Remember the Pats are going to blow for many years to come and the window for building a fan base is here. And yes, Boston can be considered a tv market for UMass. If both UMass and BC were in one of the 3 power conferences, there is no doubt UMass would be more popular..

National Champs 2034!!

Big Ten finishes it off by adding Stanford, California, UConn and yes..UMass.. where do I start???? You have to be in the AAU to be in the Big 10; UMass and UCant will never be in the Big 10.

[minutefanjsf]

Like the foreword thinking! I imagine a few people here don’t buy green bananas

This may even go further.. 3 super conferences of 24 teams. Forget where we have been and where we are now and look to what we should and will become.. as the 25th ranked Public School that plays FBS and being in the 2nd wealthiest state I can see the possibilities. 3 24 team super conferences is not out of the question

1. Big Ten adds Notre Dame and Kansas or Texas A&M to get to 20.
2. SEC adds Fla St, Clemson, NC and Virginia to get to 20
3. SEC then says fuck it, lets go to 24.. adds NC ST, Va Tech, Miami, and Ga Tech (maybe Houston and Baylor)
4. Big 12 gets into the act.. replaces Kansas and goes to 24 by adding Pitt, Louisville, SMU, BC, Syracuse, WF, Duke, Oregon St, and Wash st
5. Big Ten finishes it off by adding Stanford, California, UConn and yes..UMass..

I started this way back in 2014 because i believed there was going to mass movement and here we are. What school out there is more qualifed than UMASS.. i dont see any.. Fan support will go through the roof. Say we get to 15k at football next year..expect that to double just by being a better conference. Remember the Pats are going to blow for many years to come and the window for building a fan base is here. And yes, Boston can be considered a tv market for UMass. If both UMass and BC were in one of the 3 power conferences, there is no doubt UMass would be more popular..

National Champs 2034!!

Big Ten finishes it off by adding Stanford, California, UConn and yes..UMass.. where do I start???? You have to be in the AAU to be in the Big 10; UMass and UCant will never be in the Big 10.

Nebraska got booted from the AAU, but not the Big Ten.....UMass and UConn are on their way to AAU. The big sticking point are the medical schools, which is what Nebraska fudged to get in initially.