A new and better FBS thread

[El_Chapo]

Common sense is all it takes to understand the importance of geography from professional sports to college to high school.

I just showed how it doesn't mean shit.... football only.

nice strawman

[daddy daycare]

This is exactly how I see things also.

To extend an earlier analogy:
- MWC/AAC are ribeye. AAC is a half step lower, and less likely to happen
- MAC/SBC are flank steak. MAC makes more sense, and more likely.
- MVFC is pretty good hamburger
- CUSA/Indy is pig slop, and could ruin the program

Oh I like food. Nice analogy.

[BigLakeBison]

My opinion of CUSA has dramatically dropped the last few months. At the start of this realignment I would have liked 5-7 midwest schools to go CUSA but would be ok with just the xDSUs. Right now I wouldn't touch CUSA with a 10 foot pole. They're complete trash and IMO won't survive as an FBS conference if WKU and Mid Tenn leave. Since a list is apparently the thing to do now:
1. NCAA admits reality and splits D1 football into 3 subdivisions. Pro feeder league, competitive college, and "hey, did you know we have football?" We'd be in the middle tier with most of the G5 and upper 1/4th-ish of the FCS.
2. NCAA enforces its own existing rules about the 15k FBS attendance. Around 20 solid programs rejoin FCS and all complaints about the championship being watered down end.
3. 5-12 midwest schools join/form an FBS conference. Don't really care which as long as we go as a group.
4. NDSU/SDSU to the MAC. I know this isn't perfect for football but it is a step up and we're actually a great culture fit with the MAC other than enrollment size. Geography isn't that bad. MAC basketball might be enough to entice SDSU to come with.
5. NDSU/SDSU to the MWC. I almost didn't even list this as I think it's effectively impossible.
6. Stay FCS and see what happens. WAC is brewing something that's worth watching.
7. Basically anything else. Going alone or indy is failure. Football affiliate only invite isn't coming from anyone. AAC or Sunbelt just isn't going to happen. CUSA has a high chance of collapsing.

One thing that never gets mentioned is that NDSU would have one of the lowest enrollments of any public school in FBS. We're tiny but punch way above our weight in football. Enrollment's dropped every year since our peak in 2014 and we're about half the typical G5 public. If you want an FBS conference to notice you get the enrollment up and start winning in MBB.

Thinking about your list more, I think many would like to see 1 or 2 happen. Myself included. It would re-align college football to group appropriate schools together and I think would be great for lots of reasons. I think a lot of us leave that off of our lists because it is such a crapshoot if/when/what will happen. I know those types of scenarios have been talked about by so many but I just don't know that it will actually occur. Even if it would be good for so many of the G5, I think it's a hard sell because no matter how you package it to them it would feel like a step down. It could happen but I think it will be by force and not because of free will. That means that the P5 and/or the NCAA will need to force it to happen. Not sure if they have the desire or a great enough incentive to do that. Maybe I'm wrong. The rest of your list is very similar to my feelings, you just have the NCAA realignment hopes at the top, which I would likely put at the top too.

I don't necessarily agree with the WAC potential but hey, if it presents a path to FBS I would be willing to explore it. I just see much of the current WAC as less than the current CUSA and those institutions are quite a ways from being FBS ready. It also means that we are staying in the FCS for what I believe is probably 8-10 more years minimum.

I would also add that I don't think enrollment factors in quite as much as you suggest. For a lot of G5 schools it does matter because the students and alumni are essentially the only pool to pull fans and viewers from. With NDSU being the largest University in the state and with our culture of success we have the benefit of pulling a larger percentage of fans/donors/viewers from the general population and don't need to rely so heavily on just the students and alumni. It tips the scales a bit and offsets the lower enrollment. Hell, ISUr and Missouri State both have much larger enrollments than NDSU does yet we dwarf them in attendance, viewership, donations, merchandise sales, etc. Our fan engagement can and does provide some offset for our lower enrollment figures. However, that's why I've been so focused on what I percieve to be a drop in fan engagement over the past 5 years. If it continues it will erode away one of our greatest assets as an Athletic Department.

Thanks for sharing your list. I think it gave me some things to think about differently.

[BigHorns]

I don't necessarily agree with the WAC potential but hey, if it presents a path to FBS I would be willing to explore it. I just see much of the current WAC as less than the current CUSA and those institutions are quite a ways from being FBS ready. It also means that we are staying in the FCS for what I believe is probably 8-10 more years minimum.

WAC has some potential, though I'd put it below MAC.

I think a lot of people are still thinking of the old CUSA, or even the current one, which soon won't exist.
AAC and SBC took almost all their decent programs outside WKU/MTSU. 9 schools are leaving.

What you are left with from CUSA are NMSU, UTEP, FIU, MTSU, WKU.
SHSU is floundering about with their transition, I don't see them being a strong FBS school anytime soon.
JSU is pretty meh to me also.

WKU/MTSU almost went MAC, but MTSU held out because of their own financial issues, and wants to collect other school exit fees before leaving. They supposedly want the AAC in a year or two. WKU has still been talking to MAC, and has also been rumored as a possibility for SBC.

The media deal for CUSA is garbage ... we're talking FloSports, Facebook streams, and CUSA streaming.
It's no better than the CAA or MEAC has, maybe worse because its spread all over the place, and you have to pay multiple streaming services instead of one.
They won't exist to most television viewers. The networks simply don't want them at any price.

MAC has a decent ESPN deal, and their games get real viewers with MACtion.

[BigLakeBison]

WAC has some potential, though I'd put it below MAC.

I think a lot of people are still thinking of the old CUSA, or even the current one, which soon won't exist.
AAC and SBC took almost all their decent programs outside WKU/MTSU. 9 schools are leaving.

What you are left with from CUSA are NMSU, UTEP, FIU, MTSU, WKU.
SHSU is floundering about with their transition, I don't see them being a strong FBS school anytime soon.
JSU is pretty meh to me also.

WKU/MTSU almost went MAC, but MTSU held out because of their own financial issues, and wants to collect other school exit fees before leaving. They supposedly want the AAC in a year or two. WKU has still been talking to MAC, and has also been rumored as a possibility for SBC.

The media deal for CUSA is garbage ... we're talking FloSports, Facebook streams, and CUSA streaming.
It's no better than the CAA or MEAC has, maybe worse because its spread all over the place, and you have to pay multiple streaming services instead of one.
They won't exist to most television viewers. The networks simply don't want them at any price.

MAC has a decent ESPN deal, and their games get real viewers with MACtion.

I don't disagree that CUSA is not an attractive conference. Where I disagree is with the WAC. What about the current WAC provides potential for future FBS possibilities? Just curious cause I really struggle to see it. The only potential I see is they're very Texas centric which gives them access to a football hotbed for fans, recruits and the like. However, there are also so many FBS schools playing in Texas already that I don't think most of the Texas WAC schools even register on the college football radar.

[bisonaudit]

3 teams reportedly leaving the AAC for Big 12.

[TAILG8R]

3 teams reportedly leaving the AAC for Big 12.

[Kevin]

3 teams reportedly leaving the AAC for Big 12.

which three bro

[bisonaudit]

which three bro

Cinci, Houston, UCF.

AAC then adding 6 from C-USA.

Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA expected to make official what has been reported since the fall.

[taper]

Cinci, Houston, UCF.

AAC then adding 6 from C-USA.

Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA expected to make official what has been reported since the fall.

You should change your name to Rip Van Winkle. All that was a done deal months ago. Releasing signed papers to the public is just a formality at this point.

As for the WAC, there are very preliminary talks between WAC, ASUN, and Big South about swapping teams around with WAC taking everyone with FBS ambitions. There's a lot of unstable FCS conferences at the moment, some too big and some too small. There's tons of ways this could shake out but the WAC does have some desire to return to FBS with whoever it takes to get there.