Sun Belt Expansion

[td577]

Sun Belt expansion heating up again....new rumors swirling and the focus seems to be on Coastal Carolina and possibly EKU as well.

Those two schools make sense for them. Expands their footprint without killing them travel-wise except for Idaho in football. I don't know much about EKU, but CC seems to have the ability to fund a move up. JMU would have been nice for them geographically, as well.

[tjbison]

Sun Belt expansion heating up again....new rumors swirling and the focus seems to be on Coastal Carolina and possibly EKU as well.

If CCU and EKU move up before us I'll puke

[HerdBot]

If CCU and EKU move up before us I'll puke

Me too. Heck were actually starting to develop a fun little rivalry with them which is great since weve aready lost the Georgia Southerns and Appalachian States of the world. Non conference competition is looking weak already. I just hate seeing the league get watered down. Yeah its good for us obviously but serious. .

[MAKBison]

At what point do we say its time to move up? Albeit rumors etc, we cant sit around while all the good teams move on. deja vu anyone?

[taper]

At what point do we say its time to move up?

When the P5 break off and not a minute sooner. As things are we have absolutely no shot at a meaningful post season in the FBS.(I hate the bowl system) All these teams making the jump to FBS just waters down division, how many more will it take? I'd really hate to uproot everything we've built in the MVFC and Summit only to have it all fall back to the 2nd level after a few years.

[tjbison]

When the P5 break off and not a minute sooner. As things are we have absolutely no shot at a meaningful post season in the FBS.(I hate the bowl system) All these teams making the jump to FBS just waters down division, how many more will it take? I'd really hate to uproot everything we've built in the MVFC and Summit only to have it all fall back to the 2nd level after a few years.

MVFC teams have no interest in putting money into football, we will eventually need to separate from them to advance FB....imo

[MNLonghorn10]

Me too. Heck were actually starting to develop a fun little rivalry with them which is great since weve aready lost the Georgia Southerns and Appalachian States of the world. Non conference competition is looking weak already. I just hate seeing the league get watered down. Yeah its good for us obviously but serious. .

explain how rivals jumping is good for NDSU?

[HerdBot]

explain how rivals jumping is good for NDSU?

Path to Championship = Easier
Bottom line is teams like Appalachian and Georgia Southern were tougher competition than replacement perennial playoff teams like Coastal Carolina. If they leave we get 3rd tier replacement playoff teams to beat.

That being said, I enjoy good competition

[westnodak93bison]

Is there an article/study etc showing travel cost comparisons between sunbelt members? I find it hard to believe traveling from Georgia Southern to Texas State or Idaho would be significantly more than Georgia Southern to NDSU. If you fly is the cost really that different? IMHO the Sunbelt teams in general would shit their britches and buckle up if NDSU joined the conference. Think about it. What bottom level FBS conference would want NDSU?

[tjbison]

Is there an article/study etc showing travel cost comparisons between sunbelt members? I find it hard to believe traveling from Georgia Southern to Texas State or Idaho would be significantly more than Georgia Southern to NDSU. If you fly is the cost really that different? IMHO the Sunbelt teams in general would shit their britches and buckle up if NDSU joined the conference. Think about it. What bottom level FBS conference would want NDSU?

Georgia southern is probably going to dominate the Sun Belt for some time, adding ccu and or EKU does zero to lift the profile, just keeps them viable after the next round of shifts