Worth starting a thread in this topic. Rumors are swirling. Sam, Tarleton NMSU and UMass to CUSA. On the surface this isn't very sexy. I'd even say non-sensical. But like everything else in conference realignment, common sense is not a common thread.

The more important piece is how would that leave the WAC ? Losing NMSU, Sam would gut the WAC from a football perspective. I'm aware that NMSU is a football independent FBS but I still think it's notable as we search for an Avenue to FBS. That leaves a potential football alignment something like this :

ACU
Dixie St (Utah Tech)
Lamar
SFA
Southern Utah
UTRGV

That's weak sauce. The additions that would make some sense would be 1. McNeese 2. WTAM

I'm not a huge fan of any of this. I don't even think Tarleton and Sam are a sure thing to CUSA . I've read the Twitter rumors about Sam/Tarleton…. I've also read that UMass and NMSU are the for certain targets. Does anyone have any thoughts on this ? Strategy. I don't want to take any more than McNeese or possibly WTAM and even that would humbling.

Shifting Landscape:
I've been trying to keep up with every rumor, but as best I can tell, not even Conference USA knows who they want for conference USA.

Tarleton has announced plans to expand their stadium(and they've got pretty great attendance), so I can understand why they're a good future candidate but they're not exactly a great one today.

Sam I get, though I think a convoluted, weakened FBS conference from NMSU to Miami would actually be detrimental to all involved and a long term net negative over the WAC.


FBS:
I don't like the idea of FBS football as much as I like the increased stature and visibility that comes with FBS. The gap between us and Southern Miss, the MAC, or the sunbelt is not nearly as large as the fans of those institutions would like to believe. But in the FCS we can play for football championships and right now in FBS we'd never have that opportunity.

With ODU likely headed to the Sunbelt, there's a rumor that CUSA might go FCS heavy to try to build a somewhat more regional footprint.

The list I saw was as follows:
FIU
La Tech
MTSU
WKU
UTEP

Additions:
EKU
Chattanooga
McNeese
NMSU
SAM HS U
Tarleton
SFA

Which would be an incredibly fun 12 team conference and one that's ranked around 13th in basketball.

All rumor at this point and from nobody tied to our athletic dept.

WAC:
I'm a pretty big fan of what we have going on in the WAC. You have a decent number of teams with similar basketball & football goals, which is great. I would rather add UTEP/LA Tech to what we're doing. Let them play as independents in football until we're ready to all move up together.

I think a long term WAC FBS(or FCS with 4 indies) arm that looks like this would be my preference:
NMSU
UTEP
LA Tech
SFA
SAM
Tarleton
ACU
UT RGV
TX State
Lamar



No matter the scenario, I trust Ivey is involved in strategic conversations to get SFA the best outcome possible.

TallTexan said:

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Shifting Landscape:
I've been trying to keep up with every rumor, but as best I can tell, not even Conference USA knows who they want for conference USA.

Tarleton has announced plans to expand their stadium(and they've got pretty great attendance), so I can understand why they're a good future candidate but they're not exactly a great one today.

Sam I get, though I think a convoluted, weakened FBS conference from NMSU to Miami would actually be detrimental to all involved and a long term net negative over the WAC.


FBS:
I don't like the idea of FBS football as much as I like the increased stature and visibility that comes with FBS. The gap between us and Southern Miss, the MAC, or the sunbelt is not nearly as large as the fans of those institutions would like to believe. But in the FCS we can play for football championships and right now in FBS we'd never have that opportunity.

With ODU likely headed to the Sunbelt, there's a rumor that CUSA might go FCS heavy to try to build a somewhat more regional footprint.

The list I saw was as follows:
FIU
La Tech
MTSU
WKU
UTEP

Additions:
EKU
Chattanooga
McNeese
NMSU
SAM HS U
Tarleton
SFA

Which would be an incredibly fun 12 team conference and one that's ranked around 13th in basketball.

All rumor at this point and from nobody tied to our athletic dept.

WAC:
I'm a pretty big fan of what we have going on in the WAC. You have a decent number of teams with similar basketball & football goals, which is great. I would rather add UTEP/LA Tech to what we're doing. Let them play as independents in football until we're ready to all move up together.

I think a long term WAC FBS(or FCS with 4 indies) arm that looks like this would be my preference:
NMSU
UTEP
LA Tech
SFA
SAM
Tarleton
ACU
UT RGV
TX State
Lamar



No matter the scenario, I trust Ivey is involved in strategic conversations to get SFA the best outcome possible.

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You've got it down, Tall.

The Sun Belt officially added ODU today. That makes 8 C-USA teams jumping ship.

Southern Miss also goes to the Sun Belt.

SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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The Sun Belt officially added ODU today. That makes 8 C-USA teams jumping ship.

Southern Miss also goes to the Sun Belt.

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James Madison and Marshall next. Done deal

If WKU and MTSU go to the MAC, CUSA is toast. If "somehow" they stay, it may be salvageable. If Tarleton and Sammie place there bets on that league I'll be surprised.

Sunbelt is going to have to get really creative to survive.

This is the lineup I came up with earlier.

Best possible basketball league from the options, semi geographic and minimum callups.

East: WKU, MTSU, FIU, Jacksonville St, Missouri St
West: LA Tech, UTEP, NMSU, SFA, Sam Houston

Average 12th basketball conference overall and rockets up if MTSU comes back to their 17-19 levels.

FIU is the real outlier there. And you've got a couple expansion/replacement options, Chattanooga, Ark State, Murray State, ACU,

BigJack85 said:

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SFA Jack Fanatic said:

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The Sun Belt officially added ODU today. That makes 8 C-USA teams jumping ship.

Southern Miss also goes to the Sun Belt.

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James Madison and Marshall next. Done deal

If WKU and MTSU go to the MAC, CUSA is toast. If "somehow" they stay, it may be salvageable. If Tarleton and Sammie place there bets on that league I'll be surprised.

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I'm hearing mixed reviews on WKU/MTSU to the MAC.

Joining CUSA right now looks a little like going into a Haunted House. 5 members left. I'm pretty convinced that 1-2 of them will end up in the MAC. If UTEP is smart they join the WAC. Play football as an independent for a couple years while SFA Sam Tarleton Lamar and ACU transition. You'd have an old SWC kind of feel then.

BigJack85 said:

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Joining CUSA right now looks a little like going into a Haunted House. 5 members left. I'm pretty convinced that 1-2 of them will end up in the MAC. If UTEP is smart they join the WAC. Play football as an independent for a couple years while SFA Sam Tarleton Lamar and ACU transition. You'd have an old SWC kind of feel then.

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That's my preferred setup if WAC can grab UTEP and LA Tech as independents.

Only advantage to CUSA is it has CFP money right now and will so long as it survives.

It's official. Sam Houston is moving to Conference USA. Been nice being rivals. I'm gonna miss the BOTPW.
https://conferenceusa.com/news/2021/11/4/general-conference-usa-adds-four-members.aspx

I wonder why more HBCU's haven't been targeted during this process. The SWAC schools for the most part have the money and facilities to easily transition with little difficulty. I know the HBCU conferences have their history and everything but surely one of them would be willing to move past that and play at the FBS level.

I'm alright with us keeping our powder dry. If McNasty joins us in the WAC that will be real gem. McNeese has the history, bona fides and capacity to be a real player With ACU Tarleton and SFA there's some solid football potential. My guess is that we beat SHSU in The swan song next year.

I am relatively excited about Sam's move for multiple reasons...
1.) Hopefully the BOTPW is done and we no longer have to play Prison Tech.
2.) Sam will likely get some serious spankings in FBS Football.
3.) And most importantly, KatFan and all the others will finally leave the Sawmill forum for good!!
Absolutely hoping all 3 occur!!
Best of luck to Sam Houston and GOOD RIDDANCE!!

(Now, you can clearly see how poor management by our former AD's and Administration cost SFA!! This COULD have been us moving up in 2023!!)

AxeEm99 said:

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I am relatively excited about Sam's move for multiple reasons...
1.) Hopefully the BOTPW is done and we no longer have to play Prison Tech.
2.) Sam will likely get some serious spankings in FBS Football.
3.) And most importantly, KatFan and all the others will finally leave the Sawmill forum for good!!
Absolutely hoping all 3 occur!!
Best of luck to Sam Houston and GOOD RIDDANCE!!

(Now, you can clearly see how poor management by our former AD's and Administration cost SFA!! This COULD have been us moving up in 2023!!)

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BOTPW probably isn't going away. At least not for long. Sam needs the attendance that WE bring for there home games. I'm not seeing a big line out the door for a basketball game against JSU or UTEP. Maybe La Tech. That's probably it.

AxeEm99 said:

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I am relatively excited about Sam's move for multiple reasons...
1.) Hopefully the BOTPW is done and we no longer have to play Prison Tech.
2.) Sam will likely get some serious spankings in FBS Football.
3.) And most importantly, KatFan and all the others will finally leave the Sawmill forum for good!!
Absolutely hoping all 3 occur!!
Best of luck to Sam Houston and GOOD RIDDANCE!!

(Now, you can clearly see how poor management by our former AD's and Administration cost SFA!! This COULD have been us moving up in 2023!!)

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I don't quite understand not wanting to play the biggest rivalry game every year but okay.

BigJack85 said:

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I'm alright with us keeping our powder dry. If McNasty joins us in the WAC that will be real gem. McNeese has the history, bona fides and capacity to be a real player With ACU Tarleton and SFA there's some solid football potential. My guess is that we beat SHSU in The swan song next year.

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McNeese has the potential. But do they have the money?

We're not a wealthy school and they're still a few steps behind us bc of Louisiana.

SFA_03 said:

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I don't quite understand not wanting to play the biggest rivalry game every year but okay.

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Ya I'd prefer to play it. I would not prefer to play it at NRG though.

Continuing to play BOTPW with an FBS team that has beat us 10 years straight, and will now have even more resources and advantages than they already currently have is asinine in my opinion!!
Yes, we are getting better, but we should not want to continue to get beat most years (going forward) against their increased advantages in scholarships and so much more by going FBS!!
I am sick of being out played by Sam Houston!!!

That's honestly a very bad take and shows a complete and utter lack of faith in our administration honestly.
Every team goes on runs and every team goes through their downs. Remember when we beat Sam Houston 20+ times in a row in basketball? Ohio State has now beaten Michigan 8 times in a row.
We went from dominance in the 90s to a string of very bad hires. JC Harper hurt the program a lot. Clint Conque failed to build a deep team for us. Carthel is the first sign of light we've had in almost 20 years as far as a football coach. We will win the BOTPW again(probably next year), and we will go on winning streaks against Sam. We just happen to be coming out of one of SFA footballs lowest points ever and Sam happens to be at the peak of their program.

Our current administration and coaches have done some great things. The former administration and especially the AD's put us where we are today!!
Sam Houston used the success in football to help double enrollment. We could have too.
The coaches you mention were both terrible hires.
Sam has an EXCELLENT A D (and former President) that really had/have a vision. It is paying off BIG TIME for SH now!!!

Thankfully we now have Ivey and Carthel, but we still have a long way to go to reap the benefits Sam has from their success in FOOTBALL!!
We cannot see the benefits until we actually win the Conference championship and begin to make consistent playoff runs!!!

(I grew up.in Huntsville. My dad was a prof at SH for 35 years....)

TallTexan said:

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BigJack85 said:

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I'm alright with us keeping our powder dry. If McNasty joins us in the WAC that will be real gem. McNeese has the history, bona fides and capacity to be a real player With ACU Tarleton and SFA there's some solid football potential. My guess is that we beat SHSU in The swan song next year.

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McNeese has the potential. But do they have the money?

We're not a wealthy school and they're still a few steps behind us bc of Louisiana.

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What I read in the LC American Free Press leads me to believe that McNeese is prepared to invest. Significantly. For starters they historically have outdrawn SFA Sam Lamar in football by quite a margin. I say that gets better. You have to have a couple of "anchor" programs. McNeese Tarleton and SFA fill that role.

AxeEm99 said:

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I am relatively excited about Sam's move for multiple reasons...
1.) Hopefully the BOTPW is done and we no longer have to play Prison Tech.
2.) Sam will likely get some serious spankings in FBS Football.
3.) And most importantly, KatFan and all the others will finally leave the Sawmill forum for good!!
Absolutely hoping all 3 occur!!
Best of luck to Sam Houston and GOOD RIDDANCE!!

(Now, you can clearly see how poor management by our former AD's and Administration cost SFA!! This COULD have been us moving up in 2023!!)

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Ditto. Good riddance!

From what I hear NMSU is the poorest state university in the country. It is and will continue to be very hard for them to compete. The move to C-USA for them doesn't seem to make sense but what do I know.

Conferences actually help theirs schools with costs, so it'll be more beneficial financially for them to go a conference with more money and to be playing in a conference in football(they're currently an Independant). C-USA will give them more competition in basketball as well as making the battle of I-10 a conference rivalry, which just raises the stakes there. It makes sense for them. Just not Sam.

Although Sam may already be better in football than several of those teams. Clearly just a guess but I bet they thrive there. It may take a couple of years but I would not be at all surprised if they vie for the top spot in C-USA West (Jeff Traylor should be coaching a Big-12 team by then).

NMSU may be better off financially, but that won't be enough to help them win games. I can see where the money could bring them some relief though.

Wouldn't they have to start paying SFA to play them in the BOTPW with them being FBS?

SFA88 said:

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Although Sam may already be better in football than several of those teams. Clearly just a guess but I bet they thrive there. It may take a couple of years but I would not be at all surprised if they vie for the top spot in C-USA West (Jeff Traylor should be coaching a Big-12 team by then).

NMSU may be better off financially, but that won't be enough to help them win games. I can see where the money could bring them some relief though.

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To be honest I highly doubt that. As good as Sam is against FCS opponents, it's gonna be a wake up call for them, and I really doubt they break .500 for the first few years at least in the FBS. The talent gap is there. As much as people keep saying it the gap between us and Sam is so close right now, if not for Sam transitioning next year I would bet we would overtake Sam and be the premier team in our conference in 2 years time.

Its not a knock on Sam at all either that I don't think they'll be successful at first in the FBS. 9-10 games against those schools in a row will be rough on anyone.

SFAXE93 said:

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Wouldn't they have to start paying SFA to play them in the BOTPW with them being FBS?

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Technically they don't HAVE to, it's the incentive for FCS schools to play up. FCS schools gain basically nothing from getting their butts kicked for 60 minutes, so if there wasn't a financial incentive I doubt many of those games would happen.

The BOTPW will still be close for at least a few years, but if we don't go to the FBS very soon that talent gap will grow fast. Those extra scholarships means extra depth, which means they could just outlast us.

AxeEm99 said:

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I am relatively excited about Sam's move for multiple reasons...
1.) Hopefully the BOTPW is done and we no longer have to play Prison Tech.
2.) Sam will likely get some serious spankings in FBS Football.
3.) And most importantly, KatFan and all the others will finally leave the Sawmill forum for good!!
Absolutely hoping all 3 occur!!
Best of luck to Sam Houston and GOOD RIDDANCE!!

(Now, you can clearly see how poor management by our former AD's and Administration cost SFA!! This COULD have been us moving up in 2023!!)

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Nah I will still come look around and check things out

SFA_03 said:

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SFA88 said:

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Although Sam may already be better in football than several of those teams. Clearly just a guess but I bet they thrive there. It may take a couple of years but I would not be at all surprised if they vie for the top spot in C-USA West (Jeff Traylor should be coaching a Big-12 team by then).

NMSU may be better off financially, but that won't be enough to help them win games. I can see where the money could bring them some relief though.

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To be honest I highly doubt that. As good as Sam is against FCS opponents, it's gonna be a wake up call for them, and I really doubt they break .500 for the first few years at least in the FBS. The talent gap is there. As much as people keep saying it the gap between us and Sam is so close right now, if not for Sam transitioning next year I would bet we would overtake Sam and be the premier team in our conference in 2 years time.

Its not a knock on Sam at all either that I don't think they'll be successful at first in the FBS. 9-10 games against those schools in a row will be rough on anyone.

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I will agree especially after this year
This years team with 20 extra scholarships could have competed well in Conf USA

You may be right. Some of those C-USA teams are awful though and they have the 3 other teams moving into the conference with them.

I know there is talk about it not making sense for them financially. While that may be true, I don't think they make the move without running the numbers and lining up the donors. As much as I like to joke around and give them a hard time, I don't think they are that stupid.

SFAXE93 said:

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Wouldn't they have to start paying SFA to play them in the BOTPW with them being FBS?

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They don't have to, but we won't play an FBS team without being paid. Period.

SFAJack_76 said:

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SFAXE93 said:

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Wouldn't they have to start paying SFA to play them in the BOTPW with them being FBS?

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They don't have to, but we won't play an FBS team without being paid. Period.

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I do not want to play them until we go FBS.

Southern Miss, Marshall, and ODU are terminating their C-USA membership effective June 30, 2022.

cboothe09 said:

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Southern Miss, Marshall, and ODU are terminating their C-USA membership effective June 30, 2022.

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Oh wow, I thought the most recent word on the street was 2023.