Red Wolf

53 minutes ago, 4_tattoos said:

Over the Pac-12?

With how bad the Pac-12 was this year, maybe so. 

10 minutes ago, MBurmy said:

So, does the WCC now become "Saint Mary's and seven other guys," or do the Gaels look to join a bigger conference too?

 

And what schools do you see them targeting in expansion?  (I know Seattle's probably #1 on the list)

 

EDIT: New Mexico State should be in the top of the Mountain West's targets too...after all, the Aggies are just as dominant in the WAC as the Zags are in the WCC.

The WAC barely feels like a real conference these days. No idea what happens with NMSU in the future (Mountain West seems like a stretch), but I do know that they lobbied hard to get all sports into the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt took them as a football-only team, which was annoying since football is about the worst thing NMSU had to offer, while they're a strong basketball school, which would have been a great thing to have in the Sun Belt. 

At first I thought Gonzaga joining the MWC would be weird because it would be a 13-team conference until I remembered that Hawaii is a football-only member. Gonzaga could be to the MWC what Wichita State should be to the AAC, which seems smart. If they could get BYU, especially as a full member, I could see that being preferable. 

18 minutes ago, Seadragon76 said:

That's a pretty good move on the part of the Big South to add in USC Upstate. Like you mentioned, they fit in pretty well in a geographic sense.

 

The other move... maybe Liberty is jumping ship or could it be an additional school joining the conference? Who knows.

Like, Liberty giving up on their FBS dreams and moving back down almost immediately? 

1 hour ago, generalshepherd141 said:

No. Vegas already has 2 sports teams now and the Rays will do just fine when they get their new ballpark in Tampa proper.

Isn't that more of an if situation? 

This is a bad logo

16 hours ago, clonewars2008 said:

Not a mistake but a glitch. In Madden 16 if you choose any other uniform for the Packers that has sleeve stripes other than the home and away there will be no sleeve stripes for Aaron Rodgers

Spoiler

 

I think this may be an ongoing issue with certain QBs and throwback jerseys. Specifically, whatever jersey cut is in the game that a lot of QBs use. I remember on the game from two years ago, that anytime I used the Broncos' 75th anniversary jerseys, that Peyton Manning's jersey wouldn't have the blue sleeves. It always looked like he was wearing some sort of practice jersey. 

So is the Big XII still planning on playing a nine-game conference schedule and then having a rematch for the title? Seems odd, but if this had been in place a couple years back with TCU and Baylor, I think the winner of that game would have been in over Ohio State, so this might be a perfectly fine way to do things for them.

I know the Sun Belt will have divisions in two seasons when they start playing their conference title game, but those teams still need the money generated from having four non-conference games. Though playing nine and having two potentially strong teams playing at the end may give them a better shot at the access bowl. Then again, it's not often that more than one team is any good in the Sun Belt in a year (if even that). Though I think things worked out really well for the Sun Belt in the long run. They now get to have the added revenue and fanfare of a conference title game like C-USA, but with only 10 teams to split the money among instead of 14, and the Sun Belt already makes more money per team in their TV deal than C-USA. 

NCAA: Arkansas State Red Wolves

NBA: Memphis Grizzlies

NFL: Denver Broncos

NHL: Nashville Predators

MLB: Chicago Cubs

MLS: Sporting Kansas City

BPL: Liverpool

Dallas Stars number font is slightly incorrect in NHL '16

So is the cut o the jersey. They use rounded yokes in the game, and not the sharper "western" style they do in real life. Both inaccuracies bug me, because I'm a nerd.

It's okay, this is a safe place for people like us.

A bit obscure, but in NCAA March Madness 2004, UALR's basketball team wore blue and white. This despite the school colors being maroon and silver, and the game even featuring the accurate midcourt logo at the time (which had no blue whatsoever).

I think LeBron will be looking A LOT better this time around in Cleveland.

I actually agree. The maroon and athletic gold is a great look.

This is a terrible logo

ACC teams to possibly play non-conference games against other ACC teams.

EDIT:

Hot off the wires: UMass football to the Sun Belt?! *gets another gallon of LSD for Mr. Popo*

Wouldn't be surprised to see UMass in the Sun Belt. Benson's been hellbent on getting to 12 teams for football even if it means adding schools like Idaho and New Mexico State. They've been looking for an eastern team since Western Kentucky moved to C-USA (the school Benson seemingly worshipped while everybody else expected them to move one) and seem to have gotten the cold shoulder from James Madison and want nothing to do with Liberty.

Wow, I kicked off a 5h|t storm with that crack about women judges. Guess I forgot the sarcasm filter.

Here's my rough prediction.

Clemson/Florida St to Big 12

Georgia Tech/Virginia to Big 10

Virginia Tech/NC State to SEC

Now, from an ACC standpoint, they're best option is to immediately add Cincinnati and UConn (both discussed before adding Louisville) and maybe South Florida just to finish off the relevancy of the Big East and to get membership up. Next get Navy and Army. Now you've set up a good chance at making Notre Dame happy and getting them to become a full member. And assuming, a big hypothetical, they do, they'd be fine at 14. Put ND and BC in a division (a traditional game for ND) so they play every year. Army-Navy in a division so they're big game becomes and annual ACC conference game (more money for the conference?). Make that the opposite division for ND and it allows them to keep Navy as a permanent cross-division rival (or put all 4 schools in the same division I guess). Then, with 4 non-Conf games available, 3 can be taken up by USC, Michigan and Michigan St.

The ACC's key to success isn't fending off the other conferences. It's making Notre Dame as happy as possible.

One big problem with that is that Army-Navy is always held after the conference championships. If they both joined the ACC, that game would have to come before the ACCCG due to a possible impact on who plays in the game.

Jumping conferences can kind of screw you in the present. Apparently the Sun Belt had a conference call to vote on whether to send Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky to Little Caesar's Bowl. Obviously, the conference chose against future C-USA member MTSU. Also, losing 45-0 in the Sun Belt Championship probably had something to do with it.

Also, they owed Western Kentucky after last year.

Jumping conferences can kind of screw you in the present. Apparently the Sun Belt had a conference call to vote on whether to send Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky to Little Caesar's Bowl. Obviously, the conference chose against future C-USA member MTSU. Also, losing 45-0 in the Sun Belt Championship probably had something to do with it.

Also, Notre Dame. I don't want them in the Big Ten-they wreck every league they are in solely because they are hellbent on looking out for themselves alone; their loyalties within the league would always be suspect; and they make unreasonable demands that would instantly cause the league to fly apart.

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

Hint: In this modern college landscape, every school is looking out for themselves. No one wants to be left behind in the also-ran conferences that will exist when the dust settles. Notre Dame is no different than any other school that's not tied down in this regard.

To a point. If you're already in one of the safe power leagues, you are going to feel a decent amount of loyalty to the overall institution and marching to the same drummer. Unless you're Notre Dame that is. The Irish would want too many breaks for that to work out.

Just curious -- what are the safe leagues? By my count, it's Big Ten and SEC, and maybe the Pac-##. If you're in the Big XII and ACC, it seems like there's a very good chance you're not feeling too confident of the long-term health of your league.

Just those 3. (Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12)

You could probably include the MAC. Since the last realignment when the ACC picked up BC, Miami, and VT, the MAC has only lost UCF (well outside the rest of the conference geographically), Marshall, and Temple (football only anyway, and returning to their old conference). They're still at 13 and I never see rumors about their teams going anywhere.

The Big East is just sad. Additions like Memphis and Tulane get you into major markets, sure, but they're major markets where nobody cares about those school's athletic programs (except Memphis basketball I guess), and especially not their football programs. And I don't think Memphis and Tulane are suddenly going to start boosting their attendance numbers when they're playing a C-USA 2.0 schedule anyway.

I know it's all about those TV dollars, but is the Big East's new deal going to be worth that much now that they're just a mid-major and no longer have Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, and West Virginia?

I hated how things went for them when they dropped down. I'd like to see them back in the Sun Belt, but the only way they're getting back in is if the SBC loses some more teams. As of now, 10 football + 2 non-football is a pretty good setup.

How things went? You make it sound like unfortunate things happened to them. They were in the driver's seat the whole time.

They drove Katrina? Dicks.

Helpful tip for everyone out there: Nothing as big as ND joining a conference would be quiet until it was announced. News would leak out and ESPN would be all over it with their usual "Notre Dame has a press conference tomorrow where they are expected to announce they have joined X Conference." Covering their ass with the "expected" tag yet still stealing the attention and glory for themselves.

Also has anyone kept up with U of New Orleans? Here's how it went down:

June 2010: We're not going to stay D1, we're going D3. Nevermind we're going D2 as an independent at first.

June 2011: Since we're D2, we'll be joining the Gulf South beginning the 2012-2013 school year. We'll have football by 2015.

March 7, 2012: JK we're staying D1.

August 21, 2012: K, for realsies we're joining the Southland.

I hated how things went for them when they dropped down. I'd like to see them back in the Sun Belt, but the only way they're getting back in is if the SBC loses some more teams. As of now, 10 football + 2 non-football is a pretty good setup.

It became official today, GSU will go to the Sun Belt in 2013

http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22245&SPID=1817&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4100&ATCLID=205410927

"The Sun Belt Conference announced today that Georgia State University has accepted an invitation to join the league on July 1, 2013 and will begin conference competition for the 2013-14 academic year."

11 is an awfully odd number. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sun Belt invite somebody else like Louisiana Tech or another major market FCS school. Of course, the Sun Belt is also most likely preparing for possible losses from the Alliance/Conference USA.

Take this for what it's worth, which is possibly just speculation on my part. I meant to bring this up sooner, but I've been a little destracted as of late.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my nephew who's currently on the football team at Georgia State (an FCS independent). We got into a brief convo about how his team did this past season, then I asked him what conference his team plays in. I knew they were Indy at the moment, and that they were going to join an FCS conference sometime soon. I just didn't know which conference Georgia State was supposed to join (I was thinking SoCon, Big South, or Southland). To my surprise, he said that they were going to join Conference USA. When I questioned him about that he had an "uh oh" reaction, froze for a little bit then left the room to "answer his cell phone".

Now this is my nephew. I person that has no reason in the world to lie to me about anything (5 year age gap between us, we have more of a cousin like relationship than uncle/nephew). Should I make anything of that?

Since then, I did some research and saw that Georgia State will join (or already joined) the CAA. Could it be possible that Georgia State has some type of long term plan to join Conference USA?

It wouldn't surprise me. You don't play home games in the Georgia Dome as a start up with an ultimate goal of the CAA. And C-USA/MWC would love to get a toehold in Atlanta.

Makes sense. Isn't UTSA (Texas, San Antonio) pretty much joining the WAC after a few startup years in FCS? They play home games in the Alamodome.

Yeah. The difference is that while Georgia State is taking their time before trying to make a move while UTSA is making the move just one year after they started their football program up. You also had to consider that the WAC needed members after losing Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii so any delay in the move would be horrendous for them.

UTSA may not join the WAC on July 1. They could abandon that plan to go to the Sun Belt.

When the SUN BELT looks more attractive by comparison, then you know it's time for the WAC to just give up...

Looks like Georgia State may be interested in the Sun Belt Conference too. Guess may nephew may have (accidentally) spoke too soon.

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2012/3/28/2909016/sun-belt-expansion-georgia-state

http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-state/georgia-state-exploring-fbs-1357698.html

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_college/2012/03/report-georgia-state-could-join-the-sun-belt-in-2013.html

UALR looks like the odd team out. Without a football program, they might be looking at the Southland.

I don't know that UALR would necessarily want to move and I doubt the Sun Belt would kick them out, especially with how long they let Denver stick around.

I think Kentucky has one of the nicer uniforms in college football. The changes I would make is switch the black with grey (Replace Black with Grey uniforms) and remove the racing stripes from the shoulders. I would put them into Louisville's uniforms as Louisville is the Derby City. If they followed these changes, they would look amazing. And thats coming from a Louisville fan.

I liked those uniforms, but it bothers me that Kentucky has jumped so far into the checkerboard pattern considering most people associate that with their rivals in Tennessee. But it still looks pretty good to me (ignoring the godawful black uniforms.)

Best looking 49ers uniforms