Seadragon76

Same here... you would think the website would be better maintained and would have this up, but no.. It has nothing about it. That's weak.

It's really, really boring.

I want to see someone in the checkerboard outfit in the same fashion Vancouver uses the green guys..

It's in their best interest for Atlantic Hockey to snatch up all three schools. LIU had a scheduling agreement with Atlantic Hockey this season and it makes sense to upgrade to full membership. Navy might be ready to move up and you can promote a Commander in Chief trophy for hockey since all three military schools are in this conference. Alabama-Huntsville would need a home and they could be a great middle ground between Air Force and the other members.

Having UTRGV with football helps the WAC land on their feet a little quicker then the ASUN will. The ASUN still has to find that sixth member to help reach that guideline for an automatic bid in the FCS playoffs.

It's WAY too late to move an event of this magnitude elsewhere, so.. yeah, FIFA is hosed here.

I understand the history behind the nickname is not exactly clean.. But, part of me wished that Valpo went the way Holy Cross did: Keep the name, but change the logo to a shield with a monogram on it.

You know, the new nicknames are making a ton of sense to me. This one, for example, is a good one that works with what the area is known for - water sports.

Am I the only one thinking of old pinball tables with the name 'Bally'?

That's a possibility. They may have gone the same route as Stetson, though. As for that 6th team: I've heard that Chattanooga might be it.

More like NO on anyone jumping up. All the schools have to adhere to the attendance rules and have to find a way for each school to get to 85 scholarships. In this day and age where money is scarce, it's not going to happen.

Neither option works for me. The Pac-12 would want Boise to in with someone in order to keep the partner pairs equal and to keep some sort of order. Now, who would be willing to join Boise? Well, BYU is a decent option.. but you have to work around their 'No Sunday' rule (which isn't that difficult to work with). Idaho is another option, but who am I kidding? Going Independent in football requires lots of money. Boise would need to get some sort of sweet heart deal with ESPN (Like BYU does) or Fox Sports (Who has the Mountain West deal right now)

The only options are the Summit League and the Horizon League and neither league really wants them because the Cougars are god awful (They're the only team in the WAC without any conference titles under their belt). I think that D2, D3 or even dropping to NAIA might be their best bet. Each route has their advantages and disadvantages.

Chicago State leaving makes sense because the WAC is going away from it's original plan of having teams in the Midwest to a plan that is more based in the Southwest and Texas. Being the outlier that they are, it makes sense that they would jump ship. Now comes the green and white elephant in the room: Where do they go? Well..The article states they want to stay in Division I, but I find it hard for them to stay in Division I.

Here's how a hypothetical 16 team playoff would work for this season... -11 conference champions (Sun Belt co-champs means 2 bids for them) -5 At-Large bids Now, the bracket... 1st Round: -(16) UAB [C-USA Champions] at (1) Alabama [SEC Champions] -(9) Georgia [At-Large #4] at (8) Florida [At-Large #3] -(12) Louisiana [Sun Belt Co-Champs] at (5) Cincinnati [American Champion] -(13) San Jose State [Mountain West Champion] at (4) Oklahoma [Big 12 Champion] -(15) Ball State [MAC Champions] at (2) Clemson [ACC Champion] -(10) Iowa State [At-Large #5] at (7) Texas A&M [At-Large #2] -(11) Coastal Carolina [Sun Belt Co-Champs] at (6) Notre Dame [At-Large #1] -(14) Oregon [Pac-12 Champion] at (3) Ohio State [Big Ten Champion] Quarterfinals: Cotton Bowl - Georgia/Florida winner vs. UAB/Alabama winner Peach Bowl - ULL/Cincinnati winner vs. SJSU/Oklahoma winner Fiesta Bowl - Ball State/Clemson winner vs. ISU/TAMU winner Orange Bowl - CCU/ND winner vs. Oregon/Ohio State winner Semifinals: Rose Bowl - Cotton Bowl winner vs. Peach Bowl winner Sugar Bowl - Fiesta Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl winner National Championship Game: Rose Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner Additional Note: There is an alternate version of the playoff that would have been used had the Sun Belt championship been been played. In it, Coastal Carolina (thanks to their earlier victory over Louisiana) is the Sun Belt champion and Indiana gets the sixth and final at-large bid. Coastal Carolina becomes the #12 seed and plays Cincinnati, Indiana becomes the #11 seed and takes on Notre Dame. The other two match ups between at-large bids (Iowa State vs. Texas A&M and Georgia vs. Florida) wouldn't be affected

It doesn't shock me that Iowa State is busting out the mostly lucky black jerseys... I say mostly lucky because they wore those jerseys in the loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. With the games on right now... Tulsa has a red, white and blue version of their word mark on a white helmet for the Armed Forces Bowl. For the Arizona Bowl, San Jose State is in all white jerseys and white helmet while Ball State is in red jerseys and white helmets with the 'Running Cardinal' logo (as I like to call it) on it. Can anyone tell me the explanation for the 'Running Cardinal' logo for Ball State?

Iowa State must think the BFBS look must be good luck because, until today, they haven't lost in them yet. Still, it is strange. At least Oklahoma looks like Oklahoma... but come Iowa State. Where's the Cardinal and Gold?

This is a tough one because the name, as problematic as it is, was used to define an area of Utah. Hopefully they have a good plan for the change, but this seems like either a knee jerk reaction or seeing the writing on the wall.

If you ask me, New Mexico State may have to bite the bullet and go down to the FCS level if it means bringing the WAC back for football. Being an independent that isn't Notre Dame, BYU or Liberty is going to be impossible to pull off... so cut those losses and be a big fish in a smaller pond.

Remember that the 15,000 attendance numbers is for home games and, for the most part, they don't always enforce this rule. Another thing to add (and something I just learned) is that FBS conferences have far stricter rules for a conference to be in the FBS - You need 8 members, not 6, for FBS. Also, each school needs to have a minimum of 14 total sports in said conference (6 for the men and 8 for the women) So.. this plan needs more bodies to make it work. I mentioned Southern Utah, but maybe another D-II program might want a piece of the pie... looking at you, Colorado State-Pueblo.

First, they need to convince Dixie State and Tarleton State to move their football programs to the FBS level. That gives the WAC three schools (halfway towards the minimum for competition). The second part comes from the four schools they're looking at. Not only do they need to convince a minimum of three of these four schools to join the WAC, but also move their football programs to the FBS level. If they can get all four schools, it's gravy... but they cannot get less then three. There are also other schools on the radar for the WAC that would help this plan, like Southern Utah. The big thing is convincing these schools that not only does the WAC give them a chance to compete, but they have to convince them of a potential financial windfall being an FBS school could bring them.

As far as the WAC is concerned, it was a mass exodus of schools from the conference that forced their hand. This came to ahead in 2013 when 6 of the 8 football playing schools at that time left for other conferences. All that was left was Idaho and New Mexico State. In turn, the WAC looked the schools that needed a stable home (Seattle and Utah Valley), took on projects from Division II (Grand Canyon) and schools that were essentially vagabonds (UMKC and Chicago State). As I mentioned before, the dreams for the WAC is getting a piece of the sweet, sweet FBS money.

Why BYU? The WAC already has New Mexico State, which is an FBS member.

The WAC isn't interested in UIW or Houston Baptist (although the Huskies are already a WAC affiliate member in men's soccer). This whole plan by the WAC (and to a lesser extent, the Atlantic Sun's plan) is fueled by the hopes and dreams of FBS money. The two biggest issues towards this are these. 1.) Attendance. Of the teams mentioned in both the plans for the WAC and the A-SUN, only two of three schools looked at by the A-Sun (Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State) have stadium numbers above the 15,000 threshold required to be an FBS member (even though this rule is rarely, if ever, enforced). Everyone else has to add seats to hopefully reach that threshold, which costs money. 2.) Scholarships. Does anyone out there think that any of these schools have the money to pay for 20+ more scholarships?!?