Conference-USA 2023

[kyyote]

The way I understand it, and I will readily admit that I think it could change before then, the teams at this time that will comprise Conference USA will be these.  Right now, there are nine teams, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Liberty, Jacksonville State, LA Tech, UTEP, NMSU, and Sam Houston State.  With nine teams I don't know about divisions or adding a tenth team before then to make two five team divisions. FIU, MT, WKU, and Liberty are East(?) and Jacksonville State, LATech, UTEP, NMSU, and Sam are West. but it isn't balanced and there is the conference championship game-money and tv.

C-USA was hanging by a thread.  No one knows if this will even make it to 2023.  But if it does, it is a chance to be an even better, tighter conference.  The AAC will have to prove itself to be the step above after losing teams and rebuilding.  Gone to the Big 12 are Cincy, Houston, and UCF leaving East Carolina, Memphis, Navy (football only), South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane, and Tulsa. and C-USA schools UTSA, UNT, Rice, UAB, Charlotte, and FAU.

W   L   W   L   PF   PA   HOME   AWAY   STREAK UTSA   7   1   12   1   492   307   7-0   5-1   Won 1 Western Ky.   7   1   9   5   619   411   4-2   5-3   Won 1 UAB   6   2   9   4   384   302   3-2   6-2   Won 2 Marshall   5   3   7   6   429   309   3-4   4-2   Lost 2 Old Dominion   5   3   6   7   359   361   4-2   2-5   Lost 1 North Texas   5   3   6   6   343   330   3-3   3-3   Won 5 Middle Tenn.   4   4   7   6   388   334   4-1   3-5   Won 2 UTEP   4   4   7   6   310   321   5-1   2-5   Lost 2 Charlotte   3   5   5   7   324   408   4-2   1-5   Lost 3 Fla. Atlantic   3   5   5   7   298   294   4-2   1-5   Lost 4 Rice   3   5   4   8   258   434   3-3   1-5   Won 1 Louisiana Tech   2   6   3   9   336   408   3-3   0-6   Lost 2 Southern Miss.   2   6   3   9   212   335   2-4   1-5   Won 2 FIU   0   8   1   11   244   476   1-5   0-6   Lost 11

Red=AAC
Green=Sun Belt

W   L   W   L Western Ky.   7   1   9   5 Middle Tenn.   4   4   7   6 UTEP                   4   4   7   6 Louisiana Tech   2   6   3   9 FIU                   0   8   1   11 NMSU               0   0   2   10 Jacksonville St   0   2   5   6   FCS Liberty           0   0   8   5 Sam Houston     0   0   11   0    FCS

The conference has sent 6 teams to the AAC and 3 to the Sun Belt.  Both of those conferences took good teams and a couple that have not hurt the strength of the conference in their loss.  Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky have been solid and look to remain strong.  ODU is gone but Liberty is their replacement and I think C-USA won that one.  Rice versus NMSU on a football field?  It might be ugly to watch, but grades don't count so I think NMSU might be the better football team and when you throw in basketball, the Aggies get the nod.  LA Tech has been the class of C-USA for the last few years and this one was a head scratcher.  Plus, Skip Holtz is gone.  So, I can't really say where we are with them.
Jacksonville State hired Rich Rodriguez.  Jacksonville, Alabama.  You tell me if this team is serious.  You tell me if this team is looking to ride the elevator.  And what about Sam?  These guys are used to winning football national championships!  You tell me, who wins the game between Sam Houston and Rice?  Remember that Sam gets better by stepping up.  More scholarships and a whole level up in players wanting to play. 
Even the Aggies in finding a home will improve. 
I don't know what will happen in the future, but it seems to me that C-USA was able to feed two conferences, survive, and once again reload.  The '23 version will be slimmed down but if it is muscle that is left it isn't a skinny weakling.  It is trim and fit.  The MAC and Sun Belt don't scare me a bit!  Even better, the AAC isn't so tough, either.  Definitely no reason not to take some aim at them.  Then there is the MWC.  UTEP's 7-win team full of cream puffs gave 10-win Fresno State a full-blown tussle that for one fumbled ball could have had a different outcome.  I think we may see something happen soon.  The MWC began with a group of teams wanting to form a better conference.  They want to be a power conference and they don't mind bailing out on the deadwood.  The AAC still have teams with big dreams.  You know SMU would just buy their way in if they could.  Boise and Utah State both feel like they can play with anyone and prove it regularly.  UTSA is very hungry.  I think the quakes are going to continue.  The entire landscape is changing at the same time.  The Big Cartel Schools are feasting on the transfer portal supply from proven stars at lower levels.  But the wild thing is that second and third string players having to warm benches when they had 20 scholarship offers out of high school are leaving to go down a level and get the chance to play.  Coaches have to learn this system almost more than the x's and o's of football.

[SisyphusMiner]

Coaches have to learn this system almost more than the x's and o's of football.

I don't disagree, but I do think it affects hoops more.  It takes fewer pieces to make it all click.  In football, unless you are are able to put together a dominatingly better squad top to bottom, the better coached team will win on average.  One or two players won't be enough to do it.  That said, if coaching is more or less equal, the team with better players wins, and it adds a whole new dimension to recruiting.  Does it make it easier or harder to build a program?  Is building a program even a thing anymore?

[kyyote]

I think I agree with you, Sis, but I'm not sure.  If your team lands some top 25 two years ago quarterback, and he was the fifth best in the country but stuck behind the best, the kind of leadership and the attitudinal change can completely change the entire team.  Mob mentality, buying in, call it whatever it may be, it is or can be huge!  That transfer porthole is like playing Texas Hold 'em Poker.  Simple game, right?  You better have someone that knows what they are doing in that seat.  Everyone knows that quarterbacks are almost everything.  Like pitchers in baseball.  Running backs and home run hitters get the Ooh's and Ah's but a quarterback can completely change a team.  Recruiting and building a program isn't easier or harder.  It is different though.  Paradigm shift.  "We are building a program in which players are able to maximize their chances of rising to the top either here or elsewhere.  We have dedicated resource people constantly watching the movements of players up and down so that we can be ready, and actually anticipate the moves that are best for you, and your son!" 

[Minermojo]

I watched all the bowl games where cusa played and I was very impressed with all the showings. It's true that in the second half Louisiana ran away with the game but Marshall with it's less than impressive record gave the team who won the SB and was ranked all they could handle. If Ootsa played LU I wonder what the outcome would have been. I still think that this year Ootsa could have beaten them and perhaps easily. Look at what Liberty did to Emu and what Wku did to their second place team App St. they demolished them and both teams looked like they wanted this game to end, one with embarrassment and the other with pity.

I think after all is said and done this conference really got better in most instances. It's true that some good teams left but I think the ones that remained will do as good if not better. Even UTEP was looking good in its bowl game and gave a very good showing if not for their four miscues I think that they could have won against that 9-3 team and one of the best in the Mwc.

I'm stoked to see the new look Cusa in 2023 (if I'm still around, ) I think with one year to improve the Fcs teams coming in with their added players will be good. Heck, in Fcs they were terrific and I don't see any change. Fcs doesn't get the respect that they deserve as teams like SHU, NDS, SDS, JMU, could beat FBS teams anytime.

We got us some good replacements in my humble opinion. We'll be alright.

[SisyphusMiner]

Kyy, you are probably right about a dominant QB or RB. 

Mojo and Kyy, I think on balance we did OK in the shakeup.  I think we upgraded basketball and maybe downgraded football slightly.  But I am actually more interested in these new teams than the ones we lost.  I did like having UNT in conference because I could watch those games maybe an hour drive away.

NMSU / UTEP road trip will be brutal in hoops.  Plausibly, UTEP and Liberty could dominate the new conference in football and one of the two in top 25 fairly often.