Top 25 Watch (real thread)

[EastHallApp]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

[bigdaddyg]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

Hmmm

[WASU 93]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

They actually had success in the Big East Conference from 2007-2010. They were ranked at some point in three of those years and played in bowls 4 straight years capped by a Fiesta Bowl (BCS) appearance.

The Big East rolled into the American in 2013 and the 10 Team league included 6 Teams that moved over from the dissolved Big East (UConn, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, & Temple). UCF, Memphis, Houston and SMU moved over from Conference USA to form the rest of the conference. (and Conference USA raided the Sun Belt)

Randy Edsell left in 2011 and their best record since then has been 6-7.

[EastHallApp]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

They actually had success in the Big East Conference from 2007-2010. They were ranked at some point in three of those years and played in bowls 4 straight years capped by a Fiesta Bowl (BCS) appearance.

The Big East rolled into the American in 2013 and the 10 Team league included 6 Teams that moved over from the dissolved Big East (UConn, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, & Temple). UCF, Memphis, Houston and SMU moved over from Conference USA to form the rest of the conference. (and Conference USA raided the Sun Belt)

Randy Edsell left in 2011 and there best record since then has been 6-7.

Winning four men’s basketball national titles in 16 years and being the Wooden-era UCLA of women’s hoops is a pretty decent resume to be in a good mid-major league regardless of football.

[WASU 93]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

They actually had success in the Big East Conference from 2007-2010. They were ranked at some point in three of those years and played in bowls 4 straight years capped by a Fiesta Bowl (BCS) appearance.

The Big East rolled into the American in 2013 and the 10 Team league included 6 Teams that moved over from the dissolved Big East (UConn, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, & Temple). UCF, Memphis, Houston and SMU moved over from Conference USA to form the rest of the conference. (and Conference USA raided the Sun Belt)

Randy Edsell left in 2011 and there best record since then has been 6-7.

Winning four men’s basketball national titles in 16 years and being the Wooden-era UCLA of women’s hoops is a pretty decent resume to be in a good mid-major league regardless of football.

And i think that's what is driving their current athletic decisions. NCAA football is a tough sale in the Northeast and their basketball prowess will be fine back in the Big East. Football independence (outside of Notre Dame and BYU over the years) is a death sentence for your program.

[Rick83]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

Hmmm

The AAC has recently received a waiver from the NCAA to do away with their divisions for the 2020 & 2021 seasons and the top 2 teams will play each other in their conference championship game. Hopefully that structure will breed discontent among their members and they will decide to replace UConn and go back to divisional play by 2022. The commissioner has talked about how much they like the divisional structure. They could decide to not replace UConn and continue on without divisions but that would require a permanent NCAA waiver I suppose.
They've supposedly had their eyes on Boise and BYU in the past but that was before the rise of the Mountaineers in the FBS world.

[ggasu]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

West Virginia at #12 Baylor
#14 Michigan at Maryland
Virginia Tech at #16 Notre Dame
#17 Cincinnati at ECU
#15 SMU at #24 Memphis
#21 Boise State at San Jose State

[TheMoody1]

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

A great reason to move to the AAC.

[WataugaMan]

Agreed, it was a lot easier to win in the FCS too.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

We have a win against UNC who is currently tied for the lead in the Coastal Division of the ACC. We have beaten a UL team whose only other loss is a 10 point loss to an SEC team.

Next three games are a nationally televised game against our rival, a game against an SEC team, and a game against the 2nd place SunBelt East Division team who already has wins against Tennessee and Army.

Sitting at #20 before this 3 game stretch, I could see us easily cracking the top 15 if we go 1-0 the next 3 games.

[Rick83]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

I totally get what you're saying and you are correct it's tougher to win in the AAC but their contracts are more lucrative which would help our budget (I believe) less additional travel costs of course. Also, the current ridiculous 4 team playoff invitational will probably not stay that way. So, if they were bold enough to expand the playoffs to 10 or 12 teams then we'd want to be in the strongest conference to even have a shot at landing a spot. If they guaranteed a G5 spot, like with the NY6 we could still make it but we'd need the AAC schools to beat each other up.
Personally, I'd be excited about moving to the AAC but I'd also be content to keep running roughshod over our Sun Belt brethren and whatever out of conference fools decide to book us.

[AppStFan1]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

People said the same thing about moving from FCS to SBC. We are winning now and the AAC will give us better access to the NY6 and playoffs when they expand. Right now 13-0 won't get us in the top 10 and in the NY6 without a lot of help.

Why not challenge ourselves? We would still be a winning program in the AAC. There is no reason to be afraid of the challenge. Your same type argument is what so many said about going FBS and they love this now. You will love being in the AAC.

Instead of hosting ULM, Texas State, Arkansas State, and Coastal Carolina in a year imagine we have Memphis, Cincinnati, ECU, Central Florida, and Temple coming to town. I would love for Georgia State and Georgia Southern to get in the AAC because those are easy to get to and Georgia Southern is a rival I do want to keep. Besides that there is no downside for going to the AAC.

[bigdaddyg]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

People said the same thing about moving from FCS to SBC. We are winning now and the AAC will give us better access to the NY6 and playoffs when they expand. Right now 13-0 won't get us in the top 10 and in the NY6 without a lot of help.

Why not challenge ourselves? We would still be a winning program in the AAC. There is no reason to be afraid of the challenge. Your same type argument is what so many said about going FBS and they love this now. You will love being in the AAC.

Instead of hosting ULM, Texas State, Arkansas State, and Coastal Carolina in a year imagine we have Memphis, Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Temple coming to town. I would love for Georgia State and Georgia Southern to get in the AAC because those are easy to get to and Georgia Southern is a rival I do want to keep. Besides that there is no downside for going to the AAC.

If by some chance we took UConn's spot and left the other guys behind the Stink rivalry could go bye bye. I would rather substitute them for ECU any day.

[AppinVA]

We HAD to get out of FCS. It’s not as urgent for us to move from the Belt to the AAC. Nice. But not urgent.

[GregPercussion]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

People said the same thing about moving from FCS to SBC. We are winning now and the AAC will give us better access to the NY6 and playoffs when they expand. Right now 13-0 won't get us in the top 10 and in the NY6 without a lot of help.

Why not challenge ourselves? We would still be a winning program in the AAC. There is no reason to be afraid of the challenge. Your same type argument is what so many said about going FBS and they love this now. You will love being in the AAC.

Instead of hosting ULM, Texas State, Arkansas State, and Coastal Carolina in a year imagine we have Memphis, Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Temple coming to town. I would love for Georgia State and Georgia Southern to get in the AAC because those are easy to get to and Georgia Southern is a rival I do want to keep. Besides that there is no downside for going to the AAC.

If by some chance we took UConn's spot and left the other guys behind the Stink rivalry could go bye bye. I would rather substitute them for ECU any day.

Oh for sure. Agreed.

[AppStFan1]

Who is replacing UCONN in the AAC? Hard to believe they are actually in it to begin with.

As of now, no one.

I just do not see the need to move up among group of 5 conferences

The ceiling for the AAC has been reached a 13-0 season with a win against Auburn in a NY 6 bowl gave them a #6 ranking but not even close to making playoff

The Sunbelt ceiling is exactly the same maybe a couple spots down in final poll...but virtually identical

ABOVE ALL THINGS Recruits and fans like to win. (See ECU for reference ...they were winning against no one but filling the stadium and recruiting well....now they can’t fill up half their stadium on homecoming )

A lot easier to win in the sunbelt than AAC

Be careful what you wish for

People said the same thing about moving from FCS to SBC. We are winning now and the AAC will give us better access to the NY6 and playoffs when they expand. Right now 13-0 won't get us in the top 10 and in the NY6 without a lot of help.

Why not challenge ourselves? We would still be a winning program in the AAC. There is no reason to be afraid of the challenge. Your same type argument is what so many said about going FBS and they love this now. You will love being in the AAC.

Instead of hosting ULM, Texas State, Arkansas State, and Coastal Carolina in a year imagine we have Memphis, Cincinnati, ECU, Central Florida, and Temple coming to town. I would love for Georgia State and Georgia Southern to get in the AAC because those are easy to get to and Georgia Southern is a rival I do want to keep. Besides that there is no downside for going to the AAC.

If by some chance we took UConn's spot and left the other guys behind the Stink rivalry could go bye bye. I would rather substitute them for ECU any day.

I would like to keep GSU but I would definitely be open to replacing it with ECU. I meant to include ECU in my post of teams that would come to Boone. Edited to say so. ECU needs to be on our schedule every year.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

I'd like to move up, and keep the series going with Georgia Southern, but keep it at home and let them get a paycheck to get stomped every year.

[Black Saturday]

As far as a ceiling for last season, had we only lost to Penn State, we'd probably ended up low teens right behind them.
This season, The Sun Belt isn't helping us with our pitiful SoS, so undefeated if we get by our schedule will probably get us in the low teens.

Currently that #131 ranked SoS is ugly compared to all teams around us.

We are ahead of NDSU though, lol

https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/

[Rick83]

If we moved to the AAC we could keep Ga Southern as one of our annual non-conference opponents and keep that rivalry alive as long as they can keep up a little. Also, ECU would be in our conference at that point and most likely in the same division so we'd be playing them every year anyway.