Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

You could see this coming a long time ago....

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2186565

NOw if the MAC would just get smart and "JUST SAY NO" to Temple and let Temple go down the Road to D II where they would be competitve life would be as it should.

Gee I wonder if Temple would like to trade games this SATurday?

Miami -40 seems like the lock of the week

I give Wallace credit for stepping down. He tried to make something work in a place it rarely works. That has to be the toughest job in 1-A. But they play in a sweet stadium.

I feel badly for those kids...getting trounced is no fun but week in and week out? Unbearable.

I'm sure it's been talked about elsewhere, but I forget these things, but who will the MAC bring in in football to even things out?

professorjackson wrote:I'm sure it's been talked about elsewhere, but I forget these things, but who will the MAC bring in in football to even things out?

I don't think they know yet. Western Kentucky has been putting forth a pretty strong effort to join. They bring a good BB program and some other sports but are still D-1AA. I also think Middle Tenn has been tossed about. Thats about the extent of my knowledge.

PGY Tiercel wrote:

professorjackson wrote:I'm sure it's been talked about elsewhere, but I forget these things, but who will the MAC bring in in football to even things out?

I don't think they know yet. Western Kentucky has been putting forth a pretty strong effort to join. They bring a good BB program and some other sports but are still D-1AA. I also think Middle Tenn has been tossed about. Thats about the extent of my knowledge.

Western Kentucky has made its intention to move up to D-IA in football pretty clear. And the MAC has formally asked for the paperwork necessary to assess the school as a match for the conference. From what I hear, the MAC presidents weren't ready to move on WKU, though I wouldn't be surprised to if an announcement came early next summer.

I'm not sure if MTSU ever advanced beyond speculation.

Right '87. I haven't seen anything locally about WKU since last summer. They do a decent job covering WKU/EKU Morehead etc so I imagine when something happens there will be some stories on it. The way things were going I think waiting the extra year or two on WKU will be a good idea. I am all for WKU being the school to join.

PGY Tiercel wrote:

professorjackson wrote:I'm sure it's been talked about elsewhere, but I forget these things, but who will the MAC bring in in football to even things out?

I don't think they know yet. Western Kentucky has been putting forth a pretty strong effort to join. They bring a good BB program and some other sports but are still D-1AA. I also think Middle Tenn has been tossed about. Thats about the extent of my knowledge.

It's been a little while since a new member has been discussed but I believe Southern Illinois was also rumored awhile back. I also think WKU was the only school that was contacted for vital statistics concerning their respective institution.

In the meantime, this discussion has been very quiet in terms of prosepective members. Since Temple doesn't officially join the MAC East until 2007, the MAC has bought a little time to consider prospective members. I would expect more discussion of this at the winter MAC meeting usually in late January or early February.

UK:

Southern Illinois pretty much quashed those rumors, saying they had no interest in moving up to I-A in football.

Right now, I'd say WKU is the most likely option, with MTSU a distant second and anyone else tied for third.

Putting all the pieces together, here's what I believe is the most likely scenario - WKU is announced as the new member in June, playing a "transitional" schedule in 2006 & possibly 2007 and joining in full either 2007 or 2008.

I wouldn't put it past the MAC to continue looking for expansion opportunities, either. With the precarious situation the Sun Belt is in, MTSU could bolt if things worked out.

Right now, the biggest issue for WKU in regard to MAC membership is academics. It doesn't fit the profile of a MAC school, and I think the presidents (who make the final decision on such matters) are very sensitive to that, especially after holding their collective noses and letting Marshall back into the conference. Temple, for all its trouble on the football field, is a very comfortable academic fit for the MAC.

I agree with 87 that Western Kentucky is the likely choice. They have a heck of a basketball program there, and they are in the process of dramatically improving their football stadium.

I wish we could get a school out east to pair up with Temple -- it could make an all-sports situation easier to handle for all concerned. But there are no rumors on that; it's just sort of a wish on my part.

WKU doesn't match up academically to the MAC? How? This is not a critique of anyone's comment, just a legitimate inquiry...

professorjackson wrote:WKU doesn't match up academically to the MAC? How? This is not a critique of anyone's comment, just a legitimate inquiry...

The first thing that comes to my mind is that their graduate school only offers masters programs. They have some collaboration with UofL and UK for certain PhDs. They also only offer about 80 undergrad majors compared to BGs 200. Those are two points that I can think of, there may be some more.

professorjackson wrote:WKU doesn't match up academically to the MAC? How? This is not a critique of anyone's comment, just a legitimate inquiry...

Schadenfreude can provide the naming convention, since I can never seem to remember it, but I believe the two factors are research and graduate programs. I'll leave the research aspect to Schade, who has explained it before and, as usual, in much better fashion that I can.

As for degrees, all of the MAC schools, I believe, offer extensive masters and doctorate degrees. Western offers a fair number of masters degrees, but the only doctorate is some sort of co-op with Louisville.

It may seem trivial to sports fans, but it is the universitiy presidents, not the athletic directors, that decide on conference admission and this sort of thing carries a lot of weight with them, it appears.

Schadenfreude wrote:I wish we could get a school out east to pair up with Temple -- it could make an all-sports situation easier to handle for all concerned. But there are no rumors on that; it's just sort of a wish on my part.

I've always been a proponnent of the service academies out East joining the MAC.