CUSA lays claim as top G5 conference

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tpstulane
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http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-gre ... e-american
Western Kentucky finished 11-3 in 2016 after knocking off Memphis 51-31 in the Boca Raton Bowl. Louisiana Tech beat Navy 48-45 in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Those wins gave C-USA a clean sweep of AAC programs in bowl games last season and improved the league's record in head-to-head bowl matchups versus the AAC to 4-0 over the last three years. C-USA has rolled up a 35-24 overall record versus the other four Group of Five conferences over the last three seasons and is 10-4 in bowl games against other G5 programs in that span.


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I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.
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Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.
There are more than a few Tulane fans that say that, but, even if Tulane had stayed in CUSA and gotten better, there is no guarantee that there would still be a spot for it in the AAC at a later date and it's unlikely that any P5 expansion would include a team from that conference.
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tpstulane wrote:http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-gre ... e-american
Western Kentucky finished 11-3 in 2016 after knocking off Memphis 51-31 in the Boca Raton Bowl. Louisiana Tech beat Navy 48-45 in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Those wins gave C-USA a clean sweep of AAC programs in bowl games last season and improved the league's record in head-to-head bowl matchups versus the AAC to 4-0 over the last three years. C-USA has rolled up a 35-24 overall record versus the other four Group of Five conferences over the last three seasons and is 10-4 in bowl games against other G5 programs in that span.
out of conference vs PEE5's, CUSA beat who ?
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tpstulane
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But the AAC has a better TV deal than CUSA.
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http://realtimerpi.com/college_football/ncaaf_conf.html
http://warrennolan.com/football/2016/conferencenpi
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/s ... onference/

This is total garbage talk from the CUSA commish. Literally every conference RPI rating had CUSA dead last and the AAC first among G5 conferences. All you have to see is that with any P5 coaching vacancy the first place they look is the AAC.
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Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.


I did not necessarily want to stay in CUSA but if we had, I certainly was not going to be terribly upset. The way we are playing, I think we would still be
near the bottom though I think there are at least some reason to be positive with Fritz's current recruiting.
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mbawavefan12 wrote:http://realtimerpi.com/college_football/ncaaf_conf.html
http://warrennolan.com/football/2016/conferencenpi
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/s ... onference/

This is total garbage talk from the CUSA commish. Literally every conference RPI rating had CUSA dead last and the AAC first among G5 conferences. All you have to see is that with any P5 coaching vacancy the first place they look is the AAC.
I think the garbage at the bottom of CUSA stinks more than the bottom of the garbage pile in the AAC. The CUSA commish probably thinks his best teams are better than the AAC best. Top to bottom the AAC is better as reflected by those rankings but only because of the bottom stench of those CUSA teams.
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..........Ah sorry to bust their upward floating bubble but the CUSA actually sunk to the bottom in the Massey report.....with 7out of the bottom 20 teams they are now ranked below the WAC, AAC, Sunbelt, and Mac.....and yes notice the Sun's rising!!!
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The issue is that the AAC faces both the winner and loser of the CUSA title game, and the top 2 teams in any conference are pretty good. In 2016, Memphis, who finished #3 in the AAC West, lost to the #1 team in the CUSA East/CUSA champ WKU, while, Navy, who finished #1 in the AAC West, lost to the Louisiana Tech, the #1 in the CUSA West/CUSA championship game loser.
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Bigschtick wrote:
Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.


I did not necessarily want to stay in CUSA but if we had, I certainly was not going to be terribly upset. The way we are playing, I think we would still be
near the bottom though I think there are at least some reason to be positive with Fritz's current recruiting.
Staying in C-USA with all of the teams that were leaving would have been very difficult to do. First of all, who would anyone want to see? USM every 4 years? Secondly, C-USA (as others have noted) has less exposure and less TV money than the AAC. Finally, even though many of our conference mates were in C-USA, that league is just a shell of what it once was.

If their commissioner likes to point at bowl results, great. But for many G5 teams the bowl game outcome is meaningless and anticlimactic. If you won your conference, or had a great year, then find out you're playing a directional G5 team, what's to get them "up" for the game? Even tougher is the team that had a great year, but had their coach leave between the end of the season and the bowl game. When filling out pools during bowl season, I like to pick the team that I think has more incentive to win, rather than the one I think is a better program. I will always maintain that our 1998 team played for Rich Rodriguez (and to an extent Tommy Bowden) in the Liberty Bowl much more than they did for Chris Scelfo. That's one reason why I really appreciated RR staying for the Liberty Bowl. If memory serves, they carried him off after the game and Scelfo walked on his own two feet (and rightly so.)
Last edited by DfromCT on Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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DfromCT wrote:
Bigschtick wrote:
Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.


I did not necessarily want to stay in CUSA but if we had, I certainly was not going to be terribly upset. The way we are playing, I think we would still be
near the bottom though I think there are at least some reason to be positive with Fritz's current recruiting.
Staying in C-USA with all of the teams that were leaving would have been very difficult to do. First of all, who would anyone want to see? USM every 4 years? Secondly, C-USA (as others have noted) has less exposure and less TV money than the AAC. Finally, even though many of our conference mates were in C-USA, that league is just a shell of what it once was.

If their commissioner likes to point at bowl results, great. But for many G5 teams the bowl game outcome is meaningless and anticlimactic. If you won your conference, or had a great year, then find out you're playing a directional G5 team, what's to get them "up" for the game? Even tougher is the team that had a great year, but had their coach leave between the end of the season and the bowl game. When filling out pools during bowl season, I like to pick the team that I think has more incentive to win, rather than the one I think is a better program. I will always maintain that our 1998 team played for Rich Rodriguez (and to an extent Terry Bowden) in the Liberty Bowl much more than they did for Chris Scelfo. That's one reason why I really appreciated RR staying for the Liberty Bowl. If memory serves, they carried him off after the game and Scelfo walked on his own two feet (and rightly so.)
Staying in CUSA may have killed the athletic program.
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Show Me wrote:
mbawavefan12 wrote:http://realtimerpi.com/college_football/ncaaf_conf.html
http://warrennolan.com/football/2016/conferencenpi
https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/s ... onference/

This is total garbage talk from the CUSA commish. Literally every conference RPI rating had CUSA dead last and the AAC first among G5 conferences. All you have to see is that with any P5 coaching vacancy the first place they look is the AAC.
I think the garbage at the bottom of CUSA stinks more than the bottom of the garbage pile in the AAC. The CUSA commish probably thinks his best teams are better than the AAC best. Top to bottom the AAC is better as reflected by those rankings but only because of the bottom stench of those CUSA teams.
CUSA has more teams and the bottom of their league is worse. But the top five AAC schools average RPI was 52 and the top 5 CUSA teams average RPI was 77.
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DfromCT wrote:
Bigschtick wrote:
Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.


I did not necessarily want to stay in CUSA but if we had, I certainly was not going to be terribly upset. The way we are playing, I think we would still be
near the bottom though I think there are at least some reason to be positive with Fritz's current recruiting.
Staying in C-USA with all of the teams that were leaving would have been very difficult to do. First of all, who would anyone want to see? USM every 4 years? Secondly, C-USA (as others have noted) has less exposure and less TV money than the AAC. Finally, even though many of our conference mates were in C-USA, that league is just a shell of what it once was.

If their commissioner likes to point at bowl results, great. But for many G5 teams the bowl game outcome is meaningless and anticlimactic. If you won your conference, or had a great year, then find out you're playing a directional G5 team, what's to get them "up" for the game? Even tougher is the team that had a great year, but had their coach leave between the end of the season and the bowl game. When filling out pools during bowl season, I like to pick the team that I think has more incentive to win, rather than the one I think is a better program. I will always maintain that our 1998 team played for Rich Rodriguez (and to an extent Terry Bowden) in the Liberty Bowl much more than they did for Chris Scelfo. That's one reason why I really appreciated RR staying for the Liberty Bowl. If memory serves, they carried him off after the game and Scelfo walked on his own two feet (and rightly so.)
D- I think you meant Tommy Bowden.
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mbawavefan12 wrote:
DfromCT wrote:
Bigschtick wrote:
Eaglewave wrote:I was one of the few around here who wanted to stay in C-USA at least until we proved we could dominate in it.


I did not necessarily want to stay in CUSA but if we had, I certainly was not going to be terribly upset. The way we are playing, I think we would still be
near the bottom though I think there are at least some reason to be positive with Fritz's current recruiting.
Staying in C-USA with all of the teams that were leaving would have been very difficult to do. First of all, who would anyone want to see? USM every 4 years? Secondly, C-USA (as others have noted) has less exposure and less TV money than the AAC. Finally, even though many of our conference mates were in C-USA, that league is just a shell of what it once was.

If their commissioner likes to point at bowl results, great. But for many G5 teams the bowl game outcome is meaningless and anticlimactic. If you won your conference, or had a great year, then find out you're playing a directional G5 team, what's to get them "up" for the game? Even tougher is the team that had a great year, but had their coach leave between the end of the season and the bowl game. When filling out pools during bowl season, I like to pick the team that I think has more incentive to win, rather than the one I think is a better program. I will always maintain that our 1998 team played for Rich Rodriguez (and to an extent Terry Bowden) in the Liberty Bowl much more than they did for Chris Scelfo. That's one reason why I really appreciated RR staying for the Liberty Bowl. If memory serves, they carried him off after the game and Scelfo walked on his own two feet (and rightly so.)
Staying in CUSA may have killed the athletic program.
Absolutely this.
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winwave wrote: D- I think you meant Tommy Bowden.
You are right, my bad. I can only correct my post, not the subsequent ones that quoted my post. Good catch!
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Winning bowl games no longer mean what they once did, particularly at this level. The better you are in the regular season and the greater likelihood you are playing without your coach come bowl game date. Coaches matter.

Now we are entering an era where the players are catching on to how meaningless bowl games really are and are skipping games to protect their bodies for the NFL draft.

When players stop buying in to the importance of bowl games, they become even more meaningless. The fact that coaches don't stick around for bowl games demonstrates to every player that this just doesn't matter.

Make matters worse there are so many bowl games that they have basically become a participation trophy for all but the worst teams. Now you can play in a bowl game with a 5-7 record.

In fact, with the advent of the College Football Playoff, previously "major bowls" have seen their status reduced.

What you do in the regular aeason is what matters. What you do week in and week out is what really matters. Getting up for that one game where the opposing team has been thrown into disarray and uncertainty tells us nothing about how good you are.
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There's some truth to what you say there but the games are still going to be played and therefore they are meaningful. They are especially meaningful when trying to establish our dominance as compared to the other G5 conferences. That's reality. The AAC needs to start winning their Bowl games.

BTW, Memphis and Navy had their coaches in place for the games referred to in the OP.
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I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
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Wave755 wrote:I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
There aren't that many sub 20,000 enrollment private schools that play FBS football, let alone compete in power 5 leagues. Between the PAC, SEC, B12 and B1G, there are only 4 (TCU, Baylor, Stanford and Vanderbilt).
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Aberzombie1892 wrote:
Wave755 wrote:I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
There aren't that many sub 20,000 enrollment private schools that play FBS football, let alone compete in power 5 leagues. Between the PAC, SEC, B12 and B1G, there are only 4 (TCU, Baylor, Stanford and Vanderbilt).
USN&WR ranked Rice no. 15 among national universities for 2017. The 14 CUSA members are: UNC Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and WKU.

While membership in the AAC is hardly "the Rapture," I pity poor Rice for being "left behind" in today's CUSA with the likes of UNC Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and WKU. Rice is a great university "trapped" in a conference of 3rd and even 4th rate regional state universities; regardless of football power ratings, I thank God we are not in today's CUSA.
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Aberzombie1892 wrote:
Wave755 wrote:I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
There aren't that many sub 20,000 enrollment private schools that play FBS football, let alone compete in power 5 leagues. Between the PAC, SEC, B12 and B1G, there are only 4 (TCU, Baylor, Stanford and Vanderbilt).
Northwestern should probably be in there, only 8/21 thousand students are undergrads. That seems an awful low percentage.
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Ruski wrote:
Aberzombie1892 wrote:
Wave755 wrote:I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
There aren't that many sub 20,000 enrollment private schools that play FBS football, let alone compete in power 5 leagues. Between the PAC, SEC, B12 and B1G, there are only 4 (TCU, Baylor, Stanford and Vanderbilt).
Northwestern should probably be in there, only 8/21 thousand students are undergrads. That seems an awful low percentage.
That's a grey area. Given the enrollment of a lot of the teams in the P5 and the enrollment of teams that landed in P5s from G5s or the football Big East, it seems as though enrollment is a notable variable in the selection process. There were certainly exceptions to the 20,000 enrollment threshold, but they all had unique circumstances - national championship in football winning Miami + recruiting, the Big 12 losing a Texas based team and wanting to replace it with another Texas team so it added the G5 power TCU, and the ACC adding Boston College in its top 10 tv market.
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Aberzombie1892 wrote:
Wave755 wrote:I cringe for poor Rice whenever reminded they are still in CUSA. Universities of the caliber of a Tulane or Rice should not be in a conference of academic pigmies like CUSA. Very sad that Rice is for present one of the "left behind." ;) :lol: :P
There aren't that many sub 20,000 enrollment private schools that play FBS football, let alone compete in power 5 leagues. Between the PAC, SEC, B12 and B1G, there are only 4 (TCU, Baylor, Stanford and Vanderbilt).
I don't really understand your point. There are only two private school in the P5's with greater than 20k enrollment.
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