Just for fun and assuming this is our only option for 3-5 years...if you were king...lets stick with 12 teams, 6 East and 6 West for a new football-only conference.  Who would be in it?  (Lets not argue about who would actually agree to be in it...just who would you want?).

Here's mine:

East
------
Cincinnati
Connecticut
USF
Navy
UCF
Houston


West
------
Boise State
BYU
Air Force
San Diego State
Colorado State
surprise pick....Utah State

Sorry to rain on the parade, but, I really don't give a crap anymore. I'm a Bearcat fan regardless of who we schedule, or what conference we end up in.

And, more importantly, I am far less a fan of the rest of college football.

But, your scenario is about as good as possible I guess...

UCLemmiwinks wrote: And, more importantly, I am far less a fan of the rest of college football.

i'm in 100% agreement with you here. at this point, i watch uc football, and that is it. college football itself disgusts me, i am not going to spend any of my valuable free time on it if the bearcats aren't involved.

Sounds good to me.

I'd swap Utah State with UNLV though - I'd rather have the trade up in Basketball.

And on the BBall side of things - I would schedule an on going series with Memphis and Louisville if possible.

I would also add Louisville as an OOC opponent annually

8 Conference games, +: Miami, UofL, two other BCS OOC games

UCLemmiwinks wrote: Sorry to rain on the parade, but, I really don't give a crap anymore. I'm a Bearcat fan regardless of who we schedule, or what conference we end up in.

And, more importantly, I am far less a fan of the rest of college football.

But, your scenario is about as good as possible I guess...

Aw c'mon.  Its the Holidays!  Just tryin' for a little silly pondering.

We're all diehards.  But I still give a crap who we play.  I just do.

+2 on being disgusted with the whole lot of CFB. I was always that guy who would watch ESPN College Gameday and then watch multiple games throughout the day from various conferences. I just can't do it anymore. The ESPNization of CFB has just turned me off. I can't stand to watch the talking heads tell me who matters and who doesn't. I see them tell me my alma mater doesn't matter in the grand scheme and see schools with the same and sometimes bigger warts play at the "Big Boy Table". It makes me want to puke.

East:

Cincy
USF
UConn
UCF
ECU
Memphis

West:

Boise St
SD St
BYU
Houston
SMU
Nevada

Rivals:

East:

Memphis/Cincy UCF/USF UConn/ECU

West:

SMU/Houston SDSU/Nevada Boise/BYU

again, I think NBC will tell UC and UConn who should be in this league and who should not and how it should be packaged etc. If ESPN can tell the ACC how to expand, NBC will do the same with what is available.

And now that I think about it - if NBC REALLY wants to get in this game, all they have to do is create a new league with UC, UConn, Boise St., BYU - get approval from the NCAA, and then put out a competitive $22M payout with bowl tie-ins...I bet that would get NBC in the game AND would lure competitive programs to sign up for that league. I think you could easily convince 8 other teams to sign up for that league if the money was there.

...Because isn't that what ESPN has been doing this entire time anyway? It's not about geographic locals or academics or anything - just money. So why not start a conference with money from a television partner that wants in and see what teams you can "buy"

I'm sure NBC has 2.4 Billion lying around they want to invest in prime time college sports!

CliftonAve wrote: +2 on being disgusted with the whole lot of CFB. I was always that guy who would watch ESPN College Gameday and then watch multiple games throughout the day from various conferences. I just can't do it anymore. The ESPNization of CFB has just turned me off. I can't stand to watch the talking heads tell me who matters and who doesn't. I see them tell me my alma mater doesn't matter in the grand scheme and see schools with the same and sometimes bigger warts play at the "Big Boy Table". It makes me want to puke.

You and I have followed the same path to the same location.

BearcatSeminole wrote: And now that I think about it - if NBC REALLY wants to get in this game, all they have to do is create a new league with UC, UConn, Boise St., BYU - get approval from the NCAA, and then put out a competitive $22M payout with bowl tie-ins...I bet that would get NBC in the game AND would lure competitive programs to sign up for that league. I think you could easily convince 8 other teams to sign up for that league if the money was there.

...Because isn't that what ESPN has been doing this entire time anyway? It's not about geographic locals or academics or anything - just money. So why not start a conference with money from a television partner that wants in and see what teams you can "buy"

I'm sure NBC has 2.4 Billion lying around they want to invest in prime time college sports!

I like what you're saying here and have wondered if we could lure some traditional names by throwing a bit of cash around.  Imagine if the remnants of the Big East could be the first organization to tip the domino on the next session of conference realignment?

1-1/2 star for expressing disgust over getting screwed? OK...

CardinalX3 wrote:

UCLemmiwinks wrote: Sorry to rain on the parade, but, I really don't give a crap anymore. I'm a Bearcat fan regardless of who we schedule, or what conference we end up in.

And, more importantly, I am far less a fan of the rest of college football.

But, your scenario is about as good as possible I guess...

Aw c'mon.  Its the Holidays!  Just tryin' for a little silly pondering.

We're all diehards.  But I still give a crap who we play.  I just do.

Ok Ok... but I did say your scenario was just fine under the circumstances...

UCLemmiwinks wrote: 1-1/2 star for expressing disgust over getting screwed? OK...

Ha! Ha!  Wasn't me...seriously. 

UCLemmiwinks wrote: 1-1/2 star for expressing disgust over getting screwed? OK...

ron???

I was reading a story from the four letter network about the BE talking to UNLV and Fresno.  In the comments people are saying "why leave the mountain west will be better than the BE," and if Boise and SDSU back into the MWC, I can't argue.  Tulane? Memphis? Temple? If BSU and SDSU back out we are looking at one bad conference...

EAST

Cincinnati
UConn
Northern Illinois
USF
UCF
Memphis or Temple

WEST

Boise St
BYU
UNLV
San Diego St
Hawaii
Colorado State

I really am a huge football fan but I mainly only want to see UC play. So no matter who is in the conference it will be 6th best at its best. Therefore I want schools on the schedule that actually provide me with a great city/vacation if I ever do make it to a road game to cheer for the Bearcats! Outside of Boise & BYU whoever is in the west division will never been fully respected anyway.

Merry Christmas!

Take the best-of-the-best not in the ACC, BIG12, PAC12, B10, SEC.

Big 16

EAST:
UC
UCONN
USF
TEMPLE
UCF
TOLEDO
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
EAST CAROLINA

WEST:
HOUSTON
UTEP
BOISE
BYU
FRESNO
NEVADA
SDSU
SMU

I don't think this conference will be at 16, but at ten or twelve. Keeps the number of slices we have to share the pie smaller, and media will dictate between 10 or 12. My "dream" best of the rest:

EAST
UC
Memphis
UConn
Temple
USF
UCF

WEST
BYU
Air Force
SDSU
Boise State
Colorado State
Houston