If the MAC added a 14th school

[ZachTheZip]

Who would you want to be the MAC's 14th football school? Remember, this would be a football-only member like Temple. I'm listing the teams that have expressed interest in moving up, within the MAC footprint.There are two options: add another eastern team that we would play every year and move BGSU or Miami to the West, or add a western team that we might play once every 3 years or so.Western Kentucky is no longer an option. They're happy with the Sunbelt, deluded into thinking they're in a better conference. Army is happy as an independent.My choice for football only is Illinois State. When you look at what they're doing with their stadium in the near future it looks pretty nice. You don't have to shuffle the divisions around, and we wouldn't travel too far when we have to play a road game there, unlike UMass or NDSU.

[UA Fan]

NDSU is in the MAC footprint? I think that's too far away & we don't need more Nov. frozen bowls.Did Army used to be in CUSA? I guess they left a while ago but my memory is fuzzy on that. I agree they just wouldn't feel like they fit in the MAC with all those darn Ohio schools.I chose UMass to give us more eastern exposure to get us ready for the move to the BE Plus they have more name recognition from other sports and they're the only school that tops us in polymer science. It's cold there in Nov. as well but at least you could always swing over to Boston and find lots of things to see and do. Or if it's earlier in the season you could head up to Maine for the foliage...Portland is also a very cool place to visit.

[ZachTheZip]

NDSU is in the MAC footprint? I think that's too far away & we don't need more Nov. frozen bowls.Did Army used to be in CUSA? I guess they left a while ago but my memory is fuzzy on that. I agree they just wouldn't feel like they fit in the MAC with all those darn Ohio schools.I chose UMass to give us more eastern exposure to get us ready for the move to the BE Plus they have more name recognition from other sports and they're the only school that tops us in polymer science. It's cold there in Nov. as well but at least you could always swing over to Boston and find lots of things to see and do. Or if it's earlier in the season you could head up to Maine for the foliage...Portland is also a very cool place to visit.

A lot of MAC fans (especially the more western ones) think NDSU is a good geographical fit. They're crazy, but I felt like it should be a choice. If not NDSU, I suppose you could consider the SIU Salukis as an alternative western team.Army was in C-USA and it was a complete disaster that may have scared them off from ever joining a conference again.Also, if you're intent on playing in a frozen stadium, keep in mind that UMass plays outdoors while NDSU has a domed and heated stadium.

[g-mann17]

I went with SIU for the simple fact of bringing a solid basketball program into the conference.Oh and as another reason for us to push for a new arena. SIU arena seats 9800 and is getting some nice renovations to it (office space, 4500 plus chairback seats etc.)

[Zipmeister]

I went with SIU for the simple fact of bringing a solid basketball program into the conference.Oh and as another reason for us to push for a new arena. SIU arena seats 9800 and is getting some nice renovations to it (office space, 4500 plus chairback seats etc.)

Voting to bring a school in for football only based on their basketball team. I can't argue with that logic. Don't understand it, but I can't argue with it. :blink:

[Captain Kangaroo]

Where is Dead Horse when you really need him? Jesus...

[Zipmeister]

Where is Dead Horse when you really need him? Jesus...

R U saying gman17 is a dead horse or our lord and savior?

[Zips fan]

Is there an option to go back to 12 football schools? If Temple is not really in the MAC, then they shouldn't park their football team here. I would be fine returning to 12 and avoiding the concept of adding another school.

[GP1]

If the logic is that adding one of the above teams would be good for the league, wouldn't adding all of them make the move that much better?I'll say it again. How does adding an already bad program to an already bad league make the league better and something the public wants to spend their time and money on? The MAC needs to be thinking about cutting teams and not adding. Cut Buffalo, Temple and NIU. Eliminate the MAC Championship game and make everyone play everyone like the Big Ten and PAC 10. Only 3 OOC games per team per year....one pay day, one D-1A against a low level D-1A team and one 1-AA team. That's how you make an already bad league better.

[Dr Z]

Where is Dead Horse when you really need him? Jesus...

Whack!

[ZachTheZip]

If the logic is that adding one of the above teams would be good for the league, wouldn't adding all of them make the move that much better?I'll say it again. How does adding an already bad program to an already bad league make the league better and something the public wants to spend their time and money on? The MAC needs to be thinking about cutting teams and not adding. Cut Buffalo, Temple and NIU. Eliminate the MAC Championship game and make everyone play everyone like the Big Ten and PAC 10. Only 3 OOC games per team per year....one pay day, one D-1A against a low level D-1A team and one 1-AA team. That's how you make an already bad league better.

The MAC needs to have a balanced schedule, one where we play all the teams in our own division, or else the NCAA can take away the MAC championship game. We're only allowed to do it now thanks to a NCAA waiver. granted on the premise that we're actively seeking a way to balance the divisions. You may not like the championship game, but it brings in more money than all of the MAC bowl games combined. Why in the world would you want to cut Buffalo, Temple, and NIU but keep Can't, BG and EMU? The MAC is too concentrated in northern Ohio. Dropping Can't and BG loses nothing for the league. EMU just sucks all around.

[Blue & Gold]

<br />

If the logic is that adding one of the above teams would be good for the league, wouldn't adding all of them make the move that much better?<br /><br />I'll say it again. How does adding an already bad program to an already bad league make the league better and something the public wants to spend their time and money on? The MAC needs to be thinking about cutting teams and not adding. Cut Buffalo, Temple and NIU. Eliminate the MAC Championship game and make everyone play everyone like the Big Ten and PAC 10. Only 3 OOC games per team per year....one pay day, one D-1A against a low level D-1A team and one 1-AA team. That's how you make an already bad league better.

<br /><br />The MAC needs to have a balanced schedule, one where we play all the teams in our own division, or else the NCAA can take away the MAC championship game. We're only allowed to do it now thanks to a NCAA waiver. granted on the premise that we're actively seeking a way to balance the divisions. You may not like the championship game, but it brings in more money than all of the MAC bowl games combined. <br /><br />Why in the world would you want to cut Buffalo, Temple, and NIU but keep Can't, BG and EMU? The MAC is too concentrated in northern Ohio. Dropping Can't and BG loses nothing for the league. EMU just sucks all around.<br />

<br /><br /><br />My sentiments EXACTLY, 'Kid. You beat me to the punch. I was about to respond that we don't need any more than 4 schools in the MAC from the state of Ohio. Drop Can't - leaving UA in NE Ohio, drop BGSU - leaving UT in NW Ohio. Then we've got OU in the SE corner and Miami in the SW.No way do we want to drop Buffalo! UA and U@B have so much in common - natural rivals. I'm also for keeping Temple - with the condition that they join for all sports.Also, I'd also vot for dropping Eastern Michigan and Ball State. EMU sucks at everything - and did you know their campus is only about 5 minuts from U of Michigan?! I feel sorry for them but they don't have a chance at drawing many fans @ that school. And Ball State? Well, if you'd ask 100 college football fans where the heck Ball State is located, 99 wouldn't have a clue. Drop them.Then I'll vote for adding Illinois State. Nothing bad about adding another state university that is actually a state. Lol.That would give us a trimmed down and stronger MAC of Akron, Toledo, Buffalo, Ohio, Miami, Temple, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Illinois State.IMHO that's really not a bad sounding conference!

[Quickzips]

Let's just add Notre Dame.It's about as rational as the crap that gets suggested on the MAC forums.

[Zipmeister]

Let's just add Notre Dame.It's about as rational as the crap that gets suggested on the MAC forums.

Too late. I already suggested that last April first.

[g-mann17]

Let's just add Notre Dame.It's about as rational as the crap that gets suggested on the MAC forums.

Too late. I already suggested that last April first.

If the MAC really wanted some attention they would sell their collective souls to the devil pay OSU and PSU the collective sum of the top three performing nations GDP and make them play in the MAC. Besides the money they also get the added advantage of playing 7 games against against "cupcake" schools while also being able to add 1 FCS school and schedule 4 more Sunbelt and C-USA schools. That way they can almost assuredly guarantee the weakest schedules in all the land.Seriously though, if we need a balanced schedule because of NCAA rules, then I stick with SIU as a full member because they add benefit to the west in basketball and have a natural rivalry with NIU. Though they would need to add about 6-7 thousand seats to the new stadium they are building (only 15,000) oh and hell this team already beat Indiana at home.But my best suggestion for balancing the MAC is getting us the heck out of it.

[GP1]

If the logic is that adding one of the above teams would be good for the league, wouldn't adding all of them make the move that much better?I'll say it again. How does adding an already bad program to an already bad league make the league better and something the public wants to spend their time and money on? The MAC needs to be thinking about cutting teams and not adding. Cut Buffalo, Temple and NIU. Eliminate the MAC Championship game and make everyone play everyone like the Big Ten and PAC 10. Only 3 OOC games per team per year....one pay day, one D-1A against a low level D-1A team and one 1-AA team. That's how you make an already bad league better.

The MAC needs to have a balanced schedule, one where we play all the teams in our own division, or else the NCAA can take away the MAC championship game. We're only allowed to do it now thanks to a NCAA waiver. granted on the premise that we're actively seeking a way to balance the divisions. You may not like the championship game, but it brings in more money than all of the MAC bowl games combined. Why in the world would you want to cut Buffalo, Temple, and NIU but keep Can't, BG and EMU? The MAC is too concentrated in northern Ohio. Dropping Can't and BG loses nothing for the league. EMU just sucks all around.

Fine then, the MAC needs an odd number of teams added to balance the schedule. Add as many of the teams listed on the poll as possible to make an odd number. If the logic is adding teams is better, why not add as many as possible? Again, how does adding more bad teams to an already bad conference make the MAC better?I would hate to cut Buffalo, but they are an eastern school in an eastern state with no real rivals in the MAC. Tough decisions need to be made though. Temple doesn't really want to be in the MAC and someone else has to go so NIU gets it.The concentation of teams does not matter. Can't, BG and EMU stay because Can't State and BG have natural rivals in Ohio (UofA and Toledo) and EMU has the Michigan schools as rivals.