I'm never impressed by Sun Belt. 2015, we faced their Sun Belt "Champions" in Arkansas State at New Orleans Bowl. We beat them easily 47-28.
Agreed they are having a better year than CUSA, but Tech can beat any of them (now that I've seen us tested against better competition). Being healthy has helped a lot.
Here are my thoughts on the situation.
CUSA has 5 teams that didn't exist 30 years ago. They chose money\markets over long standing traditions. 8 teams in the conference have been playing for over 100 years. If you count ODU, 9 teams have been playing 89+ years. The Sunbelt is plagued with this problem, too. I would not have a problem with the oldest of CUSA and the oldest of the Sunbelt coming together in their own conference. Having no standards is what got us in this spot. At least, after 10 years with this new alliance, we'd have bragging rights that no other G5 conference has, "100+ years of football tradition." That can only improve our stock. Everybody knows that long traditions are why the Power 5 is the Power 5.
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Well, we'll find out come bowl time. Either LA Tech or Southern Miss is highly likely to meet Appy State in the New Orleans Bowl this year. I'd prefer Tech meet UNC in the Indy Bowl, or TCU in the First Responders Bowl (at SMU stadium), but who knows:
Brett McMurphy/Stadium Bowl Projections 11/11/19:
8 CUSA teams projected bowling: La Tech, Marshall, UNT, UAB, Charlotte, FAU, USM, and WKU
Indy Bowl: La Tech vs. UNC
First Responder's Bowl: Utah State vs Marshall
Armed Forces Bowl: UNT vs Wyoming
Bham Bowl: SMU vs UAB
Bahamas Bowl: Charlotte vs. Buffalo
Gasparilla Bowl: FAU vs. Tulane
NOLA Bowl: Southern Miss vs App State
NM Bowl: WKU vs Nevada
https://watchstadium.com/news/brett-mcmu...1-11-2019/
247 Sports Bowl Projection 11/11/19:
7 CUSA teams projected bowling: Marshall, UNT, UAB, WKU, USM, La Tech, and FAU.
**247 Sports Has UAB playing in two different bowls - Indy Bowl and the NM bowl lol. What a mess of journalism.
Frisco Bowl: Temple vs Marshall
Bahamas Bowl: UNT vs Ball State
NM Bowl: UAB vs SDSU
Boca Raton Bowl: WKU vs WMU
NOLA Bowl: Southern Miss vs App State
Gasparilla Bowl: Cincy vs La Tech
Indy Bowl: UAB vs Louisville
First Responder's Bowl: Fresno State vs FAU
https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Co...38326553_1
In this scenario, instead of sending Marshall to the Frisco Bowl, CUSA should send Marshall to the Gasparilla Bowl in Florida --where Marshall recruits heavily-- to play Cincy, and send La Tech to the Frisco Bowl against Temple.
UAB must be very, very good this year, because 247 Sports has UAB participating in two (2) bowl games: The Indy Bowl and the NM Bowl. LOL!
Bleacher Report Bowl Projections 11/11/19:
8 CUSA teams projected bowling: FIU, La Tech, WKU, Charlotte, Marshall, USM, FAU, and UAB
Bahamas Bowl: FIU vs Buffalo
Frisco Bowl: Temple vs La Tech
NM Bowl: WKU vs. SDSU
Boca Raton Bowl: Charlotte vs. Tulane
NOLA Bowl: Marshall vs App State
Gasparilla Bowl: UCF vs Southern Miss
Indy Bowl: FAU vs FSU
First Responder's Bowl: SMU vs UAB
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2862...ll-release
Again, Bleacher has Marshall playing Appy St in the NO Bowl and Southern Miss meeting UCF in Florida. Switch those two, and this actully makes a lot of sense for almost everyone.
My question: Would LA Tech fans prefer to play Temple in the Frisco Bowl, or SMU in the First Responders Bowl? I would probably choose Temple, because we played SMU 2 years ago in the Frisco Bowl, and SMU will really be a "home" team this year since the First Responders Bowl is being played in SMU's home stadium. I wold also probably prefer to play whoever wins between SMU & Temple in the AAC.
The AP has Tech at #30
https://apnews.com/APTop25CollegeFootballPoll
Tech remains #25 in SB Nation FanPulse
https://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2019/11/11/20959974/sb-nation-fanpulse-week-11-rankings-released
Dallas Morning News has Tech at #23
Coaches Poll (USAToday) has Tech at #28
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/rankings/coaches/