- CUSA adds 2 schools... perhaps Georgia State (East) and Texas State (West)
- MAC adds 3 schools... perhaps Army, Delaware and James Madison (all East)
- Top two football schools from the MAC East, MAC West, CUSA East and CUSA West--8 total--are promoted into a conference for the elites of CUSA and MAC... hereafter called the Great 8.
- Regular season play for Great 8:
- 3 conference games versus the other teams originating from their parent conference,
- 3 non-conference games versus three teams from their parent conference,
- 3 non-conference games with contracted opponents, and
- the 3 conference games that constitute the three-round in-season playoff that leads to a conference champion's emergence.
- Regular Season play for CUSA and MAC:
- 5 intra-division games,
- 1 inter-division game,
- 3 non-conference games versus the teams formerly associated with the division that succeeded to the new conference
- 3 non-conference games with contracted opponents
- Both CUSA and MAC crown their champions from among their 12 teams in the traditional way, via conference championship game
- In each succeeding season, either the CUSA or MAC champ automatically is promoted and replaces the Great 8 school associated with their division that is least successful (W/L %) in comparison to the champ; that school is relegated back to its normal division.
- How would TV work? Not much different than it already does. Great 8 revenues are funneled back to the two leagues. But the addition to the agenda, obviously, is the new conference's tournament games, which could spark additional interest over ordinary regular season games
I'm trying to look at this with as little subjectivity as a Marshall fan can bring to the topic... the Excel spreadsheet was constructed using what seemed to be rational criteria without attempting to prescribe any particular end-game. And what we find is this:
75.9 = AAC schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012
90.4 = MWC schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012
87.3 = Great 8 schools' (top 4 of MAC + top 4 of CUSA) average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012
15.5 = AAC average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools
25.0 = MWC average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools
19.5 = Great 8 (top 4 of MAC + top 4 of CUSA) average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools
So, the numbers... not me... suggest that the G8 would be right there with AAC and MWC in any given year.
What's more, compare the G8 with what otherwise would be the case if status quo remains...
75.9 = AAC schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012
90.4 = MWC schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012
113.3 = MAC schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012 (25% below MWC)
118.7 = CUSA schools' average Sagarin ranking 2008-2012 (31% below MWC)
15.5 = AAC average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools
25.0 = MWC average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools
35.3 = MAC average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools (40% below MWC)
38.2 = CUSA average ranking in comparison to all other Go5 schools (52% below MWC)
So, status quo says that sometimes but probably not often, CUSA and MAC can expect to compete with AAC and MWC for the major bowl slot.
But set up a Great 8 paradigm, and the numbers support that it would be an annual expectation that either a CUSA or MAC school would be in the mix.