Would be implemented for 2016-2020 (following UMass' 2015 departure, and for a trial period of 5 years)
- 6 intradivision games (as normal)
- 1 interdivision game vs. opposite division equivalent rank (ie, if Marshall is #1 in East after 6 division games, we play #1 CUSA West team)
- 1 game vs. MAC East equivalent rank (ie, if Marshall's #1 in division after 7 conference games, we play #1 MAC East)
- 1 game vs. MAC West equivalent rank
(It's noted that the MAC will have 12 schools, and CUSA 14, so to compensate for the two #7 schools not having dance partners, each season CUSA would contract with two schools, preferably Sun Belt, but possibly FCS, to fill those voids unless/until MAC would expand again.)
Why we do it
a) The obvious: Our division schedule, at least for these first years in CUSA 3.0, isn't pretty, and as a result, the likelihood of our having opportunity to snag the CFP bowl isn't pretty either.
And so, this replaces the two CUSA interdivision games that potentially rotates a good team into playing against one or two bad ones with three against teams that have a similar-quality record... so for almost any year, this would help in-part to mitigate the lesser division schedule, and potentially substantially so, depending on how the AD deals with the three other OOC slots.
b) At least at Marshall, heck, we appear to be committed to playing 1-2 MAC teams every season anyhow... might as well modify it so that we're making the best use of those games, adding certainty in upgrading our schedule.