Today I bring to you the fun football from Conference USA. Perhaps with the changes I have made this conference will be upgraded and gain some attention. I give to you the newly realigned Conference USA. 
Teams that will stay in the Conference: Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, Central Florida and UTEP
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Teams departing the Conference: East Carolina (ACC), Southern Miss (SEC) and UAB (SEC)
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New teams to the Conference: Baylor (Big 12), Vanderbilt (SEC) and Troy (Sun Belt)
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ECU, Southern Miss and UAB were all moved to other conferences to join their instate rivals. I think the swap of those three for the newbies will greatly upgrade the conference talent wise and help the conference gain a little more national recognition.
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The problem with Baylor and Vandy was that they were in power conferences and despite getting better each season, they were still the doormat of their division. I think by putting them into this conference they can instantly compete for a conference championship and they will bring some better D-1 talent to the conference than it has seen in the past. Baylor will now also be matched up with it's other Texas private schools and this will help build a great rivalry between the three schools (SMU and Rice). Vanderbilt year in and year out seemed to beat or really push a big time SEC school in a game. In this conference I think they may be that power in year 1. Like Baylor they are a private school and this conference will turn into a mini Ivy league of the South when you throw in Tulane to the mix. Troy will make the jump from a smaller conference to see if they can consistently beat better competition. Every year they seem to give bigger D-1 teams fits in games outside of conference and then coast through their conference schedule. It is time they are moved up a notch and play better competition week in and week out to see if they are that good or the Sun Belt was that bad.
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The divisions will be split like so and are in my projected order of finish:
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West:
Baylor
Tulsa
Houston
Rice
UTEP
SMU
East:
Vanderbilt
Troy
UCF
Memphis
Marshall
Tulane
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Neither Baylor or Vanderbilt are use to this setting, but they will do battle for the crown. I think there is a big difference between the Big 12/SEC and this conference and it shows when two of the last place teams in those conferences will win their divisions in this one. I give the edge to the Baylor Bears b/c of future Heisman candidate Robert Griffin.
Teams that will stay in the Conference: Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, Central Florida and UTEP
-
Teams departing the Conference: East Carolina (ACC), Southern Miss (SEC) and UAB (SEC)
-
New teams to the Conference: Baylor (Big 12), Vanderbilt (SEC) and Troy (Sun Belt)
-
ECU, Southern Miss and UAB were all moved to other conferences to join their instate rivals. I think the swap of those three for the newbies will greatly upgrade the conference talent wise and help the conference gain a little more national recognition.
-
The problem with Baylor and Vandy was that they were in power conferences and despite getting better each season, they were still the doormat of their division. I think by putting them into this conference they can instantly compete for a conference championship and they will bring some better D-1 talent to the conference than it has seen in the past. Baylor will now also be matched up with it's other Texas private schools and this will help build a great rivalry between the three schools (SMU and Rice). Vanderbilt year in and year out seemed to beat or really push a big time SEC school in a game. In this conference I think they may be that power in year 1. Like Baylor they are a private school and this conference will turn into a mini Ivy league of the South when you throw in Tulane to the mix. Troy will make the jump from a smaller conference to see if they can consistently beat better competition. Every year they seem to give bigger D-1 teams fits in games outside of conference and then coast through their conference schedule. It is time they are moved up a notch and play better competition week in and week out to see if they are that good or the Sun Belt was that bad.
-
The divisions will be split like so and are in my projected order of finish:
-
West:
Baylor
Tulsa
Houston
Rice
UTEP
SMU
East:
Vanderbilt
Troy
UCF
Memphis
Marshall
Tulane
-
Neither Baylor or Vanderbilt are use to this setting, but they will do battle for the crown. I think there is a big difference between the Big 12/SEC and this conference and it shows when two of the last place teams in those conferences will win their divisions in this one. I give the edge to the Baylor Bears b/c of future Heisman candidate Robert Griffin.
I like this. Especially the mini-Ivy League angle. Rice, SMU and Baylor in the same division makes sense. And Tulane/Vandy seems like a natural rivalry that could develop pretty quickly.
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