ESPN Reports That WAC Commissioner Karl Benson To Replace Wright Waters As SBC Commissioner
Benson is a 60-year old Boise State alum who has been the WAC commissioner since 1994. During his tenure, he has helped to reshape the conference numerous times as teams came and went.
Recently Boise State left the WAC for the Mountain West while Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii are all leaving after this season for the Mountain West. The WAC is left with Utah State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Idaho and San Jose State and it has Denver, Seattle, Texas State, Texas-Arlington and Texas-San Antonio joining for the 2012-13 season. Denver, Seattle and UT-Arlington do not have football programs. Boise State plans to rejoin the WAC in everything but football when it joins the Big East in 2013.
While the Mountain West and Conference USA are dissolving to for a new conference, the WAC is in danger of losing more schools as the new conference is targeting 18-24 schools.
SBC Media Days 2011
The University of South Alabama had section in the Sun Belt Conference Media Guide for the 2011 season. It mentioned that South Alabama will be playing a full SBC schedule in 2012 and would be eligible for postseason play in 2013.
In the 180 page media guide it had an extensive write-up about the history of the conference starting with it’s inception in 1976 and the six schools who started the conference in four sports as well as it’s success early with a team in the final four, how the conference introduced the shot clock to basketball and the time line of other schools joining the conference. It also covered the conference championships teams from the previous season. It then transitioned over when it hit 2001 to football, which was the first year the conference sponsored football.
Currently the conference has 12 member institutions after New Orleans voted to drop to a lower division and pending the move of Denver to another conference it will fall to 11. However, only nine schools are participating in football currently, with South Alabama becoming the 10th when they become a full member in 2013.
FIU was picked to finish 1st in the conference with Troy chosen second in the annual Sun Belt coaches’ poll. Troy has won or shared the SBC title for the last six seasons and for several seasons now, Troy has been the #1 or #2 choice in the league, this season continues that run. Meanwhile, bleacherreport.com has the their predictions in for 2011 and they are: 1 Troy, 2 Florida International, 3 Arkansas State, 4 UL Monroe, 5 Middle Tennessee, 6 North Texas, 7 Western Kentucky, 8 UL Lafayette and 9 Florida Atlantic.
Last year SBC commissioner Wright Waters spoke during media days about how he has watched schools like Boise State, TCU, Hawaii and Utah play their way into BCS Bowl games. The SBC being one of 11 BCS conferences, but if is one of the five conferences that don’t have automatic bids to BCS bowl games. However they can play their way in. The SBC Conference champion will earn an automatic berth in a BCS bowl game if that team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS standings or if that team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS standings and its ranking is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls.
Waters challenged Sun Belt teams to set their sights on being a BCS bowl team. “If Hawaii and Boise and Utah and TCU can accomplish that, in my mind I don’t know of any reason why our schools can’t do it also,” he said.
This year, commissioner Waters said that the league was thriving in reputation over the last few years. “We are not in survival mode like we were seven, eight years ago,” he said. He also mentioned that the conference is in enhancement mode and that people know about it. “Sun Belt football is here and not going away,” he said.
Encouraging Words From Sun Belt Commissioner
South Alabama head coach Joey Jones greeting fans during Jaguar Prowl before the Jaguars game against Kentucky Wesleyan.
Sun Belt Conference commissioner Wright Waters has some bold words as he was looking at South Alabama’s football program recently.
Fans of college football, especially SEC football, knows that South Mississippi, northwest Florida and South Alabama is quite the hotbed of talent. Just a couple of the recent players are Pat White, Julio Jones, Trent Richardson among many others have come out of this area. While South Florida is heralded as a hotbed of talent, this area is just as fertile.
But Mr. Waters’ comments were uttered at the Heron Lakes Country Club for the Cellular South 1st & 10 club. “Not to put undue pressure on Joey or Joel or Gordon, but very honestly, South Alabama can be the Boise State of the next decade.”
Boise State was in Division I-AA in the mid-90’s. Waters visited for their playoff game against Marshall back then and they weren’t ready for the game. However, we all know that Boise State has remedied that situation since then.
But the other glaring one I want to make note of is the following one as he spoke about Boise State’s recruiting. “They understand their recruiting area, they understand what’s important, they’ve done a great job of scheduling and I think those omens are here too (at South Alabama). As I look at future non-conference schedules for South Alabama, they’re not taking the $1.3 million guarantee, they’re doing it the right way and scheduling games home and away. They’ll be ready. … Joey’s been there, done that, and that’s huge.”
This year marks the 10th season the league has sponsored a championship in football. As good things have happened to the league since they added football as a championship sport.
Troy moved up to Division I-A and have done well. The changes to South Alabama has been tremendous since the announcement of the addition to football at the University.
Currently with nine football schools, South Alabama will get the Sun Belt one school closer to the minimum 12 schools for a conference championship game. However, with the loss of the University of New Orleans and the impending departure of the University of Denver, this will leave the conference with only 11 schools. Since Arkansas-Little Rock does not appear to be making any movements towards adding football, a 12 team football conference is not on the horizon just yet.
Tommy Hicks has many more quotes from Commissioner Waters in his article here.
Could Denver Be Leaving The Sun Belt Soon?
Could Denver be leaving the Sun Belt
Presentations have taken place by a number of schools to potentially join the WAC. Of a rumored ten schools that were planning to give presentations, four have stepped up but only two of them have football. Texas-San Antonio and Texas State are those with football. Those without are Seattle and University of Denver, who is currently in the Sun Belt.
Texas-San Antonio and Texas State both play at the Division I-AA level, which is also known as FCS. Montana is reportedly being considered for membership and is weighing its options because, it too, is a Division I-AA level school.
Currently, Nevada and Fresno State will likely leave at the end of the 2011-2012 year. This would leave the WAC with only six members which has spurred commissioner Karl Benson to make sure that, if they do leave, that they still have the minimum number of eight football playing schools for the 2012 season.
Benson also said that the league could be extended as quickly as 30-60 days from now.
I’m sure some in the Sun Belt would actually hold the door open as Denver walks out of the conference doors. Not because they don’t like Denver, but this would save schools so much money in travel expenses. This is definitely one of the major reasons why they want to join the WAC. But getting an AD or a coach to admit this out loud in public, good luck.
Doing The Conference Shuffle 2010 Edition
Some interesting things have popped up lately about conference expansion/realignment. There have been speculation about the Big10 (actually 11 teams) grabbing at least one more team to make the NCAA required 12 teams in order to have a conference championship game.
The Big10 (actually 11) first inclination was to offer to Notre Dame who already has some well established rivalry games within the conference. They are in the right place in the region and, well, it just plain makes sense. However, Notre Dame holds onto this notion that they are special and that their name means something in College Football. Unfortunately, it only does to Notre Dame alums, elderly college football fans and Lou Holtz. If you face the facts like Kirk Herbstreit said on College Gameday late last year, Notre Dame has been irrelevant for about 20 years. The best thing for the Irish to do is to join the Big 10 (actually 11) while they looking for a 12th team.
Other Big10 (actually 11) candidates would be getting Connecticut as well as luring Syracuse and Rutgers to the fold. This would bring in the New York market and money. But UConn isn’t part of the AAU. Plus they aren’t that good anyway.
Next on the list would be Missouri. Pulling them from the Big 12 might prove to be a tough proposition but Mizzou fits in much better than UConn, Rutgers or Syracuse. The bottom of the short list has Pitt. They are rivals to Penn State and the Big 10 (actually 11) is already in Pennsylvania. Nebraska is another Big 12 school that could be lured to the Big 10 (actually 11) and would fit in like Missouri.
The Big 12 has given both schools, Nebraska and Missouri, a deadline of Friday at 5pm to tell them what they are going to do. If they don’t meet the deadline, then another very interesting twist could unfold.
The Pac-10 is also looking to expand their ranks. If Mizzou and Nebraska fail to meet the deadline then six Big 12 schools could possibly bolt the conference for the Pac-10. Those teams would include Texas and Oklahoma. The Big 10 (actually 11) has not formally extended any invitations to anyone but continues toward trying to land a major program. Texas is in play for every league exploring expansion.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC Conference is currently sitting atop the mountain right now. The SEC is the superconference that everyone wants to be like. The Big 10 (actually 11) wants to join them on that mountain as another superconference. Slive is ready to react if the Big 10 (actually 11) expands to 14 or even 16 teams.
Some people have said that the SEC would be ready to extend an invitation to Texas and Texas A&M. Other possible schools could be Florida State, Clemson or Virginia Tech. Tech was actually being courted when the SEC was looking to expand last time but they added Arkansas instead. Some Georgia Tech fans might try to pull for their school but they don’t really fit the SEC model.
So all of this talk about Big 12, Pac-10, Big 10 (actually 11) and SEC but what does it mean for South Alabama? Could USA be the dark horse and sneak into the SEC? Doubtful at this time. But with this talk of superconferences what about a merger between Conference USA and the Sun Belt?
Looking at football schools, this would bring together South Alabama, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Louisiana Monroe, Troy and Florida Atlantic together with Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Houston, Central Florida, Marshall, Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa for a very large conference.
Do they need all of those schools? Not really. Who to pick for a 16 team conference? South Alabama, UAB, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Southern Mississippi, Troy, North Texas, Houston, UTEP, Tulsa, Memphis, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, (Marshall, Rice or SMU). But what would be better would be if this new megaconference (not quite a superconference) could lure someone like East Carolina, Georgia Tech or Clemson to the conference.
But how all this will shake out is anyone’s guess at this point. The ball is in the Big 10’s (actually 11) court with Notre Dame. If they can convince them to join, it’s mostly all over from there. The PAC-10 will still probably look to expand but trying to convince six Big 12 schools to join them would be infinitely more difficult if Missouri and Nebraska do not have to face a choice of joining the Big 10 (I won’t mention the 11 this time) or staying put.
After Dropping Two Consecutive Games USA Is Eliminated From SBC Tournament
After an inspiring start on Wednesday, the Jags fell in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament to top seeded Florida Atlantic. Thought they didn’t go down without a fight.
Trailing 10-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, USA could only manage to score two runs after they loaded the bases with with no outs. In the bottom of the ninth, still trailing 10-6, the Jags scored a run before Jags loaded the bases again with no outs. After a fielders choice scored another run, a single through the right side loaded the bases again. A sacrifice fly ball to right would score another run, but was stranded after that when the game ended 10-9.
On Friday, the Jags found themselves facing Florida International, whom they defeated the first day to put them in the losers bracket. FIU scored eight runs in the first four innings but South Alabama would rally for six runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 8-7.
The top of the seventh would see the Jags tie the game at eight, but was answered by the Owls in the bottom half of the inning with two runs. The top of the eighth inning had the Jags score their final run of the game.
Trailing by a run in the top of the ninth, they got a one out single to right field, however the runner could not be advanced past first base. So for the second consecutive game the Jags fell 10-9 but were eliminated from the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Jags end the season with an overall record of 32-27 after stranding 12 runners on base against for the game.
Jags Still Holding Onto Postseason Baseball Hopes
While the Jags lost five of the last six games of the season, at least they sent the seniors out on a winning note against Troy. After dropping the first two games at home, the Jags won 11-10 on Saturday’s Senior Day.
The season ending losing streak took the Jags from first place to fifth place and will open the Sun Belt Tournament against fourth seeded Florida International on Wednesday at 9am. FIU started the Jaguars losing streak with a three game sweep in Miami.
However, an interesting note about this is that the last time the Jaguars won the Sun Belt Tournament in 2005 the Jaguars lost five of their last six regular season games.
The Jags need to win the SBC Tournament in order to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The eight participants in the Tournament in order of their seeding are: 1) Florida Atlantic, 2) Lousiana-Lafayette, 3) Middle Tennessee, 4) Florida International, 5) South Alabama, 6) Troy, 7) Arkansas State and 8) Western Kentucky. As usual with baseball tournaments, this is a double elimination tournament.
Go Jags!
Jags Baseball Get Swept Out Of First Place
South Alabama‘s baseball team tumbled down the Sun Belt standings over the weekend when they were swept by Florida International in their weekend series.
South Alabama fell to 30-23 for the season and 16-11 in the Sun Belt while FIU improved to 30-20 overall and 16-11 in the Sun Belt. The Jags fell to 5th place in the Sun Belt, a full three games behind Florida Atlantic who is in first place. The full Sun Belt rankings are: FAU (19-8), ULL (18-9), MTSU (17-10), FIU (16-11), USA (16-11), ASU (15-12), Troy (14-13), WKU (14-13), UALR (10-15), ULM (7-20) and UNO (2-26).
The Jags have a three game home stand against Troy to end the season, while FAU’s regular season has concluded. While the Jags have a chance to improve their SBC tournament ranking, but the other teams the Jags need to leap-from also play lower ranked teams. Another weekend sweep would be disastrous for the Jags.
So come out to Stanky Field and support the Jags during this pivotal weekend series as they try to make the NCAA Tournament.
Jags Baseball Surrender First Place To Florida Atlantic
The Jags fell to second place in the Sun Belt after this past weekend’s three game series at Stanky Field. After falling 7-2 to FAU on Friday night, the Jags came from behind on Saturday night to win 6-5 on a walk-off balk in the 9th inning.
On Sunday afternoon, the Jags lost 6-3 to FAU after a squandering a 3-0 lead in the top of the eighth inning. The Jags allowed five runs on six hits in the top of the eighth, including back-to-back home runs to take the lead 5-3. FAU added an insurance run in the top of the ninth.
So the Jags went into the weekend with a one game lead over FAU but leave the weekend trailing by one game. FAU improves to 18-8 in the Sun Belt and 30-17 for the season while the Jags fall to 16-7 in the Sun Belt and 29-19 on the season.
The Jags still control their own fate though with two more Sun Belt series left in the regular season while FAU only has one series left against FIU.
The Jags have their last non-conference game tomorrow night at Stanky Field when they host #18 ranked Auburn University then they will travel to FIU for a three game weekend series followed by a Thursday through Saturday series at Stanky Field hosting Troy University to end the regular season.
Jaguars Baseball Early Season Review
The Jags Baseball team started the season with with some big games against teams like Alabama, Tulane and Siena before they opened up their conference schedule.
They had chances against Alabama to win both games before the first one in Tuscaloosa got out of hand, but the next day in Mobile, they kept it much closer yet still fell in the end.
Their match-up against Mississippi State had to be rescheduled due to weather. The Jags then defeated Tulane at Stanky field and took two of three against Siena also at Stanky field.
These early season games put the Jags record at 8-5 as they started Sun Belt play. Their first opponent came on the road in Little Rock, Arkansas against UALR. The Jags swept the three game weekend series.
They then stepped back out of Sun Belt play to face Memphis in Tennessee where they split the two game series.
This weekend the Jags opened up their Sun Belt home schedule against Louisiana-Lafayette and have split the first two games with ULL winning on Friday night and the Jags winning last nights showdown. The final game of this weekends series will begin at 1pm today with the Jags hoping to run their record to 14-8 on the season.
The remainder of the Jags season will continue to have out of conference foes sprinkled between three game weekend series. They have some good schools on the list too such as Southern Miss, Auburn and Nicholls State.
But one of the big stories of the season so far happened during the UALR series when long time coach Steve Kittrell recorded his 1,000th win at South Alabama.
South Alabama is sitting in a good spot early in the Sun Belt season. They have a 4-1 record and seem to be growing more consistent. The major factor the rest of the season will be the pitching from the bullpen. If the starters can stay out of trouble early and go deep into the games, the Jags have a much better chance at the Sun Belt title this season.