Do you think USM could make it as a independent?

[scotteagle]

I could see making an argument for getting out of the conference is we were just dominating it for 3-4 years, loosing to no team in it, but not getting much of any mention in the media or looks at for one of the Access Bowls if we lost 1 game or even udnefeated due to a perceived weak conference.

But in the last 5 years we have a loosing conference record. Havn't won a title. Havn't sniffed rankings. And basically are an afterthought.

This isn't the late 90's-early 2000's any more. Sadly, I do not think USM will reach those heights again. Our chances to move up were when Cincy, Louisville and TCU did it 12 years or so ago. We were too busy falling on our own face and trying to keep CUSA going to see what was about to happen. We let our chance pass us by. This is the new reality.

I think you are right....the key for us right NOW is to win and win big....impossible to argue we deserve a promotion when we aren't getting it done now.

 

[Eagle228]

The Answer is an emphatic "No". We can't even compete in this Mickey Mouse conference we're in now. Losing to UTSA just reinforces our odds against ever leaving this conference any time soon. It would be hard enough if we dominated every team in this conference, much less losing to bottom feeders in our conference on a regular basis. I personal believe we are being out recruited by teams in our own conference now, which doesn't loom well on the horizon.

 

[Eaglebird Humperdink]

I don't think dominating C-USA gets us anywhere, and I think most would agree that we are nowhere close to dominating C-USA on an annual basis. (I understand that we still have fans out there who think we are on par with the P5 conferences, and I won't argue further with those of you.)

The big problem with C-USA is that the slate of scheduled conference games (over which we have no power) has no fan appeal...to diehard USM fans nor casual football fans. So we are married to this annual schedule. We have no rivalry games. No RPI boosters. No "make a splash" games.

Our most profitable road games and our best attended home games are scheduled independently...not scheduled by C-USA. I'm not saying conference independence is the only answer, but I just don't see anything good coming for USM as long as we are bound to the C-USA conference schedule.

 

[Eagle228]

Losing to UTSA doesn't make us very attractive to other conferences, namely the AAC.

 

[Aub Bry]

I don't think dominating C-USA gets us anywhere, and I think most would agree that we are nowhere close to dominating C-USA on an annual basis. (I understand that we still have fans out there who think we are on par with the P5 conferences, and I won't argue further with those of you.)

The big problem with C-USA is that the slate of scheduled conference games (over which we have no power) has no fan appeal...to diehard USM fans nor casual football fans. So we are married to this annual schedule. We have no rivalry games. No RPI boosters. No "make a splash" games.

Our most profitable road games and our best attended home games are scheduled independently...not scheduled by C-USA. I'm not saying conference independence is the only answer, but I just don't see anything good coming for USM as long as we are bound to the C-USA conference schedule.

True and it has taken a toll on us over the years. We will always be compared to P5 teams, so why not put more on the schedule.
Tulane never dominated cusa and their tv's will be tuned in to the LSU game every Saturday.
We'll never make it happen, it'll have to happen to us like always, almost by design.
Independence may not even be possible, but it should be explored as an option.