SB Nation reports Georgia Southern, Appalachian State joining Sun Belt





JROCK said:
I don't necessarily agree that no one will know who they are. These are the type of teams that ever so often (kind of like Louisiana-Monroe did this year) will pull upsets and have people take notice. I look at these two schools kind of like Louisiana-Lafayette (they have beaten Texas A&M and Oklahoma State), Southern Miss. and LA. Tech.
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That has nothing to do with the fact that they have nothing to really offer at this point. They MIGHT do a lot of things but seriously, I doubt it. The Sunbelt would have done just as well by adding Southern or Jackson State. App State is a great addition but they actually should have tried to get invited to C-USA. That would have been a better fit for them. GaSouthern is more Sunbelt material but they need to stay in 1-AA. However, I knew this was coming. I watched a GASouthern game last season and during the broadcast, they mentioned that the students had already voted to increase student fees to prepare for a 1-A move.
 
Yeah. Probably about 5-7 miles from each other to Ga St main campus. If that far. Well Ga St has a dorm directly across from Ga Tech stadium. :lol:
jstate83 said:
How close is Georgia Tech and Georgia St in terms of distance.
Ain't both schools basically downtown ATL?
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EB said:
They will make more money. They will also have to spend more money too.



Marshall was very strong in 1-AA. They had Randy Moss when they went up to 1-A too.



They have been taking baby steps for a long time. When Georgia Southern re-started their football program after 40 years, they went after and got Erk Russell, the popular defensive coordinator from Georgia. Russell won three national titles in a five-year period ('85, '86, and '89). They won three more with present Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson winning two of them. Appalachian State won three consecutive titles.

Basically, they raised money, publicized their program, made plans and are making a move. We will see how successful it will be for them on and off the field in the FBS. Our schools could learn a lesson or two from them.
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hmmm...:clap:
 
CEE DOG said:
Yeah. Probably about 5-7 miles from each other to Ga St main campus. If that far. Well Ga St has a dorm directly across from Ga Tech stadium. :lol:
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Ummm Cee, you must ain't been looking. That old Olympic Village dorm was given to Tech once GaState built some dorms downtown. They only got those dorms because they were the only school in the city not getting anything from the Olympics. Tech had the main Village dorms built, the aquatics center and they renovated our bball arena. I don't think any events were held at GaState and no buildings were built for them. To console them, they gave them that Northern branch of the Olympic Village that was intended for Tech. Now, we got em back and we have OUR logo on the building.
 
jstate83 said:
Nope.
What this says is they have been working towards this on and off the field for years and FCS football has run its course for them. The SUNBELT wanted THEM because they were #1 GOOD and #2, the rivalry they bring to the conference. Why would they turn down a "package" opportunity like this? Unlike us, they not going to stand pat for 100 years. Appy State, Georgia Southern and Montana has been flirting with moving up since 2005.

In the SWAC, we act like if we make a move, if the SEC don't call us, (sarcasim), it would be an insult to go to a conference like the Sunbelt in a move up. 99% of ya'll would sneer at a SWAC school moving up to con-USA yet there is not one school in this conference that will come close to beating the last place team in that league. :lol:

Baby steps............. :tup:
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Nah frat. Nobody would frown on any of our schools for moving to FBS. Now moving to another FCS conference. Yeah that is a lateral move. But if SU said they had all their ducks in a row to move to a FBS level conference. I would be down. I just don't care about FCS. It is about time some of these too big for FCS schools move on to FBS. That's why smaller FCS schools can't win the playoffs dealing with them schools like APP State and Ga Southern who both got enrollments big as Ole Piss and Ms State.
 
JR said:
Nah frat. Nobody would frown on any of our schools for moving to FBS. Now moving to another FCS conference. Yeah that is a lateral move. But if SU said they had all their ducks in a row to move to a FBS level conference. I would be down. I just don't care about FCS. It is about time some of these too big for FCS schools move on to FBS. That's why smaller FCS schools can't win the playoffs dealing with them schools like APP State and Ga Southern who both got enrollments big as Ole Piss and Ms State.
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The same schools that some on here think we should be on par with when they got these 10-15K+ enrollments as you stated...
 
In_The_662 said:
The same schools that some on here think we should be on par with when they got these 10-15K+ enrollments as you stated...
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Yep. Hell some got 15-20K enrollments. App State does. ND State does. Ga Southern topped 20K students this year.
 
Tigerpride said:
Georgia Tech is below downtown adjacent to an area called midtown. Georgia State is in the heart of downtown.
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CEE DOG said:
Yeah. Probably about 5-7 miles from each other to Ga St main campus. If that far. Well Ga St has a dorm directly across from Ga Tech stadium. :lol:
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:tup:
Bout the distance from JSU to Millsaps.
That is close for a packed city like ATL and two large enrollments like they have.
 



Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech may not even be a three-mile driving distance from each other.

Georgia Southern will have to spend money on their other programs too. Right now their men's basketball program is not doing much. Savannah State, also D-I, is way ahead of them. They (Georgia Southern) just fired their coach, a former player there.
 
jstate83 said:
:tup:
Bout the distance from JSU to Millsaps.
That is close for a packed city like ATL and two large enrollments like they have.
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Nahh it's really like JSU to MC School of Law...It's only like 5-7 miles because there is no direct street to link them. You can't just hop on State Street and roll out.. LOL!!! But honestly the way they're intertwined, it's hard to know where one begins and the other ends. Georgia State is all over....I was out in South DeKalb last week (suburbs) and was LOL cause they still have their baseball facilities and stuff out there....I was like "I thought they had moved all that stuff downtown!!" I'm gonna hafta check that dorm TP and Cee talkin bout. I coulda swore that it was still the Georgia State University Villiage.... but maybe they share... Hey TP...you do know they built a new arena...hadn't been inside it yet tho...
 
Bengal E said:
Nahh it's really like JSU to MC School of Law...It's only like 5-7 miles because there is no direct street to link them. You can't just hop on State Street and roll out.. LOL!!! But honestly the way they're intertwined, it's hard to know where one begins and the other ends. Georgia State is all over....I was out in South DeKalb last week (suburbs) and was LOL cause they still have their baseball facilities and stuff out there....I was like "I thought they had moved all that stuff downtown!!" I'm gonna hafta check that dorm TP and Cee talkin bout. I coulda swore that it was still the Georgia State University Villiage.... but maybe they share... Hey TP...you do know they built a new arena...hadn't been inside it yet tho...
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Now that is close.
You can see MC school of Law downtown from the 7th floor of Dixon Hall JSU campus. :lol:
 
Bengal E said:
I'm gonna hafta check that dorm TP and Cee talkin bout. I coulda swore that it was still the Georgia State University Villiage.... but maybe they share... Hey TP...you do know they built a new arena...hadn't been inside it yet tho...
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Bengal,
TP is right (his 2nd time ever on tspn :lol: ), Those olympic dorms went back to tech a few years ago. GaState built a big dorm complex on Piedmont across from the connector
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the band fan said:
NDSU can't go nowhere unfortunately that makes sense geographically...the WAC died and their not considered PAC 12 or Big 10 material.
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Geographics aren't that big of a deal anymore for those who can support it. West Virginia in the Big XII? :confused: Nebraska in the Pac-12? Mizzou in the SEC?

And as for NDSU not supporting the move, who would've thought that UNT-Denton or a former D-IIer (only 30 years ago :smh: ) former Southwest Texas State (TxStU) would make the successful jump to now FBS. God forbid but even UT-SA lol has dove head first. So, w/ the proper visionaries and plan(s) in place, it can indeed happen.
 
In_The_662 said:
The same schools that some on here think we should be on par with when they got these 10-15K+ enrollments as you stated...
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That excuse is negated...

I sat on some raggedy bleachers in Huntsville to watch a really horribly coached PVAMU squad beat a subpar and poorly coached Sam Houston State squad fall 1984(or 5? I think). Their enrollments weren't ANYWHERE close as PVAMU only had 3100 of us total.
Univ Mich (slightly < 42K total) vs App St ( < 18K total) when AppSt beat them.
Just this past fall 2012, NDSU ( slightly < 15K students total) vs Colorado St U ( slightly < 26K students) when NDSU beat them.
Speak basketball...SU men (slightly ~ 7K students) over aTm men (53,337 total fall 2012).
I'm sure there are other examples where smaller enrollment schools beat larger enrollment schools.

#s don't mean a thing if you don't have the RIGHT personnel in place to get the job done. There's no way anyone can convince me that in the late 60s/early 70s a smaller enrollment Grambling St/Jackson St wouldn't put a severe beatdown on a then OhioSt, Cal, UCLA, USC, et al. The BEST of the BEST (black kids) attended HBCUs during that timeframe. And today, this very second,the BEST of the BEST attend the larger schools and the BEST attend the other schools leaving what's left, a BEST here or there (onesies or twosies) to HBCUs. Obviously I don't ascribe to the #s game, outside of funding $$$ associated w/ it which can indeed support other support staff like full-time dieticians, et al. When it's all said and done, it's your 11 vs their 11, your preparedness vs theirs, and their coaching staff vs yours w/ regards to gameplanning/strategy for victory.
 
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Panther88 said:
That excuse is negated...

I sat on some raggedy bleachers in Huntsville to watch a really horribly coached PVAMU squad beat a subpar and poorly coached Sam Houston State squad fall 1984(or 5? I think). Their enrollments weren't ANYWHERE close as PVAMU only had 3100 of us total.
Univ Mich (slightly < 42K total) vs App St ( < 18K total) when AppSt beat them.
Just this past fall 2012, NDSU ( slightly < 15K students total) vs Colorado St U ( slightly < 26K students) when NDSU beat them.
Speak basketball...SU men (slightly ~ 7K students) over aTm men (53,337 total fall 2012).
I'm sure there are other examples where smaller enrollment schools beat larger enrollment schools.

#s don't mean a thing if you don't have the RIGHT personnel in place to get the job done. There's no way anyone can convince me that in the late 60s/early 70s a smaller enrollment Grambling St/Jackson St wouldn't put a severe beatdown on a then OhioSt, Cal, UCLA, USC, et al. The BEST of the BEST (black kids) attended HBCUs during that timeframe. And today, this very second,the BEST of the BEST attend the larger schools and the BEST attend the other schools leaving what's left, a BEST here or there (onesies or twosies) to HBCUs. Obviously I don't ascribe to the #s game, outside of funding $$$ associated w/ it which can indeed support other support staff like full-time dieticians, et al. When it's all said and done, it's your 11 vs their 11, your preparedness vs theirs, and their coaching staff vs yours w/ regards to gameplanning/strategy for victory.
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I think what 662 is alluding too is beating them schools constantly and also winning championships at your level. You definitely have to have the right personnel in place. We were money wise ahead of the game in the 80s with most of FCS/1AA programs for the most part. This is where we dropped the ball. We should have been making plans like Boise State and Marshall was when they were 1-AA. Now after sitting around the whole 80s and 90s not planning as an institution to increase enrollments, promote athletics, increase endowments etc... we thought were fat and happy. Now it is almost too late to catch the App State's, Ga Southern's, ND State's in football.

Basketball and Baseball are two sports we can compete with quicker than football. You can sell a kid a SWAC school in those sports since we compete at the highest level of the NCAA.

Our administrations failed us a long time ago. Now our schools are under attack by these Republican Govs across the South who are not trying to do anything for you. Instead of us figuring out ways years ago to be self sufficient, we just sat back and thought all is well. The challenge now is for alums to push our current administrations to develop future plans to increase enrollments, endowments, athletic competitiveness across the board. We need to win academically and athletically. Not just at one. But some folks in the education business only see the academic side. Not realizing the more successful your athletic programs are. The more it can help sell the school to prospective students.
 
Panther88 said:
That excuse is negated...

I sat on some raggedy bleachers in Huntsville to watch a really horribly coached PVAMU squad beat a subpar and poorly coached Sam Houston State squad fall 1984(or 5? I think). Their enrollments weren't ANYWHERE close as PVAMU only had 3100 of us total.
Univ Mich (slightly < 42K total) vs App St ( < 18K total) when AppSt beat them.
Just this past fall 2012, NDSU ( slightly < 15K students total) vs Colorado St U ( slightly < 26K students) when NDSU beat them.
Speak basketball...SU men (slightly ~ 7K students) over aTm men (53,337 total fall 2012).
I'm sure there are other examples where smaller enrollment schools beat larger enrollment schools.

#s don't mean a thing if you don't have the RIGHT personnel in place to get the job done. There's no way anyone can convince me that in the late 60s/early 70s a smaller enrollment Grambling St/Jackson St wouldn't put a severe beatdown on a then OhioSt, Cal, UCLA, USC, et al. The BEST of the BEST (black kids) attended HBCUs during that timeframe. And today, this very second,the BEST of the BEST attend the larger schools and the BEST attend the other schools leaving what's left, a BEST here or there (onesies or twosies) to HBCUs. Obviously I don't ascribe to the #s game, outside of funding $$$ associated w/ it which can indeed support other support staff like full-time dieticians, et al. When it's all said and done, it's your 11 vs their 11, your preparedness vs theirs, and their coaching staff vs yours w/ regards to gameplanning/strategy for victory.
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I agree and disagree. First of all App State vs Michigan was a fluke of all flukes. The next week, Michigan would have beat them by 50 so while is a legendary story, it means nothing when comparing the two programs. It's their 11 vs our 11 but if 9 times outta 10, their 11 kick our azz, that 1 time ain't worth discussion.

BUT you are right that the numbers mean nothing. What matters is alumni/fan support and university investment. There are many large schools who don't belong in 1-A.. Georgia State is among them. I am not sure how University of South Alabama is doing but chances are, but they belong in 1-AA.. as do Troy, Georgia Southern, and UL-Monroe, etc.. I think App State is ready because the school and the administration says they are ready by their level of support. I bet App State fans would travel as well. They overflow their stadium every week and they win. That is how you know you are ready. I think they could win the Sunbelt in their first year. The same goes for University of Delaware. I have gone to games in their stadium. They are 1000% D-1AA material as is Villanova in football.

We need to take another look at our classification system and we need to really consider adhering to NCAA guidelines to what allows a school to be 1-A. If they don't meet the criteria, kick their azzez out! The same goes for 1-AA. If you can't afford 63 scholarships, yo azz need to be D2. PERIOD.
 
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