Division alignment

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long green
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Re: Division alignment

Post by long green »

first football game vs. them that I'm aware of was in 1976.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by '03Greenie »

GreenieBacker wrote:we've played Cincy for a longer period of time that most people suspect.
According to the 2013 media guide the first meeting was in 1909, but we've only played them 14 times in total. Other AAC members are as follows:

UCF - 4 times
UConn - 0 times
ECU - 13 times
Houston - 18 times
Memphis - 29 times
Navy - 19 times
SMU - 21 times
USF - 0 times
Temple - 1 time
Tulsa - 10 times
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GreenieBacker »

Oh really lg? According to Tulane the first meeting took place on Nov. 6, 1909 in New Orleans with the score Tulane 6, Cincinnati 0

so there smarty pants :wink:

now, to be fair we haven't met that many times.

'03, you beat me to it, still Cincy has been around waay longer than most people realize.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by akhosrof »

Has anyone read anything about Cincy having any aversion going West for football? I can't imagine Tuberville would have a problem going to Texas/Oklahoma at least once a year, being he came from Texas Tech. Having Cincy in the West also pairs them with their closest geographical match in Memphis. I don't see why Cincy would want to stay East, not like they have a natural rival. If anything they should see being in the West division an opportunity to easily go to the conference championship against UCF in the East.

On the AAC board it sounds like the Florida teams absolutely do not want to be split. Objectively it makes sense, every team would get to visit each Texas and Florida once a year. I now think it is definite we go East/West. I really hope there is not a cross rivalry game. I'd rather go 5-3 and play all the teams in the East consistently.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by Roller »

Do we really have a dog in this hunt? If The Bayou Bungles or USM were in the mix, I'd be interested in being matched up, but as far as the rest...meh. Do we really care who we get matched up with? The more important consideration remains--whoever it is, we must beat them all.

As for me, just Bring 'Em On!
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Re: Division alignment

Post by Baywave1 »

Roller wrote:Do we really have a dog in this hunt? If The Bayou Bungles or USM were in the mix, I'd be interested in being matched up, but as far as the rest...meh. Do we really care who we get matched up with? The more important consideration remains--whoever it is, we must beat them all.

As for me, just Bring 'Em On!
Ideally Tulane wants one to two road games per year in NorthEast/DC area. I think any arrangement proposed would allow that to happen unless Cincy goes West and AAC goes 5-2-1 with dedicated rival for Tulane being ECU. Annual conference road game in Florida would be a plus to that.

I am rooting for Navy to be sent West as that would be a fun game to have annually versus say UCinn?
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Re: Division alignment

Post by TU77CAL82 »

From Ted Lewis, courtesy of the AAC Board:
Ted Lewis
‏@LewisAdvocate
AAC will announce FB divisions on Friday - tulane in west with SMU, UH, Tulsa, Memphis and Navy @AdvocateSports
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Re: Division alignment

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TU77CAL82 wrote:From Ted Lewis, courtesy of the AAC Board:
Ted Lewis
‏@LewisAdvocate
AAC will announce FB divisions on Friday - tulane in west with SMU, UH, Tulsa, Memphis and Navy @AdvocateSports
I guess it's fine as long as they don't go with the 5-2-1 and the florida schools are split so we're playing at one of them every other year. It still seems pretty silly to sweep Navy out of the East.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by WaveProf »

By those divisions we are already about equal to Bavy and SMU for 2nd best in the division. Me likes.

Now let's start closing the gap with Houston

I feel bad for Pete. TU @ cincy 1/4 years instead of 1/2. Also for a member if my tailgate Krewe who is Abigail uconn fan and TUPF as regards philly/temple. And while those people shouldn't make a difference, individually, it does speak to the one downside of divisions and being in the west. We have a lot if alumni in the NE and like to play games there. If the conference schedule scratched that itch we'd have to play less ooc there. Oh well, thank goodness our AD was working on a long term series with army again anyway. :roll:

That said, overall, I'm glad we have divisions.
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long green
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Re: Division alignment

Post by long green »

In general I prefer my team to play the better teams in its league as often as possible. If Tulane is properly led there is no one to fear.

This split will be played up EXACTLY like the split in CUSA starting in 2005. Remember that? The East is soooooo much better than the West. And in fact on paper it does look better right now. But I bet it doesn't play out that way. It sure didn't in CUSA.

This setup is a good opportunity. Beat Houston in football in any given year and the odds are that will allow you to play for a very good bowl game.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GreenieBacker »

if the AAC is going to divisions these make as much sense as anything else they could have come up with . So I'm OK. I really care about playing the "Eastern" teams in Basketball (UConn, Cincy, Temple, etc) which won't be affected by the more limited schedule presented by divisions (in football)..............so its all good as far as I'm concerned.

so if BYU comes in, they go West Division? Navy gets sent East?
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Re: Division alignment

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American Athletic Conference to have divisional play in 2015
http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/sp ... ce-to-have
“Texas is our No. 1 state for players,” Midshipmen coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “So we’d prefer to play at either Houston or SMU every year.
Tulane coach Curtis Johnson said he was fine with the plan as long as it meant that the Green Wave would play its closest rivals every year.

“We don’t need to be playing Connecticut or Temple every year,” he said. “They’re just not our natural rivals. We need to build rivalries with the schools that are closest to us.”
Aresco added that no matter how the divisional split winds up, the schedule will have a 5-3 format, meaning a team’s nondivisional opponents will change every two years and there will no permanent cross-division foes.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GreenieBacker »

I like how CJ talks! :)
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Re: Division alignment

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GreenieBacker wrote:if the AAC is going to divisions these make as much sense as anything else they could have come up with . So I'm OK. I really care about playing the "Eastern" teams in Basketball (UConn, Cincy, Temple, etc) which won't be affected by the more limited schedule presented by divisions (in football)..............so its all good as far as I'm concerned.

so if BYU comes in, they go West Division? Navy gets sent East?
If BYU comes in I suspect we'll add an eastern team. If we don't then either navy Memphis or Tulane will be sent east. Don't count on it being navy. Reading their boards and looking at their coach's quotes, they have NO interest in the east.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by '03Greenie »

If Navy really is in favor of being in the west to get into Texas every year, then those divisions do make the most sense. The more florida-centric schools get to travel there yearly. The more texas-centric schools, likewise, get to travel there yearly. Avoiding the need for a 5-2-1 still has each player visiting each conference member at least once during his career.
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Re: Division alignment

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'03Greenie wrote:If Navy really is in favor of being in the west to get into Texas every year, then those divisions do make the most sense. The more florida-centric schools get to travel there yearly. The more texas-centric schools, likewise, get to travel there yearly. Avoiding the need for a 5-2-1 still has each player visiting each conference member at least once during his career.
The irony: we are slightly more Florida centric (over Texas). But I think CCJ has those connections separately, 1/2 years is fine. Whereas playing in Texas could actually help.
“We will expect success in all endeavors and be prepared to assess and hold ourselves accountable when we aren't successful. Tulane is a top 40 academic institution and it should expect nothing less from its athletic department.” --Troy Dannen 11.5.16
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Re: Division alignment

Post by '03Greenie »

WaveProf wrote:
'03Greenie wrote:If Navy really is in favor of being in the west to get into Texas every year, then those divisions do make the most sense. The more florida-centric schools get to travel there yearly. The more texas-centric schools, likewise, get to travel there yearly. Avoiding the need for a 5-2-1 still has each player visiting each conference member at least once during his career.
The irony: we are slightly more Florida centric (over Texas). But I think CCJ has those connections separately, 1/2 years is fine. Whereas playing in Texas could actually help.
I think us and Memphis could probably go either way. Swapping Navy for a Florida school would probably have been better for us, but if Navy really wanted the west, that's a sacrifice we should be willing to make for a conference mate.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by TU77CAL82 »

Official now.

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Re: Division alignment

Post by GreenieBacker »

Very nice. I like it.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GSx »

I don't understand why Tulane wants to be in the West so badly. We don't recruit Texas, but we do recruit Florida. Our alumni are in the East. The private school thing is stupid and irrelevant - this is football. There's no rivalry with SMU or Tulsa.
I am glad to be back with Memphis.
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GreenieBacker »

I think our student base is heavy with Texas kids. We do recruit Texas. Always have (at least since Pittman) and there are a couple of schools there that have "rivalry potential": Houston, SMU, Memphis(?)
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Re: Division alignment

Post by GretnaGrn »

Divisions are necessary to have the all-important championship game. Beyond that, I am so happy to be out of CUSA that I really don't care who we're with; any combination of AAC teams is better than any combination of current CUSA teams....
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Re: Division alignment

Post by PeteRasche »

GSx wrote:I don't understand why Tulane wants to be in the West so badly. We don't recruit Texas, but we do recruit Florida. Our alumni are in the East. The private school thing is stupid and irrelevant - this is football. There's no rivalry with SMU or Tulsa.
I am glad to be back with Memphis.
I suspect that playing teams in a certain area is not viewed as a 100% prerequisite for recruiting, and I seriously doubt we were fighting for divisional placement based on our alumni/fanbase vs. what was closer to us (less expensive and time-consuming travel, etc.). Of course, I also suspect that the conference didn't necessarily care what we wanted. As a newbie, we don't hold a lot of sway in the conference.

Of course, if you want to put on your tin foil hat, perhaps Tulane argued baloney reasons to be in the west because the unspoken truth is they want to remain visible in the Big 12's consciousness. And that western division is very winnable; keep winning games in the Big 12's backyard and it plants a nice subconscious seed....
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Re: Division alignment

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“We will expect success in all endeavors and be prepared to assess and hold ourselves accountable when we aren't successful. Tulane is a top 40 academic institution and it should expect nothing less from its athletic department.” --Troy Dannen 11.5.16
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Re: Division alignment

Post by MartinOKC »

To me the divisions look fairly balanced in football. IIRC, USF won 4 games last year, UConn 3, and Temple 2, so the East isn't head-and-shoulders above the West.

I like that we're in the same division as five teams that we've played 10 or more times in history. That's a pretty good start at rivalries. I really like playing service academies other than army every year.
Let's play two.
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