TexGator

They went into both games with everyone assuming the final results were pre-determined. This is the first REAL game. Rosso will have them ready for this.

With the Mountain West Conference being poached of its top members (and likely more of them leaving soon to backfill the PAC12), it looks like we'll start the next round of realignment in college sports. That said, if the Sun Belt or C-USA called, would you want O'Malley to take the call- knowing there would be a HUGE fundraising effort (probably $30M+) to upgrade/expand facilities, including probably needing to double the capacity for Provost Umphrey Stadium? Obviously, moving to FBS wouldn't get SEC or Big 12 teams to play football games in Beaumont, but the paychecks for non-conference would be bigger; the football TV deal isn't as lucrative as you'd think (~$700K annually so the paycheck games would be the main driver of additional revenue). That ballpark of $30M = ~$200/student annually for a decade to pay for those facility upgrades, less what's fundraised from alumni and corporate partners. I'm sure they have it in the endowment (among unrestricted funds) to front the money, but I'm leery both ways: - Leery of making the move because of the previous moves not paying off - Leery that P4 Football will split itself off creating a whole different paradigm in the next 5 years - Leery of not being aggressive since backfilling the Pac-12 might be the last domino for a decade and, if the Cards want to play musical chairs, the music might suddenly stop w/o anywhere to sit.

Definitely going to enjoy watching this one on ESPN+ ... don't want to go and it end up being a rain game.

Anyone actually going to the game? Interested in going (family's making a trip but I'm staying back... could make a day trip of this). Don't want to drive 5 hours round trip to sit by myself scrolling my phone during timeouts.

I 100% agree. It takes a while to kick someone out of a league since you have to give them time to meet standards. If you want something in less than 8-10 years down the road, it's easier to simply start a new league. While it didn't pay off for Lamar, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Southwestern Louisiana, New Orleans, and UTPA doesn't mean it can't. C-USA and the Mountain West thrived... one with the scraps of conferences, one with the "haves" of another conference.

Lots of great talent! Can't wait to see them in the Red & White!!! We are definitely bringing in the best talent in the history of the program. Keep building... and let's win us a playoff game or two (or more)!

I disagree. To me "Playoffs or bust!!" means Rosso's out if they don't make it. He's building something, in my opinion, that could be the best year in Lamar Football history (or at least since they brought it back) but that doesn't mean it's necessarily mean they have to be in the FCS Playoffs like they were in 2018. Every break went that team's way in conference. I've got it as: Texas State: LOSS Mississippi Valley State: WIN Weber State: WIN Texas Southern: WIN Central Arkansas: WIN Stephen F. Austin: WIN (Homecoming) TAMU-Commerce: WIN Northwestern State: WIN (sitting in the driver's seat for the playoffs- knowing 2 of 4 might get us in... 3 of 4 DEFINITELY gets us in... but have the top 3 in the conference up next)) Southeastern Louisiana: LOSS (Provost Umphrey is rockin'... if we do win it, we're getting some major rankings love) Incarnate Word: LOSS (would have it as a win, if it was in Beaumont) Nicholls: LOSS McNeese: WIN That record would put us 4th in conference and I don't see the Southland getting a 4th team. 2 definitely, 3's the limit.

D2 and D3 teams are good for November, if you can't get a decent opponent otherwise. But, yes, we need as many D1 teams on our schedule as possible. More importantly, we need to win. We're a 1-bid league so the guys need to impose their will over anyone they take the floor against.

Hey Big Red Nation- We're all watching the Caribbean and concerned about Beryl. As 90% of us are probably either in the Houston or Gold Triangle areas, my thoughts are with all of you in the next 4-5 days. Let's hope we all make it through the storm safely and can celebrate getting through it by talking about young men and women playing games again in a few days.

He develops talent. There are two kinds of assistant coaches- the kind that get you a raise and the kind that get you fired. He seems to be the former. Plus, he seems to be a pied piper- bringing players who were committed to Iowa with him.

I hope this means he also got a decent raise. There's an energy around this program that will serve them well and is attracting talent.

It's a different game than when Gilligan coached. Davis is coaching this version of the game pretty damn well.

When the TV rights are running $30M+ per school, you can do it. The TV money alone is more than any Southland school has as a total budget. Plus, P4 schools have alumni and fans everywhere. May not be able to give them 30K fans for UCLA going to Maryland, but their fans on the East Coast and Great Lakes areas will still come out of the woodwork. Now, does it suck for Volleyball to be likely leaving on Wednesday to play a Thursday/Saturday pair of matches? Yes. But they'll manage- so many classes are online anyway that they'll not miss too much class. But all of this is just the nature of college sports now. I'm surprised the SLC hasn't been able to come up with some "Official Gameday Stop of the Southland Conference" since they're talking up that they've got the shortest trips... monetize that to encourage people to road trip it. 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, Murphy USA, Buc-ee's, TimeWise... there are plenty of potential partners and it gives your schools another shovel of money.

No thank you.

Welcome In (or Back In for the Jacks) to our new conference brethren! SFA- I know it may not seem like a step up, but as a school that also made that move to the WAC, I can tell you that our foundation in Southland is much stronger. You'll love that the new commissioner is forward thinking but also loves to build up what's already there. With 2 of your 3 biggest regional rivals here, I hope you see quick success in increasing the number of people through the turnstiles as you will, I'm sure, save millions in travel costs and feel like the Southland is on better footing than when you left it! Vaqueros- It already has felt like y'all were our partners in crime, so to speak, with the UTPA Broncs having been in the ASC and Sun Belt with the Cardinals. It's going to be a lot of fun having y'all with us and I hope that rivalry with the Islanders becomes something to watch blossom. Your joint membership in the conference will hopefully be something you enjoy as I'm sure those trips out to Utah were a little taxing on everyone and were discouraging your fans on travel options. Now, while most of the conference isn't "close" for our RGV friends, annual games in Corpus and the Alamo City will hopefully build up the excitement about your program.

Speaking of decimating UNO:

And a pitcher who put up some great JuCo stats and followed his pitching coach down to Beaumont. Love it!

Hitter from UMBC- and he's got some good stats- a .963 OPS last year, .900+ for his college career. Primarily a 3B.

UNO and HCU are going to be decimated, from what I'm hearing. I really like both those pickups, btw.

Pretty solid players. Let's hope they and others help take the team to the next level.

It'll be interesting to see who they go after. Trev Alberts has definitely put his imprint on the Athletic Department with all the changes he's made. Heefner at DBU makes sense but I think they'll try to go after one of the other SEC coaches or an ACC coach like Holland from Duke, Bakich at Clemson, or even try for Vitello at Tennessee.

Scuttlebutt I've been hearing: - None of the guys in the portal that haven't announced a new school are closing the door on returning to Beaumont - No one is taking calls from other Southland schools, out of respect for the program, their teammates, and Coach Davis (to me, that's a testament to Davis' leadership that they don't want to double-hit the Cardinals program) - They're not recruiting as much as selecting portal guys, including from other SLC schools; pretty easy to pluck from a school like HCU since they were 9th in conference and then hired from within... if I had offers, I'd take that as a sign they're not serious about investing in the program, and thus, in me

Well, let's be honest. Their ability to play games is 2-3 months shorter than it is down there. Their schedule has to end by October 1st and doesn't get to start until mid-March. So the players are easily a fully puberty year behind Southern and West Coast players by the time they hit college. Then, they get to college and have to spend most, if not all, their non-conference schedule down here... with the school spending money on travel and not getting revenue from: - Home games - Your internal game broadcast (yeah, Disney will pay to air it on ESPN+, but you don't get revenue from "Hometown Ford" sponsoring "Your Drive of the Game" or the local ADT installer with the "Home Defense POTG") ... and instead spending about $200/day per player on room, meals, travel, etc. Amazing to say about the "Mighty Big 10" but we probably can offer the guy more money and he already has relationships with players.