The New ASUN Football Conference


Fiyah

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Looks like the landscape is changing more on the FCS football scene as there will be a new FCS Football conference.
Starting in the fall of 2021 the ASUN will field football with 6 public schools. Kennesaw St, North Alabama & Central Arkansas along with 2 schools from the OVC (Eastern Kentucky & Jacksonville St) and Pioneer League Stetson University.

Central Arkansas announced they will be leaving the Southland for the ASUN today and their AD said other schools will be announcing their new affiliation with the ASUN soon.

Looks like NCA&T was thinking they were doing better by leaving the MEAC to join the Big South and now that league is losing 2 of its football playing schools to the ASUN and taking their new league down to the minimum (6) for FCS football. I wonder if they will try to talk other MEAC schools to join them there which would decimate the MEAC as they only have 6 schools remaining after the departure of NCAT, FAMU & BCU.

I wonder how will the new FCS playoff structure end up with 2 new conferences potentially getting autobids to the playoffs and less number of at large bids available.
 
Looks like the landscape is changing more on the FCS football scene as there will be a new FCS Football conference.
Starting in the fall of 2021 the ASUN will field football with 6 public schools. Kennesaw St, North Alabama & Central Arkansas along with 2 schools from the OVC (Eastern Kentucky & Jacksonville St) and Pioneer League Stetson University.

Central Arkansas announced they will be leaving the Southland for the ASUN today and their AD said other schools will be announcing their new affiliation with the ASUN soon.

Looks like NCA&T was thinking they were doing better by leaving the MEAC to join the Big South and now that league is losing 2 of its football playing schools to the ASUN and taking their new league down to the minimum (6) for FCS football. I wonder if they will try to talk other MEAC schools to join them there which would decimate the MEAC as they only have 6 schools remaining after the departure of NCAT, FAMU & BCU.

I wonder how will the new FCS playoff structure end up with 2 new conferences potentially getting autobids to the playoffs and less number of at large bids available.
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Looks like the landscape is changing more on the FCS football scene as there will be a new FCS Football conference.
Starting in the fall of 2021 the ASUN will field football with 6 public schools. Kennesaw St, North Alabama & Central Arkansas along with 2 schools from the OVC (Eastern Kentucky & Jacksonville St) and Pioneer League Stetson University.

Central Arkansas announced they will be leaving the Southland for the ASUN today and their AD said other schools will be announcing their new affiliation with the ASUN soon.

Looks like NCA&T was thinking they were doing better by leaving the MEAC to join the Big South and now that league is losing 2 of its football playing schools to the ASUN and taking their new league down to the minimum (6) for FCS football. I wonder if they will try to talk other MEAC schools to join them there which would decimate the MEAC as they only have 6 schools remaining after the departure of NCAT, FAMU & BCU.

I wonder how will the new FCS playoff structure end up with 2 new conferences potentially getting autobids to the playoffs and less number of at large bids available.

None of this comes as a surprise. A&T also received an offer from the ASUN and politely declined.
Joining the Big South Conference wasn't about "doing better. It was about reducing travel expenses .
 
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Do not believe Stetson is the sixth school.

i believe you are right with the other schools for the ASUN but Stetson is in non scholarship Pioneer. Would be steeper incline than a D2 move up

Interesting developments unfolding and FBS is also in mix for ASUN and WAC
 
Remember, the MEAC has 8 schools,
its just that 2 [Coppin and UMES] do not field football teams at this time
but they still participate in the other sports.

Coppin State [no football]
Delaware State

Howard
Morgan State
Maryland-Eastern Shore [no football]
Norfolk State

NC Central
South Carolina State


STILL....I hear whatcha saying
 
Remember, the MEAC has 8 schools,
its just that 2 [Coppin and UMES] do not field football teams at this time
but they still participate in the other sports.

Coppin State [no football]
Delaware State

Howard
Morgan State
Maryland-Eastern Shore [no football]
Norfolk State

NC Central
South Carolina State


STILL....I hear whatcha saying

But for them to be a football conference they have to have 6 members.
 
But for them to be a football conference they have to have 6 members.

Correct.

All of a sudden, FCS is going from 13 to 15 leagues in the next two years with the addition of the WAC & ASUN to the fold while the MEAC, SLC will continue on. Already seeing St. Thomas (MN), Dixie St (UT), Tarleton St (TX) move into the FCS ranks this last year and the coming year. Will likely see three to five more join from Div II in the coming years (West Texas A&M, Augustana, A&M Commerce) or Div I start ups (UTRGV) with possibly more that I'm not thinking of.
 
Fiyah, the MEAC currently has 6 football members.... CURRENTLY being the keyword.
Who knows what is going to happen next, ie., is anybody else leaving the MEAC?:eek:

time will surely tell. THEN what happens?
 
Looks like the landscape is changing more on the FCS football scene as there will be a new FCS Football conference.
Starting in the fall of 2021 the ASUN will field football with 6 public schools. Kennesaw St, North Alabama & Central Arkansas along with 2 schools from the OVC (Eastern Kentucky & Jacksonville St) and Pioneer League Stetson University.

Central Arkansas announced they will be leaving the Southland for the ASUN today and their AD said other schools will be announcing their new affiliation with the ASUN soon.

Looks like NCA&T was thinking they were doing better by leaving the MEAC to join the Big South and now that league is losing 2 of its football playing schools to the ASUN and taking their new league down to the minimum (6) for FCS football. I wonder if they will try to talk other MEAC schools to join them there which would decimate the MEAC as they only have 6 schools remaining after the departure of NCAT, FAMU & BCU.

I wonder how will the new FCS playoff structure end up with 2 new conferences potentially getting autobids to the playoffs and less number of at large bids available.
I haven't seen anywhere here where Jacksonville State is leaving fo the ASUN.
 
I haven't seen anywhere here where Jacksonville State is leaving fo the ASUN.

report from Kendall Rogers indicating Jax State, EKU and UCA were in a negotiation window with the ASUN a few months ago. Based on what came out yesterday from UCA AD, looks imminent
 
Commissioner Ted Gumbart said he still wants to use the collaborative approach with the Big South partnership as well
 
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Interesting times in FCS

About to have a handful of leagues with just six or seven schools. Opportunity exists for more movement, new D2 schools coming into FCS and who knows what else.
 
North Carolina a&t could move back to the meac especially if they are able to pull in Tennessee State instead of the swac. In the meac there is no more Florida trip..
The asun conference will be all over the place especially with UCA.
 
Yikes.

So they are still in a dead end Big South conference and STILL have to travel to Monmouth and Robert Morris instead of FAMU and BCU.

Yeah this makes plenty of sense

hahaha! Serves them right

I hope they go broke traveling to those schools. If I were the MEAC I’d wait for them to beg to come back
 
Jacksonville State is among three schools that will join the newly re-constituted Western Athletic Conference in football in 2021, then head to the Atlantic Sun, according to report late Thursday.
 
Jacksonville State is among three schools that will join the newly re-constituted Western Athletic Conference in football in 2021, then head to the Atlantic Sun, according to report late Thursday.

It is a one year "bridge the gap" deal between the three ASUN schools and the WAC schools due to the unexpected 'early exits' from the SLC and OVC that those leagues implemented.

Great move for all.

It ensure an automatic bid to the playoffs (though it would not be a problem) and helps those schools fill their schedules and the seven or eight games that were to be lost due to no conference affiliation. It's a win-win for a one year deal. There's familiarity between the leadership (UCA used to be in Southland, EKU's AD was in the Southland and JaxState is a former Southland Football League member with an AD that was part of the athletic administration at that time).

I still expect the Southland Conference remnants to play some sort of modified double round robin this coming year. Don't know enough about the Ohio Valley's situation but it may be somewhat similar though they have seven remaining schools vs the SLC's six.
 
So Jacksonville State paid an exit fee; any idea what the price is? I know TSU is being pimped/held hostage by the OVC to depart. Its well known TSU travels well and the PWIs are making $$ from them; but TSU is not making $$ from OVC opponents to come to an "NFL venue"; plus, the deal from Titans to play there is not favorable to TSU.
 
Im trying to figure out how people are acting like A&T ended up in a worse situation.
because the Big South had 2 football schools (Kennesaw State and UNA) that were in the Big South for football only with the rest of their sports in the Atlantic Sun..... with the Atlantic Sun getting football both Kennesaw State and UNA will be leaving the Big South in football to having all of their sports in the Atlantic Sun.
 
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