The New ASUN Football Conference


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.

Watch as my sports team and I break down how this impacts the local teams that we cover here in North Alabama (Jacksonville State & UNA - North Alabama)

View: https://youtu.be/ADkDcvVUoTc
 
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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.

View: https://twitter.com/md_hebert55/status/1357519688708878340?s=20
 
The most likely scenario is Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville state will join their other ASUN members in the Big South this fall. Honestly, this should be the move until a 6th member joins. However, it's very fluid and we'll find out specifics by Feb 23rd.
 
The most likely scenario is Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and Jacksonville state will join their other ASUN members in the Big South this fall. Honestly, this should be the move until a 6th member joins. However, it's very fluid and we'll find out specifics by Feb 23rd.
I am not sure if that pans out but like you said, we will learn more later this month.

can’t imagine some of the Big South schools wanting to incur the costs associated with flights that were not originally planned to these schools.
Looking forward to more clarity from the various leagues impacted by the sudden changes
 
Hell naw lol

It's been posted time and time again that in FOOTBALL RMU and Monmouth are just as far if not further than FAMU and BCU which was cited as the reason why they left the MEAC. In basketball, the Big South is not a step up from the SWAC. Still a one bid league. And as others have mentioned, the non-revenue sports are a wash in the MEAC with no more FAMU and BCU and the SWAC does divisional play in softball and baseball.

But it's not surprising to see people still loving the taste of that water from the Whites Only fountain.


Most people on the SWAC are calling a spade a spade. Hampton's brand aint improved and A&T's wont either. And unlike the MEAC Board, SWAC people will tell you it's a move that doesnt make any sense. Dont have a damn thing to do with "hating" or "being mad". Their brand aint growing in the Big South

You do understand that RMU and Monmouth are football only members of the Big South. That means A&T has to travel there 1x a year

In the MEAC , A&T was going to FL for Football , Basketball M&W , Baseball, Softball , Volleyball. That's where the savings are coming from.

Don't understand how you can't see that.

A&T Brand football wise will grow because the opportunity to play in the playoffs. A&T wants to be a contender in FCS football. Can't do that when they would have to lose in conference just to make playoffs.
 
A&T Brand football wise will grow because the opportunity to play in the playoffs. A&T wants to be a contender in FCS football. Can't do that when they would have to lose in conference just to make playoffs.

I doubt that, they already conceded years ago that their school benefited more from going to the Celebration Bowl than all those other years going to the playoffs with a increase in enrollment.
 
I doubt that, they already conceded years ago that their school benefited more from going to the Celebration Bowl than all those other years going to the playoffs with a increase in enrollment.

Coach Washington and AD Hilton have both stated a desire to be a player in FCS football and a top 10 FCS football team year in and out. You can't do that without playing in the playoffs
 
Coach Washington and AD Hilton have both stated a desire to be a player in FCS football and a top 10 FCS football team year in and out. You can't do that without playing in the playoffs

They don't pay the bills or get that extra incentive by going to the playoffs. Increased enrollment does that with more students paying their fees and bringing that extra incentive into the University.
 
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They don't pay the bills or get that extra incentive by going to the playoffs. Increased enrollment does that with more students paying their fees and bringing that extra incentive into the University.

It's hard for them to understand that, because all they see is the perceived lost opportunity to congregate with the "others!"
 
Lol , lost opportunity to be with others. Ya'll kill me with this white man's ice is colder stuff. Yet you send your champ every year to every other NCAA tournament with no hope of winning. But because we want to participate in the FCS football playoffs, we are sellouts lol.

Celebration Bowl has been around 5 years. We have won 4 of them and the last 3. We have hit the celling
 
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Lol , lost opportunity to be with others. Ya'll kill me with this white man's ice is colder stuff. Yet you send your champ every year to every other NCAA tournament with no hope of winning. But because we want to participate in the FCS football playoffs, we are sellouts lol.

Celebration Bowl has been around 5 years. We have won 4 of them and the last 3. We have hit the celling

So are you saying that there is a ceiling on the amount of money one can receive from going to a bowl game vs the non-existent money you can get from going to the FCS Playoffs?
 
So are you saying that there is a ceiling on the amount of money one can receive from going to a bowl game vs the non-existent money you can get from going to the FCS Playoffs?

We profit about 500k from playing in the Bowl. The ceiling is we can't achieve a goal of becoming a contender for the FCS championship. That's what the move is about. And cost savings of not having to travel to FL ( although they have now left the MEAC)

We haven't lost to a SWAC school since 07. Just time to try our luck against the best FCS schools
 
We profit about 500k from playing in the Bowl. The ceiling is we can't achieve a goal of becoming a contender for the FCS championship. That's what the move is about. And cost savings of not having to travel to FL ( although they have now left the MEAC)

We haven't lost to a SWAC school since 07. Just time to try our luck against the best FCS schools
You can schedule them regular season.
 
You can't win the FCS championship buy scheduling FCS teams during the regular season
Its more ways to skin a cat. If you beat 2 or 3 of the top 10 FCS teams, which is what you would have to do in the playoffs anyway and end up being ranked #1 in the nation, what's the difference?
 
Its more ways to skin a cat. If you beat 2 or 3 of the top 10 FCS teams, which is what you would have to do in the playoffs anyway and end up being ranked #1 in the nation, what's the difference?

The difference is we would ranked #1 but not seeded in the playoffs. The playoffs is what determines the champion. Not the polls
 
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