One additional angle to the UMASS to the MAC report/rumor concerns where BG will end up. There seems to be a lot of thinking that UMASS would go in the East for football (which would only make sense) and then BG would head over to the West, in part of our musical chairs routine. It certainly makes sense for us to be in the same division as Toledo, and is is a small competitive disadvantage in football that we get UT as a cross-over game every year and therefore don't get the full rotation including some of the lesser teams in that division. Not a big deal, though.
I'm not sure anyone has thought this far ahead, but it might mean that would be in the East for football and the West for everything else. For example, in basketball, we would have 12 teams, and a BG move would un-balance the divisions. So, in fact, would moving any team, because under the UMASS to the East scenario, both of the football-only schools would be in the same division.
I don't think it matters too much. When we moved to the East, we said that we were being aligned with our more traditional long-term rivals (Miami, OU, Kent) and that would be replaced by CMU, WMU and NIU, etc, which is probably less interesting from a fan's standpoint, though I doubt attendance would be too affected.
Advantage: an annual game with EMU.
Glad I stopped by b/c I haven't heard this potential. UMASS, like Temple, want to use the MAC to build it's program with hopes of leading to a bigger catch. Of course that takes time, so why not. Good analysis (as usual).
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