I have been watching the CUSA games with close attention, too.
Bowl Eligibility: I was also curious regarding this year being counted as part of the two year transition period. I do think KSU can be a top tier team, considering the success Jax State is having. The other side is the struggle SHSU is having, despite winning the FCS national championship a few years ago, considering the factor that there are three other teams. I wonder if the decision makers are watching the SHSU situation. Basketball wise, Coach Pettway is bringing in a good balance of freshman and transfers, I wonder if the recruiting staff on the football team will do the same. What are everyone's thoughts? Do we perform like Jax State or have another year like SHSU? I don't think Coach Bohannon wants another loosing season after this season. The upcoming KSU-SHSU game will be worth watching.
Non-Conference Opponent: SJSU, UTSA listed on the KSU official website schedule. UT-Martin remains listed in third party sources, and Tennessee State has been removed. KSU must have had some offers from major or at least an offer from a major program to have had to buy out the remaining game with TSU. I will say that the first thing that came to mind when I learned about Tennessee State is that its likely that some major may have offered KSU a game or there has been some serious offers from other major programs. Does anyone think that there may have been an offer from another school to have the Tennessee State game removed?
Future CUSA Members: I know that three schools came up in the news of possibilities Missouri State, Eastern Kentucky, Tarleton State among others, but the conversation changes with the new rule of FCS transition to FBS fee among other factors, such as the situation TMAC mentioned regarding MWC. The CUSA Commissioner mentioned ideally being at 12 CUSA Members. With recent re-alignments and new rules, things have changed since July. As of now, I think CUSA should keep a watch on conference re-alignment once the situation with PAC-12 is settled and the MWC teams are more clear. To be honest, I never heard of Tarleton State or Missouri State until recently on Twitter. Eastern Kentucky I was familiar with due to ASUN. Other possibilities are New Mexico among others. I rather KSU play the MWC teams. Which teams have anyone else heard for possible CUSA additions?
Overall, I think it is good for us to transition to CUSA at this time because while we want to enter the major conferences, we also want to be on the top tier of the major conference while the conference is re-developing. It just happened that during the new rule changes, that it worked in our favor. I think we can be competitive in CUSA within the first two years, if we recruit to our potential and keep great coaches intact. With new opportunities, come new challenges. I look forward to a CUSA Championship game at KSU a few years from now.
I did find that fun fact from the last podcast regarding Big 12 and what President Papp and the AD did very interesting. That was bold.