I mean, unless that's what you're going for. I suppose if it were a school in, say, Mississippi, then, yeah, it would make some sense, even though it was still offensive. But in Utah? (Apparently that part of the state was called "Utah's Dixie" by Brigham Young because of the climate and the name stuck.)
To show how little attention I've been paying to collegiate soccer lately, I somehow missed that Chicago State is now an affiliate member of the MAC for men's soccer. Apparently, this is news from almost a month ago and I just heard about it. I'm tempted to say they'll be the punching bag of the league but they did beat Northwestern and had close matches with Xavier and Michigan albeit they were outshot. NIU did beat them handily, 3-0, while outshooting them 18-3 with 11 of those shots on frame. https://getsomemaction.com/news/202...n-mac-as-affiliate-member-in-mens-soccer.aspx
They started the season 2-1 followed by a 15 game winless streak. Only hope is international recruiting and maybe a few city kids from Chicago.
University of the Incarnate Word changed its mind and decided to stay in the Southland Conference instead of going to the Western Athletic Conference. https://www.southland.org/news/2022...word-staying-in-the-southland-conference.aspx
Southland conference doesn't have men's soccer. So, I don't expect that this decision will change IAW's continued participation in WAC - but perhaps IAW will move to another conference.
Yep, I just missed it is all. I’m rarely on these forums. I’ve followed men’s collegiate soccer pretty closely for years. Perhaps the fact that I am not as diligent about following it lends further credence to the notion that the game will somehow need to change. At least that is how I must be feeling if my interest has waned.
Source: USC and UCLA are planning to leave for the Big Ten as early as 2024. Move *has not been finalized* at the highest levels of power.— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) June 30, 2022 Big move will get the conference realignment games restarted, especially in the West. For men's soccer, UCLA to the Big Ten leaves the Pac-12 with four members + one affiliate (SDSU). I would expect UNLV, San Jose State and Air Force to slide over to affiliate with the Pac-12, if they haven't already joined the conference as full members by 2024.
There are reports that Washington (and Oregon) have applied for Big Ten membership. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nb...d-oregon-eyeing-big-ten-admittance/ar-AAZ3oSH
There will be a lot more teams applying for Big Ten Membership from Pac-12 and ACC. It's the end of college sports as we've known it.
Men's C-USA Coaches React to Leaving League https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...-usa-coaches-react-to-leaving-league_aid51010
Air Force and Seattle both announced their schedules today, and neither included UIW. Seattle had previously posted a schedule with UIW included and it's now been changed. I wonder if the WAC threw them out as an affiliate when they pulled a last-minute change-of-heart and remained in the Southland Conference (which doesn't play men's soccer).
Most released WAC schedules are now reflecting this. Either the UIW game has become a non-conference match or the school has been dropped from the schedule completely.
Maybe I'm in the minority here. Maybe not. But all of this movement is just a travesty, and I don't think that word is strong enough. Its just terrible.
Someone should step up and propose different conferences for the non-rev sports. I mean, it's crazy for football and hoops but at least they generate enough coin that can justify the charter planes to ease the travel burden. But it's preposterous for tennis, gymnastics and, yes, soccer teams to be traveling across multiple time zones for conference games.
Four trips in Big Ten for UCLA to midwest or beyond. Maybe with online learning they will combine a Wednesday/Sunday twice a year so it won't be too bad.
Because UCLA is on the quarter system, they could actually schedule at least one, if not two, double game trips before school starts at the end of September and not miss any class at all. They already did this semi-regularly anyway with their non-conference schedule (especially pre-pandemic). For example, in 2019, they played Northwestern and Indiana in Bloomington around Labor Day weekend, in 2018, they had separate road trips to Coastal Carolina and Maryland in late August and early September, and in 2017 they played at Maryland and Georgetown over Labor Day weekend and had a separate trip to to play at Clemson the third week in September. Even in 2022, they are currently scheduled to play at Rutgers on Saturday, Oct 29, which might just mean a Friday flight and a return on Saturday night or Sunday morning and likely no classes missed (since the players avoid Friday classes in-season anyway because of the current Thursday-Sun conference schedule). I expect that the non-conference games will become the former Pac-12 teams in CA (e.g., Cal, Stanford, San Diego State) plus the local non-conference CA teams they can play already (e.g., Santa Clara, LMU, San Francisco, other UCs like Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Cal States like Northridge and Fullerton). For bigger non-conference road trips, they might do the UW/Oregon State/Portland-type games, rather than go to the east coast schools like Georgetown or Clemson or Coastal Carolina. The result will be that the overall mix of local to long travel games might not be as dramatically different as people are suggesting, especially with half the conference games at home.
I wonder if the Pac-12 will continue to schedule them or will there be any type of moratorium on OOC scheduling ... I would imagine lots of Big West and WCC teams with a couple of WACs sprinkled in. Will they allow them to compete for Championships or punish like some conferences have in the past ?
I suppose it's possible, but keep in mind that the current Pac-12 with UCLA only has 6 men's soccer teams and that's with San Diego State admitted to play as an affiliate. Those teams need games and it's hard to imagine they would refuse to play UCLA or anyone out of conference for men's soccer. I don't think they would want UCLA playing a full schedule of Pac-12 teams, but the pickings start to get slim without them. It's easier in football where there are only a few non-conference games.
Time for some updates for 2023 (until more changes)! MAC - no longer sponsors MSOC MVC - Northern Illinois, Bowling Green State, Western Michigan Big East - Akron (unannounced)
The Valley will have a new look in men's soccer in 2023 as three institutions have been added as affiliate members for the 2023 season.Welcome @BGSUmenssoccer, @WMUMensSoccer & @NIUMSoccer! #TheValleyRunsDeep #MVCSoccer pic.twitter.com/SEBObGJqRj— Missouri Valley Conference (@MVCsports) November 11, 2022