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What’s in a Name?: New name ideas for old Big East

February 28, 2013 by C.J. Hurt 1 Comment

With the seven Catholic schools leaving and taking the name “Big East” with them, the no name conference, that will add Houston, Tulane, East Carolina, SMU, Memphis, and UCF for the 2013 season, is in desperate need of a new name.

Perhaps the most confusing thing about all of this conference realignment is what to name these new conferences. The Big 12 has 10 teams, the Big 10 has 12 teams, and the SEC has teams outside of the Southeastern region of the United States. It can be confusing, but if you change the Big 12 to the Big 10 and the Big 10 to the Big 12 life will make sense.

Luckily for the remaining teams in the old Big East, there are some solid options for the new name of the Big East. Here are a few conference name suggestions for the remaining non-Catholic schools in the old Big East:

Conference Formerly Known as the Big East
Think of that picture like the symbol that the artist formerly known as “Prince” uses. Any symbol will work, a dollar sign with a huge slash to symbolize the lack of money the teams formerly in the Big East will make compared to the BCS conference schools, or a frowny face which will show how sad the schools are for not being invited to the Catholic 7′s new “Big East”. Think about it, how many conferences are recognized by just a symbol? None, so being able to add a unique twist to the conference name might actually help make up for some of the revenue that is going to be lost. Just pick a symbol, throw in “the conference formerly known as the Big East”, and let the merchandising of the conference begin.

Conference USA 2.0
Makes sense to me. After all, the Big East certainly likes snatching teams from C-USA. When they first expanded in 2005, the Big East took C-USA football members Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida. This time they take Houston, SMU, Tulane, Memphis, Central Florida, and East Carolina of C-USA. With the departure of Louisville to the ACC, this makes eight of the 12 schools (Navy is not scheduled to join until 2015) former members of C-USA.

Please Take Me Next Atlantic Coast Conference Conference
The PTMNACCC is a mouthful, but when you take into account that the ACC pillages the Big East much like the Big East pillages C-USA you can understand the name. With Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse leaving to go along with Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College from 2005, the Big East is looking like a minor league farm system for the ACC.

Metro Conference
This was the conference Memphis, Cincy, and Tulane belonged to before it folded resulting in the formation of C-USA. Since C-USA and Big East are now taken, and nobody has the name Metro Conference, it also makes sense. Most of the universities in the old Big East are in major metropolitan areas so the name works from that angle as well.

Catholic 7
Since St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette, Providence, DePaul, Villanova and Georgetown are taking the Big East name with them, why can’t the old Big East teams take the name those schools have been known by the past few months. Stealing the name of the seven schools that crippled an already struggling conference, seems like the right thing to do to spite them.

CJ Hurt covers college football for MemphiSport. If you think you have a better name for the new look Big East tweet him @churtj09 #newBigEast for his and your amusement. He also live tweets from different college football games throughout the Mid-South.

What’s the better football job: Memphis or Ole Miss?

December 4, 2011 by C.J. Hurt 6 Comments

Memphis and Ole Miss are bitter rivals with a lot in common right now. Both are coming of two football seasons which fans want to forget with athletic directors that are stepping down in the next year. With all of these similarities between the two struggling programs the question becomes what is the better situation for an incoming coach?

Let’s start with Ole Miss, which because of unrealistic expectations and a tough division makes it easily the worst available job in all of college football. The fans are so delusional that they do not realize the best they can hope for is third or fourth place in the SEC West and maybe a bowl appearance. Every year they expect their Rebels to win the western half of the SEC, and when they do not it is time to fire the coach. So why would a coach place himself under that type of scrutiny when history suggests he will not be successful? The next head coach at Ole Miss is destined for failure, and if you do not believe me, just take a look at the Rebel’s history since the SEC split into two divisions in 1992.

Since SEC football expanded in ’92 there have been 19 seasons, with each season concluding in an SEC championship game. Ole Miss has played in none of those games. That means that Ole Miss has never won the outright SEC West title (but they do have a SEC West co-championship in 2003). In fact, the last time Ole Miss won the SEC title was nearly five decades ago in 1963. Also, the Rebels have finished in the top three of the SEC West just six times since ‘92, while finishing in last place four times with two winless years in conference (they have more seasons with no wins in conference than they do SEC West championships!). During this time span Ole Miss has only seven seasons with a conference record of .500 or better, and four of those seasons are 4-4. So the Rebels have only three seasons with five or more wins in conference, but fans expect Ole Miss to compete for SEC West championships.

As long as LSU, Auburn, and Alabama are in the SEC West the Rebels will never have a realistic shot at winning the division. With Arkansas on the rise, the addition of Texas A&M to the SEC West, and the addition of Missouri to the conference, the future of Rebel football is beginning to look bleak.

On the other hand, Memphis football is so bad that the Tigers probably couldn’t win the OVC right now, making it easily the second worst available coaching job in all of college football. Three pitiful years (one under West and the other two under Porter), combined with a leadership group that cannot run a football press conference correctly let alone a football program, and a frustrated fan base have severely crippled any incoming coach’s chances to be successful.

However, there are no national powerhouses in C-USA, whereas the SEC West alone has three. In fact, all the good teams in C-USA are leaving for AQ conferences, which should serve as an encouraging sign for Tiger fans who want wins. One would think that with Houston, UCF, and SMU leaving the Tigers will be able to win more games in conference. Alas, remember when Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF left before the 2005 season, the Tigers were supposed to dominate, but sadly they have not.

Memphis has a conference record of 18-38 in the seven seasons since C-USA split into two divisions. The Tigers have never won a C-USA championship in the leagues 15 year history, and are routinely the worst team in the conference. At least the fans know the program is bad and they only want a few wins every year, not a conference title.

The Tigers are so desperate for wins that if the next coach can average four or five wins over the next three seasons he might earn himself a contract extension. Conversely, if the Rebel’s next coach averages four or five wins over the next three seasons he will be fired. Just ask Houston Nutt who averaged six wins in his four year tenure.

Really this argument all comes down to whether you want to be a bad team in a mediocre conference (Memphis) or a bad team in a good conference (Ole Miss). However, Ole Miss is a job that pays much more than Memphis. And since both programs’ next coach will be gone by 2015, it might be best to take the millions of dollars Ole Miss is willing to pay and make off like bandit.

Click here to read 5 Reasons Why Memphis Should and Should Not Hire Houston Nutt.

Click here to read Who should replace Houston Nutt at Ole Miss?

Click here to read The end of an era in University of Memphis athletics.

Click here to read All Shook Up: R.C. Johnson in his own words.

Click here to read Fantasy Shirley: A Real Interview with a Fake University President.

CJ Hurt covers college football for MemphiSport. Follow him @churtj09 for live tweets from different college football games throughout the Mid-South.

Filed Under: Ole Miss, The Big Features, Tiger Football Tagged With: Alabama, Auburn, C-USA football, Houston, Houston Nutt, Larry Porter, Louisville, LSU, Memphis Football, Ole Miss Football, OVC, SEC Football, SMU, UCF, USF

Another Woeful Tiger Performance

September 28, 2011 by C.J. Hurt Leave a Comment

A dejected coach Porter sat in front of the media after Saturday’s homecoming loss to SMU, a game in which the Tiger offense could never get in a rhythm. The team rushed 24 times for a net of -14 yards and the passing game could not get going either thanks in large part to the pressure SMU put on Taylor Reed.

“We had a horrible day offensively and there are no excuses. We have to play better” coach Porter said after the game.

The Tigers were an abysmal 2-15 onthird downs and could only muster seven first downs. Tom Hornsey punted the ball twelve times, one shy of tying the school record for punts in a game.

Although nothing seemed to work for Memphis offensively the Tiger D did make some significant strides against a very potent Mustang offensive attack and coach Porter recognized the improvements, “The defense did some solid things in spite of us not being able to do anything offensively.” Memphis was able to force four turnovers including two in the red zone that prevented SMU touchdowns. Also, for the second time this year the defense for Memphis held an FBS foe scoreless for an entire quarter.

Senior linebacker Terrence Thomas lead the way for the Tiger defense with 13 tackles and a forced fumble and teammate Akeem Davis chipped in by recovering two fumbles and grabbing an interception.

The next Tiger opponent is MTSU who will be looking for their first win of the year. MTSU wants to avenge last year’s defeat which was the only win for Memphis.

This is going to be another tough matchup for the Tiger defense as MTSU comes into this contest with the No. 17 ranked passing attack in the nation. Quarterback Logan Kilgore is coming off of an amazing 415 passing yard and 5 touchdown performance against Troy State and is looking forward to playing a struggling Tiger defense.

The Blue Raiders have won nine of the last eleven games against Memphis and if Tigers do not find a way to run the football and slow down the high powered MTSU offense this game could get out of hand quickly.

Pictures by Chase Gustafson.

CJ Hurt covers Tiger Football for Memphis Sport. Follow CJ him on twitter @churtj09 for live tweets from the Tiger game.

Filed Under: The Big Features, Tiger Football, Web Exclusives Tagged With: Akeem Davis, C-USA, Logan Kilgore, Memphis Football, MTSU, SMU, Sun Belt, Terrence Thomas, Troy State

Can Memphis Football Save Their Season?

September 13, 2011 by C.J. Hurt 1 Comment

The Memphis Tiger football team is already at a cross roads this young season after another blowout loss. It is gut check time and they are going to need to find some sort of inspiration after being outscored in their first two games by a combined score of 106-17. The offense appears inept and the defense is giving out big plays like we give out candy to trick-or-treaters.

If Memphis is going to right the ship the defense is going to have to improve tremendously. In the two games Memphis has played the defense has given up 1256 total yards and has yet to hold an opponent under 600 yards. Big plays (plays of more than 20 yards) have killed the Tigers this season, they gave up eight big plays to Mississippi State and five to Arkansas State. Memphis needs to have more gap discipline at the line of scrimmage to prevent rushers from getting to the second level and the secondary needs to get deeper in coverage to stop opposing quarterbacks from throwing over their heads.

The offense also needs to improve drastically if the Tigers are going to have any chance of winning games this season. Averaging 8.5 points per game is not going to cut it offensively and they need to find a way to get their playmakers going. It does not help that starting tailback Jerrell Rhodes is still injured and will not be back until next week at the earliest. Rhodes’ injury means that Billy Foster and Artaves Gibson need to step up and carry the load on the ground.

Also, no receiver has emerged as a guy that defenses should fear. Marcus Rucker can be that guy, he leads the team in receptions and touchdowns this year and if the offensive line can find a way to give the quarterbacks (Reed or Summerlin) more time in the pocket his numbers should improve drastically.

So can this team gain some form of respect and find the courage it takes to save this season and finish with a decent record? Yes they can and starts with a home game this week against FCS foe Austin Peay State University. Memphis cannot afford to take any opponent for granted, even one like Austin Peay who staggers in with a 9 game losing streak. Coach Porter knows this saying at his Monday luncheon, “We will respect them…they are a good team.”

Conference play begins next Saturday with Southern Methodist coming to town and hopefully the Tigers will be ready.

When asked about realistic goals for the rest of the season Coach Porter said, “We still got ten games left. We are still in a position to compete for a conference championship, still in position to go to a bowl, but right now we are out of the National Championship picture.”

Coach Porter is right in his assessment of the young season, but Memphis has a lot of work to do if they expect to compete for a C-USA championship.

CJ Hurt covers Memphis Tiger football for Memphis Sport. Follow him @churtj09 for live tweets from the football games this season.

Photo by JD Meredith