"HOUSTON - A recent study shows the University of Houston is a likely target to become part of the Bowl Championship Series when the next major shift in college athletics takes place. College football sources told FOX 26 Sports on Monday that a major U.S. company was commissioned to find the best candidates to become part of the BCS." http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/spo...-university-of-houston-a-viable-bcs-candidate
In what conference? Maybe they could form a new conference with the other teams mentioned...Boise St., Utah, Fresno, TCU, BYU, Nevada, & Hawaii. That would be fun to watch every week.
There are a lot of realignment rumors cropping up. It's tough to dismiss what Berman says-- he's earned his credibility. Just wish he'd talked a bit more about the details of the criteria being analyzed.
Realignment is kind of a funny thing. You can see it coming from a mile away, but you never know when it is going to go down. When one team moves, the clusterf*** is officially on and the free-for-all madness that ensues is usually over within a matter of days, if not hours.
I'm a realist, so more info is definitely needed...would be nice, but we're nowhere near the level we need to be...in any sport...
Near as I can tell, football is the only sport that really matters in this discussion. Houston went 3-0 against BCS teams last season. I don't think UH is so far off to preclude inclusion. The biggest argument against would certainly be facilities, but signing a deal to play games at Reliant (though not ideal) would probably be done in a heartbeat if it helped UH get into the BCS.
If UH got into a BCS conference, I can guarantee you that a MAJOR fundraising drive would take off and with any luck we'd have new facilities completed or in progress for both football and basketball within 5 years.
Well, the Big Ten is supposedly going to add maybe as many as six teams, which means they will likely raid someone like the ACC, which could prompt the SEC to raid the Big 12 and grab Texas and A&M.. in other words, there are going to be a lot of openings in BCS conferences very sooneither in the (current) Big Ten, the ACC, the Big East, or the Big 12. So yeah, it's not far-fetched at all, especially given UH's success over the last couple of years, and especially now with Kolb being in the big spotlight after McNabb moved to DC, lots of eyes are going to be on Kolb, which means UH is going to be getting a lot of pub as a side effect. Let's hope he plays well.
Big population center, big potential TV market, everyone wants to recruit Houston. I have no doubt that Houston would fill a stadium and watch on TV in significant numbers UH vs Oklahoma and A&M or UH vs LSU and Florida in football, or UH vs Kansas or Kentucky at basketball. The question is can we get UH sports to be enough of an event that we have respectable attendance and TV numbers vs Iowa State or Vandy.
Sure, if people don't have to drive their families into the UH campus to watch them play. Imagine if all the dominoes fell the right way and UH became a BCS school, and Reliant was the venue? They could keep the upper parts closed or something, but all the big-time schools coming in, to play in that house, wow... UH would take off, finally, and maybe shed the 'Cougar High' image
Right now, there's a lot of talk about the B10 adding 5 teams to go to 16, and the Pac 10 adding another 2 - so that's 7 new BCS spots that would be available if that happened. There's lots of talk about taking from the B12, with Texas, A&M, Mizzou, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado all being in various rumors. If any of those go, it opens up Houston as a possibility there, especially if Texas and A&M go. It would be huge for the B12 to keep hold on the Houston market.
Playing in Reliant would set the same trap the cougars fell into with the Astrodome. Effort needs to be put into creating a community within the University, and a nice stadium and gameday experience on campus is part of that. Say no to Reliant as anything more than temporary housing.
The above talk of the potential super conference WILL ruin college football for a good chunk of years until they abolish the BCS. Well... further ruin college football I should say.
