Temple University to Join Conference USA in 2011?
Temple Owl and Heisman Hopeful, Bernard Pierce
From a school source, Temple University Football will be invited to join Conference USA for the 2011 season.
Citing the source, C-USA is looking to expand to a 16-team conference, which was previously discussed at the C-USA Spring Meetings in Destin, FL.
Doing my own research on the possible realignment, I came across this article from the end of May stating, “…schools mentioned as possible targets if C-USA were to expand included Temple, Louisiana Tech and TCU, or perhaps some schools from larger conferences that might begin to fall apart during realignment, according to some people connected to C-USA.”
The source also mentioned that IF Temple would to join C-USA, it would be as a football-only affiliate. Temple is currently a football-only affiliate of the MAC, because the schools primary conference, the A-10, does not sponsor a football league. The Owls joined the MAC in 2007, after being an independent in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Temple was forced out of the Big East due to a lack of competitive and poor attendance numbers.
However, the program has since dramatically improved under Head Coach Al Golden, faring 9-4 last year, the best season since 1979.
Regardless if Temple actually joins C-USA, there are obviously some internal realignment and expansion talks occurring. UCF looks like it’s on the way out after this season, as they have publicly stated that they want to be in an “automatic qualifying conference”. There have been other rumors that Memphis will depart with UCF to head to the Big East.
The conference realignment circus is not yet over and every conference will play its own role in the shakeup. Whether it’s a 14, 16 or 18 team-conference, the C-USA will look much more different before the beginning of the 2011 season than it does now.
