The latest internet rumor is that Stony Brook and Albany are both on the verge of making football only moves to the Colonial Athletic Association. This would give the CAA 4 full members who play football and 6 football affiliates:
Maine*
New Hampshire*
Albany*
Stony Brook*
Villanova*
Delaware
Towson
James Madison
Richmond*
William and Mary
What this expansion doesn't tell us is who they are going to take to fill the league's three all-sports membership vacancies. My best guess is that it will be Davidson, College of Charleston, and a third school somewhere in the south that wont be sponsoring CAA football. It also probably means that Hofstra wont allow Stony Brook to be an all-sports member.
If we follow the logical cascade that follows I imagine that the SoCon will raid the Big South of its best football schools--Coastal Carolina and Liberty, and/or grab Jacksonville St. from the OVC.
These leaves the Big South's football ranks fairly depleted with likely Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, Presbyterian, and VMI around. In my opinion the best move for these schools is to create a non-scholarship/low scholarship southern football only league and persuade programs like Davidson, Campbell, Stetson, Mercer, Jacksonville, and Kennesaw St to join them. It would make for a 10 team league that has fairly nice geography and while the Pioneer Football League will likely not be thrilled about the southern defections they could arrange a nice post-season "bowl" between the champions of the two leagues similar to what they did with the NEC prior to the NEC getting an autobid to the FCS playoffs.
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