FB: American Southwest Conference

[jekelish]

Absolutely. Pretty clear at this point that the ASC schools aren't going to receive any sort of help from the SCAC. I also think this might rule out the possibility of Austin College moving to the SAA as Hendrix would've been the travel partner there. So the SCAC is on a very solid foundation at this point, and with 12 full member institutions in 2025, they have no real need to add any more.

I think there is still an outside chance HPU gets a SCAC invite to give McMurry a travel partner, but at the end of the day, keeping it at 12 with McMurry and Concordia being travel partners in volleyball/soccer/baseball/basketball/softball makes a lot of sense. Gives you 2 6-team divisions, and now football is very secure, whether Schreiner gets football going by 2025 or not.

I can tell you right now, Austin College to the SAA was never really a possibility.

[Mavchamp]

Wild prediction: 

A new conference will be born before the 2025 season....

ETBU
Centenary
Hendrix
Lyon
Louisiana Christian

These will be the core of the conference.  Couple of choices from there....

Perhaps Belhaven, Millsaps. 

Might could snag some SAC schools like Texas Wesleyan, SAGU, or Texas College.  Maybe even NAU.

 

[BSCpanthers]

Appears to be a program in its first season of play. They are independent from NAIA/NCAA and as a result, games against them will not count towards a team's record or its official stats (in other words, all games against them are going to be scrimmages/exhibitions). They do have a campus map on their website that includes offices, classrooms, a football field, a gym, and a student center...though the current address listed on their website does not correspond with a college campus per a search on google maps. As of right now, though, it seems they are at the very least, a legitimate college institution and they have a full schedule put together.

Per their website, the 2024 schedule is:
Sept 7: at Texas College
Sept 14: at UMHB
Sept 21: at John Melvin
Sept 30: at TLU (vs TLU's JV)
Oct 5: at Howard Payne
Oct 14: at NAU (vs NAU's JV)
Oct 19: at ETBU
Oct 26: at Quincy

There have been people questioning if this school even existed last year, much less the football team.  They aren't really accredited by anyone.  Looks like a someone wanted a football team and has created an imaginary school to go with it.  Kind of like that high school team a couple years ago that scheduled 12 games in a 2 week period and got absolutely pounded on national TV to one of the traditional power high schools. 

In the end, this may be an example of how big time "college football" works in the future. 

[Riley Zayas]

It is definitely a strange situation, considering the lack of available information on both the school and the program. The fact that a campus map is listed but there's no corresponding address (and we're less than 3 months until kickoff) doesn't give me a great feeling. Honestly, my concern would be the depth of the roster and their ability to make it through an entire season. At the end of the day, though, for the ASC schools who got them on the schedule, it was either this or no game at all.

[Ron Boerger]

Wild prediction: 

A new conference will be born before the 2025 season....

ETBU
Centenary
Hendrix
Lyon
Louisiana Christian

These will be the core of the conference.  Couple of choices from there....

Perhaps Belhaven, Millsaps. 

Might could snag some SAC schools like Texas Wesleyan, SAGU, or Texas College.  Maybe even NAU.

Pray tell - what the motivation would be for these teams to (a) either change affiliation from NAIA to D3 (or vice versa) (b) leave the secure situation most are in to join an unproven conference that wouldn't qualify for playoff bids for years (if D3; not sure about NAIA) (c) suddenly align with each other?

I get you want to find a home for ETBU but a whole new conference requiring dramatic changes in affiliations seems pretty farfetched.  I mean, Hendrix just this week said they're going to the SCAC in 2025; they're going to tear that up for this?

[Mavchamp]

Wild prediction: 

A new conference will be born before the 2025 season....

ETBU
Centenary
Hendrix
Lyon
Louisiana Christian

These will be the core of the conference.  Couple of choices from there....

Perhaps Belhaven, Millsaps. 

Might could snag some SAC schools like Texas Wesleyan, SAGU, or Texas College.  Maybe even NAU.

Pray tell - what the motivation would be for these teams to (a) either change affiliation from NAIA to D3 (or vice versa) (b) leave the secure situation most are in to join an unproven conference that wouldn't qualify for playoff bids for years (if D3; not sure about NAIA) (c) suddenly align with each other?

I get you want to find a home for ETBU but a whole new conference requiring dramatic changes in affiliations seems pretty farfetched.  I mean, Hendrix just this week said they're going to the SCAC in 2025; they're going to tear that up for this?

It was more tongue in cheek than anything from the ridiculousness of all this shuffling.

But I don't think anything is out of the question at this point.  The financials could force some schools to make the move to D3. Texas College is NAIA and doesn't give scholarships.

Eventually geography may actually lead schools to gravitate to one another to save travel expenses.   

I've already predicted what I think ends up happening.  I figure UMHB and HSU end up in the LSC.

ETBU and HPU will likely land in the SAC for football only. Perhaps the LSC or the GAC... but unlikely.

ETBU has a history with the Red River Conference for other sports. So it's not a far stretch.

Wait for another opportunity to rise for D3 later down the road.  It will undoubtedly come around again in the future.

[CNU85]

Appears to be a program in its first season of play. They are independent from NAIA/NCAA and as a result, games against them will not count towards a team's record or its official stats (in other words, all games against them are going to be scrimmages/exhibitions). They do have a campus map on their website that includes offices, classrooms, a football field, a gym, and a student center...though the current address listed on their website does not correspond with a college campus per a search on google maps. As of right now, though, it seems they are at the very least, a legitimate college institution and they have a full schedule put together.

Per their website, the 2024 schedule is:
Sept 7: at Texas College
Sept 14: at UMHB
Sept 21: at John Melvin
Sept 30: at TLU (vs TLU's JV)
Oct 5: at Howard Payne
Oct 14: at NAU (vs NAU's JV)
Oct 19: at ETBU
Oct 26: at Quincy

It looks like they are academically accredited by the National Baptist College Association.

Also, The bio for their HC states previous college head coaching experience. I can find nothing other than his playing stats in college.

The map of a campus looks like a conceptual design.

[TheChucker]

Appears to be a program in its first season of play. They are independent from NAIA/NCAA and as a result, games against them will not count towards a team's record or its official stats (in other words, all games against them are going to be scrimmages/exhibitions). They do have a campus map on their website that includes offices, classrooms, a football field, a gym, and a student center...though the current address listed on their website does not correspond with a college campus per a search on google maps. As of right now, though, it seems they are at the very least, a legitimate college institution and they have a full schedule put together.

Per their website, the 2024 schedule is:
Sept 7: at Texas College
Sept 14: at UMHB
Sept 21: at John Melvin
Sept 30: at TLU (vs TLU's JV)
Oct 5: at Howard Payne
Oct 14: at NAU (vs NAU's JV)
Oct 19: at ETBU
Oct 26: at Quincy

It looks like they are academically accredited by the National Baptist College Association.

Also, The bio for their HC states previous college head coaching experience. I can find nothing other than his playing stats in college.

The map of a campus looks like a conceptual design.

Ottawa University-Arizona sprung up a few years ago from nothing using an athletics model to attract students and tied for the Sooner Athletic Conference championship last year. It's not unheard of for a new school to compete quickly going NCCAA to NAIA in a growing market. Regardless, the lack of information for Westgate is weird.

[Kuiper]

Appears to be a program in its first season of play. They are independent from NAIA/NCAA and as a result, games against them will not count towards a team's record or its official stats (in other words, all games against them are going to be scrimmages/exhibitions). They do have a campus map on their website that includes offices, classrooms, a football field, a gym, and a student center...though the current address listed on their website does not correspond with a college campus per a search on google maps. As of right now, though, it seems they are at the very least, a legitimate college institution and they have a full schedule put together.

Per their website, the 2024 schedule is:
Sept 7: at Texas College
Sept 14: at UMHB
Sept 21: at John Melvin
Sept 30: at TLU (vs TLU's JV)
Oct 5: at Howard Payne
Oct 14: at NAU (vs NAU's JV)
Oct 19: at ETBU
Oct 26: at Quincy

It looks like they are academically accredited by the National Baptist College Association.

Also, The bio for their HC states previous college head coaching experience. I can find nothing other than his playing stats in college.

The map of a campus looks like a conceptual design.

They are academically accredited by the "National Bible College Association," not the National Baptist College Association.

https://wcu.education/accreditation/

It looks like they may be using an online program with Indiana Wesleyan University either for all their courses or to offer enough courses to make it work.

https://www.iwubridge.com/westgate

Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in Marion, Indiana partners with Westgate Christian University to provide a quality higher education at an affordable price. This partnership provides students with a virtuous-centered academics, relevant learning experiences, and a supportive community that will prepare students for a lifetime of service.

[BSCpanthers]

Their address is a strip mall on the side of the interstate in Houston.  That's not exactly a good spot for football practice. 

[CruFrenzy]

Our schedule is an embarrassment. I stick my fingers in my ears and ignore it at this point.

Our real home opener is Oct 5 vs ETBU, no plans to go see the other "games".

[BSCpanthers]

Our schedule is an embarrassment. I stick my fingers in my ears and ignore it at this point.

Our real home opener is Oct 5 vs ETBU, no plans to go see the other "games".

You all should have jumped on the SAA Texas schools as soon as BSC said they were closing.  Would have had at least 2 more "real" games on schedule. 

[jknezek]

Our schedule is an embarrassment. I stick my fingers in my ears and ignore it at this point.

Our real home opener is Oct 5 vs ETBU, no plans to go see the other "games".

You all should have jumped on the SAA Texas schools as soon as BSC said they were closing.  Would have had at least 2 more "real" games on schedule. 

I don't think that was an option. The SAA and ODAC worked as conferences to make the arrangement work. That only works if everyone was committed. My understanding was it was in the works as a contingency even before BSC announced and the ODACs double conference opponent schedule was a placeholder put in place against BSC's likely demise. 

[BSCpanthers]

Our schedule is an embarrassment. I stick my fingers in my ears and ignore it at this point.

Our real home opener is Oct 5 vs ETBU, no plans to go see the other "games".

You all should have jumped on the SAA Texas schools as soon as BSC said they were closing.  Would have had at least 2 more "real" games on schedule. 

I don't think that was an option. The SAA and ODAC worked as conferences to make the arrangement work. That only works if everyone was committed. My understanding was it was in the works as a contingency even before BSC announced and the ODACs double conference opponent schedule was a placeholder put in place against BSC's likely demise. 

Glad the SAA had a plan, sucks for the Texas schools to not be able to add an ASC team to their schedule. 

Back to the Westgate conversation, the National Bible College Association, looks more like a paid membership than anything else.  And their website is only slightly better than the Westgate website.  But it doesn't show any other member schools since that link doesn't work. 

[Ron Boerger]

The NBCA members are listed here.