FB: American Southwest Conference

[Hawks88]

Huntingdon took all 155(started with 164 last week) to Clinton, Ms today to scrimmage Miss Coll. Wondering how it went.

[Kelly Boggs]

LC scrimmaged Univ. of New Orleans yesterday. The heat was brutal. Overall the Cats looked good.

[Ron Boerger]

hmm --- UNO has no official football team, so if LC scrimmaged them they scrimmaged a club team. 

[crufootball]

hmm --- UNO has no official football team, so if LC scrimmaged them they scrimmaged a club team. 

That is why the heat was so brutal, LC was standing there and standing there waiting for someone to show 

[Kelly Boggs]

Well for not being an official football team, UNO was/is organized. I counted about 8 coaches and 6 trainers. There were about 70-80 players & they arrived on 2 charters. Quite a few fans made the trip up from New Orleans as well. UNO had some decent size, but they were no match for LC. That said, the scrmmage with UNO provided a break from the Cats pounding on each other. All in all, a good day.  

[Pat Coleman]

Yes, UNO has club football and they intend to elevate it to D-III next year.

By the way, for the fan who was asking here about access to last year's Kickoff feature story about the cost of operating a program, I can confirm now that Kickoff readers will have access to previous seasons, including feature stories.

[Kelly Boggs]

Info on UNO's move to D-3. http://www.neworleans.com/sports/uno/449085-uno-to-add-football-upgrade-facilities-during-transition-to-division-3.html

[crufootball]

Is UMHB going to scrimmage a team from Mexico again this year?  Any of the other schools scrimmaging and if so when?

On a schedule I got my hands on it list that they are going to play Monterrey Tech at some point but doesnt list a date.

[Slidell]

UNO fan here - adjusting to our transition to D-III and not sure what to expect.

Yes - UNO has a club team and intends to start D-III football next season.  No details have been forthcoming about the official team, but there is a lot of speculation about how much of the existing club team (coaches, players, equipment, etc.) will transition to the D-III team.  At a recent athletics open house, the club team was well represented - as much as any other official sport.

Over the last few years the club team has been well organized.  The clear intent has been to build a program that was run like an official team, not a club of students who just wanted to play football.  So it's no surprise that they looked impressive for a club team.  Also no surprise that they were no match for Louisiana College's team.  Hopefully, as we either transition to D-III or form a completely new D-III squad, the talent level is upgraded.

[crufootball]

Maybe I am being forgetful but has UNO been offered an invitation to join the ASC. I would love to have another game on the schedule that doesn't have to be filled with a team many states away and not D3 but I can't seem to remember anything official with UNO.

Welcome Slidell, good luck to your boys as they make the transition

[Ron Boerger]

The article quoted above says no invitation has been extended but that there are one or two ASC teams looking for a new conference.  Should that happen UNO would likely get an invite pronto. 

According to [UNO interim AD Amy] Champion, the school has been in talks to join the American Southwest Conference, a Division III league founded in 1996 with schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. The 16-member conference has three public schools and 13 private and has no plans to expand past that total. But Champion brought up that conferences are "fluid" and that a couple of the conferences members are looking to leave the ASC. UNO hopes to take one of their places.

I have no idea who the teams are that would want to leave the ASC (if I had to offer a guess, Texas Lutheran would come to mind). 

Welcome, Slidell!  From the pics and other info I saw on the UNO club football page it does look like that will serve as an excellent start building your D3 program. 

[cowboyfan]

Interesting story out of McMinnville today on YAHOO. Check out the link below.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/mysterious-illness-strikes-football-team-21541615

[Slidell]

cru and Ron, thank you both for the warm welcome.

UNO has not been extended an invitation to join the ASC or any conference in D-3 yet.

At the athletics open house a few weeks ago, Champion mentioned that it might be possible for us to join a conference as an associate member, for football only, initially (the ASC as its 10th football member perhaps?), with a full membership for all sports if and when a spot opens up from a school leaving that conference.

No particular details were given.  And right now everything is so fluid in this transition. 

Very strange times as a Privateer fan right now.

[crufootball]

Ron, where do you think TLU would go if they left the ASC they don't strike me as a SCAC member?

[Ron Boerger]

Just a swag based on them not being terribly competitive in the ASC, cru.   I could actually see them wanting to join the SCAC but haven't done any real research to see if they'd be a fit there.