Conference USA football: Destinations for remaining teams after realignment

4. Middle Tennessee to the MAC

Middle Tennessee State could be an option for the Sun Belt or the American, but let’s throw in a wild card destination: the MAC.

Inviting Conference USA football member MTSU to join would give the MAC its southernmost team in the conference and dip into SEC country. It would be a bit of a jaunt to get from campus to campus, but not impossible. A straight shot up I-69 will get folks from point A to point B fairly rapidly.

There are very few meetings between MTSU and teams from the MAC, creating some exciting matchups and injecting some much-needed revitalization in the conference. The MAC has not welcomed a new member to its conference since Buffalo in 1998.

5. Louisiana Tech to the Sun Belt

Louisiana Tech would be a solid pick-up for any conference and if history is any indication, the Bulldogs will do whatever is best for their program — regardless of travel requirements. This makes it very difficult to pinpoint who might court the Ruston, Louisiana school.

In years past, the Bulldogs have popped up in the Western Athletic Conference, have been Independent, and have been in the Big West.

The team’s proximity to I-20 allows them to go west fairly rapidly to play AAC teams like SMU, Rice, and North Texas. By the same token, the team could just as easily head east and get to Sun Belt schools like soon-to-be-member Southern Miss and South Alabama. They would obviously be close to current SBC members Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Sun Belt makes the most sense for Louisiana Tech, but a nice argument to the American could be had as well.