Using its leverage as a superior basketball league, the A-10 should cherry-pick the CAA for three schools.
DELAWARE
This is the easiest pick of the bunch. The Blue Hens have several notable accomplishments in Division I-AA, including 2007’s second-place finish in the FCS Playoffs and a 57-61 record against FBS competition.
Most importantly, they’ve had seven straight seasons with attendance north of the 20,000 mark in a stadium that seats only 22k. Plans are in the works to expand the on-campus stadium to 35,000. As an added bonus, the University of Delaware is located snugly inside the Philadelphia metro area.
GEORGIA STATE
The newest football program in the Atlanta area comes from this institution. Georgia State plays at the insanely huge Georgia Dome (70,000) in one of the South’s premier recruiting areas (they won’t get much coverage because of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and the Falcons, though). Georgia State has made a great hire in coach Bill Curry and plans to start football in 2012.
JAMES MADISON
James Madison has been one of the CAA’s premier football programs, going to the FCS playoffs in '06 and '07 and winning it all in '04. They currently have plans to expand their stadium to 25k. JMU would bring the Atlantic 10 another premier university in Virginia.
This gives the Atlantic 10 six football schools, the minimum number of institutions for sponsoring football. All members of this group could easily be ready to play FBS football by 2015.
The next step for the Atlantic 10 is to get a head start on the upgrading process. The four FCS schools could then join Temple and UNC-Charlotte in a brand new FBS conference.
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