Around the Dog Park: Finalizing this season’s TV outlook

General G5

• Houston and UTSA are working towards building the best ***active*** college football rivalry in Texas.
• Idaho will have a new school president shortly.
• The rise and fall of the Western Athletic Conference still carries a lot of valuable lessons for college football commissioners today.
• The Big Sky has announced that they will no longer allow athletes that have been convicted of domestic or sexual violence to compete in the conference.

• Over/Under win totals for each Division I team have been posted.
• Athlon Sports has released their top 25 ranking for FCS teams.
• Rest in peace to Trevon Richardson, a Valdosta State University signee who was senselessly murdered just months before joining the Blazers’ football program.
• Eventually the tech streaming giants will run college football realignment, not the cable companies.
• North Carolina Central has been placed on NCAA probation after allowing ineligible athletes to compete.

• Let’s throw it back to 1975 to recollect on the time Houston and North Texas met in Texas Stadium.
• The National Football Foundation has released a report on college football attendance and TV ratings from the 2017-2018 season.
• With the World Cup kicking off this week let’s compare World Cup competitors to college football programs.
• Love it or hate it, more bowl games are on the way...
• New Mexico State ranks at #87 in the Orlando Sentinel’s preseason college football rankings.

AAC

• The American has announced their updated 2018 football schedule with television assignments included.
• AAC commissioner Mike Aresco has started a five-part video series on Facebook to reach out to fans and update them on the conference’s progress.
• SMU has beefed up their secondary with the addition of former Illinois safety Patrick Nelson. He’s a graduate transfer and immediately eligible.
• This article sheds additional light on why Temple is trying so hard to build an on-campus stadium. The Eagles are charging Temple an arm and a leg to use Lincoln Financial Field.
• Kenyatta Jones was USF’s first NFL Draft pick back in 2001. Jones’ life tragically and prematurely ended after he suffered a major cardiac arrest at the age of 39.
• USF Athletic Director Mark Harlan is heading to Utah to handle the same position.

C-USA

• 24/7 Sports has declared Mason Fine the best quarterback in Texas. Fine certainly has the numbers to back the claim up.
• UTSA’s games against Arizona State and Baylor have been picked up for broadcast by Fox Sports.
• 2018 is very much a building year for UTSA but they could sneak their way into a bowl game if the offense improves under new Offensive Coordinator Al Borges.
• Dana Dimel’s son Winston has transferred to UTEP from Kansas State.
• Louisiana Tech will celebrate 50 years of play at Joe Aillet Stadium this season. They will honor the top-50 players to play for the Bulldogs during the September 8th home opener.
• For what it’s worth, ESPN’s FPI thinks Vegas has overrated Lane Kiffin’s FAU team this season.

• Charlotte is adding 2,500 temporary seats to Richardson Stadium in preparation of Appalachian State’s fanbase making their way to campus on September 8th.
• FAU center Raul “Junior” Diaz and Tulane University have settled a lawsuit in which Diaz was accused of raping a woman while Diaz was playing football for Tulane. Diaz maintains that the encounter was consensual and was never arrested or charged with any crime.
• Conference USA has killed cusa.tv in favor of ESPN+. This will make access easier for fans and is $5 cheaper per month.
• This is absolutely zany but Western Kentucky has been locked in a 15-year struggle against an Italian media company over intellectual property rights regarding WKU’s Big Red mascot.
• The Rice Owls have added a 6’6”, 300 pound graduate transfer lineman from Florida.
• Rice has a tall hill to climb in Mike Bloomgren’s first season in Rice Village.

Sun Belt

• South Alabama has revealed their initial plans for an on-campus stadium. Looking good, Jags.
• The Sun Belt has released their initial TV schedule for their 2018 conference games.