U of M needs option plays for football

With news that the Big East’s Catholic 7 intend to take the tires and rims and leave schools like the University of Memphis sitting on cinder blocks (March 1 article), I hope U of M leaders are considering alternative plans for Tiger athletics. The school should fight to get its basketball and other participating sports teams in the same league as the Catholic 7 and go independent in football.

Let’s face it: Football will never be the cash cow it’s designed to be if we perpetually play the same opponents that draw 14,000 fans to home games. There was a time for football growth in C-USA in the early 2000s; unfortunately, R.C. Johnson missed the boat while his counterparts at Louisville and Cincinnati saw the writing on the wall.

Any fear of being able to fill out a schedule is seriously misplaced as there are plenty of midlevel quality teams, even in BCS conferences, that would schedule a home-andhome with the Tigers. The reasoning is simple: They see Memphis as a guaranteed win they would not have to “buy” for a going rate that is approaching $1.5 million. In SEC country, it’s easy to forget that not all schools have the ability to throw money at an inferior opponent to avoid playing the return game. A perfect example is Duke, who will be playing in the Liberty Bowl this fall.

In the meantime, you can also schedule some “payday beatings” against big boys we’ve never played as a way to fatten the budget and provide fresh excitement. Why be beholden to a conference makeup your fans despise anyway? Take some risks and they may actually pay off instead of just plodding along in the status quo.