The ASUN and OVC will both be fun this year

Okay, so let me get this straight: The divisions of the ASUN Conference:

East

Jacksonville Dolphins

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

Kennesaw State Owls (football)

North Florida Ospreys

Stetson Hatters

Liberty Flames (FBS in football, so not in the ASUN in football)

West

Lipscomb Bisons

Eastern Kentucky Colonels (football)

Jacksonville State Gamecocks (football)

Bellarmine Knights

Central Arkansas Bears (football)

North Alabama Lions (football)

Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) football
Austin Peay Governors

Eastern Illinois Panthers

Murray State Racers

Southeast Missouri Redhawks

Tennessee State Tigers

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles

UT Martin Skyhawks

Add these to OVC basketball, etc.:

Belmont Bruins

SIU Edwardsville Cougars

Morehead State Eagles (non-scholarship Pioneer League in football)

Please feel free to reach out with any corrections to this.

Understandably, a lot of folks are talking about the recent shifts by Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, teams being added to the FBS College Football Playoff, etc. One thing remains certain: College sports will be fun. And I am all but certain to keep commenting on it. Are the conference shifts good for all of college sports? Maybe. Maybe not. Schools may be able to earn more money by admission to another conference. But the competition on the field is always there. A school may or may not be greater in terms of achievement and championships. But the almighty dollar speaks loudly.

Do conferences even mean anything anymore? We shall see. I personally love the traditions and rivalries that make the NCAA exciting to watch, especially for football and basketball. Women's basketball and baseball have taken on additional prominence due to clever scheduling during basketball season and fan followings in baseball from nationally prominent schools such as Vanderbilt.

Conferences mean rivalries, too. We are better off with Texas and Oklahoma in the same conference. We are better off with Texas A&M and Texas in the same conference, too. Ohio State versus Michigan. Auburn versus the Tide. Who are the rivals in the Pac-12? Surely USC and UCLA fit in somewhere. The list goes on and on. Locally, this analysis applies to Lipscomb versus Belmont, too.

Since I graduated from Lipscomb in 1996, the Nashville sports landscape has changed dramatically. The week following my college graduation, a stadium referendum was approved by Davidson County voters, which meant that the Oilers/Titans were coming to town. The arena now known as Bridgestone was already here, and the arrival of the Predators was just a couple of years off.

Here in 2021, it is all too easy to forget about Lipscomb versus Belmont. The rivalry that captured the attention of a city in the heart of basketball season back in the day now almost seems to be a footnote in the pre-Christmas weeks of NCAA hoops. Not sure about any rivalry between Belmont and Tennessee State - both in the OVC. But I never hear any hoopla about it. Even the Commodores are lucky to get any positive coverage for anything before the first pitch of baseball season. Especially right now given the results in football and basketball.

In any event, my blog will continue to comment on the best of mid major NCAA sports. That means Tigers, Bisons, Bruins, Governors, Blue Raiders, Golden Eagles, and even the Skyhawks to the west in Martin, Tennessee. 

If you're Lipscomb, you would surely like to be in the OVC with two other Nashville schools and three other schools here in the state. But if you're the ASUN, you're feeling pretty good about picking off Jacksonville State and Eastern Kentucky from the OVC to you. Not to mention starting a football league, apparently with a scheduling alliance with the Western Athletic Conference.

The ASUN now has twelve schools and two divisions. The OVC is left with ten. Seven of those OVC ten play football and will compete for the FCS playoffs and the conference title.

Not sure why the OVC moved its basketball tournament from Nashville several years back. Not sure why it doesn't want my alma mater of Lipscomb in its league.

But in the earthquake-prone world of college sports, any athletic program had better keep its horns up and its instincts sharp. You never know when the earth might shake again and when you might land on both feet in another league. For now, you had simply better do all you can to win the one you're in.

In any event, here's a prayer for a healthy, full, and safe season of college football. Same thing for hoops.

James A. Rose

Publisher