Maybe I’m overreacting to this, but I don’t see how it’s a welcome development for Georgia Tech.
Georgia State is expected to join the Sun Belt Conference and accept an invitiation from the league as early as Thursday, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.
Georgia State, which has been in the Colonial Athletic Association since 2005, would join the Sun Belt beginning in the 2013 season.
It’s a great move for the Sun Belt, which gets access to a major media market. And State can now sell itself as a D-1 program to in state recruits, which gives it a leg up on more established 1-AA programs like Georgia Southern.
But the Panthers become more direct competition in the same town as Tech, and can also recruit the same fertile in state grounds with broader academic standards. That ain’t good. And it’ll get worse if Georgia State manages to replace former Jacket head coach Bill Curry with someone more dynamic.
Get The Picture 
2016 – Over under on when GSU (North) beats GT.
Place your wages.
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Georgia Tech is never going to give them a game, so it would have to be in a bowl. Tech is only just now willing to schedule even Georgia Southern, and the only reason they’re finally doing that is because Paul Johnson is the coach. Tech wants no part of playing in-state competition. The only reason they keep playing us is that they’re obligated by history. Believe me, if they could ever find a face-saving excuse to end the series, they would do it.
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What needs to happen is that the State of Georgia needs to force Tech (and UGA, too for that matter) to play Ga State, Ga Southern and Kennesaw State (when they get a team) as their walkover games instead of giving the money to the Western Carolinas of the world, in order to keep the dollars in state. Why pay $500,000 to an out of state cupcake when we have our own in-state cupcakes?
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Now that is a good idea.
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So Tech recruits at the Sun Belt level? Nice to see they finally admit it.
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Here’s our homecoming opponent for 2014 or 2015 …
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I love georgie state! 😀
http://goo.gl/5EyQR
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Well that was quick.
Hopefully Mercer won’t fiddle fart around too long in the non-scholarship Pioneer League before following suit.
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Ha, Mercer ain’t going anywhere.
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What makes you say that?
Is it because they’re already D-1 in every other sport, or that they’re dumping millions into an on campus stadium?
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Good. Let’em push the nerds until they swarm over and into Tallulah Gorge on their suicide dash of frustration. And they can take their Wreck with them.
Go GSU!
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While this is great news on the surface for Dawg fans, you hope GSU doesn’t get too big too fast. Although not exactly a similar comparison, I’m sure FSU initially thought when South Florida was starting up, they would help erode the power of UF and Miami. Next thing you know, USF is beating FSU in their stadium.
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Meh. All we gotta do is not let Richt coach until he’s 80 and has run the program aground. Florida State at full glory shouldn’t lose to South Florida.
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or to UCF.
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Or to the Gators…er…wait…
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And this is why the Big 5 BCS conferences are going to split sooner rather than later. The biggest campuses in most state systems are no longer the flagships, and these satellite schools are developing enough community and alumni support to get into the FBS game. I have nothing against it personally, but all these schools will inevitably water down the TV product and siphon recruits. What we’re seeing in Florida (South Florida, Central Florida, Florida International) today is starting to happen everywhere.
So, split off, raise the price of admission, and relegate the Southerns and Centrals to second-tier status. Brutal but effective.
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