According to an article from the Watauga Democrat, Appalachian State Spokesman Mike Flynn said earlier today that:

“There are no new developments in Appalachian’s ongoing pursuit of a conference that sponsors FBS football,”

He could have said “no comment” but he said a little bit more than that. He basically said we’re not interested because they’re not FBS. I want to go FBS as much as anyone, but I hope they know something I don’t. We aren’t getting a C-USA invite unless we pick up our campus and physically move it. Whoever the C-USA does add, won’t be revealed for at least a year. We aren’t getting a Sun Belt invite, because they literally said they aren’t going to offer anyone else (unless they get raided again). And the WAC thing isn’t happening.

So where is this mythical FBS offer going to come from? The MAC? I doubt it. If Davidson, Charleston, Furman, and Elon do leave for the CAA, frankly, we would be stupid to stay put. We’ll be playing against powerhouses like Kennesaw State and Campbell before you know it. A 10-year moratorium banning FCS-FBS moves has been rumored for awhile. If we don’t get an invite before then, we’ll be stuck playing Western Carolina for 10 years when we could at least be playing Villanova or JMU.

The choice might not be between the CAA and FBS. The choice is probably between a stripped down SoCon or a reenergized CAA. Given those choices, do we still want to hang around here only to be left at the FBS altar?

There are risks either way. I think best case scenario is the status-quo. No one in the SoCon leaves and we stick it out for 1 to 10 years until we get an FBS invite. But if those teams leave and we don’t, it might just be time to hit the panic button.