I happened to circle back on this article from last year, suggesting UTC may consider a move to the SunBelt or OVC. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/s...c-look/426797/

UTC's attendance was up in 2017 to 9,170. Hard to gauge, really, how a new regime that suffered through a long season impacted that. Of course, their two biggest gates were against JSU and UT-M.

I do still wonder whether the SoCon would/could manage to expand its footprint westward. For a long time, I thought Jacksonville State was destined for the FBS, but it certainly seems like they would have jumped if they were going to. I'm less certain about Kennesaw State, who, while a big school, has a transient fan base and drew home attendance less than schools a fraction of its size.

I realize those schools don't perfectly fit the profile of the current SoCon members, but I can see great benefit to member schools if, say, Jacksonville State and their fans/band ventured to Samford and UTC in alternating years. I also imagine there would be a nice gate for Kennesaw playing at home against a school like Furman, with their large Atlanta area alumni base. I guarantee they'd do better than playing home games against Monmouth or Charleston Southern.