BYU to the WCC so what for WAC?

[cpalum]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars/50197201-88/conference-sports-byu-west.html.csp

xchinscratchx

[bandit]

Texas State, UTSA and Sacramento State. It wouldn't surprise me for the NCAA to grant waivers to allow them all to come into the WAC early to prevent the league from falling apart, and to ease the litigation and transition of Nevada and Fresno to the MWC. UTSA might need an extra year to be ready, but this would get them to 9 right away.

Then down the road, we'll see if Montana (with or without Montana State), Portland State, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Lamar and Sam Houston State are interested in the move.

For FCS schools in the west, this is a golden opportunity to make the move up. But they need to act fast - - if the WAC collapses, their window of opportunity is pretty much gone, because there likely wouldn't be any other league that would bring in any of these programs mentioned (except - perhaps - the Sun Belt might look at the TX schools mentioned).

I'm predicting UTSA, Texas State and Sac State right away, with Portland State and Montana to follow, and perhaps others eventually.

[TexasTerror]

Does the MWC try to get two more teams to get a title game? Perhaps someone from the group of Houston, UTEP, Utah State?

The WAC is going to have to be pro-active and unfortunately, no current FBS team wants in the league. It will hurt the WAC's credibility and reputation to take 2-3 FCS teams, but this is for survival. What stinks for those FCS programs is that they are going into a wide-reaching geographic situation that is unstable.

I could see in 5-10 years that the WAC is more or less a league of FCS squads west of the Mississippi that were able to make the move up to FBS. The teams bandit mentioned - Montana, Montana State, SHSU, UC-Davis, Lamar, etc.

[bandit]

With the MWC and CUSA having extensive meetings coming up, and apparently planning on working together, I doubt either league would raid the other at this point. They are evidently going to attempt a setup for the 2 league champs to play for a BCS bid. Don't see that happening, but who knows... this whole shifting landscape has been surreal so anything is possible.

I think TCU will ultimately lose it's desire to fly around the rocky mountains with the 2 marquee programs missing, and that they will eventually merge back w/ their former rivals in CUSA west, perhaps for a newly branded SWC. But that could be years away. Who knows.

[Chad4Life]

With BYU joining the WCC for the other sports, that would give the WCC 9 teams--I wonder if they add one more team and take a non-football playing school off the hands of the Sun Belt Conference (Denver)? And I could see the MWC possibly going after a couple more teams (Houston? UTEP? San Jose State--I know the athletic programs aren't the strongest, but they are in the Bay Area media market.) Who knows? Interesting times to say the least.

[Big Al]

I believe the lack of oxygen at altitude has finally gotten to BYU's brains.

[DFW HOYA]

I think TCU will ultimately lose it's desire to fly around the rocky mountains with the 2 marquee programs missing, and that they will eventually merge back w/ their former rivals in CUSA west, perhaps for a newly branded SWC. But that could be years away. Who knows.

TCU has no interest in C-USA. They're not spending $105 million on stadium renovations to play Rice and Tulane. Think instead about a Big XII with only 10 teams and which will someday want a playoff game again, assuming Texas doesn't go independent one day as well.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

With BYU joining the WCC for the other sports, that would give the WCC 9 teams--I wonder if they add one more team and take a non-football playing school off the hands of the Sun Belt Conference (Denver)? And I could see the MWC possibly going after a couple more teams (Houston? UTEP? San Jose State--I know the athletic programs aren't the strongest, but they are in the Bay Area media market.) Who knows? Interesting times to say the least.

Seattle, a non-football school, is positively dying to get back into the WCC.

USU would be a natural to take BYU's place.

[Green Cookie Monster]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/447523-escaping-the-muck-saving-byus-reputation-and-maximizing-byus-revenue

Go to the middle of this story and start reading when you get to: 'Flexing Mormon Muscle'

[MplsBison]

Now that Utah and BYU are out of the MWC, wouldn't the MWC want to re-gain a school in the 2nd largest market in the Mountain region? Seems like Utah State is a no-brainer there, esp. with the great bball program they have. Add Houston for another big time market and as a travel partner for TCU plus this guarantees schools will always play one conference football game in Texas every year which helps with TX recruiting.

Would CUSA take both LaTech and NMSU (to go with UTEP) after losing Houston and potential another CUSA school to the Big East? Or would WAC try to beg UTEP to come over to go with NMSU in the WAC?

Montana and Idaho is a no brainer. Sac State and San Jose State as well. Assuming Hawaii also goes indy you have the WAC at:

Montana - Idaho
San Jose St - Sac St
(maybe) NMSU - UTEP

Who else?

Montana State - North Dakota or North Dakota State?
UC Davis - Cal Poly?
UTSA - Texas St?

[SM_Bobcat]

MWC has nothing to offer any CUSA teams. CUSA is in a better situation, than the MWC is right now. The MWC now probably doesn't even have a TV contract at the moment, given that Comcast will most likely get out of the current contract since they don't have a school in Utah anymore....

[Lehigh Football Nation]

MWC has nothing to offer any CUSA teams. CUSA is in a better situation, than the MWC is right now. The MWC now probably doesn't even have a TV contract at the moment, given that Comcast will most likely get out of the current contract since they don't have a school in Utah anymore....

... until Utah State accepts an invite. Carry on...

[Chad4Life]

Seattle, a non-football school, is positively dying to get back into the WCC.

USU would be a natural to take BYU's place.


Yes, but Gonzaga's not dying for them to get in. Seattle would fit in better with the travel footprint of the conference, but politics overrides other considerations in a number of instances. It will be interesting to see what happens there. I just don't see them staying at 9, especially with the way they do the basketball weekends.

Utah State would replace the BYU/Utah footprint in the conference, and they have a strong basketball program, but does the football program show enough promise to become strong enough for them to impress the Mountain West. Football is driving the Mountain West right now. Possibly they hold off for a couple and see what happens to with the Big 10(now 12) and Big 12(now 10.) And in a state where BYU is #1 and Utah is #2, does the addition of the lagging #3 team really help with the media market issue. How many eyeballs would Utah State truly bring to a television package?

For the fans of the FCS schools whose names get mentioned as possible expansion, would a move to a depleted WAC offer more benefits than staying in FCS?

[Chad4Life]

I don't know if losing that television contract would be the worst thing in the world for the MWC.

[cpalum]

For the fans of the FCS schools whose names get mentioned as possible expansion, would a move to a depleted WAC offer more benefits than staying in FCS?

looks pretty shaky to me but the Great West inst exactly the solid ground either......I sure wish this Big West with football rumor would happen.

[Chad4Life]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/447523-escaping-the-muck-saving-byus-reputation-and-maximizing-byus-revenue

Go to the middle of this story and start reading when you get to: 'Flexing Mormon Muscle'

Thanks for the post. Interesting read. Don't know if I agree with everything, but he is right--BYU has a lot of power in this, sometimes overlooked.

I do think that sometimes teams' locations in certain media markets are overrated (So and so school is in this media market; big deal, they've got 10 fans.)

[Polywog]

Again, I feel the only way it makes sense for Poly to join what's left of the WAC is as a football-only member. The Big West is a great fit for the rest of the sports in terms of geography, caliber of teams, sports offered, and similarity of institutions. However I don't see why the WAC would be interested at all in any football-only affiliates, espicially ones from the FCS ranks, so I think Poly takes a pass on FBS for now.

Some Davis fans may disagree, but I feel what makes sense for Cal Poly in this scenario makes sense for the Aggies too.

[lucchesicourt]

I said it before and I'll say it again. The Big Sky will be responsible for the demise of FCS football in the west. Right now, for Poly and UCD, BCS is the only choice in the long run. The Big Sky refuses to offer either school an opportunity to join the Big Sky as a football only member. When and if Poly and UCD go BCS, Sac State will follow (Big Sky loses a member). And, maybe more follow these schools. The end of FCS football in the west. The Big sky has had the opportunity to allow Poly and UCD as football only members, but refuses. That leaves BCS as the only option at this point in time, especially if the WAC offers a football only position in the WAC. I agree, UCD and Poly are best off in the Big West for all other sports.

[Green Laser]

I wouldn't mind seeing davis and Poly in the Big Sky for football only if Sac State was allowed the same deal (Football in the Big Sky, other sports in the Big West).

[aggiemba]

Green Laser,

But you guys would get killed in the other sports in the Big West. Best stay where you are.

[msusig]

The only schools with potential to move up in the next 2-3 years are Montana, UTSA, & Texas State. Nobody else has spent the $ to make improvements yet or have been successful enough to make the jump.

Montana should be successful in the BCS. I think Texas State & UTSA will survive in the BCS, but most likely won't be successful.

There are just too many variables to figure out what will happen next. You could spend an endless amount of time going through situations. Big 12 needs to get back to twelve, CUSA isn't centralized enough, WAC is on the verge of being destroyed or irrelevant, MWC needs more football teams to reach 12, Sunbelt will need to scramble to replace teams they will potentially lose, and the Big East hasn't even made any moves yet. Also whose to say the SEC, PAC10, BIG 10, and ACC aren't done expanding.

[Cocky]

We've spent the money. Success is arguable but fairly close to Tx State nowhere near Montana and UTSA has none.

[nwFL Griz]

Some of these responses really crack me up. Utah St getting invited to the MWC? Why? Their first invite was simply to block BYU's plans and really had not much to do with USU as an institution. There's no way they get invited again, unless somehow comcast strongarms the MWC into inviting them to keep the Utah market (even though that is a stretch, at best).

CUSA is in a better position than the MWC? How so? While the loss of both Utah and BYU hurts in getting the AQ for the BCS, who knows how the tv deal will be affected, especially adding UNR and FSU. Even staying at 10, the MWC is far and away a better conference than CUSA, and any CUSA team that gets an invite from the MWC will take it in an instant. If I were the MWC, I would have invited two of Houston, UTEP or SMU yesterday. But that's just me....

[Sly Fox]

If the MWC hasn't already invited Houston it is because they don't want anything formal out there until they know they will get an affirmative response. UH joins TCU in visions of somehow getting an invitation to join the Big XII. Unless the MWC leaves the door open for Houston to exit without issue should the Big XII come calling then I have a feeling the Coogs will just hang low in the C-USA. The MWC would have ZERO interest in SMU unless TCU bolted. The Ponies have scant support in DFW despite being a top notch university academically.

The WAC is in a spot but I highly doubt they would fold up their tent when they will remain alive by calling up a few FCS schools.

[darell1976]

UND's AD Brian Faison was asked about moving up to the WAC...he basically said that with scholarships, facilities and building upgrades plus a little thing called MONEY. UND is not ready. Which makes sense we would have to redo Memorial Stadium to reach 15,000 (it was at 10,000 before moving to the Alerus((13,000)) in 2001). So no to the WAC for UND which to any Sioux fan is NOT a surprise.