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It is hard to imagine getting both Boise and AFA, but keep in mind that Boise is not happy with the MWC, and AFA could be attracted by higher revenue, and competition in the same conference with the other Service Academies affording more flexible scheduling, and better bowl tie-ins with higher prospects of reaping NY6 bowl benefits.

To me the biggest question mark is Army. Maybe BYU would be a better choice.

BYU like Texas and Notre Dame is a diva who believes they should get a better deal than the rest of the conference. They are independent for a reason. They want their own TV deal in addition to the conference TV deal. Getting them in the conference would be nice, but would cost us money (not to mention travel costs). Also they won't play games on Sundays which hurts our TV deal. We had several ESPN national games on Sunday nights over the years. The bigger the conference the more pressure to schedule games on Sundays. I think they should be a last resort option.

If the Big XII picks off Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah where do the rest of the PAC 12 go? I think this is a pipe dream. Besides who wants to be in the same conference with Texas?

SMUstang wrote:If the Big XII picks off Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah where do the rest of the PAC 12 go? I think this is a pipe dream. Besides who wants to be in the same conference with Texas?

Colorado bailed on Texas once and let's not forget Nebraska and Texas A&M. I get that a lot of schools are turned off by having to be associated with Texas, but has the grass been greener for those that bailed? At least Nebraska and A$M are getting a larger slice of the $$ pie, but it's been a while since they made any significant noise on the field/court.

Meanwhile, the "rest" of the PAC could join up with the bulk of the MWC and have a better shot at P5 status than the AAC

It’s hard to imagine the elitist PAC 12 schools like USC and Cal teaming up with the MWC.

Well - you never can save 'never', but in this case, it'll NEVER happen. LOL!

NavyCrimson wrote:Well - you never can save 'never', but in this case, it'll NEVER happen. LOL!

I don’t think the PAC 12 will split up. But if the above scenario happens, then the remainder will be back to the PAC 8 again.

Meanwhile, after watching this year's basketball season play out, I like the idea of finding a football only western division member for the AAC going forward and having just 11 schools competing in basketball. I'd like to see us play 20 conference bball games so every team has the same schedule, playing each conference opponent both home & away which still allows 10 non-conference games and makes it easier to identify a true regular season champion. That way, the top 5 finishers get a 1st round bye in the AAC Tourney while the bottom six play to determine the 8 teams playing in the quarterfinals.

Only question is, who would be that 12th "football only" member? I like Air Force for proximity (and to offset Navy in the east, not to mention their "fit" with the "American" title) but obviously Boise or BYU would do more to enhance the AAC's football reputation. Just not sure AF or Boise would bail on the MWC right now.

Money talks, and the AAC is in a position to offer more money and a more secure national alignment, at least for the next 12 years plus ESPN exposure, which seems to be important, at least for BSU and BYU. We’ll see.

I'd kind of like 2 steal a couple of the MWC bowls too-the Las Vegas Bowl and I believe they have the Poinsetta Bowl in San Diego. Two decent destination options which might be available with the right combination of MWC schools

True but the possible addition of BSU or AFA brings more to the AAC than UNLV or SDSU in my opinion.

With all the talk does anyone think this will actually happen?

I’d say a lot depends on ESPN and how badly they want TV coverage in the Mountain time zone. Denver, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Reno, Boise, Cheyenne, etc. I’d say the odds are pretty good but we’ll see.

The media seems to control college football these days, and ESPN seems to be out in front of the media.

If you are thinking long term, I really think SDSU would be the one of the top candidates-same may be said about UNLV now that they will have a higher profile in an NFL Stadium just off the strip. Both schools also have a basketball profile-SDSU is 1 win from tying down a No. 1 seed. But those schools only make sense if you are adding about 4 schools