MWC senario

[Water Pony]

Utah is gone....leave them out of any mtn. west discussion

I am sorry Nick, but I don't assume Utah is gone. First, Pac10 may stay at 10 schools and I don't believe the Utah AD is able to tell his student athletes that they are moving, especially with no invitation extended. ADs don't confide their strategic plans with students.

It may happen, but so much has to happen first, i.e. Big Ten moves and a willingness for Colorado to make the same move, which isn't automatic.

[NickSMU17]

You may be right, just going on what I have heard...

[PonySnob]

North Division
Air Force
Boise St.
BYU
Colorado St.
Utah
Wyoming

South Division
Houston
New Mexico
San Diego St.
SMU
TCU
UNLV

Weren't we already in a conference like this?

[davidpaul123]

North Division
Air Force
Boise St.
BYU
Colorado St.
Utah
Wyoming

South Division
Houston
New Mexico
San Diego St.
SMU
TCU
UNLV

Weren't we already in a conference like this?

if you mean BCS conference, no. if you mean the old wac, then yes. everything is predicated on the fact the conference puts the teams in place with the records to earn BCS standing.

[abezontar]

the nice thing about being in a conference with UNLV again would be the trips to Las Vegas for the conference tournament

[EastStang]

And as we all know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Unless you are stupid enough to get married in Vegas.

[Frog Barrister]

Air Force
Boise State
BYU
Colorado State
New Mexico
San Diego State
TCU
UNLV
Utah
Wyoming

that's how it will look in 2011.

[EastStang]

And how do they fix the schedule so that BYU, UU, WY, AFA and CSU play each other in perpetuity? That's what blew up the WAC 16. And if you're one of the other four schools, you want to play BYU and AFA as many years as possible, because they are the only teams which will bring butts in seats. If Boise puts them into auto-bid then they'll invite them, if not, I can see fissures forming over expansion to 10. I could see two five and five divisions, but that puts the non-airport 5 into the red-eyed step-child division.

[deepellumfrog]

I think in this type of scenario Fresno State is a more likely possibility than SMU, UTEP is also a strong candidate.

[Water Pony]

I think in this type of scenario Fresno State is a more likely possibility than SMU, UTEP is also a strong candidate.

DE Frog,

When you went to MWC, I predicted your fans and non-revenue sports would hate being isolated in the Central Time Zone. What has been the actual experience (leaving aside that FB has benefited from a stronger strength of schedule)? Doesn't Fresno make it more lop-sided for you? Even UTEP doesn't make it easier?

Unless MWC gets auto-bid, I still don't see the long term benefits of MWC, especially if you experience more than two losses a year. No smack? Just questions.

[RGV Pony]

I think UTEP is a good fit for the MWC. I don't like saying it, because they are good for CUSA. Adding Boise and UTEP makes sense for that conference, though.

[EastStang]

UTEP may not want to go. UTEP likes CUSA because it puts it in a conference with four other Texas schools. UTEP is one of the State Universities of Texas and part of the UT system and consider themselves as Texas a school as any other despite their geography on the SW tip. They have lots of alums in Houston and Dallas and getting dates in those cities means lots of excuses for fund-raising in two of the major cities in Texas. Many do not understand this fact. Further, they were probably the most burned team in the MWC exodus. They were an original WAC member and had been conference mates with those schools and got dumped. There is a ton of distrust there. Especially with rumors of BYU and UU leaving. They don't want to be back in the WAC again. Fresno has a good football program and has been wanting in for years, but again, folks in Nevada government could put pressure on UNLV to vote against Fresno for Nevada and folks in CA could put the same pressure on SDS to vote for only for Fresno (and SJS) and it only takes one blackball. That's why they only invited TCU and couldn't agree on a 10th member the last time. There was lots of press that they were going to expand to 10 and only went to 9.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Interesting food for thought in a lot of these comments. In particular, I am interested by the notion that perhaps some of the "targeted" C-USA schools for MWC expansion may be a bit wary of joining unless and until the fate of BYU and UU is determined. That makes a lot of sense to me. C-USA is not perfect, but if you are SMU, UTEP, UH, Rice, and/or Tulsa, would jumping into the MWC, only to have BYU and/or UU leave, put your school in a better place long-term? Or would it make more sense to do what you can to strengthen the C-USA in the short-term, and wait and see how the other dominoes shake out? I think irrespective of BYU and UU, Boise State would benefit from joining the MWC. It still would seem like a stronger conference for them. But for C-USA schools, the MWC looks good if BYU and UU stay and the conference obtains BCS status. If they leave however, that could be a disasterous move. It would definitely require some serious consideration.

[RGV Pony]

you know, all things aside, unless SMU were to wind up in the Big 10 or some other outlandish scenario, maybe CUSA and its current alignment and possibilities for member losses and subsequent additions warrants discussion.

Marshall, UCF, ECU, Memphis are the most likely to be targets/leave. Who replaces them? Sunbelt teams like mentioned before? Is it Troy, W. Kentucky, La Tech and MTSU? Texas St and/or UTSA who are moving up? Every one of those equals games with attendance around 12,000, with the possible exception of the two Texas schools.

Yes, it would be nice for SMU to even go to the MWC, but if not...what's left?

[West Coast Johnny]

DE Frog,

When you went to MWC, I predicted your fans and non-revenue sports would hate being isolated in the Central Time Zone. What has been the actual experience (leaving aside that FB has benefited from a stronger strength of schedule)? Doesn't Fresno make it more lop-sided for you? Even UTEP doesn't make it easier?

Unless MWC gets auto-bid, I still don't see the long term benefits of MWC, especially if you experience more than two losses a year. No smack? Just questions.

As a Frog fan, I don't think anyone at TCU cares about playing games in the western time zone. No one gives it a thought.