And how many teams do you see the conference expanding to if it were to happen?

From the way things are progressing, 2009 seems to be the next big year of up-heaval.
I look for the MWC to add three teams that year based on what the BCS says is needed: wins/TV market/geographic fit. Who they choose will be important due to their hopes of getting that 7th "possible" BCS position but the options are really limited.
I think it will be the likliest candidates: Boise St., UTEP, and Fresno St.
This would be the new 12 Team Conference:

EAST
Texas Christain (TCU)
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
New Mexico
------------------
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming

WEST
Utah
Brigham Young (BYU)
Boise State
------------------
San Diego State
Fresno State
Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV)

It would look like the FOUR CORNERS Conference. It brings most of the western region of the country together.
I'll be shocked if this doesn't happen. I also predict they will get a BCS nod (if the BCS survives).

I think Hawaii is just too far out and Nevada just too far behind(not to mention competition for UNLV).

ChooChoo Wrote:From the way things are progressing, 2009 seems to be the next big year of up-heaval.
I look for the MWC to add three teams that year based on what the BCS says is needed: wins/TV market/geographic fit. Who they choose will be important due to their hopes of getting that 7th "possible" BCS position but the options are really limited.
I think it will be the likliest candidates: Boise St., UTEP, and Fresno St.
This would be the new 12 Team Conference:

EAST
Texas Christain (TCU)
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
New Mexico
------------------
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming

WEST
Utah
Brigham Young (BYU)
Boise State
------------------
San Diego State
Fresno State
Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV)

It would look like the FOUR CORNERS Conference. It brings most of the western region of the country together.
I'll be shocked if this doesn't happen. I also predict they will get a BCS nod (if the BCS survives).

I think Hawaii is just too far out and Nevada just too far behind(not to mention competition for UNLV).

That is exactly the type of alignment that caused the Gang of Five to break from the WAC.

I disagree. The old WAC had Tulsa, SMU, and Rice under producing to the East as well as Hawaii draining budgets to the West. It was a combination of all those small Texas private schools, combined with travel costs, and the fact that it was 16 mis-matched schools that led to the downfall of the old WAC.
The additional 3 schools I named, Fresno St., Boise St., and UTEP all fit within the "geographic footstep".
All three are solid programs in captured TV markets that should continue to gather a large number of victories. Both of these factors are on their side and important for a conference trying to qualify for the BCS. Not to mention an extra trip into Texas and California can only help recruiting and exposure.

We'll see.

ChooChoo Wrote:I disagree. The old WAC had Tulsa, SMU, and Rice under producing to the East as well as Hawaii draining budgets to the West. It was a combination of all those small Texas private schools, combined with travel costs, and the fact that it was 16 mis-matched schools that led to the downfall of the old WAC.
The additional 3 schools I named, Fresno St., Boise St., and UTEP all fit within the "geographic footstep".
All three are solid programs in captured TV markets that should continue to gather a large number of victories. Both of these factors are on their side and important for a conference trying to qualify for the BCS. Not to mention an extra trip into Texas and California can only help recruiting and exposure.

We'll see.

I agree!
UTEP, Boise State and Fresno State would be the best choices for expansion.
UNR and Utah State would probably disagree though.....

ChooChoo Wrote:From the way things are progressing, 2009 seems to be the next big year of up-heaval.
I look for the MWC to add three teams that year based on what the BCS says is needed: wins/TV market/geographic fit. Who they choose will be important due to their hopes of getting that 7th "possible" BCS position but the options are really limited.
I think it will be the likliest candidates: Boise St., UTEP, and Fresno St.
This would be the new 12 Team Conference:

EAST
Texas Christain (TCU)
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
New Mexico
------------------
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming

WEST
Utah
Brigham Young (BYU)
Boise State
------------------
San Diego State
Fresno State
Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV)

It would look like the FOUR CORNERS Conference. It brings most of the western region of the country together.
I'll be shocked if this doesn't happen. I also predict they will get a BCS nod (if the BCS survives).

I think Hawaii is just too far out and Nevada just too far behind(not to mention competition for UNLV).

uhh your line up is exactly why the old 16 team Wac broke up

IF and it is a huge if we go to 12 it will be

North
BYU
Utah
WYO
CSU
Air Force
Boise St

South
TCU
UTEP
New Mexico
Fresno
UNLV
SDSU

If those Are the teams I think UNR may be a dark horse over Utep

That'd be a lateral move for UTEP. They're already in a superior conference.

Billings Dude, did you even READ my post? You named the EXACT same teams. You merely divided them North/South as opposed to East/West. :rolleyes

Adding Fresno, Boise, and UTEP would virtually kill the WAC. It would be the Sunbelt West and I bet the solid teams (Louisiana Tech, Nevada, Hawaii) would bolt. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

My guess is that not much will happen in 2009. You never know but it seems we are set for 20 years or so.

Things will switch up in about 2010 when the Big east football schools break off from the basketball schools to form the Big North conference, poaching 1-4 teams from an already depleted C-USA (think Memphis, ECU, UCF, and Marshall) and sending the rest of the country into a new (though smaller) frenzy.

The MWC should continue to take advantage of their healthy situation.

EAST:
SDSU (CA)
Fresno State (CA)
UNLV (NV)
Nevada (NV)
BYU (UT)
Utah (UT)

WEST:
Boise State (ID)
Wyoming (WY)
CSU (CO)
Air Force (CO)
New Mexico (NM)
TCU (TX)

For rivalries sake, this is the expansion and alignment that the Mountain West needs the most.

BIG EAST adds UCF and/or MEMPHIS

MWC responds by adding BOISE STATE


CUSA splits.

UTEP/Houston/Rice/SMU/Tulsa/Tulane will add North Texas/Louisiana Tech/Louisiana to form the New CUSA.

Now, Marshall/East Carolina/UAB/Southern Miss/(Memphis or UCF) will have 2 choices:

1) Join the SBC.

2) Form a new league from scratch with Toledo/Bowling Green/Miami/Akron


The WAC will be left with 7 members. Still a viable conference, just won't have a vote on NCAA matters. They would probably bring along a 1-AA program or 2 to avoid losing all 1-A Conference privileges.

I think the best expansion would be to add either utep or fresno state to make it ten teams. Im not to keen on adding Boise. They lost their football coach and their bball team already sucks.

ChooChoo Wrote:I disagree. The old WAC had Tulsa, SMU, and Rice under producing to the East

Underproducing my :moon:...

Rice was consistently near the top of their division in football, and Tulsa was a perennial NCAA basketball team.

The one's "underproducing" in the eastern half of the WAC-16: that's right, TCU and UTEP.

Don't you all need one of these to discuss this........

CAJUNNATION Wrote:BIG EAST adds UCF and/or MEMPHIS

MWC responds by adding BOISE STATE


CUSA splits.

UTEP/Houston/Rice/SMU/Tulsa/Tulane will add North Texas/Louisiana Tech/Louisiana to form the New CUSA.

Now, Marshall/East Carolina/UAB/Southern Miss/(Memphis or UCF) will have 2 choices:

1) Join the SBC.

2) Form a new league from scratch with Toledo/Bowling Green/Miami/Akron


The WAC will be left with 7 members. Still a viable conference, just won't have a vote on NCAA matters. They would probably bring along a 1-AA program or 2 to avoid losing all 1-A Conference privileges.

I agree with you that C-USA will have some programs leave at some point. With all due respect, however, some of your predictions don't make a lot of sense. Why would UCF/Memphis, Marshall, and the founding members of C-USA that you listed (ECU, UAB, and Southern Miss) leave C-USA (the most successful of the non-BCS leagues right now in terms of national exposure) to go to the Sun Belt or form a new league? And why would C-USA let schools in markets like Orlando, Birmingham, or Memphis slip away to the Sun Belt and take in schools from the much smaller Ruston and Lafayette markets? Sorry, it doesn't add up.

If the split happens, it will be a NEGOTIATED split.


There is simply no reason for the current CUSA to remain so far flung, if similar things could be accomplished by the member schools in smaller, more regional conferences.

If the current CUSA schools, minus 1 or 2, feel this way in a few years, CUSA will split.

I'm betting they do.

Be honest. The addition of UTEP nearly tore the conference apart. We're talking about 12 schools with markedly different goals and cultures from very different regions of the country.

East/West
Private/Public
Basketball/Football

Sooner or later, these issues will have to be addressed. CUSA splitting would not be a sign of weakness, or of one side winning over the other.

It would be the smart thing to do for the long-term health of everyone involved.

eldermars Wrote:
For rivalries sake, this is the expansion and alignment that the Mountain West needs the most.

Wow. BYU fans have absolutely no respect for UTEP at all, do they? Well, we don't want to be in conference with you anyway.

ChooChoo Wrote:I think it will be the likliest candidates: Boise St., UTEP, and Fresno St.
This would be the new 12 Team Conference:

EAST
Texas Christain (TCU)
Texas-El Paso (UTEP)
New Mexico
------------------
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming

WEST
Utah
Brigham Young (BYU)
Boise State
------------------
San Diego State
Fresno State
Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV)

On the old MWCBoard site, a solution like this was proposed that seemed very agreeable to the majority of the posters. The 12 teams were broken up into 4 quadrants (N, S, E, W), which allowed for all the old rivalries to remain intact. I don't remember all of the specifics, but it was a good layout. Anyone out there know what I am talking about???

I can't help but think (or Dream) why not take the best schools to represent the geographic area. Here's how it would look:

North:
Air Force (could sub in Boise St... Nah!)
BYU
Colorado
Colorado St
Utah
Wyoming

South:
Arizona
Arizona St
New Mexico
SDSU
TCU
UNLV

This would be an exciting conference full of rivalries!