http://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/15/27997...gets-waced

Remember when we were supposed to feel bad for schools like Baylor and Kansas State, who looked like they might be stuck in a weakened Big 12? How about WAC schools like Idaho, New Mexico State, and San Jose State, which might find themselves essentially playing FCS schedules thanks to conference realignment?

The WAC is down to a hand full of members who have not just moved up to the FBS level. As it stands they had been given a pass on several regulatory membership requirements by the NCAA (such as the number of years so many teams have been together).

San Jose State may be in an attractive enough TV market to get an invite to the alliance.

We play Idaho in 2013/2014 and Ohio plays them in 2014/2015.

word is that sjsu, utah state and la tech are all likely expansion targets for the alliance - as well as temple and a sun belt florida school.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbss...8/34848027

(02-15-2012 12:10 PM)e-bethMSU Wrote:  word is that sjsu, utah state and la tech are all likely expansion targets for the alliance - as well as temple and a sun belt florida school.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbss...8/34848027

Unless the TV people are set on LT I would think that Tulane would be against adding them. Same thing for La-Laff too.

If you are starting a national conference why would you want to add a team that is in a state (that is not Texas, California or Florida) that already has a team that is part of the conference?

(02-15-2012 12:15 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 12:10 PM)e-bethMSU Wrote:  word is that sjsu, utah state and la tech are all likely expansion targets for the alliance - as well as temple and a sun belt florida school.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbss...8/34848027

Unless the TV people are set on LT I would think that Tulane would be against adding them. Same thing for La-Laff too.

If you are starting a national conference why would you want to add a team that is in a state (that is not Texas, California or Florida) that already has a team that is part of the conference?

'Cause Terry Bradshaw told them too?

LaTech used to be a WBB powerhouse.

I dunno, but when it's all said and done, I think you're going to see the 12-team New Big West and the 6+ team New SWC that I proposed make an awful lot of sense.

The Sun Belt is hiring the WAC commisioner and just about every Sun Belt school would be against a merger so I say we end up raiding it.


1. La Tech (they bring a unified hatred to the conference and would make travel/attendance extremely cheap for South Alabama, ULL, and ULM)
2. Utah State (bring a decent market and not great but decent basketball)
3. UNM (They also bring decent basketball and a decent market)
4. UTSA (Another market add in my opinion but gives us a strong foothold out west if we use a 7 team division model for football)

Now for the real eye popper here. Karl Benson the former Wac commissioner and soon the be Sun Belt commissioner is a Boise St graduate and former athlete. I really have a hard time seeing him leaving his school out in the dry because their Olympic sports are in the WAC so they can be in the Big East. I could see the Sun Belt picking up Boise St as a fifth expansion target. It makes sense because the Sun Belt west will literally be west and if we don't add them we have a 13 team conference in that scenario because UALR is a Olympic sports member.

(02-15-2012 01:53 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  Now for the real eye popper here. Karl Benson the former Wac commissioner and soon the be Sun Belt commissioner is a Boise St graduate and former athlete. I really have a hard time seeing him leaving his school out in the dry because their Olympic sports are in the WAC so they can be in the Big East. I could see the Sun Belt picking up Boise St as a fifth expansion target. It makes sense because the Sun Belt west will literally be west and if we don't add them we have a 13 team conference in that scenario because UALR is a Olympic sports member.

See what you did there...

You think Boise will go from having their non revenue sports go from this map..



To this one?

Don't think Benson(old Mac commissioner) isn't think about his own superconference....

(02-15-2012 01:53 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  The Sun Belt is hiring the WAC commisioner and just about every Sun Belt school would be against a merger so I say we end up raiding it.


1. La Tech (they bring a unified hatred to the conference and would make travel/attendance extremely cheap for South Alabama, ULL, and ULM)
2. Utah State (bring a decent market and not great but decent basketball)
3. UNM (They also bring decent basketball and a decent market)
4. UTSA (Another market add in my opinion but gives us a strong foothold out west if we use a 7 team division model for football)

Now for the real eye popper here. Karl Benson the former Wac commissioner and soon the be Sun Belt commissioner is a Boise St graduate and former athlete. I really have a hard time seeing him leaving his school out in the dry because their Olympic sports are in the WAC so they can be in the Big East. I could see the Sun Belt picking up Boise St as a fifth expansion target. It makes sense because the Sun Belt west will literally be west and if we don't add them we have a 13 team conference in that scenario because UALR is a Olympic sports member.

You guys recently got rid of Idaho and just got rid of Denver. Getting rid of Idaho improved your conference's perception and is correlated w/ improved performance.

Why return to a similar mess?

SBC is on a good trajectory. They currently have two good choices:

1. Stay pat.

2. Recruit 3 of these 5 So Miss, ECU, UAB, Marshall, LaTech (listed in order of preference). Add a football playoff. Drop the deadweight schools you have: USA, UALR (maybe)

This stuff isn't rocket surgery.

(02-15-2012 10:30 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/15/27997...gets-waced

Remember when we were supposed to feel bad for schools like Baylor and Kansas State, who looked like they might be stuck in a weakened Big 12? How about WAC schools like Idaho, New Mexico State, and San Jose State, which might find themselves essentially playing FCS schedules thanks to conference realignment?

The WAC is down to a hand full of members who have not just moved up to the FBS level. As it stands they had been given a pass on several regulatory membership requirements by the NCAA (such as the number of years so many teams have been together).

The WAC should be fine on the autobids since they've packed so many non football playing members into the conference.

Pacific: SJSU, Seattle, Idaho, Boise State, Utah State, Denver
Central: NMSU, UT-San Antonio, UT-Arlington, Tx State, La Tech

The alliance is likely to settle on 18-20 teams so at the most 4 schools are going to be taken out of the WAC. That will leave the WAC with at least 7 schools to maintain automatic bids.

Its possible that Air Force joins up with the WAC if they move onto the Big East having Denver as a travel partner.

Then of course the WAC may engage in some expansion with the Montana schools as Montana State finally has the stadium in place to move up with Montana. With Montana in tow the WAC could then strike out to the Dakotas, adding them en masse.

The WAC has a lot of possibilities.

(02-15-2012 12:10 PM)e-bethMSU Wrote:  word is that sjsu, utah state and la tech are all likely expansion targets for the alliance - as well as temple and a sun belt florida school.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs.cbss...8/34848027

That is just a quick cut of the names on the table. Andy Katz has heard that Charlotte, ODU, UT-San Antonio and UMass are also in the mix. Basically all of the SBC and WAC schools with a few exceptions are candidates.

The only thing I have gathered is none of the 12 all-sport members of the MAC are showing any interest in this alliance otherwise I'm sure their names would be included in reports.

(02-15-2012 04:59 PM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 10:30 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/15/27997...gets-waced


The WAC is down to a hand full of members who have not just moved up to the FBS level. As it stands they had been given a pass on several regulatory membership requirements by the NCAA (such as the number of years so many teams have been together).

The WAC should be fine on the autobids since they've packed so many non football playing members into the conference.

Pacific: SJSU, Seattle, Idaho, Boise State, Utah State, Denver
Central: NMSU, UT-San Antonio, UT-Arlington, Tx State, La Tech

The alliance is likely to settle on 18-20 teams so at the most 4 schools are going to be taken out of the WAC. That will leave the WAC with at least 7 schools to maintain automatic bids.

Its possible that Air Force joins up with the WAC if they move onto the Big East having Denver as a travel partner.

Then of course the WAC may engage in some expansion with the Montana schools as Montana State finally has the stadium in place to move up with Montana. With Montana in tow the WAC could then strike out to the Dakotas, adding them en masse.

The WAC has a lot of possibilities.

Air Force will not move to the WAC...

The WAC has a lot of possibilities, but they all involve FCS choices...

It is unlikely that the alliance will expand beyond 2 additions with only WAC schools...they need to keep a West/East balance...

(02-15-2012 05:08 PM)wleakr Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 04:59 PM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 10:30 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  http://www.ubbullrun.com/2012/2/15/27997...gets-waced


The WAC is down to a hand full of members who have not just moved up to the FBS level. As it stands they had been given a pass on several regulatory membership requirements by the NCAA (such as the number of years so many teams have been together).

The WAC should be fine on the autobids since they've packed so many non football playing members into the conference.

Pacific: SJSU, Seattle, Idaho, Boise State, Utah State, Denver
Central: NMSU, UT-San Antonio, UT-Arlington, Tx State, La Tech

The alliance is likely to settle on 18-20 teams so at the most 4 schools are going to be taken out of the WAC. That will leave the WAC with at least 7 schools to maintain automatic bids.

Its possible that Air Force joins up with the WAC if they move onto the Big East having Denver as a travel partner.

Then of course the WAC may engage in some expansion with the Montana schools as Montana State finally has the stadium in place to move up with Montana. With Montana in tow the WAC could then strike out to the Dakotas, adding them en masse.

The WAC has a lot of possibilities.

Air Force will not move to the WAC...

The WAC has a lot of possibilities, but they all involve FCS choices...

It is unlikely that the alliance will expand beyond 2 additions with only WAC schools...they need to keep a West/East balance...

I'm not sure at this point on what the alliance will do. Sounds like they are open to a lot possibilities.

They could go with 3 divisions of 6 and a wild card for their playoff. In that case they may want to load up on Texas schools in the central division while keeping Southern Miss, ECU, Marshall all in the East.

As for Air Force, my guess why they have not announced a BE move at this point is because they haven't found a suitable home for their other sports. The WAC isn't the most attractive fit right now but who knows what its configuration will look like in 2 years.

(02-15-2012 02:03 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 01:53 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  Now for the real eye popper here. Karl Benson the former Wac commissioner and soon the be Sun Belt commissioner is a Boise St graduate and former athlete. I really have a hard time seeing him leaving his school out in the dry because their Olympic sports are in the WAC so they can be in the Big East. I could see the Sun Belt picking up Boise St as a fifth expansion target. It makes sense because the Sun Belt west will literally be west and if we don't add them we have a 13 team conference in that scenario because UALR is a Olympic sports member.

You think Boise will go from having their non revenue sports go from this map..



To this one?

They still have the Big West and Big Sky as options don't they?

(02-15-2012 05:33 PM)CMUprof Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 02:03 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 01:53 PM)TrojanCampaign Wrote:  Now for the real eye popper here. Karl Benson the former Wac commissioner and soon the be Sun Belt commissioner is a Boise St graduate and former athlete. I really have a hard time seeing him leaving his school out in the dry because their Olympic sports are in the WAC so they can be in the Big East. I could see the Sun Belt picking up Boise St as a fifth expansion target. It makes sense because the Sun Belt west will literally be west and if we don't add them we have a 13 team conference in that scenario because UALR is a Olympic sports member.

You think Boise will go from having their non revenue sports go from this map..



To this one?

They still have the Big West and Big Sky as options don't they?

The Big West is all California schools (except Hawaii) and are not interested in taking in Boise State.

The Big Sky requires all of its members to play football. No football only schools accepted.

The future of the WAC depends on what the Alliance/Merger and Sun Belt decide to do. Right now the Alliance/Merger boasts ...

CUSA SIDE
Marshall \ East Carolina
UAB \ Southern Miss
Tulane \ Rice
Tulsa \ UTEP

MWC SIDE
New Mexico \ Air Force
Colorado State \ Wyoming
UNLV \ Nevada
Fresno State
Hawaii (football-only)

How big do they really want to get? If it is just 8/9 and 8/9, the East will be quite spread out with the West somewhat compact.

I will go with a scenario that causes the fewest changes to prevent this post from becoming far too long and way too confusing.

HYPOTHETICAL CUSA SIDE
Marshall \ East Carolina
UAB \ Southern Miss
Tulane \ Rice
North Texas \ Tulsa
UMass (football-only)

HYPOTHETICAL MWC SIDE
UTEP \ New Mexico
Colorado State \ Wyoming
UNLV \ Nevada
Fresno State \ San Jose State
Hawaii (football-only)

I assume that Air Force follows Navy as a football-only Big East member in this scenario with other sports available to join the WAC.

Now let's look at the Sun Belt, which has only lost North Texas in this scenario, but Karl Benson wants to maintain a presence there.

HYPOTHETICAL SUN BELT EAST
Florida Atlantic \ Florida International
South Alabama \ Troy
Middle Tennessee \ Western Kentucky
Arkansas-Little Rock (non-football)

HYPOTHETICAL SUN BELT WEST
Arkansas State \ Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Monroe \ Louisiana-Lafayette
Texas State \ UTSA
Texas-Arlington (non-football)

The Sun Belt makes out quite well if the Alliance/Merger shows any type of restraint and settles for a weirdly disjointed East Division.

This leaves the WAC with a strange mix of teams, not enough to officially be FBS, and a couple of options to chart its future course.

LEFT IN WAC AT THIS JUNCTURE
Seattle (non-football) \ Idaho
Boise State (non-football) \ Utah State
Air Force (non-football) \ Denver (non-football)
New Mexico State

Idaho, Utah State, and NMSU would beg Montana, Montana State, Portland State, Sacramento State, and Lamar to make the jump.

But all five FCS schools could say no at that point, dooming the Western trio to independence, and making the WAC a hoops league.

HYPOTHETICAL NON-FOOTBALL WAC
Seattle (non-football) \ Idaho
Boise State (non-football) \ Utah State
Air Force (non-football) \ Denver (non-football)
New Mexico State \ Texas-Pan American (non-football)
Grand Canyon (non-football) \ Cal State Bakersfield (non-football)

Utah State would block Utah Valley again. This WAC might also beg San Diego State to join them rather than the Big West in hoops.

the WAC Is in trouble...

Benson gone and I believe He wants his Texas teams come over to the Belt..

The WAC deserve their fate....