Saving the WAC...The Big East Expanded, What Now?

So, the Big East added 5...Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, SMU and Central Florida.  BYU and Air Force have said, thanks but no thanks.  What happens next?

The MWC and C-USA have to decide if they expand to replace who they have lost, or if they go on as they now stand.

I know that fans of Utah State and others in the floundering WAC are hopeful that the MWC will chose them as replacements.  I am hopeful for that as well for Utah State.  The Aggies and the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech, the 1 & 2 football teams in the WAC from 2011, have proven that they can compete and have a bright future.  That is if they can keep Gary Anderson and Sonny Dykes, their respective coaches.

In this blog, I have sorted through a number of scenarios, and it is a wait and see mode right now.  But let's take a moment to review the options...including one theory this blog has not yet explored.

Option 1.  Stand pat...The Mountain West Conference would have 8 teams and Conference USA would have 9.  Both are at a reasonable size for a college football conference.  Since they have a "playoff agreement" semi-merger and could enter into a scheduling agreement to help fill out their respective schedules.  There is one problem with the option, and that is the MWC would have only 7 teams for basketball...which bring us to option 2.

Option 2.  The MWC would only add 1 school and C-USA stand pat to bring both conferences to 9 for football.  They would play 8 conference and 1 non-conference game would be against the other conference similar to the ACC/Big 10 challenge in basketball.  I would believe that Utah State is likely to be the one school, but the MWC could choose market size over competition level and select San Jose State instead of Utah State.

Option 3.  Both school expand to 12 teams.  As I have said before, C-USA would want to regain and maintain a foot hold in the recruiting hotbed of Texas, therefore North Texas is likely the #1 consideration.  I believe that Middle Tennessee has the next best chance and finally Appalachian State would be third.  Other candidates would be UTSA and Louisiana Tech.  LT will lobby hard, however.

For the MWC, they would need to add 4.  Utah State, San Jose State and possibly Idaho and Montana could be good options for the MWC.  I have been crucified for saying that the MWC would add Montana, but I ask again, who else would they add?  New Mexico State, maybe if Montana says no.

UTEP could switch from C-USA to MWC and that could open up LT as an option for C-USA?  So maybe that is more likely to happen.  Utah State, San Jose State, Idaho and UTEP to the MWC with North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Appalachian State and Louisiana Tech to C-USA.

Option 4.  Completely merge and create a super conference.  That would be 17 teams.  Perhaps someone like Air Force or Hawaii would have nothing to do with it and go independent, then you would have 16 teams, but it might work well.  This is an option that I have not discussed before, but since super conferences seem to be the future, why not serve as the experiment and see if it could work.  Or prove that it can not...like the WAC did 16 years ago.

If Karl Benson wants his conference to survive as a football conference, he may choose to keep his mouth shut about the Super Conference idea.

But, the SL Tribune is reporting this morning that Utah State administrators are expecting an invite from the MWC, but not very soon.  They report that neither C-USA nor the MWC are certain that they are finished losing teams and more are expected to join the Big East, perhaps Air Force and Navy.  However, if this is where it stops, a formal, complete merger may be the chosen option instead of expansion by either conference.  But keep in mind that both conferences have lost their best hopes at BCS access to the Big East.  Can they get to the BCS without Boise State?  Will Fresno State and Southern Mississippi carry them to the BCS?  And that is the reality of the current situation.  If C-USA loses Southern Mississippi, Tulsa and/or Tulane, Marshall or someone else, all bets are off.

I also have not lost the fact that Boise State has joined the WAC for their non-football sports.  This helps the WAC survive as a non football conference.  They will need to add 3 more non-football schools to live on as a non-football conference and maintain the NCAA automatic bid.