I do not believe for a moment that Louisiana Tech and Utah State fans are happy about the news, but it appears that greener pastures may have to wait. C-USA and the MWC are merging. Now, fans may not be happy in Logan and Rushton, but the reality is that they may be better of remaining in the WAC.
The new MWC/C-USA conference is eerily similar to the 16-member WAC which existed from 1996 to 1999 and ended with the formation of the MWC. A four members of this new conference were part of the "Breakaway 8" so why go through the madness again? Here are the similarities.
1. Mixture of public and private schools. Tulsa and Rice are still private schools. The old WAC also had BYU, TCU and SMU.
2. Wide geographical footprint. The old WAC spanned from Honolulu to Houston. The new conference, Honolulu to Houston to Morgantown, WV.
3. Loss of Rivals? Well, that's not the fault of those left to form the new conference. Those rivalries, Boise State/Fresno State, Boise State/Nevada, Houston/Rice, were lost when those teams left for the Big East.
4. Fan interest? We'll see if people really show up when Nevada and Marshall meet, that could be an intriguing match-up. But I don't know how many people will get excited when Wyoming and UAB get together.
Now, five months ago I would not have predicted that the WAC would outlast the Mountain West Conference. But it is now happening. We'll see if the new conference will expand to 16 and add Utah State and Louisiana Tech. It may also be possible that Hawaii will return their football program to the more travel-friendly WAC.
1 comment:
It's already at 16. Utah State and LaTech would make it 18.
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