Saturday, January 29, 2011

Conference realignment

Who was irritated that the Mountain West nearly added San Jose State and Utah State? I was.

Outside of market value, what do those schools bring to the table that NMSU doesn't? Nothing. And who cares about San Jose State in San Jose? No one.

Just wanted to write that.

Here is a list of schools that could be additions for the WAC as it looks to add pieces. Expect some movement in 30-to-60 days....

FBS
UTEP
North Texas
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
SMU
Rice
Tulane
Army
Navy

FCS
Montana
Montana State
Cal Davis
Cal Poly
Sacramento State
Portland State
Lamar
Sam Houston State
Central Arkansas

Non-Football
Seattle
Cal-State Bakersfield
Utah Valley
Pan American
Houston Baptist

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Teddy, UTEP and North Texas want nothing to do with the WAC, and the sooner Benson and Co realize that the sooner we can go after schools that might actually want to join our conference. SMU and Rice would be nice travel wise, Army and Navy would be awesome to have the service academies come to LC, but travel would be a pain.

Anonymous said...

UTEP? What does the "new" WAC offer UTEP, SMU, Army, etc.? The WAC will fall from being a top 6-8 football conference to something much less. CUSA, isn't the equal to the WAC as it stands. After we lose Hawaii, Boise, Fresno, and Nevada, the WAC won't be the equal of it.

Why the Mountain West would consider Utah State is a mystery. It isn't much different football-wise to NMSU. The handwriting is on the wall with the MWC. If Boise found itself itself invited to a conference like the Big 12 or PAC12, they'd be gone in a heartbeat, leaving the Mountain West to be the Mountain WAC.

PJ

Anonymous said...

ULL, ULM and Tulane are the schools most likely to see an advantage to moving to the WAC. I might still try to take a MWC school or two as well. UNM, UNLV and Wyoming come to mind as schools that might find themselves more competetive in the WAC. The military academies are a long shot, though it would be interesting to get them and AFA.

I doubt that UM or MSU will make teh move at this time. So from the FCS schools, I think Sac State and Lamar are the best choices. I believe Lamar has enough oil money in the area that they might pull off the upgrade - not so sure about Sac State, though they woould be good cmpetetively and geographically, giving SJSU a trave partner.

Seattle is the only non-football school that intrigues me, although I've heard that UVU may have some support to get in.

JD said...

Teddy this has to be the best story after signing day. What leverage (TV revenue/exposure, bowl tie ins, etc.) does the WAC have over C-USA to lure some of these Texas schools? It would be nice to add a Houston area school to the mix. Travel would be improved and maybe you could get some geographical rivalries going. Wouldn't it be a boost to NMSU to have UTEP confirm. Game late into both basketball and football seasons...?

JD said...

I meant to say it would really boost attendance and interest if you had UTEP in for a conference game late in the season. This would help to get away from the sharp drop off in attendance after the first 3 home games......