Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

MWC ATHLETICS:

Analysis: With Utah on its way out, where does the MWC go from here?

If the Mountain West wants to set itself up for an automatic BCS bid, further expansion might be needed

Kyle Whittingham

AP FILE PHOTO

Utah head football coach Kyle Wittingham salutes the fans after the Utes defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, 31-17, in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 2, 2009.

The Mountain West Conference was proactive in a big way last week by adding Boise State as the league's 10th member.

But while the waters appear to be calmed in the Big 12, Big Ten and other major conferences, it's about to get choppy for the MWC, who was looking like one of the big winners on the realignment carousel not too far in the rear-view mirror.

After the Pac-10 had a monstrous swing-and-miss on the better part of the Big 12 South, the league was left needing a 12th team to keep an even number.

It targeted Utah — one of the MWC's crowned jewels in football — and on Thursday is expected to land the Utes.

Now the Mountain West is (pretty much) back to where it started a week ago and might have to be proactive ... again.

Many people will look at the Utah and Boise State football programs side-by-side and say that the developments over the last week are a wash.

On the field, they pretty much are, with both having 2-0 records in Bowl Championship Series games in recent years and being equally shining examples of how the BCS needs to take a good, close look two years from now at including automatic qualifiers from outside of the "Big Six" conferences.

Together, Utah and Boise State could have given the Mountain West a beyond-impressive case at forcing the BCS to change its ways.

Apart, the Mountain West is left with some work to do.

No one can really blame Utah for taking the invite to join the big boys.

The Utes' football program obviously had to be attractive to the Pac-10. Their location makes them ideal travel partner alongside fellow new member Colorado. To boot, the Salt Lake City TV market, which ranks 31st in the nation, is more than appealing for a league looking to increase its revenue in that department and re-work its current television deal.

Plus, there's the knowledge that it won't take an undefeated season just to have a chance at nabbing a BCS at-large bid. Now, a simple conference championship will do.

"They've been trying to get in the (Pac-10) conference for a long time, so it was probably a natural (move)," said UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood, who spent 24 years as an AD between two Pac-10 schools — Washington State and Arizona. "You can talk about (the MWC) staying at nine (schools), you can talk about adding one to go to ten, you can talk about adding three and going to 12. It's just all speculative, and at this point in time, I don't know that it makes any sense.

"It makes some sense to be aggressive, but we've operated with nine schools since TCU came in and it's been a really good conference, so who knows? I like the schools we have right now, and that's going to be up to the conference, certainly the presidents and chancellors, as it should be, in terms of expansion going forward."

UNLV President Neal Smatresk could not be reached on Wednesday, as he is out of the country, but a clearer image of what the league's board of directors is thinking as a whole will come on Thursday afternoon, when commissioner Craig Thompson speaks with the media in an afternoon teleconference.

What options are there for the Mountain West?

Well, there are plenty. None might meet Utah in terms of football stature, allowing the league to add just one, but maybe by adding three, the bridge into the league's potential BCS automatic qualifying future can be built. Finding just one which carried both the television ratings power and football program prestige of Utah is impossible.

In a look the Sun took last week at potential programs to invite to the league before Boise State took the bait, two remaining options include Fresno State and Nevada-Reno.

Boise State surely cannot be regretting its decision, as it's still better off in a Utah-less Mountain West than it was in the Western Athletic Conference.

Even more expansion candidates exist. They include the likes of Houston, SMU and a handful of others.

But the big question right now is simple: Should the league act swiftly?

Chances are nothing will happen this offseason. Research into matters like this take time.

It all depends on how sincere the Mountain West is in achieving the status of an automatic BCS qualifier.

As the league stands right now, its chances are as good as they have been the last few years, which is definitely going to be a tough pigskin for some to swallow.

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