OT: MWC Expansion

On this question:

The last question that I have is this: If anyone is familiar with the Houston/Dallas region, do you think Houston or SMU is better positioned for long-term success? If it's SMU, would they be a better fit?

I think the answer is UH. June Jones may end up being semi-successful at SMU but I doubt it. Also, SMU has academic restrictions that UH does not have to deal with. Also, neither school has really shown sustained success over the last 20 years, but UH has at least had glimpses, whereas SMU has never rebounded from the death penalty. If UH can keep Sumlin, that's a real big if, then they are going to be pretty dangerous in the coming years. I honestly believe that.

As far as the expansion of the MWC to include WAC teams, I find it amusing since the MWC broke away from the WAC ten years back of so. While it makes sense, it's just kind of an odd situation. Everything would be full circle.

of schools like wyoming and new mexico would clearly be too much to handle for boise

Houston does not have a great track record in football. They are 32-20 from 2005-08 with one Conference USA championship and no marquee wins (their best wins all came last year, against incorrectly ranked Tulsa and East Carolina). They are 1-3 in bowls during that time, with a win over Air Force. Meanwhile, their basketball team hasn't made it to the NCAA tournament in a long time and hasn't reached the NIT since the 2005-06 season (although they have made it to the CBI twice in a row, with exits in the "final four" and first round). Finally, they are rather mediocre academically (highlights include the law school, architecture school, and evening MBA program).

Would definitely be a good candidate for inclusion in the MWC, though it should be noted that Fresno is not really close to the Silicon Valley at all. It's a good 3+ hour drive.

That said, Fresno is known as the Central Valley's team and they really do support the Bulldogs out there. It would break up the longstanding conference rivalry that Fresno has had with San Jose State though. I'm not sure how much they want to do that.

is a result of over-expansion of the WAC. The original members of the WAC all left to create the MWC because the 16 team WAC was unmanageable as a conference.

Don't expect the MWC to be looking at expansion anythime soon.

"Sorry if this is too WAY off topic for somepeople, but Brian did write about this over at The Sporting News"

This isn't off topic at all. It's discussion of college football.

We gotta cut down on all of the threads being labeled OT. Not to come down on you, just hoping people will start to use it less.

Per your other questions:

I think BSU and even Idaho would be good. I think even one team is hard to add, but if you could get 3, and then have a championship game it would make it easier to take seriously as a BCS conference bc you get more chances to see the teams and it builds the eventual winner's resume.

I also think that these teams as a whole are getting better, and with the regression of other BCS teams and conferences, they can win more recruiting battles.

I don't think Houston leaves CUSA for their other sports. They'd be downgraded in both basketballs and baseball, three of their better sports. They also have Rice in their own conference right now, and that is their true rival. They were just placed in the same conference a few years ago, I don't see them breaking up that nice alignment in the immediate future.

UH also definitely fits the mold of the C-USA, a predominately urban campus conference with high numbers of local, commuter students.

SMU makes some sense as a higher level academic institution. Houston was just approved to be included in the State of Texas "Move to Tier One" program (the state is trying to move up 2-3 of its Universities, including Tech and UH to tier one academic standards), but that is still a few years in the making. SMU is at least showing signs of life now, which puts them on par with some of the teams at the bottom of the MWC. Louisiana Tech also could be a geographic fit for TCU, but I think SMU has more to offer.

I still think Fresno is the best pick. They have a more balanced Olympic sport spread than Boise. Their academics are supposedly better. As pointed out above, that also adds a second team in California, where most of the recruiting happens for those teams.

As far as taking on three teams though, I don't see that happening. The MWC split from the WAC because of over expansion. There were like 16 teams in a super conference. I would imagine they'd want to avoid that becoming another possibility.

They should make a new BCS conference with elite members of the MWC and WAC and maybe 2 from the Big 12. Plus make the Cotton Bowl a BCS bowl. Get all the former members of the SWC currently in non-BCS leagues, except for Rice, plus maybe Boise St.

BYU
Utah
Utah St (for some reason I feel like big state schools can build big programs)
Houston
TCU
SMU
Boise St.

Memphis?
Texas Tech? Baylor? Kick out 2 Big 12 teams so they have to play a round-robin and avoid controversies like last year's tie breaker.

Obviously this would probably never happen, and I'm ignoring important things like TV contracts, athletic budgets, and red tape, but hey it's a start.

Air Force
Boise St
BYU
Utah
Fresno State
SMU
Houston
Rice
Nevada (decent in football and basketball)
Tulsa
TCU
Utah St (might suck at football but very solid at hoops)

Boise and Whoever else they sign up cuz it's a conference that should be BCS with the rest of them. I also like anything that prolongs the college season, so more conferences with more conference championship games make me heppy.

On a side not: Why apologize for a good topic? It's sports related, it's college footabll related, and hell, it sure beats the usual Scout-Dork shit like what city a guy will be in and do they have TV's, or the "Sparties is douchebagz" shit as well.

But one thing IS annoying: the sniveling, "But Brian wrote about it..." just write your topic and don't try to justify it with that type of bitch move. I mean, if Brian jumped off the Eiffel Tower...

Here in the middle of the MWC, I can say that most people don't think MWC needs to change a thing. They've got 2-3 national quality teams, a couple of respectable middle-of-the-packers (see: Air Force playing tough at Minnesota), and some scrubs. In other words, it's already a BCS-worthy conference. Look at their bowl record as a conference in this decade: 21-15.

Boise's got an incentive to join the MWC, not the other way around.

Also, anyone who's suggesting Utah State join the MWC is huffing something I want in on. Only Utah needs to play them in their rivalry game. No one else cares about them.

Fresno is a LONG way, both geographically and culturally, from the Silicon Valley. Believe me. The Silicon Valley's team is Stanford.

"Fresno State adds a team in California to go with San Diego State, and opens up a media market in the Silicon Valley "

I think you mean the Central Valley. Silicon Valley is San Jose/Palo Alto in the South Bay, which is occupied by Stanford when they are watching college football at all.