OT: Big West Conference (hypothetical)
I was just looking at rankings and conference standings, and it got me thinking about an interesting possibility.
Some of the perennial "BCS Busters" have been Boise, TCU, Utah, and this year at least it was possible at one point, BYU. (Which is also a pretty good program, traditionally.)
All 4 of these schools are in the western part of the country.
TCU, BYU, and Utah are in the Mountain West Conference.
Boise is in the WAC.
One of the arguments against programs like this getting at-large invites to BCS bowls is the level of competition.
This got me thinking.
What if all 4 of these schools joined the Pac 10 and they renamed the conference the Big West, basically a west coast version of the Big East (although it would be a much better conference.)
Those 4 teams plus the Pac 10 would make it a 14 team conference. At that point, you split it into 2 divisions, and have a championship game.
I think this would be an intriguing possibility. For one thing, this conference would instantly challenge the SEC's status as *the* elite conference in college football.
It would also be a win-win for all involved. Those 4 programs are good, so they bring value to the conference, plus, joining that conference would help their strength of schedule because it would be an upgrade over their current conferences.
I think this would be a really exciting prospect and would lead to some really excting games.
This, of course, is just my imagination running wild, but, does anyone know if anything like this could ever happen in reality? Seems like everyone involved would benefit hugely, so I don't know why they wouldn't consider it.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:38 PM ^
Needs a different name. The BigWest exists in the FCS. It's one hell of a baseball conference with Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine (Go Anteaters!), and Long Beach State (Go Dirtbags!).
I'm not a fan of 14 team conferences. Being too big caused the WAC to fail. That and the teams you're adding don't really add a lot to other sports like basketball.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:40 PM ^
No BCS conference will go past 12 teams. At 12 you get a championship game which brings in extra revenue. After that you just divide the money by more teams.
But if all 4 of those teams joined the PAC-10 the "Big West" would be far and away the best conference in football. I think if any 2 of TCU, Utah and Boise joined the PAC-10 it would probably be the best conference.
What I think should happen is that Boise and Fresno should join the MWC and then the MWC would deserve to be a BCS conference.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:45 PM ^
It's a good idea and all, but I don't think the current Pac-10 schools would appreciate the dilution of their conference.
In addition, any talk of conference realignment can't focus on just football. Many of those schools have long-standing success in other sports, and do not want to jeopardize that. There are also travel considerations, academics, etc. Teams switching conferences isn't as easy as it sounds.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:49 PM ^
Just like adding shitty schools to the Big Ten. Sometimes conferences exist for more than just football. Academic standing, olympic sports. The Pac Ten would laugh at all 4 of those schools, in anything other than football, including academics.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:16 PM ^
While I agree that these schools probably cannot really hang with the Pac-10 in most non-football sports, I think it's unfair to knock their academics. Based on US News Undergrad rankings (obviously just one measure among many) BYU is ranked 71 to Arizona's 102. TCU is ranked 110 to Oregon's 115 and Washington State's 106 . Utah is ranked 126 while Arizona State is 121. Oregon State is a tier 3 school. (Boise State only offers up to a Master's so it gets listed separately and is hard to compare, but admittedly probably falls well bellow these schools academically).
Obviously this is the lower end of the PAC 10's academics, since Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, and Washington are all vastly better than these schools. But I don't think they'd "laugh at" BYU, Utah, or TCU academically.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:50 PM ^
It's not about USNEWS rankings. Most Pac 10 schools are members of the AAU and are major research institutions. None of the MWC or WAC schools are.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:18 PM ^
It's a fair point that Utah/BYU/TCU aren't doing nearly as much research as the big PAC 10 schools, but research is only one part of being a university, and education provided is important as well. And I don't know that Oregon State, ASU and Washington State are particularly major research universities either (note that I'm saying I don't know this, they very well may be, I'm just not aware of them being so).
Again, I'm not saying that BYU and Utah are at the level of Stanford, USC, UCLA or many other PAC-10 schools, I'm just saying I don't think a school like BYU would be laughed out of the room based on academics if they looked into joining the PAC-10.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:50 PM ^
The Pac 10 is an elite conference with some of the strongest academic/athletic schools in the country, most notably Stanford and UCLA. They're never going to lower themselves to mixing with universities like Utah or Boise State.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:04 PM ^
I actually had a similar thought to this earlier this year, although I thought they should just form a separate conference altogether. By ransacking MWC, WAC, and C-USA you can come up with an 8 team conference of
Boise State
Utah
BYU
TCU
Air Force
Nevada
Houston
Tulsa
That conference seems like it could make a pretty strong argument it should be a BCS conference.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:13 PM ^
That's a really good idea, but what happens with the left overs? I'd be inclined to put Hawaii and Fresno in to make it 10 team conference without dropping the football quality too much.
That leaves 5 MWC teams, 6 WAC teams, and UTEP to make a 12 team conference in the west, and 9 remaining teams in CUSA. I feel like that's a raw deal for CUSA, who has been a pretty solid conference overall when it comes to the non-automatic qualifiers.
For that reason, I would propose Nevada over Houston. It keeps Houston with it's Rice rivalry in conference, then give the left over western teams SMU.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:20 PM ^
Oh yeah, the other teams in those conferences would get totally screwed in this hypo, and would rightfully be incredibly pissed off. Just an interesting thought.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:42 PM ^
as much as those "little guys" would get pissed off about being left out, they aren't competing up to consistent Div I standards nowadays anyway. And neither is most of the Sun Belt, and half of the MAC. There needs to be a contraction of "BCS" football which would allow the top tier teams from the WAC and Mtn West to combine and get a BCS bid, and probably the top tier teams from the MAC/C-USA/Sun Belt to form a mega small team conference to get a BCS autobid as well. The way teams schedule I-AA teams anyway, there wouldn't be much holding back teams with traditional rivals to continue scheduling these rivals that may been relegated for OOC games.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:34 PM ^
start to go toward playoff qualifying... Having 1 football conference for 'small schools' for a region (West, & East) would then allow for more playoff possibilities than how it exists now. One proposal I read I think on smart football that I liked was:
10 team playoff
6 BCS conference champs get auto births
1 West small conference qualifier (MtnW & WAC)
1 East small conference qualifer (C-USA & MAC)
2 at large bids
2 at large (home teams), West small conf, East small conf play games to determine the #7 and #8 seeds in the round of 8. Rd of 8 played at home stadiums of the higher seeds. Rd of 4 in the New Years Day Bowl Games with the championship played afterwards.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:35 PM ^
way too many teams in a conference
November 14th, 2009 at 9:10 PM ^
I think the most logical solution is to add BSU to the Mountain West, and then give them an automatic bid.
Yeah, it sucks to give them a bid because it comes at another team's expense ... But between BSU, TCU, Utah and BYU, that conference would be equivalent to the Big East, IMO.
November 15th, 2009 at 4:08 AM ^
A great idea, but it's not happening anytime soon. The suggestion that Utah and BYU join the Pac-10 has been around for a while, but the Pac-10 is completely against expansion. Articles I've read in the past suggest that the conference doesn't want a conference championship game, and doesn't want to have to split BCS money among more schools.