Left in the Lurch, Idaho Must Go On Alone

The days when college conferences were held together by academics and geography are gone.

In this ugly new age, all that matters is perceived football prowess and access to television markets. That means even more universities are changing their conference allegiances.

The latest shake up came on Friday with the expansion of Conference USA. Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech, UNC-Charlotte, North Texas and Florida International all defected from their respective conferences (the WAC, Atlantic-10 and Sun Belt).

That means 31 universities - more than a quarter in all of Division I football - will have switched conferences for various stated reasons such as stability or more prestige. Granted, most college presidents do not have the audacity to freely admit they are moving conferences to chase more money.

With Utah State and San Jose State also finding new conference home in the WAC 2.0, also known as the Mountain West, you can, as Brett McMurphy put it, "start carving the tombstone" for the WAC.

That's a shame considering the WAC is the sixth oldest D-I football conference and will have had 26 members at one time or another when the D-I expands to 125 programs in 2013.

That also means a school near and dear to my heart, the University of Idaho, has been left in the lurch.

The Vandals, despite doing things the right way with student-athlete graduation and leading the WAC Commissioner's Cup, are out of good options. Idaho is in a minuscule television market, it's regional TV footprint is over shadowed by the Smurf Turf to the south and there has not been any consistent success on the Palouse.

What is being widely suggested by many sports writers for the Vandals, a drop back to the I-AA level and the Big Sky Conference, would be a disaster.

The ALL-American conference

The days of small college athletic conferences seem numbered. The Pac-10 is becoming 12, the Big Ten (which actually has 11 schools) is expanding.

In the age of conference cannibalism the mid-majors should position themselves for survival, and join forces.

Conference USA is vulnerable. It's already been raided once by the Big East. If the major conferences try for mega-expansion, C-USA looks ripe for the picking again.

Out west, the Western Athletic Conference is a dead conference walking. On the verge of a coup, adding BYU in non-football sports, the Mountain West stole Nevada and Fresno State leaving it for dead.

This week the WAC membership committee will hear from the first of several schools looking to move up from I-AA to I-A. That's one option to survive.

Instead of trying to nurture new I-AA schools the WAC should set sail and push full throttle the radical idea of creating a true ALL-American conference, with teams from the Carolina coast to Hawaii and everywhere in between.

An 18-team mid-major conference would be a power player in the college landscape, able to leverage big TV deals and possibly able to negotiate a seat at the BCS table.

Here's how the true C-USA could work. There would be two separate 9-team divisions, basically a split down the Mississippi River.

The "Pacific Division" would include the Texas schools west: Hawaii, San Jose State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, UTEP, SMU, Rice, Houston.

The "Atlantic Division" would be every school to the east: Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, So. Miss, UAB, Memphis, Marshall, East Carolina, UCF.

Do the math and the farthest schools would have to travel out west is probably Houston to Honolulu. In the east, it's Tulsa to Greenville, NC. That true east-west split will help cut down travel costs, something that hurt the first mega-conference, the 16-team WAC.

Each division crowns its own champion through playing eight other schools. Then the only cross-over between east and west would be for the championship game, which could rotate between favorite bowl locations including Hawaii and Orlando.

That intra-division play, would set up a dynamic title game. Much like the rumors swirling now about C-USA and the Mountain West setting up a championship showdown, the true C-USA would pit two of the best mid-majors against each other on that final weekend.

That meaningful championship would give the schools one last shot to impress voters, which matters.

College football is all about big money and the BCS. And a true USA conference would not only survive but could thrive in today's game.

Conference alignment: WAC-ky out West

College football conference swamping is quickly becoming a sport all its own.

To quickly recap the off-season, the Pac-10 (home to most of the largest and academically prestigious schools in the West) wanted to form a 16-team super conference and failed.

Still desiring NCAA football's golden goose (a conference title game) they raided the Big-12 (Colorado) and the Mountain West, plucking up by far the most successful mid-major program in the BCS era, Utah. Reaching its magic number of 12, the Pac-10 created a trickle down effect.

The MWC needing a new "power" football member turned to Boise State, who gladly ran from the WAC.

I thought the dust had settled until this past week.

That's when BYU started another round of the blood-sport known as conference alignment, with the rumors the school was going independent in football and joining the WAC in all other sports.

In the midst of trying to obtain an automatic BCS bid for its champion the Mountain West, down two possible members, made a preemptive strike adding Frenso State and Nevada from the WAC.

Also as you could expect, WAC commissioner Karl Benson had some harsh words for the latest schools to bolt.

However, it's not likely those additions could make up for the loss of Utah and BYU when it comes the BCS. It does my heart good to see Boise State fans, who were so excited to join the MWC, now realizing they're joining the WAC-plus.

So the question now is what becomes of the WAC?

In 2012, the conference could be facing extinction, down to only six members: Hawai'i, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State and Utah State. It needs two more members.

The maligned WAC will find away to survive.

One possible route is luring a couple old members back into the pack, and three schools jump out: San Diego State, Wyoming and UTEP. All have struggled in football the past several years and could make its alumni very happy by playing a lower conference competition and winning. After all Boise has proven its not all about who you beat, but how often you win.

The other more likely route is adding I-AA (or FCS) schools. The WAC has nurtured several programs to Division I status before. Currently, Texas State is the only I-AA school that would be ready to make a jump in 2011. Others who could decide to move up: Cal Poly, Texas-San Antonio, Sacramento State and UC-Davis.

The good news for the WAC, as Idaho athletic director Rob Spear wrote, pending NCAA legislation may require a school moving from I-AA (FCS) to I-A (FBS) to have conference affiliation.

Who knows what the future holds, and if the major conferences will again try to form super-conferences.

The absolute best case for the WAC in 2012 (and plausibly realistic) would look something like this: Hawai'i, Idaho, New Mexico St., Sacramento St., San Diego St., San Jose St., Utah St., UTEP (with BYU in all other sports). But I know they'll settle for staying alive.