Smiling upon the WAC/MWC aftermath (old BR)

With reports coming out that Utah State and San Jose State are looking to be offered membership in the Mountain West Conference, let’s look at the options for the WAC.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson stated recently that Utah Valley, Cal State Bakersfield, and Seattle are non-football candidates for membership, and the San Antonio Express-News’ Dan McCarney listed Louisiana-Lafayette, Lamar, Sam Houston, UC-Davis, Portland State and Cal Poly as possibilities.  Benson is also expected to make “fresh runs” at North Texas and Montana, with Montana State a possibility for consideration as a package deal with the Griz.

That is twelve schools to team up with Idaho, New Mexico State, Texas State, UT-San Antonio, Denver, and Louisiana Tech.  This new “core six” is a great deal for Texas State and UTSA.  Either school can fly into El Paso and drive an hour to Las Cruces.  Denver’s a plane hop as well.  Louisiana Tech’s location in Ruston or Idaho’s in Moscow are not easy jaunts, but think about how hard they are for each other to get to.

What if Benson convinced Lamar and UNT to join the conference?  That puts a six team division of Texas State, UT-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Lamar, and North Texas into realistic terms.  The travel is sustainable for everyone’s fan base and creates easy rivalries.

Up north, lets say Benson gets membership agreements with Montana, Montana State, and Portland State.  I’m going to throw a wild card in and say he invites Idaho State or Eastern Washington to placate Idaho.  Better yet, Benson invites both and ignores the California market.  It sounds weak on paper but having a division of Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Portland State, and Eastern Washington facing a Texas-centric South works.  Idaho can dominate immediately in football and will always have EWU and the Montana schools nipping at their heels.

I like how the WAC can add Denver and Seattle for basketball in this scenario.  We can do 12/14 easily with Denver going south and Seattle going north.  I don’t think it’s the end of the world with USU and SJSU leaving – it’s more of an opportunity.