In recent weeks, there have been rumblings about the future of the WAC and a possible defection from the Big Sky by Sacramento St. Already an associate member of the WAC for baseball, Sacramento St. would need to upgrade football to I-A in order for the WAC to give them any consideration. The root of these rumors was a recnet article by Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser. It's pure speculation, but worth a read.

With the BCS expanding to five games, college football officials will consider increasing the number of teams eligible for at-large bids. To do so, they'll have to lower the standards a bit.

In the past a team needed nine wins and a top-12 ranking in the final BCS standings to be in the running for an at-large bid to the best paying bowl games.

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Chicago State said Wednesday that it is withdrawing from the Mid-Continent Conference.

Chicago State president Elnora Daniel said in a statement that the university will seek membership in a new conference that reflects its evolving institutional profile, which includes expansion and enhanced "access to other metropolitan communities."

The Cougars will compete as an NCAA Division I independent during the 2006-07 school year, but will play nonconference contests against Mid-Con schools in volleyball and men's and women's basketball.

"We have enjoyed our tenure in the Mid-Continent Conference and look forward to future athletic successes," Daniel said.

Chicago State joined the Mid-Continent Conference in 1994. Its men's basketball team reached the final of the Mid-Continent tournament last season

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Keeping up on the state of NCAA conference realignment, there is some building support for a move by florida A&M to the SWAC conference. Heath Smith recently wrote about FAMU and the SWAC in his recent article. It's well worth a read.

Our friend Jeff Kolpack from The Forum recently spoke with Big Sky Commissioner Fullerton regarding possible expansion, amongst other things. It seems that there is some fear in regards to basketball scheduling with a 9 team league. He sees 10 being an option but 12 as perhaps the best fit. Schools that come to mind for a potential Big Sky expansion to 12 would be North Dakota St., South Dakota St., and North Dakota.

Commish Fullerton said he had a conference call with his AD's a couple days ago and for the first time he gained a sense that they now understand how difficult basketball scheduling is with 9 teams. He said some AD's want to look at adding a 10th member, but he thinks that going to 12 teams is the way to go, which he's been lobbying for for the last few months. When I asked him what options he sees out there for adding 3 more teams he said there were 2 schools in North Dakota that had positives and one in South Dakota. I asked him about the past conversations we've had when he said UND would not get a look unless they had moved to Division 1. He said that's still a concern, but just the fact that he brought UND up makes me think the Sioux may have a chance to do what they've wanted to all along, and that is get the conference invite before making the move.

What is interesting is that this expansion is based around basketball and not football. This could mean that the regular Big Sky expansion candidates, football playing members, could see some new schools added to the list of potential candidates. Nobody would have thought of Denver as an option for the Big Sky without a football program, but if you're expanding to 12 for basketball, a school in your conference regions largest city could certainly help.

Another interesting issue is how the Big Sky has effected the Great West Football conference. Northern Colorado is already leaving for the Big Sky, bringing the GWFC membership to 5. If any other GWFC members were to join the Big Sky, there would be few options for the remaining GWFC members. One option could be for some to participate as "football-only members". For instance, it the Big Sky added NDSU and SDSU for all-sports and Denver for non-football sports, the league could bring in UC-Davis as a football only member, the 12th football member of the league.

In time we'll see how serious the Big Sky is about expanding. But with limited revenues to share, 10 teams would be more fitting for a second phase of expansion.


Football/All-Sports Candidates:
North Dakota St.
North Dakota (with D1 upgrade)
South Dakota St.
Southern Utah

Non-Football Candidates:
Denver

In an article last year, we talked about the potential for a CAA-A10 football split. In order for this to happen, (2) programs needs to upgrade their football programs. One of them has: Stony Brook (announcement). The America East is only one school upgrade away from being able to sponsor football with the help of 2 CAA/A10 football members. Richmond remians a wild-card. The A10 member is located closer to the CAA schools, but as an A10 full member, they might be pushed to move along with UMass and URI is there were a potential shift int he coming years. A compromise by the (3) A10 school and (3) America East schools might be to bring back the Yankee Conference for the 6 schools. The group could operate like the I-AA Gateway Conference, sponsoring only I-AA football.

The Players:

Albany: would need to upgrade it's program
Maine: current A10/CAA football member with all other sports in the America East
Stony Brook: recently upgraded
New Hampshire: current A10/CAA football member with all other sports in the America East
Rhode Island: A10 all-sports member
Massachusetts: A10 all-sports member
Richmond: A10 all-sports member

I-AA football welcomes it's newest member, Campbell University. The team will begin play in 2008 and will join the Pioneer League. Here is the official news release...