If UCF, SMU, and Houston left, should the WAC and C*USA merge?

Offhand, this might look like a bad move for Conference USA, but this move could possibly pay for itself

What the WAC 6/7 get:
1) Access to the southeast for TV, recruiting, etc.
2) Access to existing C*USA bowls
3) Improved scheduling opportunities

What C*USA gets:
1) Access to remaining WAC bowls, before they renegotiate with other conferences
2) More regional rivals for the existing Texas membership (UTSA, Texas State, New Mexico State)
3) Access to the remains of WAC BCS money and NCAA tournament credits
4) Access to the Rocky Mountains and California for TV and recruiting
5) Possible travel reductions from increased divisional play and fewer cross-division games

Here's how it would look:

Western - San Jose State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, UTEP, Rice, UTSA, Texas State
Eastern - Tulsa, Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, Southern Miss, UAB, East Carolina, Marshall

For football, these would be the bowl games available to the new C*USA:

Liberty Bowl (C*USA)
Hawai'i Bowl (both)
Humanitarian Bowl (WAC)
Armed Forces Bowl (C*USA)
New Orleans Bowl (C*USA)
Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl (C*USA)
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (WAC)
Military Bowl/TicketCity Bowl (C*USA)

The WAC also has a backup agreement with the Poinsettia bowl.

Short answer? No.

CUSA would still have it's pick from ALL 10 Sunbelt members as well as the MAC, ALL the WAC, and every eastern FCS school considering an upgrade. While CUSA is a step below the MWC, it is far above the WAC the day BSU and then Nevada and FSU leave.

Just need to ask yourself, who is better to replace if:
UCF, SMU, Houston left:
Temple, North Texas, LA Tech, Troy, Ohio, UTSA, Texas St., GA St., Charlotte, App St., NMSU....of bringing in the 4 WAC schools above AS WELL as San Jose St., idaho, and Utah St. Sadly in college sports, there are no bonus points (dollars) for being a nice guy and expending a lifeline.

i just don't see a reason why Conference USA needs to take their name literally and extend from ECU, not far from the Atlantic Ocean, all the way northwest to Idaho, and to the Pacific with San Jose St. when they have 3 replacement candidates in nearby markets with reputable athletic and academic programs.

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I agree whole-heartedly.

C-USA would seek better, closer replacements than Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico St, San Jose St, Utah St, UT San Antonio, and Texas St.

C-USA's top candidates should Houston or UTEP leave would be:

#1 - North Texas. Could easily slide in and maintain travel partners if Houston, UCF, or UTEP were to leave: HOU: UNT/SMU, UTEP/Tulsa, Tulane/Rice
UTEP: UNT/SMU, Tulsa/Tulane, UH/Rice
UCF: UNT/SMU. UTEP/Tulsa, UH/Rice, Tulane slides to East and pairs with So Miss if UCF leaves.

They don't bring a massive market, but few candidates do. With an enrollment of 36,000 they have a larger alumni base than anyone in the WAC. And there's no additional travel expense. It might make things cheaper/easier if UTEP leaves.

And their MBB program is decent. They've been to the dance a couple of times. I know 2007, I believe 2010 as well.

#2/#3 - Florida International or Florida Atlantic (or both).
If UCF were to leave, I'd imagine C-USA would want a Florida presence. Athletically, they don't offer much success outside of FIU men's soccer, and probably softball/baseball. But with C-USA revenue significantly higher than Sun Belt, they could improve, like USF/UCF did (on a smaller scale than they did, of course)

#4 - Troy
Have had some football success. Tiny, Tiny market, but would fit travel wise.


Now, we're not talking about athletic heavy-hitters at all... but when was the last time San Jose State did anything besides play a body-bag game? NONE of the remaining WAC members would provide any significant pop to justify the expense of travel. -- With the exception of Texas State or Texas San Antonio; who fit the footprint, but North Texas has the leg-up in establishing their program.

And that says nothing of a MAC school. While it might be difficult to pry a school like Ohio or Miami; you could certainly see Buffalo making the switch.

Then there's Temple. Who might not want to give up Atlantic 10 comforts for C-USA in all sports; But they would certainly re-assess their situation depending on the Big East's actions.

If Nova goes FBS, and the Big East stays together, then maybe they go to C-USA.
If Nova goes FBS, and the Big East splits, they'd want to be in the new hoops league and continue with the MAC in football.
If Nova stays FCS and the Big East stays together, they would try for football membership in the Big East and keep the rest in the A-10
If Nova stays FCS and the Big East splits, they'd be in the mix for the Big East Football Group if they want to maintain an Eastern seaboard presence.


And then, sitting idly by is Charlotte. With plans for FCS within three years, an opening in the Big East/C-USA membership effective in 2014-2015 could make them push forward to FBS as soon as possible. And that would instantly leapfrog them to the front of the list for C-USA; if not the Big East football group.

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As for UNT, they have officially rejected the WAc last night/this morning.

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I think that anything is possible if the Big XII dissolves in the upcoming weeks but I don't see a C-USA/WAC merger as likely.I do think that we could see a situation where the MWC takes Idaho,San Jose St. and Utah St. while C-USA takes New Mexico St. as a travel partner for UTEP & Louisiana Tech.I don't know if the MWC or C-USA would want this but it's a possibility.Texas St. and UTSA shouldn't be considered IMO because they're basically FCS schools right now.

There have been rumors that C-USA was considering Middle Tennessee,Western Kentucky & Temple as possible replacements but I think FIU & North Texas could be candidates as well.But the Big XII story will have to play out before we know how many moves will need to be made and by whom.

C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky: "We are particularly intrigued by cooperative possibilities with the Mountain West.”

Pretty much means two conferences of 12, but for football, they'd be unified by TV contracts, maybe a championship game of sorts with theri own champions. Hoops would be separate. A bit more details this time than the last time it was discussed.

Makes sense if it is a means to secure the BCS spot surrendered by the Big East or Big 12, whichever folds.

What I assume we will see though will be some reworking of the BCS bowl payouts. Think that they will try something as a compromise by forcing the top 4 BCS conferences to be have higher revenue autobids, with the Big12East and MWCusa autobids being the same value as the at-large bids.

But we're talking massive access to the BCS for a minimum of 24 new BCS schools.

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