Gonna take a brief moment to step away from talking Buckeyes and give some food for thought on the latest BCS rankings. Rankings that currently have TCU of the Mountain West Conference sitting in what many think is a great position at Number 4. However, after listening to the talking heads on both radio and TV, it seems quite clear that unless Texas and either Florida or Alabama suffer at least two losses between now and BCS selection day on the December 6th, an undefeated TCU squad (if they're that fortunate) would be left out of the BCS title game. Prompting once again for the Mountain West officials wondering what they need to do. Look, TCU has done everything it possibly could to position themselves and make a good argument that they belong in the game. They went to ACC country and beat Virginia, okay their not all that good, but they also beat Clemson in Death Valley and that win is looking more and more impressive given Clemson's recent play and rumblings about C.J. Spiller working his way into the Heisman debate. Utah was left out of the title discussion last year and then promptly pummeled Alabama in what was basically a home game for the Tide. This year TCU has a much stronger argument than the Utes did last year.
Should an undefeated TCU be left out of the Title game in favor of a one loss Texas or SEC team then they meaning MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson really needs to take matters into his own hands and take action and make it difficult for the Big Boys to ignore the MWC. The MWC needs to become a Big Boy and should seriously consider expansion. By all accounts Mr. Thompson is a bright person at his previoius stint as the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner, has experience in expanding and growing a league. http://www.themwc.com/staff/thompson.html
Now mind you, I don't know if this is something that's already been considered by Mr. Thompson, but if it hasn't he and the other MWC officials need to look into the possibility of expanding the league. The league currently stands with nine member schools consisting of;
Air Force
BYU
Colorado State
New Mexico
San Diego State
TCU
UNLV
Utah
Wyoming
Now If I were commissioner for a day and could get my wish granted, I would expand the MWC to 12 teams, guaranteeing a conference title game and the new conferece would consist of;
Mountain Division
Air Force
BYU
*Boise State
Colorado State
Utah
Wyoming
Valley Division
*Fresno State
*Houston
*SMU
San Diego State
TCU
UNLV
Okay, Mountain/Valley you could call it whatever, but expanding and getting this particular teams would make the MWC a much more legitimate conference and certainly one that could no longer be ignored or slighted. Ofcourse the invitees would have to agree to join the conference, but for a team like Boise State which gets perennially passed over, would it really be that tough a sell. Let's look at the new teams one by one. Lets look at the possible pros and cons for each of my invitees.
Boise State
pros: Strength of schedule would no longer be a major issue. Other BCS teams would be more likely to schedule them as well because there would be more to gain be beating a Boise State team from a legitimate conference. A loss in this conference may not necessarily mean a death blow to their BCS chances. Just imagine how far Boise would've dropped had they lost that game at La Tech last week. Speaking of La Tech, geographically speaking they would'nt have to make that cross country flight every other year, or the Pacific to play Hawaii, unless they wanted to as part of their non-conference schedule. On second thought the Hawaii trip may not be all that bad. Playing a solid Utah and BYU team every season and potentially meeting up with a TCU, Houston, or a rising SMU team would look great on the schedule. Finally, they could get rid of that wacky blue field. It's a gimmick, and your program has outgrown it. It was cute and a good conversation piece while the program was finding itself and needed something to be identified with, but if the team and administration want to be taken seriously then they need to seriously get rid of the blue turf and get a real field in place like the other BCS teams.
cons: With the upgrade in scheduling, they may be exposed as paper tigers. As it stands, they only have to really get up for 1 maybe 2 games all year long. They'll have to actually prepare and be ready to play for the most part every week just like the teams from the other BCS conferences. Will they be able to handle the mental and physical aspect of tough competition week in and week out.
Fresno State
pros: Fresno State, Pat Hill's bunch is the team that will play anybody, anywhere. Well in their new conference, they won't have to go to everybody else's place in order to upgrade their schedule. Normally, their out of conference schedule is so tough, that by the time conference play comes along, their beat up and drained both mentally and physically. Again, they might get some of those BCS teams to come to Fresno because now there will be a definite benefit by beating a Fresno State team at their place. Additionally, the Bulldogs could schedule them some 'cupcakes' and not suffer in the polls.
cons: As of now, when they lose the conference games late in the season, it is normally attributed to the fact that they have played such a tough non-conference schedule. However, if the non-conference schedule softens some and the Bulldogs suffer the same late season losses to conference foes, will Hill still get a pass. No more excuses!
Houston
pros: Pretty much the same reasoning with Boise State. If not for that loss to UTEP, the title of this article would be 'What To Do With Conference USA & Houston'. Look at what the Cougars have done this year. Beat Oklahoma State on the road, the following week knocked off Texas Tech and two weeks later have an easier time beating Mississippi State than Florida. The loss to UTEP has pretty much derailed their BCS hopes. Being in a legit BCS conference and Houston would still be in the Top Ten. Look at USC, who lost to Washington and got blown out by Oregon yet are still ranked ahead of Houston. Moreover, the MWC is already has a better reputation than Conference USA. Also, Case Keenum who rarely gets mentioned in the Heisman discussion, could very well be the frontrunner at this point. Lastly, being in this new conference, would allow Houston to level the recruting ground some what with the other Texas schools of the Big 12 conference and geographically makes better sense.
cons: Similiar to that of Boise State. Is this just one of those great years or is this something that the program will be able to build off of.
SMU
pros: I remember the SMU program bdp (before death penalty) and they were a power. The DickerJames backfield was one of colleges best tandems (Eric Dickerson/Craig James). The Mustangs are up and comers and with June Jones at the helm I believe their ascent will be rather quick. Like Houston, they're in a recruiting hotbed and being in this conference will be alot more attractive to high schoolers than C~USA.
cons: Really! I just don't see why they would decline an invite.
MWC
pros: Bringing in these teams through expansion gives the conference immediate exposure and would be the talk for weeks on end by the radio and tv pundits. In Boise State, the conference gains a team that has earned respect and is well thought of and has one of the best winning percentages over the last several years. In teams such as Fresno State, Houston, and SMU the conference gains even more access into the recruiting hotbeds of California and Texas. This would instantly make this a more viable conference than the Big East. The MWC and Mr. Thompson would have a much stronger argument to be included or added as a BCS conference. Moreover it would expand the television audience even more from the Northwest region into California and the Southwest. The Big Boys could not ignore or slight this conference and these additions would help in their other sports as well. Extra revenue could be generated from a conference title game and could be played later in the season the same as the other BCS conferences that have title games and the conference have a great possibility of gaining access to more post season games earning even more revenue.
cons: Really! don't see any.
Now in seeing, my revised and expanded MWC, some may have noticed that New Mexico is nowhere to be found. Well, in order to get better, unfortunately some one had to go. It came down to New Mexico or Wyoming. I stuck with Wyoming mainly because of geographics, it made more sense to lump them in my Mountain Divison and also, I believe the Cowboys offer more from a competitive standpoint. Booting a team is not without precedence. Recall the Big East recently did this very thing to Temple because they were viewed as bringing the conference down. Lets face it, the Owls were terrible, but hey if the keep showing improvement, the Big East might be forced to ask them back.
Anyway, If I were Mr. Thompson, this is something I would seriously consider or explore the possibility of expanding. Your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment