Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Let the Arguements Begin (What to do with MWC, CUSA and a Playoff Format by summer?)





Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports wrote reported Monday that CUSA and MWC will not dissolve and merge (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2012/03/26/fbs-realignment-m-day-becomes-a-day-for-the-mwc-c-usa-and-what-that-would-mean-for-the-wac-and-sun-belt/), so why not and what does this possibly mean going forward?  The reason is basically money.  Neither conference wanted to dissolve because that would mean forfeiting possible member exit fees and money earned by institutions would in turn go to those institutions instead of the conferences as a whole.  So the money Memphis and Southern Miss earned by getting to the NCAA tourney would no longer go to CUSA and the same could be said for Colorado St, New Mexico, UNLV, and San Diego St and the MWC.  So what does this mean going forward?  This is a death sentence for the WAC.  The MWC will want to expand back to at least 10 teams (remember Boise St, San Diego St are both leaving for the Big East in 2013).  A couple candidates that McMurphy mentions in the article are Utah St and San Jose St, those are both feasible options.  Utah St was actually already offered membership by the MWC before, but turned it down staying loyal to Karl Benson (WAC commissioner at the time), so they are most likely a shoe in as team number 9.  San Jose St is a weak candidate, but really because of what is left they may be the only option remaining to get to 10 teams.  One other team that hasn’t been mentioned as a candidate that might be interested in being team #10 for the MWC is UTEP.  UTEP has rivalries with current MWC member New Mexico and has a history of playing current MWC teams UNLV, Air Force, Wyoming, and Colorado St going back to their days in the WAC.  They are more of a geographic fit in the MWC and wouldn’t be spanning as many time zones as the current CUSA does which spans from El Paso to Greensville, NC.  An article last month from the El Paso Times highlights the desire for the Miners to move west (http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_19955630?source=pkg) and shows the interest could be there.  No matter what happens here between the two leagues; one thing is for certain.  Confusion.  Even as I type this Brett McMurphy is reporting that now 16 members from CUSA and the MWC are cooperating to possibly form a new ‘association’ (http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/18061858/merging-or-sharing-either-way-cusa-and-mwc-working-together) whatever that means.  The teams in talks are East Carolina, Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP all from CUSA and the remaining MWC teams which are Air Force, Colorado St, New Mexico, UNLV, Nevada, Hawaii, Fresno St, and Wyoming.  Who knows what will happen here; apparently not even MWC and CUSA officials know for sure.

One other article came out yesterday from Sports Illustrated about the continued talks of a new playoff format (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/03/26/bcs.meetings.ap/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a7&eref=sihp).  It sounds like talk is getting more serious specifically about a 4 team playoff.  The major questions now that are being debated is when such a playoff would take place (preferably closer to New Year’s Day according to Presidents and Commissioners) and where would the games take place (a neutral site hampering traveling fans or at campus sites giving a competitive advantage)?  I hope they go with the later and allow campus site games; the atmosphere would be unbelievable.  Hopefully the details don’t choke this process before it gets off the ground…..the conference commissioners are still shooting for deciding on a format to present the university presidents by summer.  We’ll see.      

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