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Guest #1Stunner

Air Force thinking of leaving the MWC?

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Decent column on college football with this about BYU's independent schedule 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2019/10/13/college-football-nebraska-cant-live-up-scott-frosts-own-words/3969147002/

BYU: The Misery Index hates to repeat itself, but the Cougars have been put into a no-win situation by their athletic administration. They want to play as many elite, brand-name programs as possible as an independent. But the programs BYU wants to play typically only have schedule openings in September, which means BYU loads up on its toughest games right out of the gate. That’s good for television exposure, but the long-term effect on BYU’s program has been horrible. The Cougars suffered a truly putrid 27-23 loss to a bad South Florida team on Saturday, and the only conclusion you can draw from it is that BYU has once again punched itself out trying to navigate the rigorous first month of the season. This just doesn’t look like the same team that was out there beating Tennessee and Southern Cal and giving Utah all it could handle for a half. A lot of BYU’s problems stem from quarterback Zach Wilson suffering a hand injury in a loss to Toledo on Sept. 28. To make matters worse, the Cougars lost quarterback Jaren Hall to injury late in the game at South Florida and had to turn to Baylor Romney. But that's sort of the problem with the whole setup: Because of how front-loaded the schedule is every year, the Cougars have no margin for error. BYU is a physically beaten up football team that happens to be 2-4, and there’s little reason for fans to be excited about anything that might happen in the second half. 

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If Air Force were to leave I think the top replacement options would be Montana and North Texas.  UTEP, Rice, UTSA and NMSU have fallen too far competitively to be attractive options.  UCD lacks facilities and adding another far west school would screw up the divisional alignment.

Comparing Montana and North Texas, the Griz are a liitle stronger on the field (according to Sagarin and RealTimeRPI) and have a bigger fan base.  The Eagles have more money, quadruple the enrollment, and would get the MWC back into the Metroplex for recruiting and exposure.  My vote would be for North Texas.

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45 minutes ago, utgrizfan said:

They are more ready than you think they are, and if Market was a problem they wouldn't have added San Jose State. Nobody in California is watching the Spartans play despite being located in a large television market.

Yeah, "Hey you added SJSU so why not" is not exactly a winning argument around here.

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3 hours ago, #1Stunner said:

I agree.  Weird timing.

Maybe has something to do with AFA not liking the new MWC TV deal?

 

Anyway, AFA could pull off Indy football pretty easily.  They could probably schedule annual games against BYU, Wyoming, and CSU.  Games against Utah, USU and Boise would also be easy to get.  Easy travel.

Then they could of course play Navy and Army.

WCC, Summit  or Missouri Valley, might give them a home for their other Sports.

No way in hell BSU would play AFA on any kind of regular basis if they were indy. I could see AFA still playing their traditional front range rivals, but screw playing those dudes if it isn't a conference game. Playing Air Force is a huge pain in the ass and we always seem to lose guys to knee injuries against them.

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15 minutes ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

Yeah, "Hey you added SJSU so why not" is not exactly a winning argument around here.

It's pointing out that the mwc clearly doesn't care about Market where they have multiple schools in a small Market, it's not even just San Jose State. Montana and though it would take a little more work Montana State would bring fan bases that wouldn't look embarrassing to watch on game day and a solid on the field product not to mention local region rivalries.

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I don’t get the complaint of travel. It’s going to be bad regardless.  If they want to be with Navy or eastern exposure, then by all means go to the AAC.   The WAC or Summit would love to have the other sports.  The MW will be fine.

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32 minutes ago, utgrizfan said:

It's pointing out that the mwc clearly doesn't care about Market where they have multiple schools in a small Market, it's not even just San Jose State. Montana and though it would take a little more work Montana State would bring fan bases that wouldn't look embarrassing to watch on game day and a solid on the field product not to mention local region rivalries.

You're not gonna likely win this one. The city of San Jose has a population north of a million people (just under the entire state of Montana as a whole) and is in prime recruiting territory. The MWC is not adding TWO schools from the state of Montana, and the University of Montana does not have the pull to try and force the issue. If they try then they get left out and the conference looks into pulling in a couple of Texas schools for the recruiting benefits.

Edit: It would be like BSU trying to insist that we could bring along the University of Idaho when we joined, only BSU has an elite FBS level football program. We still probably wouldn't have been able to swing that...even if we had wanted to. Just not enough leverage.

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42 minutes ago, utgrizfan said:

It's pointing out that the mwc clearly doesn't care about Market where they have multiple schools in a small Market, it's not even just San Jose State. Montana and though it would take a little more work Montana State would bring fan bases that wouldn't look embarrassing to watch on game day and a solid on the field product not to mention local region rivalries.

How do you see Montana's declining enrollment affecting the university?  While Montana's sports are currently a better product, I could see a conference choose MSU based on population growth and a growing university enrollment. 

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 As a Nevada fan I like to take a good natured jab at Montana, I can't help it from the Big Sky days. Why would Montana want to move to FBS anyway? They fill their stadium, are almost royalty among FCS playoff schools. Would the majority of the fans there really be happy to leave that all behind, looks like a risk to me.Sometimes the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

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3 hours ago, Wyovanian said:

TCU and Utah were invited to P5 conferences. Big difference between a lateral move to the AAC or going indy.

When you look at the details, the only unilateral departure (byu*) has resulted in a train wreck.

Ohh, I stand corrected. Sorry zoomies--I tried! It's never worked out. 

Rebel18_zps27699187.gif

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1 hour ago, HawaiiMongoose said:

 My vote would be for North Texas.

Never fails to make me laugh.  Thanks.

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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24 minutes ago, westfan said:

 As a Nevada fan I like to take a good natured jab at Montana, I can't help it from the Big Sky days. Why would Montana want to move to FBS anyway? They fill their stadium, are almost royalty among FCS playoff schools. Would the majority of the fans there really be happy to leave that all behind, looks like a risk to me.Sometimes the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

I think you are spot on.  They do well where they are at and I don't see a lot of upside to them moving up. Especially with so many unknowns in FBS football going forward and some unknowns for their university.  

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It's hot air. No big deal. 

Image result for hot air balloon .gif

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If they were to leave, I wouldn't really mind.  We had a great rivalry when DeBerry was there, but it's never really felt all that big to me under Howdy Doody.  I'd take Montana happily, but I think I'd lean towards a 10 team conference and a scheduling agreement with Hawaii.

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1 hour ago, utgrizfan said:

It's pointing out that the mwc clearly doesn't care about Market where they have multiple schools in a small Market, it's not even just San Jose State. Montana and though it would take a little more work Montana State would bring fan bases that wouldn't look embarrassing to watch on game day and a solid on the field product not to mention local region rivalries.

It’s also forgetting that we were only brought in because at the time 12 schools were needed for a CCG. That is no longer the case. That’s why the AAC is not desperately scrambling to bring in a 12 team. Had the rules been different during that last wave of realignment SJSU would not be in the MWC and Tulane or Tulsa (or both) would not be in the AAC. 

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10 minutes ago, SalinasSpartan said:

It’s also forgetting that we were only brought in because at the time 12 schools were needed for a CCG. That is no longer the case. That’s why the AAC is not desperately scrambling to bring in a 12 team. Had the rules been different during that last wave of realignment SJSU would not be in the MWC and Tulane or Tulsa (or both) would not be in the AAC. 

You may be right, but I remember it slightly different.  I think we were short on enough schools to sponsor a certain sport or maybe two.  Either way, yes it was a panic move to keep the conference legit with the NCAA somehow.  SJSU FB was doing pretty good at the time as well.

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30 minutes ago, SalinasSpartan said:

It’s also forgetting that we were only brought in because at the time 12 schools were needed for a CCG. That is no longer the case. That’s why the AAC is not desperately scrambling to bring in a 12 team. Had the rules been different during that last wave of realignment SJSU would not be in the MWC and Tulane or Tulsa (or both) would not be in the AAC. 

The AAC isnt scrambling because they think they can get a waiver, which they need if they dont play round robin - which is the requirement for less than 12.  We'll see...

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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Just now, Ibanez said:

I was under the impression the Montana schools are happy in the FCS. 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are.  Montana did a study a fee years ago and I don't think it was feasible for them.  This was before their enrollment issues got worse.  Montana State is a growing threat to the long term health of Montana as well.  MSU will get more state funds as they grow and UM declines

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