Appears to be Official

The Mountain West has now officially announced that Nevada and Fresno State have officially accepted invitations to join the MWC.  Craig Thompson said that this was the plan all along.  Why, exactly, the conference picked today, as opposed to a month ago, to extend the invitations is a little baffling.  He also stated that the MWC would not make any concessions to try to keep any team in the conference: you can come and go as you please.  What he is saying is: BYU, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.  Good riddance/luck.

This definitely increases my frustration with the Mountain West.  Again, Houston helps their BCS cause more than either Fresno State or Nevada.  This appears to be a play to hurt BYU more than a way to strengthen the conference.  All it does is add a few more mediocre teams.  Fresno State lost to the 5th place MWC team the last two seasons in bowl games.  Good, the MWC added a good candidate for 6th place to replace the cohort of UNLV/SDSU/New Mexico/CSU.  Nevada, who had their best team ever last season, still only went 8-5 and lost by 35 points in a bowl game against an 8-5 SMU team.  Houston had a better record and computer ranking in 2009 and 2008 than both of these schools.  Craig Thompson wants to create new in-conference rivalries: how about Fort Worth vs. Houston?

Again, all this move does is take away some of BYU's leverage, it doesn't increase the chances of a BCS bid.  It doesn't really even help the TV situation: another California school that nobody cares about, in a city of 500,000 and a school from Reno, with its booming metropolis of less than 500,000 people.  They have now solidified the state of Nevada and it's TV markets.  Excited, yet?  Neither is Comcast.  Also, for attendance: Fresno State averages 33,000 fans, would be 4th in the MWC.  Nevada averages a whopping 17,500, good for dead last, and one of only two schools that averages less than 20,000 fans per game.  Now are you excited?

BYU still could leave the conference to be independent in football, but I don't see any viable options.  If Conference USA were in play, maybe, but if the West Coast Conference is the best there is, I don't see that as a possibility.  There simply isn't a better option.  The increased revenue and exposure for football isn't worth complete anonymity in every other sport.  Notre Dame has the Big East.  BYU doesn't have anything for its other sports.  I hope they don't forge ahead anyway.  But then again, I've thought that from the beginning!