The Western Athletic Conference was never known for its big-time football. The relevance the league did have in the grand scheme of the college football landscape came from its one power, Boise State.

The Broncos have run roughshod over their WAC competition during the last decade winning seven conference championships and losing only four conference games during the last nine seasons.

Yes, Boise’s BCS appearances, blue field, and top 25 finishes may have been the only thing keeping people remembering the small conference.
That is why WAC conference commissioner Karl Benson was understandably very upset when he received word that Boise State would be leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the Mountain West Conference. The news of the schools departure was a crushing blow to Benson and all the other WAC schools and it left them wondering how they would ever replace such a valued conference member.

Little did Benson or anyone else know that Boise State’s defection would only be the first domino to fall. Just recently, conference members Fresno State and Nevada announced that they will follow Boise’s lead and join the Bronco’s in the new look Mountain West Conference. Benson described his emotions towards the defections of Fresno State and Nevada in three words calling the two schools’ decisions “a selfish act”.

Now just because Fresno State and Nevada have announced that they are leaving the WAC conference doesn’t mean that the remaining conference members will make the two schools departures a smooth one. Commissioner Benson has said that Fresno and Nevada will both have to pay departures fees that cover the $5 million they each owe in buyout penalties. There is also talk that the two schools will have to stay in the WAC until 2012 because they didn’t meet a previously set deadline to leave the league earlier.

As much fun as it may be for the remaining schools’ athletic directors and for Benson to tie down Fresno and Nevada with buyout penalties and other “speed bumps” the reality is that the two schools seem focused on leaving for the Mountain West and they will defect sooner or later. As I said earlier the leagues one power player Boise State has already waved goodbye without any penalty and now two other strong football programs are jumping off the titanic that is currently the WAC conference. What steps should be taken at this point to ensure that the league stays together and can come back from this recent string of bad news?

Well let’s look at this situation from Karl Benson’s perspective. He has just lost arguably his three strongest football programs and now is staring at six remaining WAC conference members that consist of Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State. Regardless of what teams you have, you are going to need more than six programs to fill up a major college football conference. That is why Benson has said that he will consider adding schools into the new look WAC conference from the Division I-A and Division I-AA ranks. An early list of possible replacements for the three defecting programs consists of Montana, UC-Davis, and Cal Poly.

Now Montana, UC-Davis, and Cal Poly are strong Division I-AA programs but they don’t exactly stand up against programs such as Fresno State and Nevada much less the juggernaut that has become the Boise State Broncos. Also, in a college football landscape that is heavily dominated by television markets such as ESPN, the conference doesn’t have a lot to offer any more. I don’t think the powers that be at the Worldwide Leader in Sports are going to be rushing their television crews out to do the Idaho vs. Montana game or the San Jose State vs. Utah State matchup.

Conference expansion is upon us in college football and there will be conferences that benefit and there will be conferences that suffer the brunt of the madness. It may not make as big a blip on the radar screen as if there were massive defections from the Big East or ACC but there is no doubt that the WAC conference is feeling the full force of just how painful this new trend of conference realignment can be. The Western Athletic Conference will stay together and soldier on, but right now the league as a whole is down and out and is waiting to hear some good news.

Thoughts comments opinions can the WAC rebound from these massive defections

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