Utah State turned down MWC?

According to an open letter from Utah State published in the Deseret News, the Aggies were contacted before Nevada and Fresno State about joining the Mountain West Conference. The letter said that USU turned down the interest from the MWC out of a commitment to solidarity to the Western Athletic Conference. This commitment included a contract with a $5 million buyout should USU have left the WAC within the next five years. Such a deal was signed by Fresno State and verbally agreed to (though not signed) by Nevada. Both schools defected to the MWC last night.

As honorable as solidarity is, I think Utah State should have been looking out more for itself than for the WAC if the MWC did indeed contact the Aggies about potential membership. Even if Fresno State and Nevada had stayed in the WAC and BYU had joined for basketball, the MWC still would have been a stronger basketball league overall with perennial powers New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State. Of course there is no question that the Mountain West is the superior league in football as well with TCU and Boise State headlining the conference.

Utah State should have done what was best for Utah State, not what they thought would be best for the WAC. The letter said USU expected all WAC institutions to honor the agreement of solidarity among the schools remaining following Boise State's announced departure to the MWC earlier this summer. I would not have expected other schools to remain loyal to the WAC and not look out for their own interests and I think Utah State is naive for thinking that. Because they chose to remain behind the Aggies are now in a six-team league that is in serious trouble and now may not get BYU to join for basketball either. Sounds a lot worse than the Mountain West, doesn't it?

All this being said, there could still be several things that could still happen in the coming days and weeks that could alter the NCAA landscape. BYU could very will still go independent and be looking to move its basketball and other programs elsewhere. Right now, though, the West Coast Conference looks like a better fit for BYU than the WAC as presently configured. After all, the WCC has national power Gonzaga as well as Sweet 16 entrant from last season Saint Mary's in the league and consists mainly of religious schools. We'll see what happens: the WAC may very well look to the WCC or other places to expand and create a more viable and attractive league for BYU.

Interesting piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (that I saw posted on a friend's Facebook page) about TCU as well as BYU and the MWC that I think is an interesting read:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/18/2412369/hold-your-panic-tcu-fans-dominoes.html

I think the article is accurate on a lot of counts, particularly in BYU's self-aggrandizement of itself. It definitely is not on the same level as Notre Dame and has not qualified for the BCS out of the MWC the way Utah and TCU have. I think independence is a tough call and may not be as cut and dried a negative issue as Engel makes it seem, but I do think it would be a risky move. There is little doubt that the proposed move to independence would bring more national exposure on networks such as ESPN as well as more money flowing into the school. However, the competitive aspect may not be as promising. As I've already said, they haven't qualified for the BCS out of the Mountain West and it only stands to reason that qualifying for the BCS as an independent would only be more difficult.

There are benefits to more freedom in scheduling including playing a more national schedule, not having to play teams they don't want to play and being able to play more teams from BCS conferences. However, I think these pros are offset by how difficult the schedule would be and as I noted, they haven't been able to qualify for the BCS out of the MWC. I think there is also something to be said for playing for a conference championship. Winning your conference makes any year sound good, even with a couple of losses. Now with a couple of losses you don't have anything to show for it and are not headed to a BCS game. Of course, BYU may get cold feet and opt to stay in the MWC. My hunch, though is that they will go independent and join the WAC (if they can revamp with other schools -- and that's a big if) or the West Coast Conference for all other sports.

In other sports news, my San Francisco Giants (68-54) got a crucial win over the Philadelphia Phillies (68-52) to pull within one game in the Wild Card race and remain six back of the red hot San Diego Padres (73-47) in the West. It looks like the Wild Card should be the primary focus, at least for now. The Phils are still only 2.5 games back of the Braves (68-52) in the East and could very well make a run at the divisional crown. The Giants now face the Cardinals (65-53) in St. Louis for a weekend series. It's important to take at least two of three as the Cards are also a Wild Card contender (not to mention keeping pace with Philadelphia). I was encouraged by the Giants' performance tonight and I think they will continue to at least stay in the race. I think the rest of the season should be fun.

Elsewhere in baseball, the White Sox (66-55) salvaged the final game against the Twins (70-51) in Minnesota, winning 11-0 after losing a pair of heart breakers. They are now four back in the AL Central after capturing that must-win game tonight. I'm not going to say they are dead yet and I think they still have a hot streak left in them to make the division race a tight one right down to the wire.