With Boise State Gone, Why Is The WAC Staying at Eight Teams?

The month of June will perhaps be known as one of the most newsworthy as far as sports is concerned.

June has never been known as a month that is dominated by college football, especially due to the national signing day during the off-season being pretty ho-hum.

Well, after all the rumors began, the stories were written, and sources were going back and forth on what might or might not happen, it seemed to a lot of us that the Big 12 was about to die out.

We all thought that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were on their way to the Pac-10 and that Texas A&M was headed to the SEC.

The dust settled, and none of that happened.

The Big 12 stayed the same, with exception of Colorado going to the Pac-10 and Nebraska defecting to the Big 10.

Then, another few moves were made a few days later.

Boise State was the first team to jump ship from the dying Western Athletic Conference as they joined up with the Mountain West Conference.

Almost 48 hours after that decision, the University of Utah accepted an invitation to be the 12th team in what will now be the Pac-12.

As soon as Boise State announced their intentions to join the Mountain West as of the 2011 season, questions began as to whether the WAC was going to add a team or two to replace them or if another few teams were also ready to leave the conference.

Fresno State fans, in particular, have been wanting to leave the WAC, and now with Boise State leaving, they were hoping their Bulldogs would be the next team to get an invite to the Mountain West.

It made sense for a while that an invitation might come.

Fresno State would be able to rekindle old rivalries with San Diego State and BYU from the old WAC, as well as continue their rivalry with Boise State.

The radio shows were buzzing with the possibilities of not only Fresno State wanting to move but of which teams could possibly be joining the conference.

There were speculation, rumors, and just plain randomness.

Some had brought up Houston, SMU, Tulsa, and even UTEP, but those rumors and ideas were quickly shot down, as none of those four teams would have anything to gain by leaving Conference USA to go out west.

Then there was talk that WAC commissioner Karl Benson and his band of merry men were looking at the likes of Montana State, Portland State, Sacramento State, and UC Davis as possible candidates.

It didn't take long for backlash to come regarding those schools.

None of them could even come close to making up for the absence of a conference juggernaut and a nationally-known name that Boise State had become.

There was no way that Benson and the WAC could see that as a good idea by bringing any of those four schools on board.

Not to say that they don't deserve better competition than they're facing now by moving to the WAC, but this conference would not have gained anything by inviting them.

In fact, they would have lost a lot more.

Now, it seems Benson has decided that the WAC will stand pat and will not invite any other teams to join the conference even after Boise State leaves following the 2010 season.

In a statement released to the media, Benson said, "Over the past few weeks, the WAC's Board of Directors and athletics directors have explored several membership options. We believe it is in the best interest of the WAC to operate as an eight-team league for the 2011-2012 season. We will now take several months to 'drill down' on the various membership options before making any decisions that would impact the 2012-2013 season."

Benson went on to say that, "throughout its history and since its inception in 1962, the WAC has operated very successfully as an eight-team, nine-team and 10-team league. Each of those models have their advantages and all will be looked at very closely. Also, a 12-team league that would allow the WAC to split into divisions and conduct a football championship game will be evaluated."

While I'm sure Benson thinks he and the board of directors are doing what's best for this conference, he must forget that the only thing going for them after Boise State's departure is Fresno State, with an honorable mention to Nevada, Hawaii, and Louisiana Tech.

That's an even worse decision than bringing on the four aforementioned schools.

The WAC cannot stand pat with eight teams and think they're going to be any more respectable than they were when Boise State was a part of the conference.

By doing just that, they could arguably be compared to the Sun Belt or even the MAC, though those two conferences might now be insulted by being compared to the WAC.

This conference needs to expand, if for no other reason than to land solid recruits.

They're having a hard enough time of that as it is but now, without Boise State, recruits are likely to look elsewhere before landing at the likes of Fresno State, Nevada, or Hawaii.

It's a disappointing decision that commissioner Karl Benson has come to and it's not a choice that's best for the future of the conference.

The sooner he realizes that, the sooner they'll be able to rebuild what was once a solid conference.