Conference Expansion: Why Is West Virginia Getting Snubbed?

With the news first reported Tuesday by Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com that West Virginia was denied admission to the SEC and the ACC, the question arises that, as the Mountaineers prepare for their biggest home football game ever on Saturday, why does no one want West Virginia?  Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Texas A&M and Missouri have all been accepted to, or have reported offers from other conferences in the past few weeks, but the Mountaineers remain on the outside looking in as the realignment train rolls through Morgantown without stopping.

As we’ve heard countless times ever since the summer of 2010, the criteria for expansion candidates are television viewership and a comparable academic profile to the rest of the league, which often  means membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU).  A characteristic that does not make a good expansion candidate is on-field success.

The Mountaineers have multiple BCS bowl wins over the past six seasons, a feat matched only by Boise State, Florida, LSU, Ohio State, Southern California, and Texas.  That’s pretty good company.  On the hardwood, WVU has made four trips to the Sweet 16 in the past seven years, including two Elite 8 appearances and the 2010 Final Four.  None of the other prime candidates can match West Virginia’s dual success of football and men’s basketball since 2005.

As the entire nation will witness on Saturday from when ESPN’s College Gameday comes on the air at 9 AM, up until the conclusion of the game with LSU around midnight, the passion of the West Virginia fanbase is as good as any in college football.  Bill King, host of SiriusXM’s 24/7 Sports On Campus, began hosting his national college football radio show in 2005.  King has said many times that, for the most part, he had the national landscape figured out as to the regions from which he would receive the most phone calls, but he admits that the one fanbase whose passion he underestimated was West Virginia.

Unfortunately, passion and success don’t get you anywhere in this mess.  West Virginia is not a member of the AAU.  Missouri, Pittsburgh, and Texas A&M are all AAU members, and Syracuse voluntarily withdrew from the AAU earlier this year after having been a member since 1966.

The ACC, who made the first post-Texas A&M move in this chess game, by adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse, has the strongest academic reputation of any BCS conference.  Already having the Pittsburgh market, there was no need to take a chance on West Virginia with better options available that would help them capture the New York market.  The SEC, however, is a different story.  16-team leagues are the future of college football, whether we like it or not.  The SEC won’t just add Missouri and Texas A&M, and be done with expansion for the long-term.  Adding two more teams would also eliminate the dreaded scenario that the league could face with 14 teams of having Alabama and Auburn play in two consecutive weeks should they both get to the SEC Championship Game.

Texas won’t dare follow Texas A&M, given the pure hatred between the schools.  Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are heading west, and the ACC, with its eight-figure exit fee, appears to have built a moat around itself.  Is there a better option for a 15^th or 16^th team than West Virginia?  Probably not.  Mississippi State is ranked only seven spots higher by the U.S. News and World Report, so this is not a big reach academically.  Pittsburgh is not a major market, but it would get the SEC into a region that loves football on a level comparable with its current markets. 

Reports that the SEC did not want West Virginia as the 14^th team are probably accurate.  However, it’s not likely that the league has slammed the door shut on the Mountaineers as a 15^th or 16^th team.  Nebraska is the lowest-ranked Big Ten school by the USN&WR, lower than Missouri, but the league wanted the Cornhuskers and stuck their nose up at Missouri, fine journalism school and all.  Nebraska brought more passion and more on-field success.  West Virginia can do the same for the SEC. 

There are plenty of dominoes yet to fall, but West Virginia remains homeless.  Rejection hurts, and payback is the best medicine for rejection.  While they won’t gain any more Rhodes Scholars or television sets on Saturday night (and may in fact lose a few couches), they can get revenge on the SEC where it hurts the most:  on the football field.