Conference USA-Mountain West Merger: Power Ranking the Top 10 Programs

The talks of a possible football only merger between the Mountain West and Conference-USA are now starting to really heat up.

School presidents and conference officials recently met to present a case for consolidation that would hopefully land the two conferences an automatic BCS bid.

While that does seem a bit far-fetched given the level of competition in the two conferences, it’s not completely out of the question.

The Mountain West is losing its bell cow team TCU after this season but it’s also welcoming in Hawaii, Nevada and Fresno State from the WAC as reinforcements.

If the Mountain West and C-USA were to join forces, it would be interesting to see how they would split the teams into two divisions.

Let’s have a look at how the power pecking order would look if the merger did actually go through.

1. Boise State Broncos

What else is there to say about the job Chris Petersen has done at Boise State?

Petersen inherited a rising program from Dan Hawkins and turned it into a juggernaut.

Under Petersen’s watch, the Broncos are 64-5 and have won two BCS bowl games.

With the way they’ve elevated their recruiting it doesn’t look like Boise State is about to slow down any time soon.

2. Houston Cougars

Houston was always known for its offense under former coach Art Briles, and current coach Kevin Sumiln has kept that tradition going.

This year, the Cougars are 3rd in the country in total offense and 11th in scoring offense, averaging 44 points and 585 yards per game.

The Houston area is loaded with recruits and Sumlin has done a great job of finding some hidden gems around the state of Texas that the bigger schools overlooked.

With Sumlin at the helm, this team is set up for success for years to come.

3. Central Florida Knights

George O’Leary’s first season at Central Florida (One in which the Knights went 0-11) now seems like a distant memory.

In the six years since, O’Leary has guided the Knights to eight wins or more four times.

He had his best season yet last year, when UCF went 11-3 and won the Conference-USA championship.

With a beautiful, brand new stadium and a great recruiting base, this a program that is only going to continue to dominate in the years to come.

4. Air Force Falcons

When you think of college football service academies, the two that most likely come to mind are Navy and Army because of their historic rivalry.

Don’t forget about Air Force all the way out there in Colorado Springs.

The Falcons have been a steady force under coach Troy Calhoun.

Calhoun has guided the team to eight wins or more in each of his four seasons and they’ve made four straight appearances in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Falcons’ flexbone offense is one of the most consistently lethal rushing attacks in the country and they currently rank first in the nation in rushing offense.

The talent level at Air Force is underrated and the players are always well-coached and fundamentally sound.

5. Nevada Wolfpack

After years of waiting, Chris Ault finally found a star player to take his team to the next level.

Last year, QB Colin Kaepernick carried the Wolf Pack to a 13-1 season and a huge win over Boise State.

Kaepernick may be gone now but the legacy he leaves will certainly help the program as it moves forward.

Ault’s Pistol offense is one of the most innovative in the country and he’s done a great job of bringing talent to Reno.

Nevada has had nine players drafted since 2003.

The stadium is one of the smallest in the country but the fan base is passionate and it’s a good situation all around.

6. Fresno State Bulldogs

It seems like coach Pat Hill has had Fresno State on the verge of a breakthrough for the last decade.

Even though the Bulldogs have failed to truly step onto the national scene, Hill has still had a very successful career at Fresno, piling up 110 wins since 1997.

The Bulldogs will be one of three teams moving from the WAC to the Mountain West after this year.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the step up in competition.

7. Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Tulsa was an offensive machine under Todd Graham and the team managed to pile up 36 wins in Graham’s four year tenure.

The Bill Blankenship era hasn’t gotten off to the same type of hot start, but a lot of that can be attributed to the murder’s row schedule Tulsa's faced.

The Golden Hurricane are only 1-3 so far this season, but those three losses have come to three teams ranked in the Top 10, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Boise State.

Tulsa will always be the third wheel in the state of Oklahoma but the program has a strong recent track record.

If Blankenship can figure out how to recapture the offensive magic that Graham had, this team will be fine for the future.

8. Hawaii Warriors

June Jones helped introduce Hawaii to the mainland when he guided the Warriors to a 12-0 regular season and a berth in the Sugar Bowl back in 2008.

It didn’t help that they got throttled 41-10 by Georgia but at least the seed was planted.

Now with Jones gone, Greg McMackin has taken over and instilled his own philosophy and it proved to be a success last year when the Warriors went 10-4.

It’s hard to bring any elite recruits down to Hawaii. The islands themselves have their fair share of talented prospects.

It’s not that hard to convince kids from the west coast who may not be getting a lot of love from BCS schools to come down and live on a beautiful island for four years.

9. Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Because they’re always challenging as many BCS schools as they can, Larry Fedora’s Southern Miss teams have never topped eight wins.

They’ve still been a force to be reckoned with in Conference-USA

Fedora always has his team prepared to play and he’s managed to stock his roster full of under-the-radar recruits from around the southern region of the United States.

Fedora is a quality coach and leader and he should have Southern Miss competing for quite a while.

10. East Carolina Pirates

Skip Holtz built a solid foundation for success at East Carolina before he left for South Florida after the 2009 season.

The Pirates struggled in their first season without Holtz at the helm, falling to 6-7, but it’s obvious that this team is in good shape for the future.

East Carolina has been to five straight bowl games and that trend should continue over the next few years.