Conference Realignment: Part 2, The Western Athletic Conference

With the bowl games being the only thing keeping the WAC from disappearing and the mass movement of teams from one conference to another, let's take a look at the conferences and how they will possibly maybe who knows look in 2013.

Western Athletic Conference:

Established: 1962

Commissioner: Jeff Hurd

2012: 7 Teams

• Utah State
• San Jose State
• Louisiana Tech
• UTSA
• Texas State
• Idaho
• New Mexico State

2013: 0 teams

Lost: Utah State, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, UTSA, Texas State, Idaho, New Mexico State.

Gained: Nothing.

I know what you may be saying right now. The WAC, that conference is dead, why should I care about them? Well for the time being with losing Utah State and San Jose State to the MWC, La Tech and UTSA to CUSA, Texas State to the Sun Belt and Idaho and New Mexico State to independence, there is no good reason to pay attention to the WAC in the next couple of years. But could the conference be back with an effort spearheaded by NMSU and Idaho? Let's look at the WAC options moving forward.

Options:

1. Sit back and lick their wounds for a year or two. With the loss of every program save NMSU and Idaho to conference realignment, the WAC was forced to shut the doors on the football aspect of the conference for the time being. The WAC may just decide to sit back and play the waiting game for a year or two looking for their chance to come back as a viable conference. This option will only work if the WAC is working on gaining teams to make a full conference behind the scenes full time.
2. Dip into the FCS pool and bring a new group of teams to a new WAC. This would be in conjunction with using NMSU and Idaho as a base for the new conference. If this possible expansion occurs, expect the WAC to go straight to the Big Sky and Southland Conferences. With teams such as Sam Houston State, McNeese State, Nicholls State, the Montana schools, Cal Poly and Eastern Washington, there is a solid group of geographically suitable teams in the FCS to choose from. The Big Sky teams seem much less willing to move up and incur the expenses of moving from FCS to FBS football. The best bet may be the Southland Conference raid.
3. Watch Idaho drop to the FCS level. The Idaho football program has not been a very profitable program throughout the years and has been in the bottom 10% of attendance for the last few years. There has been a movement since the news broke of the WAC dissolving for the Vandals to drop to the FCS level and join the Big Sky Conference. While this was a much more viable option several months ago, the administration seems to have put its full support behind staying in the FBS with the hiring of Mark Stoops, brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. This is one of the least likely scenarios to happen.
4. Gain a good TV and bowl deal and try to raid another conference. With all of the spare time from no longer having a viable football conference, the WAC could try to put together a TV and bowl deal that could steal teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference. This would be a game changer and is incredibly unlikely to happen as the WAC were not even able to keep more than 1 guaranteed bowl berth when the Conference was folded.

The WAC has a chance to rejoin the FBS as a viable conference but it must retool and rebrand themselves as a conference that schools would want to join. Things started falling apart at the end but there is definitely room for the WAC in college football. My best guess is that the WAC will sit back for a year or two and use Idaho and New Mexico State (if those two schools have not already joined other conferences) as a base for a new conference. The overall outlook is very bleak for the future although there is that glimmer of hope that the WAC could be resurrected.