The Conference Dance Continues

While the prospects of a College Conference Apocalypse seemed to have faded, at least for now, with the Big 10 playing it conservative and being happy with just Nebraska and the Pac-10 content to become the Pac-12 and the Big 12 still existing, everyone can breathe a huge sigh of relief that we aren't plunging pell mell towards some hellacious mega-conference type of situation.

But while the big boys are done for now, the shuffling in the mid-majors continues:

Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada are hopping from the WAC to the Mountain West. TCU is joining Utah (leaving for the Pac-10) and BYU (leaving to be independent, for some reason) in leaving the MWC for, of all places The Big East. Why, I don't know. No offense to the Big East, but TCU is a damn good football program and this year, the Big East is not at all about Damn Good Football… it just seems really, really weird.

Hawaii and Utah State are pondering their next moves, with Hawaii potentially shifting to either the Big West or MWC and Utah State is playing the waiting game to see what the WAC does-- and the WAC seems to have its eye on UT-San Antonio, Texas State, North Texas or some weird combination of the three.

The Mountain West is obviously maneuvering to try and snag an automatic BCS bid, should another conference be invited to the Big Table. (Which would be surprising, to say the least.) And more or less, they've done a decent job of it. Consider what they're going to look like in two years:

Air Force

Colorado State

New Mexico

San Diego State

UNLV

Wyoming

Boise State

Fresno State

Nevada

The new additions of Boise, Fresno and Nevada bring a lot of voltage to the Conference… it would be still better had they managed to keep TCU, Utah and BYU but I think there's a lot of potential for growth here and a lot of weirdness that might get revisited a decade or so down the road. Colorado might find a berth in the Mountain West a lot sexier than being swallowed up and cast into the basement of the Pac-12. Utah might also rue their decision and the weirdness of TCU bolting to the Big East could come back to bite them as well. (I mean why join the Big East for an automatic BCS bid when you've consistently put your football program up there for an automatic bid without the benefit of a big conference behind you? Weird and jarring… I'm not a fan.) Looks like the Mountain West is set to up their game and if they do, they might well get that automatic BCS bid and be in a position to win back folks like BYU, Utah and TCU and maybe poach Colorado from the Pac-12. Then, suddenly a decent mid-major might look like a damn good major conference.

Either way, I think the Mountain West is on the rise.