There’s no way this is happening, is there? There can’t possibly be anything to this story, right?
I have a very hard time believing that the official Colorado State football Twitter account would be the one to break a story like this, so I’m not setting off fireworks in the street just yet. But on the off chance that this is true, Navy should play BYU every year (a la Notre Dame) out of gratitude for the sheer entertainment that will come from watching the ensuing Air Force meltdown.
The Birddog 
Forgive the ignorance but why would this be a meltdown for Air Farce?
because the one thing they have held onto in the last 7 years of losing to Navy is their SOS…the one that’s strong because they play in a REAL CONFERENCE and always lose to 3 teams ranked in the top 25. oh, and the whole “we’re going to be a BCS conference school soon and THEN navy will never be able to touch us again” thing.
well, with utah gone, they’re already looking at very, very tough road to that BCS auto bid. with BYU gone, that BCS big would evaporate. hell, the MWC would probably dissolve because Boise State sure as hell isn’t going to join a two team conference…that’s pretty much what the WAC is with them in it right now.
bravo on the pic mike. so perfectly fitting
But look at it from BYU’s perspective: with AF unable to pull it’s weight in the conference (I mean… my gosh – they’ve lost to a worse team in Navy 7 straight years) who wouldn’t want to leave?!?!
Strength of schedule is just fodder for their message board idiots. Nobody cares about that crap. The reason there will be a meltdown is because BYU and Utah were the only schools that added any value to the MWC for TV and bowl games. The conference can’t survive without BYU and Utah, and if it does it will be a cash-starved shell of its former self after adding a couple of random turds (to put it bluntly). If it comes to pass, this would completely alter the identity and future of Air Force football.
This move could also entice TCU to want to move as well. The Big 12 wants to get a championship game back, but I don’t know how much they’ll want to add a Texas school and possibly dilute the Texas recruits.
If BYU goes Indy the MWC is, as you say, dead meat, and will have ZERO negotiating power wrt TV contracts. What do you think the chances would be of AF also going Indy and joining the WAC in all other sports ? Their athletic dept is trying to model itself after us (Navy), but w/o big revenue FB games like ND and Army-Navy I don’t see how they can make enough $$$ to be competitive. Your thoughts ?
I think that’s exactly what will happen. Calhoun has talked openly in the past about the appeal of an independent Air Force. For money they’ll have to schedule more bodybag games against Oklahoma-types.
Playing the big dogs for bucks will present a REAL serious problem – there’s no way any of them will agree to a home and home with AF. At best they’ll agree to a two for one deal. AF doesn’t draw real well now playing against traditional rivals who are geographically close, so they have no negotiating leverage. If they go Indy I think you can kiss several of their current Varsity sports goodbye.
Also worth noting that this is a REAL bad time to have a former chem prof as your AD as opposed to a savvy pro who’s way ahead of the power curve and solidly entrenched in the AD “good ole’ boy” network.
so if AF goes indy won’t it look identical to today? they’ll still be the 4th best out of a bunch of non-BCS schools
(more accurately, they’ll be “the best team but with the 4th best record”)
Apparently my skepticism is justified:
@BFeldmanESPN: MWC source sez the folks at CSU football, who “broke” news of BYU announcement, claim their Twitter feed got hacked & they can’t log back in
So while the story has legs, it is probably not a done deal.
so…Navy-Temple is on CBS again – why not a replay of a game where DOBBS is playing and Navy WINS???
I believe Texas and Oklahoma don’t want a title game. It’s just another chance for them to get title hopes crushed. They’re pulling in the money hand over fist with the new deal and hold all the power. I really can’t see them going back to 12 teams…more than likely to see defection happen and kill the conference before that in my opinion.
Don’t you think CBSCS would probably love to bring AF on board and have all 3 independent service academies on the network? You could have army at noon, navy at 3:30, another conference game at 7 and then AF at 10 (8pm kickoff MTN time). 13 straight hours of college football goodness would help raise their profile for subs on cable/dish networks.
If AF goes independent for football, what the logical move for their other sports? How many schools would the WAC accomodate without bringing their football teams?
I agree with wglap that this is a bad time to have a weak AD.
AF could like this, because it would get them out of the Armed Forces Bowl by being the perennial 4th place finisher. In fact, if TCU leaves, the Boise leaves, AF could be the number two team in the conference (behind, oh, lets say Wyoming).
AND WE’RE BACK ON
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars/50131959-88/byu-football-television-conference.html.csp
While it would hurt their bottom line, competitively speaking the breakup of the Mountain West would be the best thing to ever happen to Air Force’s other sports– especially their women’s sports. If Air Force went independent in football, I think the WAC would take them ahead of most other MWC members. If not, I’m sure plenty of conferences would love to add them. Big Sky, Summit League, maybe even the MVC or Sun Belt. They won’t have a problem finding somewhere to play. Wouldn’t be surprised if C-USA made a play for the whole package.
How about this little Rochambeau at the end of that article?
“Potentially more troubling for the Mountain West: a change-of-mind by Boise State that could return the Broncos to the WAC. The WAC office source confirmed that scenario as a possibility. Boise State would face no penalty if it did wish to return, the source said.”
Lollerpop, lollerpop, oh loller, lollerloller…