With the Big East sucking up MWC teams to stay relevant & schools abandoning tradition for $$$, I started thinking what could have been. Only NM, Co St, Wyoming & UNLV will be left from the original '99 MWC.

I was wondering if there's room for a BCS conference between the PAC & the Big XII but 2 things ruined the WAC/MWC. Karl Benson adding 6 teams in '96 after 2 yrs on the job & Craig Thompson not getting on ESPN. MWC was a good idea after Benson threw away tradition for San Jose St & small private school in Texas. But I don't understand why they left UTEP, Fresno St & Hawaii out. The MWC 8 + those 3 schools & TCU could have been playing a championship game since '96 when TCU & UNLV were added. Obviously TCU & Utah were offered bids into PAC & Big XII so they would have left regardless of how strong this hypothetical WAC was but Boise St & Nevada could step in as replacements in 2011..

I counted the years the traditional rivals were in the same WAC/MWC conference through 2014 when Air Force leaves to join Navy in BEast.

So could this 12-team conference from 96-'10 w/ Utah & TCU earned an automatic BCS bid? Could it keep it w/ replacements Boise St & Nevada from 2011 on?