This comment should not come to the surprise of anyone who has been following what the Mountain West and Conference USA have been attempting to do.

The merger has essentially been pulled from the table, so when Air Force Falcons head coach Troy Calhoun made the comments that he did not think the merger would happen on the College Football Playbook with Jack Arute and Rick Neuheisel on their SiriusXM radio show it should not have come as a shock to anyone.

Calhoun's main concern was with extending the schedule for the student-athletes:

"Our concern, a little bit, is once you start getting into a first or second weekend in December, you do take away from somebody's ability to succeed - at least I think you do - in terms of preparation and what they do in academics," Calhoun said on the show. "There's a right medium that can be struck, but right now I'd say no. "

Air Force is one of the few places where academics are taken more seriously than other schools, and there is a lot asked of from their students in addition to football.

Calhoun is referring to the proposed semifinal and final for a proposed cross-conference championiship game. Each league would have their title game and then a week later those champions would face off for another game with the initial purpose being to gain an automatic bid to the BCS.

For more Mountain West Connection Follow @JeremyMauss