From where we are now, the middle of February, to June 30th, what do fans of the MW have to look forward to? What little is leaking out right now is cryptic at best. At present, if I had to guess, I would look for an expansion of the alliance from 8/8, as it stands now, to a 10/10 or, less likely, to a 12/12 model, which I would argue is nationally more plausible.

From trying to read between the lines, Bob Stull is getting ready for a switch to the MW. That would mean 9/7 MW/C-USA split. If Temple joins C-USA, the numbers would go to 9/8 but this still does not address the Hawaii partial membership issue. Does a watered down MW/C-USA (at 9/8) have enough inventory to fill media scheduling demand, required for a bigger payout? The addition of UTEP to the MW renews rivalries and cuts down on some travel expenses, while Temple would bring in a part of the large, new market of Philadelphia. Is that enough to spark the interest of a big-time network?

Continue reading this post »

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?

[Bumped to the front page.]

Some of us are old enough to remember the presidential election of 1992. Instead of only having the usual milk toast, two party candidates, the US voter was treated to a third party candidate, who actually got enough votes to put a scare into the establishment: Ross Perot. One of Ross Perot's most famous quips was about jobs leaving the US for Mexico, as NAFTA was being discussed... he called it the "giant sucking sound" of jobs being outsourced south of the border.

Fast forward to the present day to Jeremy Mauss' article in the Mountain West Connection, in regard to the expected announcement of Navy's imminent inclusion in the Big East as a football only member. For the Big East, this is a solid addition, one that keeps it's non-football members happy and one that pulls a military, academic institution into it's ranks.

What the members of the MW are beginning to hear is becoming all too familiar: Ross Perot's giant sucking sound. It is the sound of yet another team, as Jeremy Mauss astutely pointed out, being sucked out of the MW, further depleting its membership and lowering it's quality of left-over teams. Air Force, which had previously spurned the advances of the Big East, now has a familiar dancing partner set to join in 2015. With the departure of WVU to the Big XII, the Big East is at only 11 "permanent" football members and the Air Force Academy would be a great match with Navy. The inclusion of AF into the Big East would also give the western teams another travel partner, closer than going all the way to Storrs or New Brunswick. Additionally, if the Big East sticks with an 8 game conference schedule, then AD Hans Mueh could potentially schedule CSU and Wyoming out of conference.

Continue reading this post »

Not much has come out of the talks that began yesterday in Dallas, but an article that did come out yesterday, on CBSsports.com, reports that one option being explored by "the Hair" and BB would be to dissolve the two conferences, the MW and C-USA, and create a new league. The problem with such a proposal is that by remaining separate each conference would stand to receive its $13.6 million FBS payout. Instead of 2 conferences, each with a payout, there would only be one, and therefore, only one payout. That leaves a great deal of money on the table leading to speculation that an outright merger is unlikely.

Commissioner Thompson, who is "...not overly optimistic" about the MW receiving an AQ bid for the next two seasons, is looking into all options for the so-called "Big Country", as the conglomeration is being dubbed, because no league name has leaked out as of yet. The C-USA recently signed a $43 million deal with Fox, which presently has TV rights through 2015. This claim has been disputed by ESPN, believing it had an option on rights. Getting "Big Country", with a MW division, on Fox or ESPN would be a welcome change for fans and recruiters in the MW. Such a dissolution would allow the "Big Country" to negotiate a new TV deal, which would most likely kill the Mtn. network.

There are obvious issues still looming: what to do with Hawaii's partial membership? Can BB and CT negotiate a sliding contract, that would expand, should the alliance look to go up from 17 to 18, 20,22 or 24 teams? What would the payout for member teams be? Is there a big enough market even with an enhanced league (24 teams, 2 divisions) to warrant a big enough contract for an expanded league? How would such a league differ from the new Big East, which has the superior teams from the MW and C-USA? How would a smaller 17 - 18 member league even be able to compete with a similar scheduling alliance between the Pac 12 and B1G, which will have 24 teams? How would the larger version compare? Would the new TV rights make up the difference in potential FBS payout loss? Does the alliance have to go up to 24 teams to remain stable, should the MW or C-USA get raided again (AF might still be going to an expanded BE now that Navy has elected to give up its independent status)? Does the MW have to pre-empt such a move by AF, or others, to even make it to the alliance, because the MW has only 7 full members moving forward? Are there many teams, which would provide viable options for expansion, from an athletic and academic standpoint and which add marketable areas for the alliance? There seems to be a significant amount of dissatisfaction with the MW as it presently stands and something will have to change.

Is the Mountain West's Network, "the Mtn.", a boon or a bane for the Mountain West conference and its quest for visibility and acceptance? Since the MW parted ways with its ESPN viewership and ushered in the first conference network, on September 1st, 2006, there has been disagreement about the Mtn.'s ability to offer the MW the kind of platform it needs to showcase it's teams, not only nation wide, but even in it's own regions. This inability has exacerbated the difficulty some member institutions have had in reaching larger audiences, both in recruiting and in advertising, and has arguably led to the defections of some of the more prominent institutions for larger, better paying and more visible conferences, or even for no affiliation at all.

The contract offered to the member institutions of the Mountain West is between $1.4 - $1.9 million annually. While better than the contract offered to the WAC conference by ESPN, which offers its member institutions a little under $500,000 annually, this pales in comparison to the contracts offered the so-called AQ conferences. So what can the MW do about the woeful state of affairs in relation to its TV contract? Quite a bit: the contract with Comcast is upon the calendar year 2012. There is an outdated article from the Honolulu Star Advertiser, which is one of the few to discuss the issues involved with the MW contracts, that outlines some of the issues involved. More importantly, what can all of the MW fans do about the predicament the fearless leaders of the MW failed to see coming?

For those of you, who haven't seen this site on the the Mtn's website, here is what you can do to get the Mtn. better distribution, in more areas. This could then lead to more advertising revenue and provider fees, and hopefully, more overall funding for the member institutions:

Fans, like you, we would like extended distribution of our network. To do this, we encourage your support by making your voice heard and letting distributors know that you would like to see The Mtn.

Distribution decisions are made by viewer demand so every call, email and letter will help.

~ Thank you.

Contact your cable or satellite provider and tell them "You Want The Mtn."

Cable / Satellite Provider	Phone Number	Website
AT&T Uverse	Ph: 800.288.2020	www.att.com
Charter Communications	Ph: 888.438.2427	www.charter.com Live Chat (current customers)
Comcast	Ph: 800.266.2278	Email Live Chat
Dish Network	Ph: 888.581.9813 or 888.686.2388	Feedback Live Chat (current customers)
Time Warner - San Diego	Ph: 888.892.2253	Email
Time Warner - North Texas	Ph: 972.742.5892	Email Live Chat
Verizon FIOS	Ph: 888.881.8161	Email Live Chat

As it stands, subscribers to Direct TV and Comcast can get the Mtn., but Dish and certain areas with Time Warner cannot (see above for more details). That means the Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego areas could not watch their MW teams, unless they had specific network subscriptions. This is cited as the primary reason, by the presidents of BYU and Utah, for wanting to leave the MW. It is no doubt a leading reason for SDSU and TCU wanting out of the MW: more money, more availability to the local residents and more exposure.

If you subscribe to any of these providers, please contact them early and often to vigorously campaign for the Mtn.'s inclusion into their respective programming additions. They will only do so, if a significant amount of requests are made, and no one knows how many it takes to reach the critical mass, which would warrant inclusion. Get active and get the Mtn. included, so that the remaining MW institutions get the increased funding and visibility they deserve!

note: with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter and west virginia with the rock and leading clemson 63 to 26, i'm going to go out on a limb and publish these results. if the tigers come back to win, i'll repost the results after i get over the shock of the biggest bowl game comeback ever.

well, i pretty much owned the bowl season pick'em second round. the only game i missed was the rose bowl and had wisconsin's quarterback not thrown a late fourth quarter interception, who knows how that game could have turned out?

anyway, i ended up seven and one. chiefsfan and pack_fan tied for second at five and three each. roflcopter16 overcame a slow start and, despite computer problems and not getting his picks in before the start of the houston/penn st game, recorded a three and four record.

since there were only four contestants for the second round, i'm going to arbitrarily change the game. this next round will be a head to head matchup. i will be the number one seed by virtue of having the best second round record. chiefsfan will be number two since he had the closer tiebreaker guess. pack_fan is number three and roflcopter16 is number four.

it will play out this way...

one versus four and two versus three. head to head. mano a mano. picking these three games:

at&t cotton bowl -- kansas state vs arkansas (pick the final score of this game as the tiebreaker)

bbva compass bowl -- smu vs pittsburgh

godaddy.com bowl -- arkansas st vs northern illinois

the top two will advance to the one game championship picking a winner and guessing the final score of:

the allstate bcs national championship game -- #1 lsu vs #2 alabama.

make all four picks and tiebreaker scores and record them as a comment to this fanpost prior to the start of the cotton bowl on january 6th.

i'll post a short commentary after the godaddy.com bowl and then announce the winner after the lsu-alabama matchup.

whoever ends up on top will receive a genuine paper certificate, suitable for framing, identifying him as the winner of the mountain west connection's 2011-12 national collegiate athletic association football pick'em constest for all his friends and family to drool over and envy. it will be printed with proper capitalization, punctuation and everything and mailed first class to the winner.

thanks for playing and good luck!

round one is done. pack_fan led the way with ten wins. roflcopter16, chiefsfan_in_tacoma, joe bob and bluesyourdaddy each had nine correct picks and newcomers aggiejm and eyeofthebeholder finished with 8 winners. greekpadre and hawkeyedfrog, with 6 and 5 right, respectively, failed to make the cut. eyeofthebeholder with a tiebreaker pick of 35-28 lost the tiebreaker to aggiejm with his tiebreaker guess of 30-21 and also, sadly, won’t advance to round two.

congratulations to pack_fan, roflcopter16, chiefsfan_in_tacoma, joe bob priddy, bluesyourdaddy and aggiejm who will continue in the competition and pick the winners of these 8 games:

ticketcity bowl -- penn st vs houston

outback bowl -- michigan st vs georgia

capital one bowl -- nebraska vs south carolina

taxslayer.com bowl -- ohio st vs florida

rose bowl -- wisconsin vs oregon (this is the tiebreaker game. pick a final score.)

tosititos fiesta bowl -- oklahoma st vs stanford

allstate sugar bowl -- michigan vs virginia tech

discover orange bowl -- clemson vs west virginia

please post your picks in the comments before the beginning of the ticketcity bowl at 10 am, january 2nd. the top three from round two will advance to the finals. results and the list of final round games will be posted as soon as the orange bowl is over. good luck to all.

Bumped to the front page.

New AD Jack Graham answered fan questions in the Denver Post's fan mail section. Of interest to the MW Connection are his comments regarding the Mountain West conference, its stability and a possible hint as to CSU's future with the conference. "Captain Jack", as he is being called by some, has interest in possibly bringing back men's baseball, instituting men's and women's soccer and possibly adding lacrosse or hockey to CSU athletics. There is speculation that it could come at the expense of water polo, which seems to have been a curious sport to keep, while killing some of the others off. The CSU Rams baseball club is the current and six-time national champion of the NCBA. The idea of a new, on campus stadium was also raised in this context, meaning it could be an all sports complex and not just football only. Great news for the other, proposed, sports.

Continue reading this post »

Bumped to front page

Colorado Aggies.com is highlighting some new designs up for vote: From now until December 25th (voting ends on midnight of Christmas Eve), fans are encouraged to email their votes for their favorite CSU helmet designs by Peter Brown. There are also a few of his new uniform designs below the helmet choices for better reference. Chose 2 concepts: 1. for regular uniforms and 2. Ag, Homecoming or other special games of interest.

All images are from ColoradoAggies.com

1.)

2.)

Continue reading this post »

only six entries so far. you've got until just before the independence bowl starts the day after christmas to get your picks in. if you've recorded them on either of the other two posts regarding the pick'em game, you're already in!

first round open to anyone who wants to play. pick the winners of these fourteen games:

independence bowl - north carolina vs missouri

belk bowl - nc state vs louisville

holiday bowl - cal vs texas

champs sports bowl - florida state vs notre dame (this will be the tie-breaker game. pick the final score)

alamo bowl - baylor vs washington

armed forces bowl - byu vs tulsa

new era pinstripe bowl - iowa st vs rutgers

music city bowl - wake forest vs mississippi st

insight bowl - iowa vs oklahoma

meineke car care bowl - northwestern vs texas a&m

sun bowl - georgia tech vs utah

liberty bowl - cincinnati vs vanderbilt

kraft fight hunger bowl - illinois vs ucla

chick-fil-a bowl - virginia vs auburn

i'd like to have as many participants as possible. spread the word. and thanks for playing.

remember, only the players (half of the field) with the best records advance to the second round.

watch for first round results and the list of second round games shortly after the end of the chick-fil-a bowl. second round picks need to be in before the start of the ticket city bowl on january 2. good luck and good picking.