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Before I begin this post, I am very skeptical about this information, and question it in its entirety. However, as my favorite NFL podcast says NFL Rants and Raves: "You gotta check all rumors, even the ridiculous one's." So here we go.
This was posted originally back on Dec. 3 over at WildWest Football Board, and it is a site I personally have never read -- which is why it is heavily questioned. The news is that a user there claims to have a source within the Mountain West about the league jumping to 16 teams.
This user claims that Boise State, San Diego State, BYU, SMU, Tulsa and Houston will join the Mountain West. That would make for a nice league, and put the Mountain West at 16 teams.
This user goes as far to say that divisions have already been assigned:
MWC Eastern Division:
Houston
Tulsa
SMU
New Mexico
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming
Utah StateMWC Western Division:
Boise State
BYU
Hawaii
San Diego State
Fresno State
San Jose State
Nevada
UNLV
They also say that this will all happen for the 2013 season, I could see the future Big East schools and BYU pulling this off, but Tulsa would have some sort of penalty. Also, for some reason they mention that Air Force and BYU would be permanent crossover games, but they mention no others which is odd.
If this were true -- which once again I am not beleving this -- it would be a good move for the Mountain West to consider doing. We already know that the television money is not going to be as high as thought, and the basketball schools are unhappy.
This is the perfect time for the Mountain West to try to perform some power play to bring back at the bare minimum Boise State and San Diego State, to form a 12-team league and an opportunity to renegotiate their television deal.
However, that message board item was posted a week ago, and still nothing has surfaced, plus the Big East announced their conference schedule for the upcoming season. Take this rumor for what it is worth, which is really not much, and just hope that the league is trying to do something to try to keep Boise State and San Diego State.