:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59993777/109953251.jpg.0.jpg)
Happy Friday ladies and gentlemen! There is no slowing down in off-season news in the MWC. Kicking off with the big news that was circulating around Twitter for most of yesterday:
Vegas Bowl to drop the Mountain West Conference?
Sources: Las Vegas Bowl will pit Pac-12 vs. another Power 5 league (SEC most intriguing possibility) in 2020 in Vegas’ new NFL stadium. This will end the bowl’s 19-year relationship w/Mountain West. In 2020, MWC could send its champ to Arizona Bowl https://t.co/fcxi8GKyeI
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 7, 2018
Needless to say, this would be dire news for the conference. The Vegas Bowl is far and away their best bowl tie-in. It has a nice pay out, has recently been in a prime-time TV slow (with Kirk’s team this past year), and of course, it the only one against a P5 team. The Mountain West did tell everyone to hold their horses:
The Mountain West says that today’s report regarding their future affiliation with the Las Vegas Bowl was “premature and speculative.”
— Jay Tust (@KTVBSportsGuy) June 7, 2018
Here is the full statement the conference provided @KTVB. pic.twitter.com/7O68ch6s2S
But that didn’t do much to quell the rumors. MWCConnection will dive deeper into this next week.
MWC Board Meets to Plan the Future.
On a similar note, the board of directors (the school presidents compromise the board, the athletic directors and others also attended) held their annual meeting on Tuesday. On the agenda was men’s basketball, a forum with the NCAA President, and perhaps most importantly, the next media rights deal which is set to expire in two years. Maybe they held the meeting a week too soon based on Thursday’s news. Or maybe they already knew.
Las Vegas can still host championship events, but...
the lift on the ban is said to be temporary at this time. The Mountain West is seeking a permanent decision on the matter. It seems the MWC and specifically UNLV are at the forefront of the push for a permanent end to the ban.
Biggest Bowl Matchup Predictions.
USA Today is getting in on the off-season hype and filler type articles as it lists the 10 ideal big bowl matchups, according to them. They pick Boise State as the Group of 5 school, which has been the popular pick this off-season. They really go bold by putting them in the Fiesta Bowl and further revisit history by pitting them against old almost-rival TCU.
Want to improve your Wide Receiver skills? Learn to juggle.
Now rookie Cedrick Wilson was transitioning from QB to WR back at junior college and tried to soak up whatever he could. That quest led him to a video on NFL WR AJ Green, who was an avid juggler. Wilson figured why not and poured himself into juggling in hopes to improve his hand-eye coordination. He feels it has paid off and helped him develop as a sure-handed pass catcher.
On the horizon:
- From yesterday: Duane has returned to bring coverage to the Air Force Academy.
- Later today: The MWC roundtable debates which teams will be bowl eligible this upcoming football season.
- Later today: The Friday Night Lights series highlights the Oak Hills football program.