What's Next for Idaho and New Mexico State?
In 2012 Idaho and New Mexico State will be members of the WAC. In 2013, it is likely that the WAC no longer exists.
Boise State left the WAC after the 2010 season to join the Mountain West (and will join Big East in 2013). Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawai'i left the WAC after 2011 to also join the Mountain West. To replace those teams immediately the WAC brought in UT-San Antonio and Texas State, two brand new schools to FBS competition.
The WAC will proceed with seven teams in 2012. In 2013, there will be only two.
Certainly the conference cannot proceed with only two teams. So it is likely the WAC will fold it's football operations. That leaves these two schools with several options.
Says Spear, "our marketplace and our demographics do not make Idaho an attractive team."
So with another conference not being an option, what about Independence?
Four teams do not have a conference - Notre Dame, BYU, Army, and Navy.
Being independent means you have to schedule 12 games on your own and negotiate your own television deals. Notre Dame can do this easily, they have a huge deal with NBC and have a schedule full of rivalries. BYU recently went independence and have also not had any issues with scheduling.
Idaho has a limited financial budget to buy games and it would be quite the challenge to get teams to come play them in Moscow, Idaho in the Kibbie Dome, which holds 16,000 fans. New Miexico State plays in Las Cruces, New Mexico in a 30,000 seat stadium, at least. But still, the challenge is getting teams to play in Moscow and Las Cruces - not the too most appealing cities.
Idaho is 442-558-26 all-time. New Mexico State is 422–574–31. Both teams are actually 2-0 in bowls (NM State is actually 2-0-1).
They can afford independence because they cannot afford to pay teams to play them or pay for their games to be televised. There is minimal interest in these teams outside their small cities.
That leaves only one option - FCS.
While schools like Umass, Texas State most recently and Uconn in the past have jumped from FCS to FBS level, it is almost unprecedented for a school who is already at the highest level, to move down.
Idaho joined the FBS in 1996 after playing in the Big Sky in FCS. New Mexico State has always been an FBS program.
It will interesting to monitor the statuses of these two programs throughout 2012. Most of the realignment dominoes have seemed to stop falling. Conferences are content with what they have done to this point and there seems to be no interest in these two schools. The WAC will not operate as a two-team conference in 2013 so unless they offer a handful of FCS schools invitations to jump to FBS, than Idaho and New Mexico State may be in trouble.
Boise State left the WAC after the 2010 season to join the Mountain West (and will join Big East in 2013). Nevada, Fresno State, and Hawai'i left the WAC after 2011 to also join the Mountain West. To replace those teams immediately the WAC brought in UT-San Antonio and Texas State, two brand new schools to FBS competition.
The WAC will proceed with seven teams in 2012. In 2013, there will be only two.
- Louisiana Tech and UTSA will join Conference USA.
- San Jose State and Utah State will join the Mountain West
- Texas State will join the Sun Belt
Certainly the conference cannot proceed with only two teams. So it is likely the WAC will fold it's football operations. That leaves these two schools with several options.
- Find another conference
- Go independent
- FCS
Says Spear, "our marketplace and our demographics do not make Idaho an attractive team."
So with another conference not being an option, what about Independence?
Four teams do not have a conference - Notre Dame, BYU, Army, and Navy.
Being independent means you have to schedule 12 games on your own and negotiate your own television deals. Notre Dame can do this easily, they have a huge deal with NBC and have a schedule full of rivalries. BYU recently went independence and have also not had any issues with scheduling.
Idaho has a limited financial budget to buy games and it would be quite the challenge to get teams to come play them in Moscow, Idaho in the Kibbie Dome, which holds 16,000 fans. New Miexico State plays in Las Cruces, New Mexico in a 30,000 seat stadium, at least. But still, the challenge is getting teams to play in Moscow and Las Cruces - not the too most appealing cities.
Idaho is 442-558-26 all-time. New Mexico State is 422–574–31. Both teams are actually 2-0 in bowls (NM State is actually 2-0-1).
They can afford independence because they cannot afford to pay teams to play them or pay for their games to be televised. There is minimal interest in these teams outside their small cities.
That leaves only one option - FCS.
While schools like Umass, Texas State most recently and Uconn in the past have jumped from FCS to FBS level, it is almost unprecedented for a school who is already at the highest level, to move down.
Idaho joined the FBS in 1996 after playing in the Big Sky in FCS. New Mexico State has always been an FBS program.
It will interesting to monitor the statuses of these two programs throughout 2012. Most of the realignment dominoes have seemed to stop falling. Conferences are content with what they have done to this point and there seems to be no interest in these two schools. The WAC will not operate as a two-team conference in 2013 so unless they offer a handful of FCS schools invitations to jump to FBS, than Idaho and New Mexico State may be in trouble.
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