And the current Mountain West is pretty much the old WAC from the '80s. Anyway, Fresno State shouldn't worry too much. If and when the Mountain West decides to expand, I'm sure that the first call will go to Fresno State.
The two schools most often mentioned in a possible Pac-10 expansion are Texas and Colorado. The two schools who would sell their grandmothers to get in on a Pac-10 expansion would be BYU and Utah... (and with those two schools, we're talking about a lot of grandmothers...)
No chance that they'd leave the Big XII. Maybe 10 years ago, when one was still in the SWC and the other was in Big 8, yeah, it could've happened. But now? Nah. It'll never happen.
I agree that geographically, C-USA makes a lot more sense for TCU. However, I remember reading somebody (maybe Katz, maybe someone else) say that TCU had designs on moving up the football ladder and wouldn't be thrilled with the level of competition in their piece of C-USA.
Well personally, I'd rather have them in the Big XII than Baylor, but I don't think that the Mountain West would be such a big step up from CUSA.
I hear that Boise State is first on the MWC's list of possible expansion candidates. Hawai'i is second with believe it or not, Nevada a third option. Fresno State I hear, isn't a top choice for the MWC anymore. Idaho is screwed unless the MWC does steal a few more schools from the WAC, otherwise it's Utah State, New Mexico State and North Texas for the WAC. Idaho would be left behind in the Sun Belt, with their closest football playing rivals in Louisiana. Ouch. Fans in Moscow are praying the MWC raids a few more WAC teams so they can get an invite to the WAC. Then again, a radio report out of Idaho today stated that Louisiana Tech were having "discussions" with Conference USA so they might leave the WAC as well. In that case the WAC then might abandon the central time zone and the idea of inviting North Texas and add Idaho to keep the WAC a true western conference.
I don't think Baylor would go for it (they've got delusions of grandeur or something), but athletically, a trade of TCU for Baylor would probably make sense. Put Bayler in C-USA and TCU in the Big XII, and both would have good athletic and geographic fits.
Well, it's now a done deal. Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida are headed from CUSA to the Big East as all-sports members. Marquette and DePaul are also joining as "all but football" members. The Big East is noticeably diminished as a football conference, but it's gonna be one hell of a basketball conference. Meanwhile, CUSA has already added Rice, SMU, Tulsa from the WAC and Marshall and Central Florida from the MAC, bringing them to 12 teams once Army goes independent. They're greatly diminished as a basketball conference, with only Memphis the only remaining prominent basketball program. However, they've upgraded as a football conference. But wait! The Mountain West Conference is supposedly interested in TCU. Apparently, TCU is interested, since they're trying to upgrade their standing in the world of college athletics (which was the reason why they left the WAC for CUSA a couple of years back) and they're apparently not too impressed with CUSA's new membership roster. They're figuring that travel costs would be about $200,000 a year more in the MWC than in the new CUSA, but that they would make that money up by being in a conference with a better TV package and better bowl games. Personally, I nostalgically liked the idea of the CUSA's new Western Division, which would've had TCU, SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. A sort-of Southwest Conference reunion. But at the same time, I can understand that TCU wouldn't be so enthusiastic. TCU wants to be part of the big time in college athletics, and Rice and SMU don't really share the same ambitions. Right now, TCU is undefeated, but their horrible strength-of-schedule has kept them at #9 in the BCS rankings. So I can understand why they'd be interested in the Mountain West Conference, even though they'd have a lot less in common with them than they would with their new running mates in CUSA. Though I think that what they ultimately want is a reunion with their old Southwest Conference rivals -- the ones named "Texas," "Texas A&M," and "Texas Tech." Their ultimate goal is the Big XII, and I can't say that I wouldn't rather have them than Baylor.
Incidentally, ESPN.com has a pretty neat "Conference Carousel" page that explains the likely conference alignments and what they mean in football and basketball.
Conference USA Part Deux needs to change its name now that all those teams left. Just start over with a good name this time. Conference USA has got to be about the stupidest name for a conference ever thought up. It's too damned generic. And I hope to god they change their logo, too. I caould have designed a better one with my very limited knowledge of PhotoShop. Hopefully, whatever the hell they do, this alignment of more Western teams will make the conference a better one with some semblance of a real conference. It just didn't seem like anyone cared about other teams in there outside of a few select rivalries. It was like the Conference of misfit toys or something. It was all the ones left out of major conferences.