Updated Football Schedule

[tnkl_42]

I agree with this. I see the next MWC football expansion (now that NDSU has opened the door) as a potential UC-Davis, South Dakota State, Montana and Montana State foursome to get the conference to 14 teams and 2-7 team divisions. I don't personally see UNLV sticking in the conference past 2031 however. I don't know what Air Force will do after 2031.

I could also see Idaho trying to get one of those spots, maybe I'm biased as someone who loves UofI but that school has seemed ready to jump back up for a good bit now and already is competitive in their biggest rivalry, the battle for the Palouse with Wazzu. We'll see but the gap for western FCS->FBS moves is wide open now, so it'll be interesting to see whose hats get thrown in.

 

[TheRealUW]

It is the nature of those two programs being the only two programs sought by others when the MWC was imploding. The PAC was courting UNLV and the AAC was courting Air Force. Because of that, UNLV and Air Force each asked for a bigger share of the pie to stay (i.e. to make up any losses that they would incur by virtue of foregoing AAC and PAC opportunities).

Wyoming's alternativeoption was to let the MWC implode/dissolve and wipe away any exit fee payments and join CUSA or drop down to the Big Sky.

Given that range of options, was there a realistic alternative to the structure that was ultimately reached?

And you want to talk about unequal distributions and flagships, Gonzaga is getting a full share distribution from the PAC without a football program. This is despite the fact that all numbers reveal that roughly 85% of conference and media revenues come from football. So, the PAC is paying Gonzaga a share of revenue that would equate to the share of basketball revenue that every other PAC member will receive combined...and without the costs of a football program. Is that better than the UNLV and Air Force structure?!?!? Hell no.

Yeah, UNLV and Air Force had the leverage and they used it to their advantage. Yes, there wasn't really another viable alternative for Wyoming given the situation. Therein lies the problem.

Wyoming's athletic programs have declined to a point where to just stay at the FBS level, we have to sell our soul to other schools in order to make it happen. There are no other options for a program like Wyoming. That reality should be a real eye opener for the school and the state. But I doubt it will be. We've mostly assured ourselves of another 5 years at the FBS level and then we will be back in the same predicament in 2031.

It sounds like you expect a large influx of Big Sky school into the MWC over the next few years. Does it really matter if we drop down into the Big Sky or the Big Sky comes to us and we call ourselves the MWC? Personally, I would love a regional conference like that, and I really don't care whether it is called the Big Sky and part of FCS or if it is called the MWC and part of the FBS. What exactly is being the FBS getting us these days? The chance to get to the college football playoff? Lol

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Yeah, UNLV and Air Force had the leverage and they used it to their advantage. Yes, there wasn't really another viable alternative for Wyoming given the situation. Therein lies the problem.

Wyoming's athletic programs have declined to a point where to just stay at the FBS level, we have to sell our soul to other schools in order to make it happen. There are no other options for a program like Wyoming. That reality should be a real eye opener for the school and the state. But I doubt it will be. We've mostly assured ourselves of another 5 years at the FBS level and then we will be back in the same predicament in 2031.

It sounds like you expect a large influx of Big Sky school into the MWC over the next few years. Does it really matter if we drop down into the Big Sky or the Big Sky comes to us and we call ourselves the MWC? Personally, I would love a regional conference like that, and I really don't care whether it is called the Big Sky and part of FCS or if it is called the MWC and part of the FBS. What exactly is being the FBS getting us these days? The chance to get to the college football playoff? Lol

I see the MWC already as a Big Sky level football conference beginning next year. Given the new hierarchy of college football (namely the Big 10 and SEC), I already see us as part of the 2nd/3rd tier.

Personally, I would like to see Wyoming in a regional conference for olympic sports and the best possible conference it can get its football team into (regionality doesn't matter for football). Wyoming absolutely should work with other regional schools to form a regional bus league for olympic sports (DU, Air Force, Northern Colorado, New Mexico, etc...). This would save a lot of money in the long run and makes damn good prudent sense.

If you look at the 2025 Wyoming financial accounting, football returned roughly a 3+ million surplus. The rest of the sports were a huge drag (namely travel costs). As long as football is in the black, try to get the team into the best conference possible where the team can be competitive.

 

[Bear Claw]

As far as scheduling NDSU, Wyoming is automatically adding an “L” to every season with the current leadership in place.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

As far as scheduling NDSU, Wyoming is automatically adding an “L” to every season with the current leadership in place.

Yes. Big L next year. Hope we can keep it within 3 TDs in Fargo against our former OC.

 

[cowpoke pride]

Haven't taken the time to see who everyone else had to trade for a shot at NDSU, but I think trading a shot at redemption in Reno for a trip to Fargo to play in the IPF has to be the worst in the conference.

 

[tnkl_42]

Haven't taken the time to see who everyone else had to trade for a shot at NDSU, but I think trading a shot at redemption in Reno for a trip to Fargo to plan in the IPF has to be the worst in the conference.

Looks like SJSU avoided them, they're playing 11 games as it stands (probably trying to sneak SDSU onto the schedule) and SJSU is the only MW school they aren't playing