Musical chairs has started again in college football
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Why is it too late? UNLV will most likely have a crowd at the Iowa State game that dwarfs the rest of the MWC, win and the attendance will continue to build. UNLV is a far better pick than any other team out west with the exception that they must win games. If UNLV wins games and is able to qualify for bowl games, then the value of the school jumps up leaps and bounds!
The qualify of recruits and transfers to a program that didn't win a game last season and hasn't had a winning record in a decade shows the power of being located in Las Vegas will sell to quality recruits.
One point of interest from last year is that I noticed coach Arroyo was spreading around the play time to get all of the players experience for this next season. Near the end of the season he made sure a lot of players got starts that didn't even play at the beginning of the season. If he wanted to win games last year, he would have kept the same players as starters and not worried about getting the other players field experience. If he was looking towards next season, then his moves made sense.
The qualify of recruits and transfers to a program that didn't win a game last season and hasn't had a winning record in a decade shows the power of being located in Las Vegas will sell to quality recruits.
One point of interest from last year is that I noticed coach Arroyo was spreading around the play time to get all of the players experience for this next season. Near the end of the season he made sure a lot of players got starts that didn't even play at the beginning of the season. If he wanted to win games last year, he would have kept the same players as starters and not worried about getting the other players field experience. If he was looking towards next season, then his moves made sense.
UNLV has had 1 winning season in the last 20 years. Consider me skeptical.....
I hope it's not too late but I think we may have missed our opportunity if another major realignment happens right now. Look, UNLV knew back in 2010 when conference realignment went crazy what we needed to do to put ourselves in position for the next big movement when the P5 tv contracts would expire. Unfortunately we haven't done enough. Yes- we finally have the practice facility finished and we're in Allegiant Stadium. That's awesome but sadly JL, TKM, and DRF were all terrible at hiring BB and FB coaches. Hopefully CMA is the guy but unless we win really big this year and next year we're probably going to miss this go-around.
In 2016 when the Big 12 considered expansion UNLV was cut in the first round. We didn't even make it into the top 12 schools that got to present to the Big 12 conference in person. I doubt we've climbed up that ladder very far considering what our FB and BB have done since then. I want us in but we have to win A LOT of football games to make that even remotely possible.
Good question, did we get a new mascot yet? It’s not too late to roll one out before the season begins..
🤣, I guess they have No chance of joining the Make Americans Gullible Again Special Ed Conference then ?
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It hasn't helped.
But its probably less important to a P5 conference than TV sets/potential ad revenue and having things like the med school and Tier 1 academic standing (at least for a conference like the Pac12)
Vegas has a lot to offer, including ability to host conference title games..Large TV market etc.
But I think UNLV might have missed their shot about 10-15 years ago.
TCU/Utah poured money into football and made themselves attractive to P5 conferences.
UNLV football was always the stepchild. The new facility is fantastic, but might be too little too late..(Or is it to little to late? I never know)
This thought always made me laugh. It would be important if UNLV carried any significant part of the market. If UNLV was a winner consistently over the years, that would have helped the market control. At this point, considering Vegas as a UNLV market is pretty far from the truth, in my opinion.
Hate to say it, but between the consistent influx of alumni of other schools moving here over a generation or two (and especially lately) and the irrelevance of UNLV athletics on the national and event regional scale, it's hard to imagine conferences or networks thinking of UNLV as the Vegas market. Which sucks immensely.
Edit: forgot to mention the ability to host events. As the Pac 12 has shown, no need to include UNLV in the pie since they don't need UNLV facilities. Since the Raiders control Allegiant, UNLV doesn't get a say in its events. Tenancy has its perks (when LED monitors go out of style, UNLV doesn't have to pay to upgrade them... or leave the CRTs as they did at SBS) and its faults.
Bull, I know this isn't stuff that escapes you, but I couldn't not reply.
This thought always made me laugh. It would be important if UNLV carried any significant part of the market. If UNLV was a winner consistently over the years, that would have helped the market control. At this point, considering Vegas as a UNLV market is pretty far from the truth, in my opinion.
Hate to say it, but between the consistent influx of alumni of other schools moving here over a generation or two (and especially lately) and the irrelevance of UNLV athletics on the national and event regional scale, it's hard to imagine conferences or networks thinking of UNLV as the Vegas market. Which sucks immensely.
Edit: forgot to mention the ability to host events. As the Pac 12 has shown, no need to include UNLV in the pie since they don't need UNLV facilities. Since the Raiders control Allegiant, UNLV doesn't get a say in its events. Tenancy has its perks (when LED monitors go out of style, UNLV doesn't have to pay to upgrade them... or leave the CRTs as they did at SBS) and its faults.
Bull, I know this isn't stuff that escapes you, but I couldn't not reply.
Exactly.
Which is why I said Vegas has a lot to offer, not UNLV.
It's a selling point for UNLV, but the Pac12 doesn't need UNLV to host a conference title game here.
TV market is still important. Rutgers to the Big10. People might be more likely to watch UNLV against UCLA on ESPN vs a UNLV/Wyoming game on Fox Sports West of The Mississippi, Channel 1237 on DirecTV
IF we were 8-4, 9-3 or better they would. Does anyone anywhere watch 1-11 , 0-12 or 2-12 team play? Only the diehards and you need the "CASUALS" to show up and follow. They only come with winning.
Pac 12 and Vegas is brilliant no doubt. As they already have the interest of probably 70%+ of the cfb fan base here, I dont imagine they think UNLV is valuable. UNLV/wyoming isn't gonna crack 500k under basically any circumstances,, regardless of network. (Guess, I have no actually idea. But buzz-wise...)
Meanwhile,, UCLA vs an FCS team could draw about the same as UCLA vs UNLV. When UNLV played at the Rose Bowl vs UCLA in 2016(?), I sat in a UCLA section and consistently had fans near us asking what conference UNLV was in,, why they weren't D1, etc.
Tangent. Lost my point. Anyway, barring a massive shake up (like ripples from SEC inhaling big 12 members), I dont see where UNLV could factor into the shakeup. Unless its as leftovers former a "better" conference
Totally possible.
The failure was 10-15 years ago when the Utah's and TCU's of the world poured money into football.
UNLV just doesn't have 'old' money. It's a relatively young University. Doesn't have the booster power to make a difference I don't think.
No doubt about any of that. Just watched it pass them by and frankly there was very little they could probably have done 😔
Unlv got a minority President, AD, got rid of Hey Reb, is tier one, and is heavily a research university, has med school, one of the top law schools in the country, new football facilities. PC wise they are doing a lot of things right. We at least will likely be in expansion conversations.
The big 12 made their move official today. BYU finally finds a home. The AAC is up to bat now. I’m guessing they’ll invite 4 schools fairly soon. The AAC screwed up not closing the deal on Boise State earlier this year. Now I doubt they can pull any MWC team.
The only MW team I could see going would be AF, and that's only based on Calhoun's whining about their fit in the MW. At least they'd be with Navy in the AAC (bonus: also away from Hair). For anybody else it would be no better than a lateral move, competition-wise, and a big loss, expense/travel-wise. Commissioner-wise, it'd be 👍👍.
Also just saw that BYU is joining in 2023. That means they’ll cancel their 23/24 home and home series with us. I don’t know who we’ll replace that with. BYU/UNLV would have put a lot of people in Allegiant. Hopefully it’s not more FCS level teams.
If I'm byu, the unlv home and home is one I work hard to keep. Easy W and good travel for both sides.
Next good step for mwc would be trying to pull memphis and smu out of the aac. Try to grab zags. If zags agree, grab Wichita state. That would kinda centralize the conference and move it somewhat east, but it would mean the mwc is by far best non p5 football and almost certainly a co sister top 6 league in hoops
I initially thought that too but then I looked at BYU’s schedule. They have a loaded 12 games booked. Even without the 4 P5 games ( USC, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas) I’m not sure we’d make the cut vs the G5 schools they have scheduled.
Plus it seems like the Stadium Authority is working with BYU to get them big games in Vegas without playing UNLV. BYU just played Arizona here (not a huge deal) but now BYU gets to play Notre Dame in Allegiant? Holy crap, I wish UNLV could get in on that.
If BSU gets in they will become the next TCU. They will go to the bottom of the conference as a small school, small stadium, etc.... TCU was a powerhouse until they got to the Big 12 (much bigger than BSU), then they fell apart when playing top level teams week after week.
I wouldn't say they fell apart. They have a 1st and two 2nd place finishes. Haven't been great last three years, but they've been bowl eligible in all but two seasons (maybe 3) And one season they had issues with injuries and a suspension (I think) at QB.
They aren't the juggernaut they were in the MWC but they're hardly Vanderbilt or Rutgers.
This is what TCU has done:
2008 11-2 MWC
2009 12-1 MWC
2010 13-0 MWC
2011 11-2 MWC
2012 7-6 Big 12
2013 4-8 Big 12
2014 12-1 Big 12
2015 11-2 Big 12
2016 6-7 Big 12
2017 11-3 Big 12
2018 7-6 Big 12
2019 5-7 Big 12
2020 6-4 Big 12
They did have a boost from 2014-2017, but otherwise they have been a 500 team more or less. You are correct they are not down to the level of Vanderbilt or Rutgers, but as a private school, they also have far better facilities and cash flow than BSU does with a 47,000 seat stadium compared to BSU with just over 36K seats. I also believe BSU would have a really tough time filling a stadium much larger than currently exist. I believe TCU was better set up for a large conference than BSU which I believe would leave them near the bottom of the conference. It should also be noted that TCU has only one a couple of games each of the past 3 years against teams with winning records.
2008 11-2 MWC
2009 12-1 MWC
2010 13-0 MWC
2011 11-2 MWC
2012 7-6 Big 12
2013 4-8 Big 12
2014 12-1 Big 12
2015 11-2 Big 12
2016 6-7 Big 12
2017 11-3 Big 12
2018 7-6 Big 12
2019 5-7 Big 12
2020 6-4 Big 12
They did have a boost from 2014-2017, but otherwise they have been a 500 team more or less. You are correct they are not down to the level of Vanderbilt or Rutgers, but as a private school, they also have far better facilities and cash flow than BSU does with a 47,000 seat stadium compared to BSU with just over 36K seats. I also believe BSU would have a really tough time filling a stadium much larger than currently exist. I believe TCU was better set up for a large conference than BSU which I believe would leave them near the bottom of the conference. It should also be noted that TCU has only one a couple of games each of the past 3 years against teams with winning records.
The American Athletic Conference is targeting 4 MWC schools. Would keeping the AAC’s $7 million dollar a year TV contact be enough for these schools to leave?
Boise State
SDSU
Colorado State
Air Force
www.cbssports.com
Boise State
SDSU
Colorado State
Air Force
American targeting Mountain West powers among handful of expansion candidates in realignment
The Mountain West could suffer significant blows if the AAC corrals the teams it's targeting
www.cbssports.com
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I think this is where the MWC needs to get aggressive. I know people will say it is a bad idea to expand but it is now down to kill or be killed. Go after Memphis and SMU. That would destroy the AAC and give the MWC a better negotiation chip cone TV deal. Or we can wait around and end up watching the MWC bring in bottom of the bottom teams and become sunbelt type conference.
🤡 The American Athletic Conference is targeting 4 MWC schools. Would keeping the AAC’s $7 million dollar a year TV contact be enough for these schools to leave?
Boise State
SDSU
Colorado State
Air Force
American targeting Mountain West powers among handful of expansion candidates in realignment
The Mountain West could suffer significant blows if the AAC corrals the teams it's targeting
Once again Greg...... errr Craig Thompson is going to have to be Reactive rather than Proactive. Can anyone please tell me how this Clown 🤡 is still the MW commissioner ? It boggles the mind
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The mwc (Craig Thompson) should own the AAC not the other way around. We have the teams (leverage) that are in this conference
We need to get out of the mountain west ASAP! Unless they get some guts and expand as soon as possible, these other conferences (AAC, BIG 12, PAC 12) are going to tear this conference apart! UNLV needs to be out in front of teams like CSU and Air Force, we should be joining Boise St. and SDSU!
