College Football Rumors: Western Athletic Conference to Not Play Football in 2013?

Published: 26^th Jul 12 3:41 pm

by Kris Hughes

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College Football Rumors: Western Athletic Conference to Not Play Football in 2013?

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Over the course of the past few years, the Western Athletic Conference has struggled to maintain a consistent membership as teams have come and gone as greater opportunities have presented themselves.

At the WAC’s annual media days in Las Vegas earlier today, Jeff Hurd, the conference’s interim commissioner who is a long-time conference employee suggested that even attempting to play football as an FBS member in 2013 may not be feasible:

The bottom line, as we sit here today, is I don’t believe personally that FBS football is feasible as a conference for 2013.

Quote from Idaho Statesman.

In regards to the conference needing six teams to field eight and make the conference viable, Hurd noted:

There simply isn’t six of them available.

Quote from Idaho Statesman.

If this does come to be, both Idaho and New Mexico State will be forced into being independents in the short-term. Neither school will want that scenario to be permanent, given their need for conference affiliation to both improve their chances of playing in a high-tier bowl game down the road and increase their respective profiles along the West Coast.

Neither program has been successful enough in recent years to be able to stand on their own long-term, so this announcement by Commissioner Hurd today was absolutely not what they wanted to hear.

The question though, is which conference will look to add either, or both schools as members to bolster their current membership. With Conference USA‘s addition of North Texas and UTSA for the 2013 season, Charlotte for the 2014 season, and Louisiana Tech for the 2015 season, it’s unlikely they would come calling.

Could the Big Sky– strangely enough– re-emerge as a mid-major by adding these two schools? It’s possible, but hard to tell at this point given Commissioner Hurd’s statement is so fresh and 2013 is still far away.

So much could happen for the WAC in 12 months time.

After all, realignment is a huge monster now that is always going to be at the forefront of our minds. Conferences are dynamically changing as the market demands it, and it can’t be assumed– just yet– that the WAC is dead on arrival.

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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America.

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Kris is also the host of Rant Sports Radio on the Blog Talk Radio Network Wednesday evenings at 8 Central Time.

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