With Boise leaving at the end of this year from the WAC and Fresno/Nevada more than likely right on their heels (sans a $5 million buy-out penalty), what will the strays of the WAC do? They've lost their lead-dogs and they have no money.

First, they will need to work fast. Yes they have schedules but when the music stops will they have a chair? I think the next shoe to drop will come out of Hawai'i where they will announce indy football and perhaps a request to a Pacific coast athletic conference (the Big West or the WCC-similar to BYU). These are more geographically friendly conferences for their olympic sports. And this move basically puts the final nail in the WAC coffin.

Once the WAC dies, things get dicey. There are then 5 homeless schools (Idaho, San Jose St., La Tech, Utah St. and NMSU). The MWC appears to want none of them so where does that leave these members? Is there time to dress-up far flung FCS schools for the big dance? maybe, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of cajoling with the NCAA to get it done (including minimum scholarships, sanctioned sports programs, stadium size, APR, etc.). More likely is the scenario that Idaho and USU go to the Big Sky, La Tech goes indy (too many bridges burned and horses to jump), SJSU drops football (as they've discussed in the past) and NMSU brings their programs to the Sun Belt (similar to C-USA and their outlier UTEP).

Ironically, the moves above have actually gone to weaken the MWC and brought the Sun Belt within striking distance of all non-AQ conferences. Sure the MWC has TCU and Boise but after that they are currently not much better than MTSU and Troy. They basically took one step forward and two steps back.