A Painful Realignment Casualty Story

[UConnDan97]

The Idaho Vandals have announced that they are going to try to go independent, due to the WAC absolutely falling apart. With the unlikely prospect of them being able to come up with a schedule that will feature the qualifying amount of FBS teams, they will likely be forced to drop to the FCS. All because of things out of their control. Sad, really. Imagine if this happened to UConn, if the Big East fell totally apart and no invitation came to us. This is a somewhat heartbreaking story for that school (at least on a sports magnitude), and I wish them luck in their bid for independence survival...

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...o-football-ready-to-declare-its-independence/

 

[Dann]

they were dead the minute they built that barn. bsu has risen to high levels. idaho can't have 2 teams with no market. 1 is already to many. idaho, montana, mont st and the dakotas will be a force together at the fcs level.

 

[UConnDan97]

they were dead the minute they built that barn. bsu has risen to high levels. idaho can't have 2 teams with no market. 1 is already to many. idaho, montana, mont st and the dakotas will be a force together at the fcs level.

I think you're right; they probably are better suited to be an FCS team, but it's always sad to see that a team has "made it" to big time football, only to see it stripped from them by something completely out of their control. It was probably also extremely tough to see the MW tell them, "Thanks, but no thanks..."

 

[ZooCougar]

Wow, that totally bites. This another deep flaw that college football suffers from. Some people believe their programs are too important to play at a given school. It's really gotten out of control.

The other thing is, that I don't believe the NCAA will force them down. There is no way that some of those Sun Belt and MAC schools are meeting the NCAA minimum attendance requirements for FBS. And if they are, then the figures are being fudged.

My guess is that if Idaho and NMSU want to stay FBS then they will ask for an receive a waiver.

I am also surprised they didn't get asked to join the Sun Belt.

 

[CL82]

The Idaho Vandals have announced that they are going to try to go independent, due to the WAC absolutely falling apart. With the unlikely prospect of them being able to come up with a schedule that will feature the qualifying amount of FBS teams, they will likely be forced to drop to the FCS. All because of things out of their control. Sad, really. Imagine if this happened to UConn, if the Big East fell totally apart and no invitation came to us. This is a somewhat heartbreaking story for that school (at least on a sports magnitude), and I wish them luck in their bid for independence survival...

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...o-football-ready-to-declare-its-independence/

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...o-football-ready-to-declare-its-independence/

I hadn't been to the NBCsports site yet. From now on I'll link to stories there, when possible.

 

[Antiobserver]

Idaho is doing everything short of dropping back to FCS. I think their pride is keeping them from dropping down.

 

[UConnDan97]

Idaho is doing everything short of dropping back to FCS. I think their pride is keeping them from dropping down.

I'm sure you are going to elaborate on that statement, right?

 

[UCFBfan]

Didn't they make a bowl game and win two years ago? That's a tough blow to go from post season to no FBS season. I don't understand why the MWC wouldn't take them and NMSU. What do they lose by doing it? It's not like they are a quality conference anymore.

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[UConnDan97]

Didn't they make a bowl game and win two years ago? That's a tough blow to go from post season to no FBS season. I don't understand why the MWC wouldn't take them and NMSU. What do they lose by doing it? It's not like they are a quality conference anymore.

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Yeah, in 2009, they went to the Humanitarian Bowl and beat Bowling Green to finish the season 8-5. I'm sure that Antiobserver will be back to tell us what he meant by his comments (am I the only one who thinks that Observer opened 2 accounts under different names??).

As for the Mountain West, I think they are in "image control" at this point. They know that the WAC is destroyed, and they are probably still holding out hope that the Boise olympic sports teams can't find a home, so that they can come back to them. I think they also feel as if they are too good for Idaho and New Mex. St. (as if TCU and Boise are still there!). It's a really tough deal for those two teams, because they are both so far outside the SunBelt and MAC footprints, and it seems clear that the MW and C-USA won't take them in. I think that they will unfortunately both be forced back into 1-AA, due to nothing else other than -luck. Tough situation...