Just when you thought we were done talking about college football re-alignment, it took a few more interesting steps over the last 12 hours.
Earlier this morning, news broke that BYU would move out of the Mountain West Conference and declared that it will go in to independent status.
Then, earlier this evening, the Mountain West Conference announced that they had extended invitations to two schools. Fresno State University and the University of Nevada-Reno.
This was an invitation, and an announcement, that Fresno State football head coach Pat Hill has been waiting for since his coaching tenure at the school began. His goal was to become well known enough to where they could move up in the college football world.
That goal became reality on Wednesday evening as university president John Welty made the announcement in front of the Fresno media that the Bulldogs would accept the invitation to the Mountain West and said "we will join the conference in either the fall of 2011 or 2012, those details are still to be worked out."
What is also still to be worked out is a buyout clause that Fresno State signed with the WAC not too long ago. Welty confirmed tonight that a buyout had been signed but did not want to discuss how much the buyout was for or what the terms of that buyout were other than to say "the details of that still need to be worked out."
The press conference began right at 7:30pm pacific time and the official announcement was made that Fresno State would be leaving the Western Athletic Conference for the Mountain West.
Making this move will renew rivalries with old WAC schools like San Diego State, UNLV, and New Mexico and will continue their rivalry with Boise State who made the jump a few months ago.
During the press conference, Welty challenged the Fresno State fans and asked for "better attendance and more support." With the change of conference, and undoubtedly, a strong strength of schedule, attendance and support won't be hard to find once the new conference makes it's debut.
The move of both Fresno State and Nevada to the Mountain West, plus the departure of Utah and BYU, leaves the conference at 11 official members. Leaving even more questions as to whether there's another invitation that's about to be handed out.
Another rumor that made it's way to the surface today was whether or not TCU was going to hang around. While I'm of the opinion that the addition of Boise State, Fresno State, and Nevada might be enough to keep the Horned Frogs around, an invitation to the Big 12 might be too good for them to pass up.
A source I talked to earlier tonight told me that TCU loves Conference USA and might not waste any time accepting an invitation to join. Another interesting question that was brought up to me earlier tonight was: Would BYU rethink going independent after seeing this announcement tonight or is independence too good right now?
As far as the possible 12th member of the Mountain West, you could look at another WAC team in Hawaii who could make the move right along with the Bulldogs and Wolfpack and would bring back the natural rivalry with San Diego State and UNLV as well.
We won't know the final details of this deal until it's worked out between the two schools and the Mountain West Conference sometime in the coming weeks or months. What we do know is that both Fresno State and Nevada will join the conference either next year or in 2012 but I would imagine this deal gets done in time for the 2011 season.
This is a big move for both schools. It's a move that will benefit both not only in attendance and television revenue but also recruiting. Bigger conference, better recruits.
The Mountain West made a good move today, a move that a lot of people, myself included, didn't think was going to happen after Boise State accepted an invitation.
What happens to the rest of the conference is anyone's guess. For right now, it will remain only rumor until schools start making official announcements on their future plans.
When that starts happening, we'll see what the real fallout of conference expansion will be.
