Nine Is Not Enough

The Mountain West Conference could look at adding a tenth team in the opinion of David James of KUTV. The article argues that the move to 12 games has forced the MWC to reconsider the four home and four away that the current nine times affords. Mr. James quickly concludes that a 10th team would make more sense.

"MWC Athletic Directors found four non-conference games were one too many. Ideally, MWC schools have one good opponent at home and one good opponent on the road. Then the third game is a money game. They either bring in a 1-AA opponent at home and get an easy win in front of a big crowd, or schedule a road game against a glamour opponent and collect a big check."

The artcle then goes on to suggest various contenders to fill the void: Fresno State, Boise State, UTEP, Utah State, Hawaii, San Jose State, and Nevada. Fresno is given the lead due their large television market and sucess playing aryone anytime with Boise in second place.

The article does not do the hard math of determining which if any of these selections will grow the collective pie enough that every members slice gets bigger. Further with the MWC network arriving soon would an addition improve sales or just add complexity.

Given the correct mix of teams the MWC could scrabble to the top of the heap in college football's mid-majors. Will this heap put them at the top of the also rans or at the bottom of the BCS goal?