WAC Ain't All That

MWC, not the WAC, is best non-BCS conference

June 22, 2007

By Trev Alberts

Special to CSTV.com

	TREV ALBERTS Trev Alberts is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- TREV's MAILBAG 2/20: Show Some Patience 1/23: Cutcliffe Can Be Successful At Duke 1/16: To Each His Own 1/10: Watching Different Games 1/2: Brennan's Sugar Performance Won't Hurt Him 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 12/19: Rodriguez Licking His Chops 12/12: Buckeyes Have A Chip 12/05: Missouri Got Hosed 11/28: Some Coaching Changes Ludicrous 11/21: Love Woodson's Poise 11/14: Dixon Can Be Contained, But Not Stopped 11/7: Pac-10 Far From Overrated 10/31: Appalachian State Loss An Afterthought 10/24: No Halves Off In College Football 10/17: Nebraska In Good Hands With The Doctor 10/10: Trojans Still A Player 10/03: Don't Hate On South Florida 09/26: Hangovers Part of The Game 09/19: Nebraska's Performance Disappointing 09/12: DeSean As Explosive As It Gets 09/05: Tebow Impressive In First Start 08/29: ACC QBs Better Than Advertised 08/24: McFadden Not Quite In Bush's Class 08/17: From Overrated To Underrated 08/10: Florida's Overrated 08/03: Spurrier's Got That Twinkle 07/27: Big East Deserves More Credit 07/20: Badgers Playing For Second, At Best 07/13: Gators Repeat? Not So Fast 07/06: Pac-10 Still Owned By USC 06/29: One Big's Better Than The Other 06/22: WAC Ain't All That 06/15: Text Messaging Ban Excessive 06/08: Fifth Year of Eligibility A Good Idea 05/25: Hot Seat Warming Up For Some Coaches 05/18: Big Ten Falling Behind SEC 05/11: 'Canes, Seminoles Have Ways To Go 05/07: Sleeping Dawgs 04/20: Look Out For South Florida 04/13: Boise's Johnson Has No Shot At '07 Heisman 03/30: The Best Atmosphere In College Football Belongs To... 03/23: Tough To Compare QBs With Different Styles 03/16: Top Coaches Need To Be Appreciated 03/9: Woodson Nation's Most Indispensable QB 03/2: Things Just Not The Same At Nebraska 02/23: Rodriguez Does Well With His Chips 02/16: Believe It Or Not, I Don't Have An FSU Agenda 02/09: Yes, I Do Know College Football 02/02: Of Course Huskers Make Adjustments 01/26: Coach Alberts In Lincoln? No Chance 01/19: Can't Begrudge Kids For Leaving Early 01/03: Saban Heads to Alabama 12/29: Some Coaching Changes Come As Surprise 12/22: Too Many Bowl Games Way of Life 12/15: Who Has The Best Talent In The Nation? 12/7: Who's The More Deserving National Title Participant? 12/1: Irish Don't Deserve BCS Bid 11/16: Ohio State the Better Team 11/9: Give the Big East Its Due 11/2: What's Wrong With D at USC? 10/26: Where Will Bowden Be in '07? 10/20: Who Belongs in the Top 20? FOOTBALL 1/8: In Surprise, Ohio State Beats Itself 1/6: Good Start Vital For Buckeyes 12/26: LSU Hater I Am Not 11/23: LSU Loss A Microcosm Of The Season 11/19: Give It Some Time 10/13: Give Kentucky All The Credit 10/7: USC Loss Sends Shockwaves 9/1: Michigan's Loss Nothing Short of Stunning 6/19: Hoeppner Did Things His Way 4/27: Unexpected Reigned In 1994 02/22: Combine Experience Can Be Eye Opening 02/08: Signing Day Observations 02/07: Walk Down Recruiting Memory Lane 11/17: Remebering Schembechler 9/5: One Week Is Just One Week 8/25: The Return Of Trev

You've got college football questions and CSTV football analyst Trev Alberts has answers and opinions. Each week Alberts will be answering questions and queries on the world of college football. So if you've got a question for Trev, just ask him.

Everyone knows why the WAC is the best non-BCS conference in the country because of Hawai'i and Boise State. But who would you say is the best team in the WAC? - Jason, Fremont, Calif.

I think that's being a bit presumptuous, I've read elsewhere in major publications that the WAC is the best non-BCS conference. I don't know if I'd agree with that. I think the Mountain West Conference remains the best non-BCS conference top to bottom. You don't just judge a conference based on one year, and in terms of long-term stability and overall consistency, when you throw in teams like BYU, TCU and Utah, you're talking about some stable programs. They aren't present in the WAC as much.

I do think Boise State has established that sort of program in the WAC. They have a commitment from the university, the fans and they've displayed consistency. Boise can compete with any team in the Mountain West, but I just think top to bottom, the best non-BCS conference is the Mountain West.

Do you give Penn State any shot at challenging for the Big Ten title, even with Michigan and Wisconsin clearly ahead of them? - Henry Smeltz, Ohio

I don't give them much of a shot. I think it's going to be a rebuilding year of sorts for the Nittany Lions. Not only would I say Michigan and Wisconsin are ahead of Penn State, but Ohio State, even though they've lost all those players, is ahead of the Nittany Lions. I don't think they're at the level of an Ohio State.

They're in there fighting in the middle of the pack with an Iowa team trying to rebound, but I just don't see them competing with the Big Ten elite. Of course a lot of what happens in the Big Ten is based on the schedule. It's ludicrous how you can have a conference that allows teams to not play everyone. If Penn State doesn't have to play Michigan, then they're a player. But that's just not the case for the Nittany Lions this year. I think they're battling for fourth best team right now.

But there's a lot that can happen. Sitting here in June, next thing you know someone could go down and a whole season's shot.

Are they playing too many games on the weekdays? Thursday and Fridays, even Wednesdays and sometimes Tuesdays teams are playing. I thought college presidents were concerned about the "student-athletes" and their academics that won't allow them to support a playoff, yet they add a 12^th game? - J.B., New York

The double-speak is pretty evident. There are so many things in life that people do, and I honestly believe that those people think we don't know what they're doing. I don't know whether they think they're so much more intelligent than us or that they're just simply at another level. But the hypocrisy is pointed out time and time again whether it be Al Gore or John Travolta talking about carbon emissions and then they show a picture of their house and it's like, "Your footprint is three times bigger than mine."  

It's almost the same thing with the NCAA at times and college presidents. They say the right stuff, but then everything they do is so blatantly in the face of it, everybody knows they're not fooling us anymore. Everybody knows the sport that we love and care about happens to be a minor league farm system for the NFL that generates colleges millions and millions of dollars through branding and identity. So at the end of the day, every decision that's made - I don't care under what category they put it under - comes down to revenue. Never once has a decision been made that hasn't in some way taken into account revenue. College coaches and conferences have thought about how that conference championship game can hurt the best team in the league. If they don't play well in that one game and get burned, they could potentially lose out on a chance to play for the national championship. But on the bright side, it does bring in an extra $3 million in guaranteed revenue for the conference.

Common sense will never prevail when it comes down to the money. But I agree with the original question; schools play on whatever night the networks dictate as long as the revenues are there. I think the only way if you're unhappy if your team is consistently playing on the weeknights is to have enough alumni and boosters say you're taking away from the core thing that makes college football so great: the Saturday afternoon in the fall where the family goes to the game and there's tailgating. But it's all about revenue. You'd like something to be special, like have games played on one night a week other than Saturday. There is too much college football played midweek. And that's unfair.