Room for Utah State in the MWC?

With Utah headed to the Pac 12, Utah State fans have lots of questions about what it all means for the Aggies.

Primarily, those questions are:

1: Is there any chance the Mountain West Conference finds room for the Aggies in another wave of expansion?

2: Will Utah and Utah State ever meet on the football field again?

I’ll try to answer those questions as simply as possible.

First, Utah State joining BYU and Boise State in the MWC would be an Aggie dream come true. But that’s all it probably will be — a dream.

BYU and the MWC already own and dominate the Utah media market. Though the Pac 12 will soon grab its share of that market, Utah State simply does not bring any extra television sets to the MWC — and that is what expansion is primarily about.

For Utah State to get into the MWC, the conference — or more accurately, BYU — would need to believe the Aggies bring something of real value to the conference. Aside from Stew Morrill’s basketball program fitting in well and challenging for conference titles right away, USU has precious few other assets.

And as Kansas recently discovered, even a powerful basketball program doesn’t make a school the prettiest girl at the dance. This is all about football and, unfortunately, Utah State has had a bottom tier football team for a decade or two. And even with signs of improvement under Gary Andersen, the Aggies don’t bring what every expanding conference wants.

USU offers neither an increased market share or football profile.

Second, Utah will now have 11 conference mates and the historic rivalry with the Aggies is a very real casualty of the move to the Pac 12.

The Utes will not play each Pac 12 school every year, but will probably face off against a minimum of eight of those schools and possibly nine. Throw in an annual matchup with BYU — make no mistake, that rivalry will live on — and the Utes will have at most three games per year to schedule.

I would expect USU to be among those three games fairly often, but to expect what is one of America’s longest series to be an annual meeting is not a realistic hope. But with the dynamics changed a bit, don’t expect many visits to Romney Stadium by the Utes.

So, to answer those questions even more to the point: No, Utah State should not expect an invitation to the MWC anytime soon and Yes, the Aggies and Utes will probably see plenty of each other on the football field in the years to come.