Sports fodder for a Friday morning ... Brigham Young University is going to regret its decision to leave the Mountain West after this season to go independent in football. Yes, the Cougars, who think they are the western, Mormon version of Notre Dame, will likely make more money as an independent. They'll be on national TV more (they've already sold their souls to ESPN and already have their own TV network). But is college sports only about money? What about winning a championship? How do you sell to your fans and your recruits a football program that has no conference title to play for and a slim-to-none chance of ever winning a national championship?
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The Nevada Wolf Pack's departure from the Western Athletic Conference looks like it will become a nasty divorce before all is said and done. The Pack just wants to quietly slip out the back door in the middle of the night next June while the WAC wants the Pack to hand over the keys to the car, house and yacht and to leave the checkbook on the kitchen table. WAC commissioner Karl Benson, who wants the Pack to stay for two years and pay a $5 million exit fee, has already called the Pack "selfish." Sandra Bullock and Jesse James had an easier split than the Pack and WAC.
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What would be so bad about the Wolf Pack staying in the WAC through the 2011-12 season? Absolutely nothing. Boise State will already be in the Mountain West. It would be almost impossible for the Pack to miss out on going to a bowl game. A league title would require little more than the Pack waking up in the morning, slipping on their fluffy silver and blue robe and slippers and sauntering out onto the driveway and picking it up. An extra year of recruiting might also be a good thing for the Pack in order to get its roster Mountain West ready.
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Utah State athletic director Scott Barnes has publicly stated that his Aggies were the first WAC school to be invited by the Mountain West, ahead of the Pack and Fresno State. That makes sense because the Mountain West was scrambling to add teams (Utah was already gone to the Pac-10 and BYU was about to leave to become a football independent) and Utah State would have salvaged some of the Salt Lake City market. The Aggies, Barnes said, declined the invitation because they (like Fresno and Nevada) had an agreement with the WAC to pay a $5 million exit fee if they left the conference right now. In other words, Utah State was acting honorably and staying true to its word and promise. If all of that is true, if Utah State was really the MWC's first choice, then the Pack is currently situated between a conference (WAC) that is angry with them and a conference (Mountain West) in which they were a consolation prize.
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Utah State men's basketball coach Stew Morrill on Fresno State and Nevada leaving the WAC: "We got shafted." In case you are confused by what Morrill means, it's sort of like what the officials do to opposing teams when they visit Logan, Utah, during basketball season.
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Now that BYU is officially leaving the conference, is the Mountain West really such an upgrade for the Pack over the WAC as it currently stands? Yes, but not as much as you might think. The Mountain West (next year or the year after) will sort of have a WAC on steroids feel to it. The Pack, at the end of the day (or the next two years), has traded New Mexico State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, San Jose State and Utah State for Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, TCU, Air Force, New Mexico and Wyoming. The bad teams in the Mountain West won't be as bad as the bad teams in the WAC. That's the difference.
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Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals is already planning his end zone celebration if he should score a touchdown Sept. 12 against the New England Patriots. The Pats have faux Minutemen standing behind each end zone that fire rifles every time the Pats score. No. 85 says he will take one of those rifles and fire it if he scores against the Pats. If I'm the Patriots, I arm the Minutemen with real bullets.
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The Oakland Raiders should stay away from Matt Leinart. But you know Al Davis. Each time he sees a lefty, he immediately has flashbacks to Kenny Stabler. Leinart, though, is more Cade McNown than Kenny Stabler. Why would the Raiders want a quarterback that not even the Arizona Cardinals want? And, plus, the Raiders already have a quarterback. Jason Campbell is going to look like Warren Moon to Raider fans, who are just off three years of JaMarcus Russell.
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