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The Front Row with MARK NELKE August 22, 2010

| August 22, 2010 9:00 PM

At this rate, the Idaho Vandals will be the undisputed favorites to win the conference title in 2015 - in the 5A Inland Empire League of high school football.

This week's pillaging of the Western Athletic Conference, in which Nevada and Fresno State were snatched away by the Mountain West Conference, certainly wasn't very encouraging news for Vandal fans.

Forget about keeping up with Boise State. The Vandals are just hoping not to get caught in the undercurrent after the tide goes back out after the latest episode of Conference Shuffle.

Until a few months ago, the Mountain West was considered a better league than the WAC - but not by much. Now, with Boise State headed that way in 2011 and two of the league's other top teams to follow in the next year or two, the gap is more like the difference between the 5A IEL and, say, the 3A Intermountain League.

ADDING BYU would have taken some of the sting out of losing Nevada and Fresno, but if the Cougars weren't going to join the WAC in football, then why bother?

I think they're a little bit delusional if they think they can be the Notre Dame of the West. Then again, if BYU played an independent football schedule such as the Irish do, the Cougars would probably end up with a similar mediocre record. They're a good team in the Mountain West, but I think nationally, they would take some lumps.

It's still a little weird anyway to see BYU separated from its rival, Utah, which is leaving to join the Pac-10 in 2011.

OF COURSE, maybe the WAC will convince Montana to give up the luxury of the Football Championship Subdivision, and the Vandals will have another opponent for fans to get excited about. But I don't know why the Grizzlies would want to do that.

Most of the other teams being bandied about as possible new WAC teams - Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, Cal Poly, UC Davis, Sacramento State, Portland State - hardly inspire enthusiasm. Adding the Texas Roadhouse to the league would create a far better buzz.

Remember the Sun Belt? All those trips to Louisiana-Somewhere or Another? That's what the Vandals were anxious to get away from when they were invited to join the WAC in the first place.

AND NO, Idaho isn't going back to the Big Sky - the Big Sky is more likely to come to the WAC. The Vandals' best bet is to sit tight, keep getting better at football and men's basketball, and be ready in a few years when the Mountain West comes calling again.

Who knows how the game of Conference Shuffle will play out in the next few years. It could be the Mountain West (provided it doesn't merge with Conference USA) in a few years could be full of old WAC teams.

After all, Idaho, Boise State and Nevada were also once together back in the Big Sky days.

Boy, those days seem so long ago.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.