Mountain West should welcome schools back

Another round of college conference realignment is under way, with the Big Ten (which actually has 12 member universities) this week plucking Maryland from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Rutgers from the Big East. Starting in 2014, the Midwest-based league will have a foothold in the lucrative New York and Washington-Baltimore media markets.

Now the ACC seems primed to respond by grabbing Louisville and Connecticut from the Big East. That conference is sinking so quickly, even the U.S. Naval Academy, which was set to join the Big East as a football-only member in 2015, is rethinking its plans.

Those moves have ramifications for the Mountain West Conference, which includes UNLV as a member. San Diego State and Boise State were set to leave the Mountain West to join the Big East as football-only members next year, with other sports competing in the Big West. According to at least one report, San Diego State and Boise State are now reconsidering that move. And Brigham Young, which bailed on the Mountain West last year after being spurned by the Pacific 12 Conference, might abandon its experiment with football independence (and West Coast Conference membership in other sports) and rejoin the Mountain West.

All the movement over the past two years was motivated by television revenue - something the Mountain West Conference is lacking - and the ability of football programs to land a lucrative Bowl Championship Series bid. Since 1998, the Big East champion has automatically received one of those bowl bids, while the Mountain West champ doesn't. (Mountain West teams have earned several at-large bids, however.)

But going forward, the Big East and the Mountain West are equals. That's because when a new playoff system for top college football programs starts in 2014, neither the Big East nor the Mountain West will have automatic bids for their champions. They are part of a "group of five," with the Sun Belt, Mid-American and Conference USA. The top-rated champion from those five leagues will punch a ticket to a top bowl game.

San Diego State and Boise State now have no better chance at a big football payday with the Big East than they do by remaining in the Mountain West. And Brigham Young, as a football independent, is a complete outsider.

These three schools would be foolish to stand pat, and the Mountain West would be foolish to not welcome them back. Their return to the Mountain West would mean a stronger conference, which would benefit UNLV. Mountain West schools should work together to make it happen.