WVU bye week ill-timed

With the first BCS rankings set to debut on Sunday and conference realignment rumors swirling, West Virginia's bye week couldn't have landed at a more inconvenient time. The BCS is bad enough without having to sit out the inaugural week, and with no game to focus on, the expansion chatter becomes that much louder.

Source: Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle

Let's start with the BCS.

For WVU this weekend, there will be no game, no highlights, no player-of-the-week awards, and no reason for the pollsters to vote for the Old Gold and Blue.  Maybe the 5-1 record and potent offense will be enough keep WVU fresh in the minds of voters, but this Saturday will offer a whole new slate of games involving teams whose names don't start with West and don't end with Virginia. That's not good news considering that the Harris Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll make up two thirds of the BCS formula.

The Mountaineers should hope for losses by teams flanking them in the rankings. Last week's Harris and Coaches polls both had the Mountaineers at number 16, while the AP Poll, which is not factored into the BCS, had them at 13. Strength of schedule is also important because it is factored into the computer polls that make up the final third of the BCS. To bolster that stat, West Virginia needs LSU (#1 Harris, #2 Coaches) to maintain it's lofty ranking as well as some of their earlier opponents to start showing some vital signs. We're looking at you Maryland and Marshall.

In addition to the BCS poll coming out, there's the continued concern surrounding conference expansion and what it means for WVU. The last thing Holgorsen needs is his players worrying about realignment. They can't afford to overlook a Syracuse team that beat the Mountaineers in Morgantown last year, something they hadn't done in eight previous attempts.

But what is happening on the expansion front?

Now that the TCU move is official, the Big 12 says it is set for ten teams in 2012, because Missouri's decision on whether to leave for the SEC won't take affect until 2013. The waiting game continues, and it doesn't look like Mizzou is in a hurry to make a decision. After all, they're locked into the Big 12 for at least another year. But as Mizzou appears content to mull the situation over, the future of the Big East hinges on their decision.  If the time comes and West Virginia, Louisville, or Cincinnati is poached by their neighbors out west, it's unlikely the teams on the Big East's expansion slate would jump on board.

The Big East is considering adding six teams to become a twelve member football conference, but it's moving slowly for a group that's fighting for survival.  The conference is sinking quickly, and there's not nearly enough life rafts to save the whole crew should it go under. Conference commissioner Marinatto is calling for the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force to save his ship, but even that may not be enough. And that makes West Virginia fans understandably uneasy.

Many fans and boosters are campaigning for the Mountaineers to land a spot in either the Big 12 or SEC. On Tuesday West Virginia Metro News radio host Hoppy Kercheval made a case on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network for the Mountaineers to be accepted into the SEC.  Chris Wallace, WVU fan and general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, also thumped for the Mountaineers as an SEC candidate in the Charleston Gazette Tuesday morning. And although a recent poll found him to be the most hated man in the state, Rich Rodriguez said on a radio show that the SEC "should be thrilled to have West Virginia," and that the school is being undervalued.

Still, the silence from WVU's administration is unsettling, and what little has been said hasn't been encouraging. Rumors as to why West Virginia hasn't been invited to another conferences point to weak academics, lack of television markets, poor fan behavior, and geographic considerations, but all  are only speculation. The truth is that no one knows except the executives who are making the decisions. With no official statements from WVU or any of the athletic conferences, Mountaineer fans are growing restless.

With this ill-timed bye week, West Virginians have plenty of time to ponder the enigma of football realignment and why their beloved Mountaineers appear to be sitting on the sidelines. For this week at least, when it comes to football, the BCS, and realignment, there's only one way to describe how Mountaineer fans are feeling.

Left out.