Where Will UTEP Go?

                From the recent news from the sports media one could conclude that the University of Texas El Paso  does not want to stay in Conference USA. There are no direct reasons why the school would like to leave because the University would not make its true intentions known in public. Yet it is not impossible to imagine UTEP wanting to gain a bigger foot print in college football.

              It has been trying to get out of Conference USA by ways of the Big East and MWC. The Big East would make since for UTEP because it has former rivals SMU and Houston in the conference starting in June 2013. However, it is not known just how much the conference would be interested in UTEP. Everyone knows that If the Big East called Marshall and UTEP to become members they would jump at the chance in a heart beat. Yet those schools as desperate as the big East is still has standards. Which means they may need to win a conference championship or a Bowl Game before the Big East comes a calling for them.

           UTEP could also join the MWC however, no one knows if they will go past twelve schools in the near future. They  made attempts to certain schools to join the conference, but those schools seem content on staying where they are at. As well as if they did decided to expand the MWC it may not look directly at UTEP as a first round pick. However, they know they are glad to have a back up plan if anything happens.

           The odds for UTEP do not seem favorable in the future because they could be without a conference soon. They could in fact become an independent like other schools have done. However, there is a major difference between Notre Dame, BYU, Army, and other independents. The current independents are schools that can afford to be independents. For the most part they have large fan bases, can sell tickets, and are for the most part media commodities. UTEP has some leverage, but probably not enough to be an independent some day.

             UTEP may just be stuck in Conference USA for now until a better offer comes a long. With the potential losses of Rice, Southern Miss, and Tulsa more of their geographical rivals will be lost. Yet they may help themselves if they can start to win the conference championship or consistently make bowl game appearances. If this happens over the next three to five seasons they could see their fortunes change.

Thanks for Reading
Jonny Jones