College Football

Everyone is expecting change. College athletics, lead by football, have risen to a level no one could for-see. Multi-million dollar television contracts and Saturday's ruled by college football. There is a gap between the power five and everyone else. Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson joined us on The Opening Drive to discuss the future of the conference and the uncertainty surrounding sports. "(Games vs. Big 5) Those are the games fans want to see (and will pay for)," Thompson said. He doesn't expect them to stop playing games anytime soon but does acknowledge changes in voting structure are coming. As Thompson mentioned the conference can't react until they know what they are reacting to. Everyone has an idea and an opinion of what will tear about college sports apart but there is no actual change to do anything about at this time. One of the biggest scares for the MW and other lower conferences is player transfers with no penalties (not having to sit out a year). "Non penalty transfer's is not going to happen at least for a couple years," Thompson said. That's a positive for the University of New Mexico and everyone else. It's easy to get carried away with the doomsday talk. Heading into next season the schedules set, the teams are starting fall camp and will strap the helmets on and go head-to-head. While the off-field issues will linger soon enough we'll have real sports to take our minds off it for at least a few hours.