Three Colleges in California Amongst Big Changes in Football: Cal Poly, Fresno State & USC

California is as diverse as a state can be. How diverse? You can find the lowest point and highest point in the contiguous U.S. and in fact they're less than one hundred miles apart (Death Valley & Mt. Whitney). We have more ethnicity than any other state plus we have more pine trees than anywhere else. Deserts sit right next to huge mountain forest. It's quite a remarkable state.

Within these confines, you'll find three schools with quite diverse programs, all integral with the changes going on within NCAA college football. University of Southern California (USC), Fresno State University and California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) are all moving into new conferences in the next year or so. The times, they are a changin'. Let's see how they got here. OK, take a big breath and go ...

Irish Longhorns sit tight

The musical chairs that are college football really started to move when the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame didn't. And Texas didn't either. Long story short; Nebraska Cornhuskers left the Big 12 and became the Big Ten's backup plan after Notre Dame stayed away (for now). Colorado Buffaloes saw the potential for the Big 12 to fall apart and after Texas spurned the Pac Ten, the Buffaloes stampeded west. The Mountain West Conference then got involved with the Texas Christian Horned Frogs moving east (Big East Conference), so Boise State Broncos left the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and galloped into the Mountain West. But the Utah Utes didn't want to hang around the Mountain West and took a spot in the Pac Ten, which by now was twelve but anyhoo, Brigham Young Cougars were disinterested in staying in the redesigned Mountain West and just left, becoming independent. With the WAC looking weak and the Mountain West looking, well uh not as bad, the Fresno St. Bulldogs and the Nevada Wolf Pack high-tailed it to safer grounds in the Mountain West. Hawaii Warriors were now looking over at the Mountain West, thinking it looked a lot like the ol' WAC and beat a trail to the Mountain West (hey, they have mountains in Hawaii). The WAC was decimated and looked to add some teams including: Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, Montana and Montana State, the latter two coming from the Big Sky Conference. You guessed it, in-turn, the Big Sky added Cal Poly Mustangs, UC Davis Aggies, Southern Utah Thunderbirds and North Dakota Fighting Sioux who all come from ... oh never mind - I'm sure you're totally confused by now.

The fact we have numbered conferences that don't add up is of little consequence. Remember, this is big-time college football - not a math class. Here's how our three schools are set.

USC is now part of the new PAC 12. The Trojans are a private school in downtown Los Angeles (with moderate climate) and have maybe the most storied football program in college. The PAC 12 will be divided into two divisions: North and South. USC will be in the South division along with other old PAC 10 teams; UCLA Bruins, Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils. Those four teams will be joined by the two new entrants to the PAC 12, Colorado and Utah. Big-time football is spelled USC.

Fresno St. will play in the WAC for one more year before joining the rebuilt Mountain West. The Bulldogs have always had a strong football program with a very avid fan base in the middle of California and farm country (with relatively dry climate and hot summers). When they join the revamped Mountain West, it will look eerily like the old WAC from a couple decades ago (eight teams rejoined). The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Bulldogs would like to become big-time like USC but aren't quite there ... yet.

Cal Poly will be joining the Big Sky Conference, year after next - a conference that is still in transition. Set in the Central Coast of California (with cool Mediterranean climate), agriculture has a big influence. Cal Poly is by far the biggest state school in California in size (not enrollment) but yet have what maybe no other state school can boast, a small town atmosphere. The Mustangs have had some recent success in football but don't have any of the history that the other two schools have. This school can become big-time but for now, they'll keep climbing the ladder.

These are three distinct schools in California who were all in the mix of the musical chairs that was college football this past year. Where do they go from here? We'll be watching.

So dude, hang ten ... or is that twelve. Wait, twelve is really eleven then twelve. Oh but twelve is actually ten. Isn't a college education grand.


Sources - NCAA, State of California, ESPN