Hawaii's defection is official, leaving the WAC gasping for air

Right on cue, the disintegration of the WAC continued apace this afternoon in Honolulu: Hawaii is the latest WAC outfit to make its defection to the Mountain West official, following closely on the heels of Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada since June. The Warriors will cross the lines with the Wolf Pack and Bulldogs to give the MWC ten teams in 2012, solidifying a viable 10-team lineup for a league that's bidding adieu itself to gridiron bellwethers BYU, TCU and Utah next year to independence, the Big East and the new Pac-12, respectively.

Hawaii's non-revenue sports will join the Big West. Both the Mountain West and Big West unanimously approved the additions.

From the MWC perspective, the poaching trip isn't going to help its Quixotic push to secure an automatic BCS bid for its champion nearly as much as the defections are going to hurt: Though Boise, Hawaii and Nevada all closed the regular season in the top 25 this year, only the Broncos have a track record that matches BYU, TCU and Utah's forays into the polls and the big-money bowl games over the last half-decade. Even if it goes ahead with more potential additions (Houston, Utah State and UTEP are rumored candidates to bring the membership to 12 teams, facilitating a conference championship game), it looks like treading water for the Mountain West, at best.

Compared to the alternative, though, treading water isn't so bad. With its top four football programs all leaving the fold – three of them now as a result of the conference overplaying its hand in an aggressive attempt to poach BYU – the WAC is sinking fast. Of the five holdovers – Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State – none were in the conference a decade ago. Over that decade, they've combined for six winning seasons, one WAC championship (Louisiana Tech in 2001) and zero top-25 finishes. Between them, in fact, there are two top-25 finishes (New Mexico State in 1960, Utah State in 1961) in their entire history.

And that motley crew now qualifies as the foundation of the conference as it prepares to welcome two new teams, Texas State and UT-San Antonio, just making the transition to the I-A/FBS ranks. Well, "transition" might be a bit of an exaggeration in San Antonio's case, considering the fledgling Roadrunners' program has yet to take the field for an actual game on any level. Even North Texas didn't want any part of that action.

No wonder Utah State – Utah State! – is actively looking to jump ship, with the others likely right behind them to whoever they can wrangle an invitation from. After the first round of realignment this summer, the WAC looked like the only obvious loser, after the loss of Boise State. As the dominoes have continued to fall, though, it turns out that "loser" may not even begin to cover it.

- - -
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

Sienna Guillory Tricia Vessey Aki Ross Ashley Tappin Carmen Electra