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Considering this means Utah State will have to play Nevada and Fresno State in football next season, Thursday's news that those schools are staying in the Western Athletic Conference for another year is not entirely a victory for the Aggies.
But it is close enough to serve as cause for a mild celebration in Logan and around the rest of the league.
The settlement keeping the Wolf Pack and Bulldogs in place for one last season before they join the Mountain West Conference is vital to the WAC's future and "reduces the damages that would have occurred," said USU athletic director Scott Barnes.
In other words, Barnes and his fellow administrators in the WAC would have been scrambling to fill two vacancies on the 2011 football schedule, besides competing in a makeshift, geographically misfit league of six schools. Now, there's time for the WAC's incoming members — invitations are being printed — to make decisions about elevating their programs and helping to rebuild the conference.
The WAC is a survivor. And for one football season, even with the loss of Boise State, it will be almost as strong as the MWC from top to bottom.
The delayed departures of Nevada and Fresno State is a blow to the Mountain West, which will play in 2011 with eight schools and become even more top-heavy than ever. The league's own television network and its other partners will fight over one marquee game (Boise State vs. TCU), while hoping that Air Force and San Diego State can field reasonably attractive teams.
Apparently, Nevada and Fresno State did some accounting and realized just how many zeroes are involved with $5,000,000, the exit fee the WAC was attempting to charge them.
The settlement, resulting in a $900,000 payment from each departing school and a redistribution of 2011-12 revenue to the other six schools, makes sense for everybody. The Wolf Pack and Bulldogs can still move, the WAC steadies itself for a critical year and the remaining schools can band together and add to their membership in a workable time frame.
Yes, the Aggies will have another year of very tough competition in WAC football, giving them one last chance to pull themselves up to the level of Fresno State and Nevada. Logically, that's two more losses in 2011. But keeping the WAC mostly intact for another year will help with immediate recruiting, and using those programs as gauges of coach Gary Andersen's progress with the Aggies for another season can only help him. It also makes for a better basketball league.
After that, the Aggies can establish themselves in a remade, reconfigured WAC that will be weakened, but not destroyed. To me, a lot rides on Montana's decision. If the Grizzlies come aboard, their football program's development from the Big Sky Conference level will be as intriguing to watch as Boise State's and Nevada's have been.
As the lawsuit illustrated, the WAC and its members are not easily brushed aside. Would the league be healthier if the Wolf Pack and Bulldogs were staying permanently? Of course. But the WAC will regroup and strengthen itself again, moving into its second half-century of existence.
This league has undergone all kinds of shifting since its 1962 founding with BYU and Utah among the six charter members. The WAC won't die. USU and the other remaining schools may have agreed to settle this dispute, but they're still fighters.
kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt