Just more than three months ago, Fresno State athletics made a monumental decision to jump ship and join the prestigiously growing Mountain West Conference.

Three months later, on paper, Fresno State’s new conference in 2012 doesn’t look much better than a leg-up on the Western Athletic Conference.

The MWC at the beginning of the summer had a strong selling point to become a seventh Bowl Championship Series automatic qualifying conference. It boasted the likes of Texas Christian, Utah, Brigham Young and its latest addition in Boise State. Three of those four nationally recognized programs have won a BCS game four out of the last five seasons.

Three of the aformentioned mentioned teams have found more desirable homes, making Fresno State’s new home (beginning in June 2012) a glorified WAC that cost a pretty price of $900,000.

The first to leave was Utah, who accepted an invitation to be the Pac-10’s 12th member, followed by BYU choosing the Notre Dame route of independence in late August.

Big losses, sure. But the conference still had some marquee names in Boise State, fellow WAC bailout Nevada and of course TCU, the 112-year old program that openly expressed its wish to be among the elite non-AQs.

The wait for TCU is over.

The school announced Monday its plans to bail on the MWC and pursue a future in the Big East Conference, arguably the most hapless automatic qualifier, but an automatic qualifier nonetheless. It will begin athletic operations starting in July 2012, the same time Fresno State and Nevada join their new conference.

So where does this leave the Bulldogs? Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh insists the move is still a good one, despite dodging a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Head football coach Pat Hill said all parties are still on board even though the prize at the end of the tunnel lost plenty of its shine.

The fact of the matter is Fresno State’s near $1 million WAC buyout is now met with a conference that top to bottom looks like the WAC on creatine when it used to look like it was on steroids. And as much as it tickled Bulldog fans to see Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman shank away the Broncos’ BCS dreams last Friday, you have to feel for Boise State which is now, once again, the lone premier name.

When Fresno State finally jumps ship in 2012, the conference will be made up of Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and returning members Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, Air Force, New Mexico and UNLV. WAC member Hawaii is milling a possibility of joining forces in the MWC as well.

As the MWC currently sits, its teams have a combined record of 53-57, not great but respectable. Without TCU, Utah and BYU, however, the conference has a combined record of 25-47.

If you shake it all down, crunch the numbers and hit the reality check button, the move has severely lost its luster. Obviously this was an unavoidable situation, but when TCU is ripping apart the Big East, Utah is feeling its oats in the Pac-10 and BYU is enjoying its newfound freedom, Fresno State will be found in the now depleted Mountain West.