We're talking Fresno. California.

Wow. Is this really happening?

Oh, yeah. Coming to a stadium near you, and many far from you, is SuperDuperConference USA. Or whatever name they hang on the Mountain West/Conference USA merger.

Here's hoping somebody comes up with a really cool name for this conglomeration, complete with an edgy logo.

Paul Swann at WRVC 930 in Huntington tossed me some of his listeners' choices over the weekend. My favorites include the U.S. 2 Conference (to be correct, call it the I-40), the Frequent Flyer League, my original MegaConference USA and the absolute best, the Golden Corral Conference.

Such nomenclature makes up just one patch in a crazy quilt of logistics behind the boldest, most brazen of all the conference realignment dance steps.   

Not sure how or if this large-scale marriage will work, but I've long thought these kindred spirits should have cooperated in scheduling all these years. Hypothetically, who would you rather have for the Thundering Herd's home opener on Sept. 8: Wyoming or Western Carolina?

One step further: Remember the good ol' days of the Liberty Bowl, when the MWC winner took on the C-USA champion? Like in 2004, when Louisville beat Boise State 44-40?

Yeah, I know. Times and teams changed and the folks in Memphis wanted to sell some tickets to SEC folks, but the old format would have created a Southern Mississippi-Texas Christian game after the 2011 season.

Please, please tell me that would have drawn better TV ratings than the matchup that materialized, Cincinnati-Vanderbilt. I've already forgotten who won; I just know I got it wrong in the office bowl pool.

That aside, I am still amazed that the initially proposed football merger came to encompass all sports. But in the modern history of conference realignment, dating back to Penn State joining the Big Ten, bold moves have proven to be the best moves.

So does the Golden Corral Conference fly? Like many others, I have my questions on topics such as: 

Unlike the college basketball tournaments, there are no at-large berths.

Scott Cowen, Tulane president and chairman of the C-USA presidents, assures me that detail was not overlooked. It's a large reason the parties involved are carefully considering how the legal nuts and bolts fit.

On this matter, I trust commissioners Craig Thompson and Britton Banowsky to create sensible scheduling formats. In particular, the MWC knows what real travel is all about.

I refer to how C-USA handles the format in the various sports. In sports such as golf, tennis and swimming, there is exactly one league function, the conference tournament. (Golfers have the toughest travel burden, by the way.)

In sports with fuller schedules, watch for modified formats. In football, you could play seven games within your own division (MWC being West, C-USA being East), one cross-division game away and one at home.

In basketball, you can do it much the same way, but play two cross-division road games on the same trip, a Thursday-Saturday swing (C-USA should already be doing this).

CBS Sports Network has toes in both sides. NBC Sports (formerly Versus) does MWC events, while Fox Sports has joined forces with C-USA.

The economics are a wild card. Can the league add TV value by stretching across five time zones, particularly after the defection of schools in larger markets? Or will it at least preserve value that stands to be lost? And will it all make the travel worthwhile?

Cowen said it is too early to draw an opinion, as in-depth discussions with networks have yet to begin. I'm a bit worried about that, too.

Then again, C-USA's first post-2005 TV deal seemed to pan out well enough to lead to a better second contract. It was fortunate that CBS bought CSTV but hey, whatever works.

I find TV tougher to handicap in this wide-open era. I mean, I have been suckered into watching Storage Wars and Man vs. Food, so how does anything fail?

It was good to hear Temple was at the recent presidents' meeting in Dallas, but I don't want the Owls for football only. Memories of their 2,500 gates for Big East games are still fresh. Make 'em drag their basketball program along.

This league must maintain a Florida presence, either Florida International, Florida Atlantic or both. I'm all in for FIU, as long as it continues to build its new stadium to the planned capacity of 45,000. Large-enrollment school, large ambition.

I want Texas-San Antonio. Average home attendance for 2011 is listed at 35,521, and they reportedly have Texas-size booster support. Give the Roadrunners (great nickname) a few years to build the on-field product, then roll out the red carpet.

Beyond that? Don't know, but there is no shortage of eager applicants.

Yep. If it matters, that came before the "bigger is better" fever, and Utah and Brigham Young were still around. With Thompson the only commissioner in the 13-year history of the MWC, he is the link between the breakaway era and the gestation of this big ol' league.

As you follow the competition, you'll be best served to focus on Marshall's division, which is pretty much what I do now in football.    

"If a team runs that gauntlet, they're deserving of a major bowl," Cowen said.

Shoot, I just want to see how the presidents pull it off, considering they'll need to ask the rest of the NCAA membership for a legislative hand. Cowen said there are "multiple ways to achieve that goal," and he is "comfortable" with his chances.

But if things get desperate, bribery with Golden Corral coupons just might work.

As this saga unfolds, an old memory has a new twist.

It was the Mid-American Conference media day in 2004, in what I thought would be my last-ever journey to Detroit. Marshall and Central Florida were in their last season in the MAC, heading to C-USA.

The remaining schools were civil, but took their veiled shots. MU athletic director Bob Marcum drove to Detroit, only to be told his presence wasn't needed. That was bush-league.

One athletic director made a point to extol the stability of the MAC. He pointed out that one conference had just lost nine members, an obvious reference to C-USA.

That athletic director, if memory serves, was Thomas Boeh of Ohio University. As fate has it, he left Athens at the time Marshall officially left the MAC, July 2005.

Boeh's home since then? Fresno State.

Here's to the pursuit of stability.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130, dougsm...@wvgazette.com or follow him at twitter.com/dougsmock.