TCU's Gary Patterson warns BYU

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FORT WORTH, Texas -- With BYU reportedly on the verge of bolting from the Mountain West Conference and declaring its football independence, TCU coach Gary Patterson bid the Cougars good luck and offered a warning Wednesday.

"If you're BYU, you better be careful what you wish for," Patterson said. "It's not my job to worry about what Utah does, what BYU does, but I can tell you this: If you think being an independent is an easier way to get to a national championship, you're kidding yourself."

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TCU has its own national title aspirations after going 12-0 in the 2009 regular season to earn a berth in a BCS game. The Horned Frogs lost to Boise State 17-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz has reported that BYU is moving closer to leaving the MWC to become a football independent and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports.

BYU's departure would come on the heels of Utah leaving the MWC for the Pac-10 earlier this summer.

The MWC acted quickly to maintain its numbers, issuing invitations to Western Athletic Conference members Fresno State and Nevada. Both teams accepted Wednesday night, meaning that the MWC would carry on with 10 teams if BYU leaves.

Patterson strongly suggested Wednesday afternoon that "more dominoes" could soon fall, although it is uncertain if he was referring to anything beyond the MWC's addition of the two WAC schools.

"All I can tell you is this: Just wait and see in the next two weeks before you make any judgments and see what happens in the national landscape," Patterson said. "Things that I know that maybe you don't know. That's all I'm going to tell you."

Jeff Caplan covers colleges for ESPNDallas.com. You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag.

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