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The more and more I think about the more the move to the Big East makes sense to me.
Why? Because Rutgers and Connecticut are such natural rivals and make great roadtrips?
There's absolutely nothing natural about Boise State joining the Big East. Nothing. Playing teams like Wyoming, Utah, BYU, and the like would make sense. Playing Rutgers?
If Boise State moves to the Big East, they've totally sold out. College football is becoming a freaking joke with teams jumping ship left and right. It's ridiciulous.
I grew up loving the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry because we were next to one another. We were natural rivals. You took a roadtrip to Tuscaloosa. As a student, you could go to an away game.
With a move to the Big East, Boise State has completely sold out. You might as well try to get the Black & Decker as a sponsor and paint the field black and rename the team the "drill bits."
Just what we need a couple of SEC fanatics in this thread. Okay let's go over a few things first
1) BOISE STATE WILL NEVER GET INTO THE SEC!!!!!!!!!!! Not enough money.
2) @CMartel with the fluid changing landscape of College Football Conference alignment we are reaching a threshold. There are the haves and the have-nots in the college football world and like them or hate them there are serious disparities within the way things are done in college football. The bottom line is that last year's Cincy team which went 4-8 and never went to any kind of bowl game made more money than a one loss Boise State team which not only went to, but won it's bowl game. Even worse the same Cincy team made more money than Boise State when Boise State made it to the Fiesta Bowl and won both times. Even better TCU who lost to Boise State in the last Fiesta Bowl took home more money simply because they were in the Mountain West and we were in the WAC.
You can argue the sell-out thing and we can sit here and jump up and down and argue that the BCS is a corrupt and greedy POS (which it is) but guess what. . .IT ISN'T GOING AWAY!!!!!!!! Too many conferences, schools, etc. get their pockets lined by this system. Had Utah, BYU, TCU stuck around and UNLV and New Mexico left with Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii all coming on board then I think that Boise State would be wise to stick around in such a conference as they would encompass arguably a BCS Caliber conference. The problem is that the other teams that would've helped us hold our ground against the system have all left and there aren't enough teams left that will help us do it. Hawaii and Fresno State generally produce winning seasons but they also have a terrible record against BCS opponents. I think that Nevada will rise up again (Fejardo looks pretty good) but they aren't enough to make a viable conference that is going to compete with the Big Boys.
You talk about regional rivalries and while I concur that is ideal, Boise State and Boise State fans need to decide if they want the program to grow and develop and play at the highest level or fall into squallor and revert back to the FCS (a good case and point would be the difference between the Boise State football program and their hated rivals the University of Idaho Vandals). The U of I program has been in serious decline since the late 90s (keep in mind that they were in the Big Sky FCS Conference just like Boise State and came on board at the same time). The Idaho Vandals are on track to produce their worst season ever this year after coming off of a 6-7 season. Point is that while Boise State has been very aggressive at pushing to play at the highest level and being able to recruit both coaches and players that can play at their maximum potential and beyond, the U of I has fallen to the point where they would almost be better off back in the Big Sky, because they have not been as aggressive with the pushing and promotion of their football program. That being said you can only push and progress so far as a non-AQ and Boise State cannot continue to be the team that plays in a weakened Mountain West conference beating the same opponents year after year with the token one or two BCS opponents per year and hope to continue to grow and develop as a program and play and rank nationally and even though you see it as selling out, IMHO any university would be foolish to turn down an AQ bid and the shot of making more money off of the program. Even with additional travel costs the additional revenue of the BCS Conferences (even the Big East) would more than offset that, which allows more money for schools. This is desperately needed right now because of the planned expansion for the stadium and as great as regional rivalries are playing UNLV and New Mexico isn't going to do much to pay for those expansion plans.
That brings me to the next point. Even though I don't think that Boise State would be likely to get to the championship game in the Big East they definitely have a better shot at it there then they do with their current setup and SOS killers (ie New Mexico and UNLV). To my knowledge no team in the Big East has gone worse than 3-9 in the last decade. UNLV and New Mexico have been worse than that for some time now. Say what you will about playing Rutgers and UConn, I would much rather see Boise play them than the likes of UNLV, New Mexico and even the Wyoming, and Colorado State teams that have been playing over the last several years. It's really sad to know that you are up by 50 on one of the aforementioned MWC teams and you know that your rankings in the SOS are still taking a major loss in spite of your stellar score.
The next point is that Boise State still stands the chance of losing Air Force and being replaced by Utah State and although Utah State has shown some promise this season they still have an overall losing record (less than .500 in their history). They also are in danger of losing C-USA counterparts, SMU, Houston and UCF in this Big East expansion deal. So this means that the new C-USA/MWC merger would profit them nothing in terms of being able to play at the highest level and get a bid to a big money bowl game.
Furthermore you talk about fans being screwed, well we are already getting screwed with the stupid Mountain West Network. Last season you could watch practically any game on either ESPN, or local TV, which meant that a basic cable or satellite package was all you needed to watch the games. This season fans need to have ESPN, CBS Sports, Versus and that crappy Mountain West network to see all 12 games. You can only get the Mountain on the most expensive cable systems (and only cable systems in the Mountain Region carry the network) outside of that you need to have the most expensive sports package on Direct TV to see it anywhere else. Add this to the fact that it also limits your exposure across the country since the Mountain isn't available on many cable providers and it isn't available to those with Dish Network.
The point is that the distance between the AQ and non-AQ conferences is getting larger and larger and all of the money and growth opportunity is getting funneled to BCS Conferences. You can sit there and say HA!!!! WE'RE NOT GOING TO PLAY YOUR CORRUPT GAME!!!!!! At which point some people will applaud you and then you will fade into obscurity and you will still be the person left without a chair when the music stops while other schools jumped at the opportunity that you let pass you by.
As it sits right now here are Boise State's realistic options:
1) Sit tight in the Mountain West and hope that this MWC/C-USA merger produces a bid and in which case you still don't really make any money (as you have to split the proceeds between 22 teams) and you still are playing the same teams that you have played year in and out which give you little credibility at best. You also need to hope that NONE of the teams IN EITHER CONFERENCE jump ship as that would completely undermine your chances of getting that BCS Bid.
2) Sit tight and wait around for your dream to happen (getting picked up by the Big 12) and hope that Mizz leaves and that the other BCS teams all turn down an offer (as well as Tulane). In other words a lot of dumb luck has to fall your way.
3) Take a risk and go to the Big East with the other Non-AQs that have been listed and have a collection of the top ranked non-AQs combine with whatever is left of the Big East and you have a guaranteed bid until 2014 and will likely have one after that if all the teams come on board. You also have additional money, you do have additional travel costs although keep in mind that there would be an East and West division and that the West Division would likely be as follows:
Boise State
Air Force
Houston
SMU
Louisville
Cincy
add that with a couple of teams from the East Division and the fact that some of these games will be home games and travel really isn't that much worse (especially when you consider that Boise will need to travel to Hawaii in the MWC). As mentioned above you also get more exposure for your team in new areas and you get your team onto more widely available (and less expensive) TV networks.
There really isn't any good option for Boise State but I think the worst possible scenario is for Boise State to stay to "preserve regional rivalries" and then other teams defect thereby weakening their SOS and closing potential doors for them in the Bigger Conferences. Risks are going to need to be taken if Boise State is going to continue to grow and develop as a program and play at the highest level.
when are the broncos going to play real football....all the play are are soft schedule crap!!!!! come on and play LSU,BAMA,ARK,MISS. STATE ...COME ON
uh, never...why play them when they can play the teams they are playing and slip into a major bowl game. Oregon played LSU and now doesnt have a chance in hell of getting into the Natty . Infact, BSU is a head of Oregon and teams like Mich St. Im not denying that BSU could not beat the great teams, but they can keep beating these Highschool teams and be top 5 in the country. Heck, Wisconsin would dismantle them.
These discussions are always nauseating. Do you think that BSU players and coaches enjoy playing NMSU, NM, Idaho, Colorado State, et al.? Do you think BSU fan likes watching those blowouts?
Of course we want to be in an AQ conference and play great teams week in and week out. More importantly, we want the money that comes with it. Do a quick check and compare BSU's revenue with those in an AQ conference.
Whether we can play a Pac 12 or Big 12 schedule week in and week out is a nonstarter; give us similar money and exposure and watch our recruiting improve, and we certainly could.
I'll fully admit that if BSU gets into an AQ conference we won't be Alabama or USC; we'd likely look like Ok State or Oregon - a team that competes every year but probably drops 1-3 games.
Where we're at now, our OOC schedule works for us simply because we need the money and the home games. I'd like to see 2 marquee OOC games a year but the teams just aren't out there. This isn't Florida State in the 80's era - we can't afford to do that and everyone knows that.
Furthermore, it's not like we're a one year wonder. Our top 5 ranking is the effort of a decade of 10+ win seasons. We don't get the luxury of losing every year. We've lost 2 games in the past 4 years by a combined total of 4 points. Think about that one.
These discussions are always nauseating. Do you think that BSU players and coaches enjoy playing NMSU, NM, Idaho, Colorado State, et al.? Do you think BSU fan likes watching those blowouts?
Of course we want to be in an AQ conference and play great teams week in and week out. More importantly, we want the money that comes with it. Do a quick check and compare BSU's revenue with those in an AQ conference.
Whether we can play a Pac 12 or Big 12 schedule week in and week out is a nonstarter; give us similar money and exposure and watch our recruiting improve, and we certainly could.
I'll fully admit that if BSU gets into an AQ conference we won't be Alabama or USC; we'd likely look like Ok State or Oregon - a team that competes every year but probably drops 1-3 games.
Where we're at now, our OOC schedule works for us simply because we need the money and the home games. I'd like to see 2 marquee OOC games a year but the teams just aren't out there. This isn't Florida State in the 80's era - we can't afford to do that and everyone knows that.
Furthermore, it's not like we're a one year wonder. Our top 5 ranking is the effort of a decade of 10+ win seasons. We don't get the luxury of losing every year. We've lost 2 games in the past 4 years by a combined total of 4 points. Think about that one.
when are the broncos going to play real football....all the play are are soft schedule crap!!!!! come on and play LSU,BAMA,ARK,MISS. STATE ...COME ON
I'm really not sure what you're talking about. Mississippi State? They already played Georgia, a far more competitive team year in and year out.
Last year they defeated Virginia Tech and Oregon State, both of which were ranked at the time.
And do you really think Alabama would even play them?
- Kent State
- Penn State (since when has a Big 10 school stood a chance against the SEC?)
- North Texas
It's very evident that Boise State could beat any team in country right now. They put Georgia to rest easily enough in what amounts to a home game for Georgia.
There's a double standard at play.
Perhaps Boise State should consider joining the Big Ten?? It might improve their bowl game performance.
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