The MWC

Just as Boise State joins the MWC, Utah appears to be gone--rushing off to the Pac-?? 10? 12? 16? Who knows? Too bad too. The Mountain West with BYU, Boise State, TCU and Utah is one heck of a football conference--a shoe-in for an automatic bid to a BCS game. Now it appears that unless the MWC does something to add a 10th team, 2011 will be a downgrade year when Boise joins, not an upgrade.

The MWC without the Utes just isn't as respectable--plain and simple. Utah is 2-0 in BCS games. The rest of the conference is 0-1. Sure, Boise State is 2-0 as well, but one of those wins came against Mountain West member TCU. Not only that, but the Broncos just haven't been as feared or respected or recognized nationwide as the Utes have. As far as basketball goes, Utah had a down year, but the overall program is light-years ahead of Boise State's. Act quick Mountain West. Act quick and act smart.

What is smart you ask? Smart would be helping Utah see the reality of it's move--more money, coupled with more losses, fewer championships and fewer BCS appearances. Smart would be getting rid of any existing TV contracts with The Mtn. Smart would be contacting schools like Nevada, Houston or Fresno State about joining with Boise State for the 2011 season.

Keeping the MWC a 9-school conference and simply having BSU replace Utah could be BCS suicide. The only hope would be BYU as it will obviously continue to play it's in-state rival Utah, giving the Cougars a potential Pac-?? win at the end of a season in which it faced the likes of TCU, Boise State and whatever other preseason teams it chooses. Utah likely won't agree to play anyone else in the MWC very often at all starting in 2011. Too much to lose with little to nothing to gain.