It appears likely the Mountain West will be the first conference to expand in the new expansion wars. Boise St. appears to be the target of Mountain West love and I have to say it looks like a very good idea for both parties.
The case for expansion with Boise St.
1. Could get the Mountain West an automatic BCS bid for the next cycle - The next BCS auto-bid cycle starts in 2014. The evaluation period is currently ongoing and the Mountain West currently is good enough in two of the three categories (top ranked team and total teams in final BCS rankings) while lagging in the other (overall computer rankings). Boise St.'s inclusion would put the Mountain West in a very strong position in the two categories where the conference qualifies and would bring the other close. And before anyone argues otherwise, Boise St.'s WAC results from the last two years and this year would count towards Mountain West statistics because the evaluation in the total performance of teams in the league after the 2012 season no matter their league affiliation during that time.
2. Gives existing top 25 programs another big game - Utah, TCU, BYU and Boise St. themselves all want to compete for national titles. All of them have been ranked in the top 10 at some point recently and TCU, Boise St. and Utah have been in the top 5 over the last two years. Another highly ranked opponent in the league will only help in the eyes of voters and in the computer profile.
3. Doesn't really hurt basketball all that much - While not a power in basketball, Boise St. isn't terrible. They are likely to be a middle of the pack team in the Mountain West meaning they won't kill the RPI of the league most years.
4. Likely allows for new television contract to be negotiated - While the mtn. network is here to stay, who's to say a Mountain West with its current membership plus Boise St. couldn't get a much better tv deal with ESPN or somebody else. Even if there isn't any improvement in distribution from the Versus-CBS College Sports setup, there is likely to be more money for all.
Issues with expansion
1. Screws up the schedule - Ask Pac-10 coaches what they think of the nine-game conference schedule and the response usually goes something like this: " It sucks." That is even with most of those schools playing non-conference deathmarches year after year. Either a ninth conference game must be added or each team will miss one other team on the schedule. The same applies for college basketball. 18 league games is a lot.
2. More mouths to feed - If the league doesn't get into the BCS, the pie all of sudden is the same size and being divided 10 ways instead of nine. That hurts.
3. More losses by powers hurts rankings - The cult of the undefeated would really hurt this league. If, for example Boise St., BYU, TCU and Utah all go 11-1 and 10-2 (certainly possible) in 2011 and a Conference USA team like Houston runs the table with three wins over BCS league schools along the way, guess which team is going to the BCS? If you said Houston, you are exactly right. That could be a problem before the automatic bid kicks in (if it does).
4. Boise, Idaho doesn't really help recruiting - Idaho isn't a population center that produces tons of players and many don't want to have to go there, even if only every other year and play in the cold. Recruiting wouldn't really suffer, but it certainly wouldn't be helped.
Final Verdict
This is a match made to happen. WAC schools would certainly be happy to be rid of the Boise St. hegemony in football while the Mountain West gets closer to its ultimate goal. Also, Boise makes more money and the Mountain West becomes appointment television in football, much to the chagrin of the Pac-10.
No comments:
Post a Comment