NY Daily: Focus on Boise
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2011 2:17 pm
Boise State beat up on Colorado State, 63-13, Saturday in its Mountain West Conference opener in Fort. Collins, Colo.
But it appears voters in the Coaches' Poll - a component in the BCS standings - hardly noticed. They seem more interested in the automatic qualifier conferences these days.
Undefeated Oklahoma State (6-0), which defeated Texas, 38-26, Saturday in Austin, jumped into sixth place by one vote in the same poll. The Broncos may have become the Gonzaga of college football but they have little marquee value left on their schedule and little chance of advancing out of a non-BCS league to the national title game because they are located in out-of-the-way Idaho and have a TV contract with Versus, CBS Sports and The MountainWest Sports Network that pays them just $1.4 million and emits a weak signal.
The Broncos have a chance to change all that if they join the Big East once they receive their invitation, which could come as early as Monday night after the conference presidents vote on approving an increase in the league's exit fee from $5 million to $10 million.
If everything goes as planned and the league gets all six teams it is ready to invite - Boise State, Air Force, Navy, Central Florida, SMU and Houston - it would allow the Big East to maintain its BCS status with a stronger conference than it has now and set the stage for a lucrative TV negotiation that would outweigh anything Boise could get from the current CUSA-Mountain West alliance.
The fact the Big 12 has had discussions with BYU about becoming a 10th team in that league if Missouri - which apparently has the votes needed to move to the SEC if it is willing to play in the East division - leaves could limit the damage the Big 12 can do to the Big East.
None of this has apparently been lost on Boise State's outspoken president Bob Kustra, who had to wait almost a decade before his program received a bid to leave the WAC for the Mountain West in June 2010 and now finds himself the object of desire from multiple conferences. The Broncos' stretch of top-10 seasons and BCS bowl appearances would be added to the formula of any league it belongs to when the BCS meets to decide which conferences should automatically qualify during the next cycle of games following the 2013 season.
" ... Boise State is the team of the hour, the team of the day, the team of the week," Kustra said.
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