After news broke that Syracuse and Pitt were leaving the Big East for the greener pastures of the ACC, it seemed like the Big East might need to make some big moves to remain relevant and especially maintain its BCS status. After all, the addition of TCU made it seem like there was nothing to worry about. Then TCU announced that it was not even going to bother with the Big East and join the Big 12 instead and Big East commissioner John Marinatto was seen feverishly Googling “seppuku.”

The departure of Pitt and Syracuse leaves the league with just 6 teams, so the Big East is now finally recognizing an urgency to add 6 schools and become a 12-team conference. Hold on to your zany foam hats, because they are doozies – UCF, ECU, Temple, Navy, Air Force, and maybe Boise State. And that’s assuming that none of the Big East’s other schools leave.

The issue lingering over the league’s future involves Missouri. If Missouri leaves the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, that would put Big East football in peril. The Big 12 would probably grab West Virginia or Louisville, or both, to replace Missouri. The Big 12 could also take one or both if Missouri stays. Big East officials say they will not wait for Missouri to decide, but no definitive timetable is in place.

(Via The New York Times)

With all of the other big news and rumors that have been circling the Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big 10 and PAC-However-Many-Schools-They-Have-Now, the Big East has been easy to ignore. But here’s a quick recap – nobody wants to join the Big East except for schools the other schools don’t want. For instance, USF has been trying hard to keep UCF out. Does anyone care about that? No. Hell, UCF is my alma mater and I don’t even care about it.

Ultimately, the Big East is going to lose West Virginia and probably Rutgers. If Louisville can get its act together and start winning again, it will probably leave as well. Best case scenario – and probably only case scenario – the Big East ransacks Conference USA and locates photos of NCAA President Mark Emmert in bed with a transgender donkey. That’s about the only thing that will save it.

UPDATE: My buddy Brandon Helwig at UCFSports.com Tweeted earlier that a rumored scenario is an East Division with UCF, USF, UConn, Rutgers, Temple and Navy, while a West Division would be WVU, Cincinnati, SMU, Louisville, Houston and Air Force.

Boise State’s heralded football team will move from the WAC to the Mountain West Conference, effective this fall, and the Broncos have already started to make friends. San Diego State’s head coach, who I’m told is a guy named Rocky Long, is already whining about the famous blue turf in Boise’s home digs.

Rocky Long? That can’t be right, can it?

“I think they ought to get rid of that blue turf. I think it’s unfair,” said Long, the former New Mexico coach who is in his first season as the Aztecs’ head coach.

When asked to expand, Long said, “it takes the visiting team a quarter or two to get used to that different field.”

Long said players “track the ball differently” on the blue turf, particularly since Boise State traditionally wears all-blue uniforms on the blue turf.

–Idaho Statesman, via FanNation.

I honestly haven’t watched enough games at Bronco Stadium to really weigh in with an educated opinion, but if the field is flat and the players are standing up, what difference could the color of the turf possibly make? My only gripe is that it would be harder to visually pick up dog debris. You’d need a pencil just to get that stuff out of your cleats.

Back in November, Ohio State President Gordon Gee told the Associated Press that teams like TCU and Boise State didn’t deserve to play for the BCS title because those programs don’t have strong schedules like the teams in the BCS automatic qualifier conferences. Said Gee:

“Well, I don’t know enough about the X’s and O’s of college football,” said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there’s some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame.”

Boise State lost to Nevada two days later, ruining the Broncos’ BCS hopes, but TCU continued to steamroll opponents, as the No. 3 Horned Frogs finished with a 12-0 regular season record. The Frogs added their exclamation point on New Year’s Day, when they defeated Wisconsin 21-19 in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin, of course, finished 7-1 in the Big 10 just like Ohio State. So for Gee’s comments, a mysterious TCU supporter has gently extended his middle finger by posting the banner image above on 20 electronic billboards throughout Columbus, Ohio. Well done.

While we can chalk this one up as a W for the little guys, as TCU was the first ever non-automatic qualifier to win the Rose Bowl, Gee and the rest of the big boys are probably still scoffing at the Frogs while they refill their high balls and light cigars with $100 bills. But tread lightly, big conference presidents. TCU will be in the Big East soon enough, so if you thought the Frogs had an easy road now, just you wait.

In the meantime, I was a little surprised to find out that TCU wasn’t the only school to have mystery billboards popping up around the country. Follow along after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

President of THE Ohio State University E. Gordon Gee said something ill-advised about Boise State earlier this week, and I have a legitimate beef when the president of my alma mater starts talking trash about my secret-misstress-favorite football team.

“Well, I don’t know enough about the Xs and Os of college football,” said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there’s some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to (be) in the big ballgame.”

“If you put a gun to my head and said, ‘What are you going to do about a playoff system (if) the BCS system as it now exists goes away?’ I would vote immediately to go back to the bowl system,” he said.

–SI.com.

I’ll say this to Ohio State and anyone else that thinks Boise State is playing a weak schedule. You think you can beat Boise State? PLAY THEM. The Broncos have only lost one game since 2006, and they even beat Oregon last year and the year before that. If they run the table, they should go. It’s about time to screw Auburn again, anyway.

Be sure to check out FilmDrunk’s Vince Mancini and his great photoshops of 20th century history.

I’m not big on “FJM-ing” other columnists; those people are entitled to their opinions and the points of view that they wish to represent in their work. But I about sh*t a brick when I read Dan Wetzel’s take on why Boise State suddenly turned into college football’s New York Yankees.

Fast forward five seasons and Boise State is bigger, better and suddenly no longer so popular. In some circles, they’ve become the most hated – or at least rooted against – team in America. Move over Notre Dame.

Boise State? Hated more than Notre Dame?! Are you sh*tting me? Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE — The Mountain West Conference will accept Boise St. as it’s 10th member effective July 1, 2011.

It feels like every summer two stories are consistent throughout college athletics; the adoption of a playoff in college football, and conference restructuring that looks more like a game of musical chairs. While the BCS seems to be intact for the time being, a “who’s-who” of power conferences including the Big 1110, Big 12, and Pac 10 are looking to change their list of members. Boise State was hoping to be a part of the mix, banking on the Mountain West Conference to give them a bid. The thought was that the MWC’s tougher competition could smooth the blue turf Broncos’ road to the BCS, opening up Boise to bigger TV revenues, and the opportunity to develop the mid major rivalry that had been forming between them and TCU. Unfortunatly for them, they got no soup from MWC suits.

Commissioner Craig Thompson said the decision to hold off on expansion is tied to the shake-ups and shifting landscape in some of the nation’s bigger conferences. Officials from the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big 12 are considering adding schools or reorganizing. Thompson said the decision is not final, and that the board may reconsider once the dust settles in the other conferences. “Due to the uncertainty in the intercollegiate landscape, the board did not make a decision to expand at the present time,” Thompson said at the end of the board’s annual meeting in Jackson, Wyo. “The Mountain West will continue to monitor developments … and prepare for potential scenarios.” – ESPN.com

As of now, the league stands at nine teams: BYU, TCU, Utah, Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Deigo State, UNLV, and Wyoming. An illustrious list of football programs to say the least. Like they really need the growing TV contracts that have come with Boise State’s recent BCS success. They have that sweet contract with Versus, which I’m sure you knew of already.

In a collegiate landscape where 12 is the magic number for a conference championship game, the decision to stay at nine is odd to say the least. Colorado is on the MWC’s radar, but that would require the Pac 10 and Big 10 raiding the Big 12 of schools. The bong rippers of Boulder have been mentioned in potential situations that would have them in the Pac 10, which they would obviously take. So who would be a better school than Boise State? Read the rest of this entry »