The West Virginia Mountaineers are officially done-zo with the Big East conference and will be taking their footballs to the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season. This leaves the Big East with seven teams for the coming season and creates a bit of a scheduling problem.
An easy fix to that schedule? Give Boise State a call.
Marinatto said it's possible one of the schools pledged to join in 2013 could enter the league early to replace West Virginia, though he declined to say which one.
The only problem with this scenario is that Boise State president Bob Kustra does not seem to be on board. He told the Idaho Statesman that a move in 2012 is out of the question
"It's too late. I can't imagine how anyone can pull that off. We would never want to pull it off in a fashion that dealt shabbily with our existing partners in the Mountain West. I don't think that could ever work," Kustra said.
The downsides of a move right away are a messy divorce from the Mountain West and an exit fee in the $9 million range. But think of the upsides, Prez Kustra. Boise State would be in an automatic BCS conference this season and play a wonderfully loaded schedule with choice opponents coming to Bronco Stadium. College football is nothing without its messy divorces, and I'd imagine the Big East would be happy to help foot the bill for a cool $9 million. They just got $20 million from West Virginia.
So what do you think, Bronco Nation? Should Boise State stay or should it go?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
My take is a cautiously risky one. I love the idea of playing for an automatic bid in the BCS against some truly big-time teams. But I wonder what good it will do for the Broncos to play in an AQ conference if the learning curve for Joe Southwick or Grant Hedrick or whomever is going to be so steep. Breaking in a new quarterback against Mountain West competition would be a lot easier than doing so against Big East competition. At the end of the day, it's all about the BCS, for better or for worse. I don't see the Broncos going undefeated in 2012, so their best shot at a BCS berth may be finding their legs in the non-conference games and doing just enough to come out on top in a less-than-stellar Big East. Flip-flopping complete.