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Earlier this afternoon, BYU released the following statements from University President Dr. Cecil O. Samuelson and Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe, on the the addition of Boise State to the Mountain West Conference. As noted in the offical BYU press release, the school "will not have additional comment."
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Brigham Young University President Cecil O. Samuelson
"BYU is pleased to welcome Boise State University into the Mountain West Conference. Boise State has achieved success academically and athletically. This addition will make the conference stronger and more competitive, as exemplified by Boise State's recent football success. This certainly strengthens the Mountain West Conference's standing as one of the top athletic conferences."
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BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe
"I have a great deal of respect for Boise State University and what they have accomplished in a relatively short period of time since becoming a Division I program. They have risen to the upper echelon of college football in recent years and will add to the growing strength of the Mountain West Conference. We warmly welcome athletic director Gene Bleymaier and the Boise State athletic department to the Mountain West."
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The Big 12 end-game appears to be in play as of late this afternoon, and it keeps Utah's Pac-10 hopes alive.
What it appears to come down to is this: the Utes' Pac-10 possibilities rest solely on the pending decision in College Station. If Texas A&M doesn't come around and join its Lone Star State Big 12 colleagues in bolting for the Pac-10, that expanding conference could call upon Utah as its fallback school (Kansas would also have to be in the Pac-10 expansion mix; see my blog from earlier Friday). If TAMU falls in line and heads west (still a possibility), Pac-10 commish Larry Scott completes his swipe of six Big 12 schools and his "dream" Pac-16 is in place.
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Scenario 1
Texas A&M joins the SEC, and Utah joins the Pac-10 as its 16th team:
While BYU fans may deplore the fact the Utah would be joining a "big-time conference" and leaving BYU behind, the MWC would be out to increase its own stature, by making a strong play for Big 12 leftovers Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State, giving the MWC five Central Time Zone schools among 13 members. Indeed, there are rumors that those four schools have had some preliminary contact with the MWC about potential refuge within its league.
If such a Mountain West land grab were successful, the MWC would ostensibly be poised to attract one or three more schools, expanding to 14 or 16 teams. It wouldn't be the Pac-16, but it would beat the heck out of the Big East, and be a great deal more powerful than the existing Mountain West Conference. Such a 14- or 16-team conglomeration could argue for a place among the college "big boys," with marquee programs BYU, TCU, Boise State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri leading the way.
Let's imagine for a moment that the MWC even took on Big 12 castoff Baylor, then raided Conference USA for, say, Houston and Tulsa.
How would this expanded MWC look?
Western Division
BYU
Boise State
Air Force
UNLV
SDSU
New Mexico
CSU
Wyoming
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Eastern Division
TCU
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Iowa State
Baylor
Houston
Tulsa
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Scenario 2
Texas A&M joins the Pac-10 with the other targeted Big 12 schools, leaving Utah in the ten-team MWC:
The MWC takes in everyone above with the exception of Tulsa, and forms:
Western Division
BYU
Utah
Boise State
Air Force
SDSU
UNLV
CSU
Wyoming
-
Eastern Division
TCU
New Mexico
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Iowa State
Baylor
Houston
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Scenario 3
Texas A&M does not join the Pac-10, which takes Kansas over Utah:
Western Division
BYU
Utah
Boise State
Air Force
SDSU
UNLV
CSU
Wyoming
-
Eastern Division
TCU
Kansas State
Missouri
Iowa State
New Mexico
Baylor
Houston
Tulsa
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There will be some who say Baylor should be left behind in the above scenarios, but I have them in my fictitious conference. Their football program is a bit of a mess, but the Bears are a presence in hoops, and as a private school, it would be aligned with at least two other private institutions in BYU and TCU, not to mention a service academy in Air Force. Word is TCU would fight Baylor's addition to the MWC, but if TCU is the only MWC school opposed to grabbing Baylor, I can't see one institution's opposition being enough to keep the conference from expanding into Waco.
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12- and 14-team models are also possible, depending on Utah's final destination how many Big 12 leftovers are eventually invited to a hypothetically-expanded MWC.
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The above projections are nothing more than thinking out loud (and there could be a program or two that are better fits than the ones I suggested from CUSA), but with today's addition of Boise State, the MWC is at least in position to deal from a posture of relative strength in a landscape that has seen the Big 12 go from power broker to pile of ash seemingly overnight.
Given the right pieces falling into place, BYU may indeed end up in what would previously have been considered a "BCS conference," without having to fight a battle over Sunday play to do so. You never know, but in a couple of years, the Cougars' could be playing in a league that fits nicely into the new world order of super-conference domination.
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