Since the beginning of the season everyone has talked about the Boise State bus. I was a happy rider of that bus believing that if the Broncos finished the season as one of two undefeateds they should have a spot in the BCS national title game. I still believe that. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, two missed kicks means no undefeated season. That sting will last quite some time and it looks more and more like BC may be the team taking the brunt of that sting should both teams end up in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (I swear they are just drawing names out of a hat now for these bowls) as many predict.
But then yesterday, Boise got another kick in the teeth (all apologies to Kyle Brotzman for the "kick" reference). TCU is moving to the Big East starting in 2012. I'm not going to go into the idea of a team from Texas being a part of the Big East as geography has ceased to matter in conference affiliations for a while now (Louisiana Tech is in the Western Athletic Conference?? Seriously??). But for Boise this is a disaster.
Going into this season, the Mountain West was on the cusp of attaining auto-qualifier status for the BCS. They had Utah & TCU, two teams that have been to BCS bowls and, in Utah's case, won twice. Another team in BYU which has had stellar seasons in its long history with a legitimate chance to make a BCS bowl in the future. Boise State looked to add itself to this hearty resume and push the Mountain West over the top. But then, Utah leaves for the Pac 12, BYU decides it should be independent and now TCU has left for the Big East. With Nevada and Fresno State coming with BSU to the Mountain West, it has essentially just recreated the WAC. The level of competition is mildly better (Air Force & San Diego State step up every once and a while) but Boise is still going to be kings of a second-rate conference and come no closer to the legitimacy they were seeking by joining the Mountain West to begin with.
So next year will be another year of touting for the Boise bus - complete with new kicker.
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