The Front Row with MARK NELKE Jan. 6, 2013
Kudos to Boise State for getting out of a relationship (the Big East Conference) which was shaping up as shaky at best.
And bravo to the Broncos for finding an old flame (the Mountain West) who was more than willing to take them back, despite being ditched after years of flirting, followed by an actual commitment of only two years.
But can you blame them? Either of them?
The Mountain West needs Boise State, and as it turns out, Boise State needs the Mountain West. And the Broncos got a few perks to make it worth their while to avoid jumping to the Big East in football this fall, and stay in the Mountain West.
Boise State is getting a sweetheart deal from the Mountain West, with the chance to negotiate its own TV contract for home games, being able to earn several hundred thousand more dollars per game than it would have otherwise.
It's not like ESPN is terribly interested in showing a lot of Mountain West games that don't involve Boise State. Why would they?
The Mountain West also agreed to a 50/50 split with Boise State - or any other conference team - of the revenue paid for making it to a BCS game. Considering Boise State is the only team in the conference, year in and year out, capable of making it to a BCS game, that's a pretty good deal for the Broncos.
The old girlfriend (the Mountain West) will pick up most of Boise State's costs (up to $3 million) for choosing not to move in with the new girlfriend (the Big East). Boise State will pick up the $1.5 million tab for not placing its non-football programs in the Big West, which it had planned to do this fall.
THIS SEASON, in a supposed "down" year, Boise State still finished in a three-way tie for the conference title, won a bowl game and finished 11-2.
Imagine what the Broncos will do in future seasons when they play at the same level they did when Kellen Moore was quarterback. They will chew up the Mountain West, much like they did the Western Athletic Conference — which shouldn’t be surprising, since five of the other Mountain West schools used to get pummeled by Boise State on a regular basis when they were all in the WAC just a few short years ago.
Gary Anderson’s decision to bolt an up-and-coming Utah State program for a Big Ten head coaching job at Wisconsin makes even more sense now. In a Boise-less Mountain West, the Aggies could probably contend for a conference title. But with the Broncos back in the league — no way, most years.
And the same could be said about most of the other teams in the Mountain West.
In case you forgot, Boise State went 75-5 in WAC games in its 10 seasons there, winning or sharing the conference title in eight of those 10 seasons.
READING BETWEEN the lines, there were some other perks Boise State received for agreeing to remain in the Mountain West.
Here are some of them:
• It was reported that Boise State will be able to wear its blue uniforms and blue pants on the blue turf at Bronco Stadium — something the conference initially didn’t allow when BSU came aboard two years ago.
But another caveat few noticed — visiting football teams will be forced to sleep on the gym floor at Middleton High, some 35 miles away, dress there, and ride to the game on school buses over back roads. Once they reach Boise, the teams will be dropped off at nearby Dona Larsen Park and have to hoof it the rest of the way to the stadium.
• If Idaho somehow joins the Mountain West, Boise State will never have to travel to Moscow to play in front of “drunk, inebriated fans.” All games between Idaho and BSU will be played in Boise. The Broncos will always be the home team. The Vandals will be forced to bus down to Boise on the day of the game, and go at least twice through the breakfast buffet line at JB’s in Meridian for its pregame meal.
Not that the Broncos need the extra help. Particularly in that league.
BOTTOM LINE: Good for Boise State. The school gets to take advantage of being the darlings of TV by siphoning some extra cash out of the deal. And the Broncos get to stay out west, and beat up on largely mediocre conference competition. And still have a reasonable path to a BCS game or even a national semifinal.
Sure, it would have been nice to see how Boise State matches up on an annual basis with teams like Louisville, which just put a hurtin’ on Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Then again, who knows how long Louisville or any other decent football teams would have stayed in the Big East.
Or how long anybody else will remain in any of the other conferences.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.