Boise State and the MWC, a perfect match? Joining forces might not fix their BCS problems

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Can Boise St, MWC fix each others BCS problems?

Even as TCU and Boise State march toward unbeaten regular seasons, the Mountain West Conference — home of the Horned Frogs — and the blue-turf Broncos still have BCS problems.

Maybe the solution lies in an old cliche: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Or maybe not.

And finding Heisman Trophy-worthy candidates is no problem, you just have to know where to look.

TCU turned what was billed as its last stiff challenge into just another blowout by beating Utah 55-28 on Saturday. The Horned Frogs are 10-0 and only Wyoming and New Mexico stand in the way of them becoming the second consecutive Mountain West Conference team to reach the Bowl Championship Series.

Still, the MWC doesn’t seem to be much closer to getting the automatic BCS bid it feels it deserves.

Boise State stayed perfect, too, thumping rival Idaho 63-25 on its home blue turf. The Broncos have three more games, but with TCU ahead of them in the BCS standings, getting into the big-money bowls still looks like a long shot — even at 13-0.

So, let’s get this straight: The Mountain West Conference needs to improve the quality of its teams if it hopes to one day gain preferred-member status with the BCS.

And Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference needs to improve the quality of its competition to have a better shot at getting into the BCS and maybe one day play for a national title.

You know, Boise is about a 5-hour drive from Salt Lake City, where Utah plays. See where this is headed?

The idea of Boise State moving to the MWC is far from new. In fact, when TCU joined the Mountain West in 2005, Boise State was vying for that spot.

Rumors and speculation about the Broncos defecting to the MWC sprout up like potatoes in Boise. The latest had Utah Sen. Orin Hatch, who has been on a crusade against the BCS since the Utes did not get a chance to play for the national title last year, trying to broker a move to the MWC by Boise State and fellow MAC members Fresno State and Nevada.

The Mountain West won’t expand unless it helps the league attain an automatic BCS bid by 2012, when all the conferences get evaluated for the period of 2008-11.

Boise State doesn’t have to be in the MWC throughout that entire period for its high rankings to count toward the MWC’s rating if the Broncos were to make the move in say, 2011.

So it might actually be better for the MWC to let Boise State keeping racking up WAC titles and top-10 rankings until the last possible moment, then invite Boise State along for the ride to BCS riches.

Not so fast.

While adding Boise State — and maybe even Fresno State and Nevada — to a lineup with BYU, Utah and TCU would certainly make the MWC stronger, there is no guarantee it makes the league as strong as the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pac-10 or SEC when using the BCS standards.

“My guess is that it’s still not enough,” BCS analyst and numbers-cruncher Jerry Palm said.

Palm said while the top of MWC during the past couple of seasons stacks up well against the other leagues, it still lags behind at the bottom and the middle.

Even with Utah, TCU and BYU having big seasons in 2008, Palm said the average computer rating — using the six used by the BCS — for MWC teams last year was 55.28.

“They have to put up numbers in the 30s and 40s because that’s what these other conferences do,” Palm said. “And they need to do it four years in a row.”

In reality, it might be better for Boise State to stay in the WAC, win 10-12 games every year, hope the Mountain West powers knock each other off and be a BCS buster every few years.

And for the MWC, why add another good team — or two — and make it even tougher for its best teams to go undefeated when the added teams get the conference no closer to the promised land.

Next suggestion?

Just because Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy haven’t been as good as last season, and Sam Bradford is hurt, doesn’t mean college football is lacking worthy Heisman Trophy candidates.

Among the running backs, Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Alabama’s Mark Ingram have been great and Pitt freshman Dion Lewis deserves recognition, too. Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews is quietly leading the nation in rushing and averaging 7.0 yards per run.

Quarterbacks Case Keenum of Houston and Kellen Moore of Boise State are putting up spectacular numbers, Andrew Dalton has been sensational leading TCU and Jimmy Clausen isn’t the reason Notre Dame can’t beat good teams.

Any three of those would fit nicely on a Heisman voter’s ballot.

—The best coach Charlie Weis and Notre Dame can do this season is 8-4 and a Gator Bowl bid. That still leaves Weis no better than a 50-50 shot to be back next season.

—Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville would make an interesting candidate for Louisville if/when it fires Steve Kragthorpe.

—There are still several scenarios — some far from outlandish — that could have Southern California winning the Pac-10’s automatic BCS bid.

No. 11 Oregon can do wonders to clear up the Pac-10 race by beating Arizona in Tucson on Saturday.

Arizona jumps to front-runner status with a victory, but that also helps USC.

Ralph D. Russo covers college football for The Associated Press. Write to him at rrusso(at)ap.org.