So now Boise St. joins the Mountain West while Utah joins the PAC-10, leaving the Mountain West. That leaves MW with 9 teams and no automatic bid to the BCS bowls. The Utes, on the other hand, now have a direct shot at the BCS.
Added Colorado’s jump to the PAC-10 and Nebraska’s shift to the Big-10 and I think it’s safe to say more changes are on the way. At some point, the Mountain West is going to make a bigger stink that they don’t get an automatic bid to BCS games. Now they can argue it’s cost them a team. If Boise St. is successful within the conference, how long before they decide to jump ship?
I’ve never bought into the notion of a playoff in college football. I think how teams matchup against one another are too important to have a playoff result in a satisfying outcome. The notion that the BCS is better than what it replaced has been shown to be false. The argument has just changed from who was more impressive in their bowl win to how the BCS shorted a team of a better ranking. My prediction for a playoff is people will argue that the best teams met early in the bracket, instead of the championship game.
Of course, the payout will be huge for a playoff. And that’s what will count in the end.