The Mountain West Conference announced on Tuesday that TCU’s home game with Boise State next season will be moved from Fort Worth to Boise.
In what can only be considered a retaliatory move against the Horned Frogs after announcing their intent to join the Big East Conference in 2012, the conference Board of Directors decided that moving the scheduled home game to Boise was “in the best interest of the Mountain West Conference.”
The MWC Board of Directors didn’t see the need to move any of Utah’s home games after the Utes announced their decision to join what will become the Pac-12 Conference.
Had the conference moved one of Utah’s home games this past season using the same reasoning, or rather the same fallacious excuse, their decision to move TCU’s home game to Boise would have at least had a precedent to fall back on.
But the Mountain West is beginning to see what was once a somewhat respectable conference fall apart and they want to take out their frustrations on TCU.
The realities of college football lead Utah and TCU to make decisions they felt were in the best interests of their programs. As such, if both schools wanted to improve their position within the BCS framework, they had to leave the Mountain West to make that happen.
Even with Boise State set to join the Mountain West it will remain a second tier conference, perhaps even more so now that Utah and TCU will be leaving.
But rest assured the MWC will continue to be a thorn in everyone’s side.
As we reported on Wednesday, the law firm Arent Fox – legal counsel to Boise State and the Mountain West – filed a 28-page report outlining what they believe are reasons why the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate the BCS for violations of antitrust laws.
The decision to forcibly move TCU’s home game to Boise will not only fail in the court of public opinion, it will potentially cause harm to the Broncos and the conference as a whole.
TCU will have a strong team returning next season and will most certainly be well motivated when they arrive in Boise. The Horned Frogs will want to send a message to the Mountain West, and Boise State will be bear the brunt of the conference’s ill-advised decision.
Considering how difficult it is for the Mountain West to earn a BCS bowl berth, moving a home game for one of the two teams that have the best chance to capture a major bowl bid for no other reason than spite is doomed to fail.
The Mountain West needs to stop acting like the dumbest kid in the class who thinks they deserve a gold star.
