SCRATCH THE MOUNTAIN WEST TO BECOME A BCS CONFERENCE; UTAH BOLTING FOR THE PAC-10

Last week Boise State joined the Mountain West Conference and in my head I thought with the ten teams now in the conference they should get an automatic BCS bowl bid. Scratch that thought. The Utah Utes are expected to accept an invitation to become the 12th team in the new PAC-10 in what we now be a two division split.

With Utah expected to become the Pac-10's 12th team Thursday, the question arises: How will the conference split up its divisions?
Most likely, new additions Colorado and Utah will play in a southern division with Arizona, Arizona State, USC and UCLA.

This is of course is great news for the Utes. They have won two BCS bowl games to finish off two undefeated seasons and they could have a chance to compete right away for a PAC-10 title. With the USC sanctions look out for the Utes in 2012. They will earn a shitload more money and get a ton of exposure in a BCS Conference. Maybe even compete for a National Title.

This royally sucks for the Mountain West Conference. They will look to add another program but replacing Utah will be tough. They were well on their way to being a legit football conference but now you have to wonder if the Big 12 will now try to pry away TCU from them. Losing TCU and Utah would make the conference bad. I'm talking Big East bad.



Tune in tomorrow for the latest domino effect.


Photo courtesy of AP/Dave Martin