anyone venture to guess as to who voted for and against penn st.

how come NFL games still draw well if fans have been losing interest in the sport?? How??? That's a big mystery to me.

As for the NFL, while I'm sure to send this thread WAAAAAAY off topic, have fans lost interest? Believe you me, every baseball-loving journalist will publically count every 0.1 reduction in the TV ratings.

The attendance is rising (odd, because the stadia have been shrinking in some cases). The NFL will probably bust the record again this year.

What we don't know... has the "sports bar culture" grown during the time of declining ratings? Knowing what was in Boise when I first arrived here versus now, the answer is abso-freaking-lutely yes. Going back to my native Portland, I don't recall having a sports station list all the team-specific parties at specific sports bars I'd never heard of when I was living there... but the city itself now seems to have its own vibe. I must hear answers from the crowd here before confirming my larger conclusion... sounds like a new thread in another board, though.

It seems like it reached a peak about 15 years ago before cable had such penetration. But I think you are right in that it is surging back up, maybe with satellite PPV driving it. There are usually 15-20 schools with game watching sites listed in the Houston paper. There is a sports bar near me that is ALWAYS packed.

hey ts2, looks like you have not changed your opinion much about the intermountain west in the months I've been away, lol...

do you ever travel to Salt Lake, Vegas, Denver, Ft Worth, Albuquerque, San Diego, TS2? I've been in five of those six towns over the last four-five years. Its not the sheltered low-populated intermountain west I grew up in in the sixties, lol...

its cutting edge glamorous, favorable economic demographics, desirable marketing territory these days, lol...

8-)

The BCS dictates all expansion moves.

Is Boise going to be able to play itself into the Mountain West? I'm not sure what the BCS conference automatic qualifier rules are but Boise is well on its way toward meeting those standards.

Could Boise be enough to put the MWC over the top?

Boise will make a bcs bowl this year, but unless the ncaa gives the mwc an automatic bid with boise, they arent a good expansion candidate. The MWC should add good market teams.

The rule for qualification of a non-BCS school is:

1. It qualifies for an automatic bid if it is ranked in the top 12 & is the highest ranked non-BCS conference champion. Boise State is currently ranked #15 by the BCS formula.

2. It qualifies for an anutomatic bid if it is ranked in the top 16 AND is ranked highe than at least one BCS conference champion AND is the highest ranked non-BCS conference champion. Right now Boston College leads the ACC & is ranked #17 by the BCS formula. So, if the season ended today, Boise State would receive an automatic BCS bid.

3. Any team that finishes in the top 14 is BCS bowl eligible & MAY be selected as an at-large team. Right now Boise State is not BCS bowl eligible under this provision. Eveh if they could move up into the top 14 by season's end, I do not see a BCS bowl selecting them over a team that would bring higher TV ratings. However, if Boise State remains unbeaten as is likely & is BCS bowl eligible, I think that there would be tremendous pressure on the BCS to find a way to include them. After all, the BCS expanded to 5 bowls for this very situation - to provide access for outstanding bowl-worthy teams from among those conferences that were not prviously eligible. It would be very interesting to see what happens.

Boise State's toughest games are behind them. It will be very difficult for them to move up in the rankings, given their remaining strength of schedule & it will not be difficult for schools ranked lower like BC to jump over them. I do not think that Boise State will make it to a BCS bowl this year as either an automatic or an at-large selection.

Could Boise State put the Mountain West over the top? Probably not any more than Marshall would have been the ticket to save the Big East a few years ago.

My question was asking more to the effect what are the automatic qualification rules for conference. What does a conference need to do to be classified a BCS conference? I think they are looking at a 4 year rolling average of how well a conference performs (04',05',06',07').

In 2004, Utah and Boise had big years. In 2005, TCU had a big year. In 2006, Boise State again had a big year. The MWC seems to be close in terms of overall league strength to command a BCS bid. Would a good year by the Mountain in 2007, plus Boise State runs be enough for this conference to get into the BCS?

There is a lot of football to be played this season, and if Boise continues to win, they should make a BCS game. They are already rated above any ACC team and elgible with few challenges remaining on the schedule.

I dont think the mwc will ever get a bcs bid, because of lack of fan support, and large markets. They will always be the best non-bcs conference and challenge for a spot most years.

Article in today's Denver paper regarding whether the MWC will be able to earn an automatic BCS berth.Doesn't discuss possible MWC expansion,but does discuss current problems with the MWC channel.
Link at http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_4583124

I wonder how long BSU will continue to have a top FB program now that Dan Hawkins is gone? If it drops back, BSU will not be much of an asset to the MWC. Same situation with UTEP if and when Price leaves. UTEP, moreover, doesn't seem to be interested in the MWC.

There are no qualifying criteria. This is a voluntary consortium of members. In the past they have said that a conference must have an average BCS ranking of #12 or higher for its highest ranking teams over a 4-year period. If not, then this would trigger a review to evaluate their standing. However, they haave dropped this as a cut & dried criterion & have added that they will evaluate conferences top to bottom as well as looking at the performance of their top teams.

all of these criteria are to evaluate present members for automatic bids. They have nothing explicit about evaluating new
candidates. I imagine that a lot of things come into play - not the least of which would be who the bowls find to be acceptable invitees.

Friarfan wrote: "There are no qualifying criteria."

This is not correct. The criteria for automatic qualification for 2008 and 2009 from the BCS website are set forth below. I have done a calculation of the three criteria for 2004 through 2006 and the Big East appears safely in the pack with the other BCS conferences. Another top 10 finish for its champion in 2007 plus at least one other top 25 school would seal the deal for 2 more years (Hopefully we'll do even better as 2007 will also be in the rolling average for 2010 and beyond). The MWC is not even close. If they dropped UNLV (3 consecutive last place finishes) and picked up Boise, they would move well clear of the other mid majors, but would still be further behind the Big East than the Big East is from being the overall number one conference for 2004-2006.

Here are the criteria:

Conference Automatic Qualification in Future

Mathematical standards of performance will be applied to determine the number of conferences whose champions will automatically qualify for a BCS game after the 2008 and 2009 regular seasons. The champions of no fewer than five conferences and no more than seven conferences will have annual automatic berths in the BCS bowl games.

The standards will be based on results from the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 regular seasons, using institutions that are members of the conferences during the 2007 season.

The data will include the following for each conference (1) the ranking of the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings each year, (2) the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year and (3) the number of teams in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each year.

Conference agreements with bowls will continue. The Pac-10 and Big Ten champions will host the Rose Bowl if their teams are not in the BCS national championship game. Likewise, the Southeastern Conference champion will host the Sugar Bowl, ACC champion will host the Orange Bowl and Big 12 champion will host the Fiesta Bowl.