As you no doubt have heard by now, TCU will be leaving the Mountain West for the Big East in 2012.
In recognition of their contributions to the league over the past six years-- and not out of spite at all winkwink nudgenudge -- the Horned Frogs could have their most important home game of the 2011 season stripped away from them.
Speaking to the Idaho Statesman, commissioner Craig Thompson says that his conference’s athletic directors are in favor of the Boise State-TCU game, scheduled to be played in Fort Worth, being moved to Boise. 2011 will be the Broncos’ first season as part of the MWC.
If the TCU game were moved, one of Boise’s other conference home games -- Air Force, New Mexico, Wyoming and San Diego State -- would be switched to an away game.
The Statesman reports that the final decision will be made by the presidents of the member schools, and that it will take a majority vote to change venues. Seeing as TCU does not have a vote in their final year in the league, it’s safe to assume the game, which does not yet have a firm date, will be moved to Boise.
The push to move the game makes sense on some level; Boise State’s results will count toward the MWC’s search for an automatic berth in the BcS, while TCU’s will help the Big East. The thinking, it appears, is that Boise would have an “easier” time taking down a team that will likely start ’11 inside the Top Five at home than on the road.
Still, this is kind of a crappy way to go about it... check that... there’s no “kind of” about it; it’s the dictionary definition of crappy. It’s a juvenile, petty move on the part of a conference that’s already ripped four teams away from the WAC in the last seven months, and could be in the market for a couple more from the crippled conference.
Besides, we tend to think that TCU will not take too kindly to this schoolyard scheduling tactic, and it could very well backfire in the faces of everyone associated with the MWC.
Somehow, we think Lady Karma would approve.