TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte deemed it “not appropriate” that the Mountain West was considering shifting his school’s home game with Boise State from Fort Worth to Boise in 2011.
Today, a really bad word may need to be inserted between “not” and “appropriate” to fully express what the Horned Frogs are feeling this evening.
According to a press release issued by the conference, the Mountain West has indeed stripped the home game away from TCU and given it to new arrival Boise State. It won’t be an extra home game for the Broncos, however, as their game against San Diego State has been moved to the Aztecs’ stadium.
Still, what figures to be Boise State’s toughest test of the 2011 season -- no offense, Georgia -- will now be contested on the blue turf instead of on the road.
“After carefully considering all sides of the issue, the MWC Board of Directors decided to implement the change in the 2011 football schedule as had been recommended by the athletics directors. TCU will now play at Boise State, while Boise State’s contest with San Diego State will be played in San Diego. The Board felt the change was in the best interest of the Mountain West Conference and would help address current and future scheduling concerns created by the new set of circumstances which stemmed from another change in membership.”
While I fully understand the motivation behind it -- “easier” game for the Broncos that could help in their bid for AQ status -- it’s still a classless and bush-league maneuver by the conference. Of course, given how the system currently operates, I guess the conference doesn’t have much choice but to crawl down in the gutter and wallow around in the BcS’ level of sewage in the hopes of earning an automatic bid.