Links at Lunch: Not So Smurfy in MWC

Media days roll on with today concluding the Mountain West’s event in Las Vegas — coincidentally, on the same day the conference the MWC is likely to kill, the WAC, begins its version. With Boise State already on board and Fresno State, Hawai’i and Nevada on the deck, the MWC may have struck another blow to the buckling WAC. BobcatReport.com is reporting Utah State’s move to the MWC is just a few weeks away. Bobcat Report was the first to report the WAC’s partnership with non-football athletic program UT Arlington last month.

As it takes yet another step toward becoming the sole, non-automatic qualifying conference in the West, the MWC has a marquee match-up in TCU-Boise State. The programs’ three meetings in bowl games over the past eight years makes for a “natural” rivalry, per Chadd Cripe of The Idaho Statesman. There’s no shortage of animosity either, given the conference’s decision to move the game to Boise seemingly as punishment for TCU’s Big East departure.

Animosity will replace all-blue uniforms. ESPN.com’s Andrea Adelson reports that a condition of Boise’s MWC membership was ditching the home camouflage the Broncos sport on the Smurf Turf. Nevertheless, BSU is expected to take the title. New Mexico…not so much.

• 7220 Report breaks down Wyoming’s positioning in preseason all-conference teams and polls. A much-needed theme in Laramie is consistency.
• The Colonial Athletic got its going in Baltimore, broadcast live on ESPN3.com. The CAA’s media day broadcast sets a tone of unprecedented exposure for the powerful FCS league. The CAA race should prove intriguing. William & Mary is the media’s choice to win the crown, but last season’s runner-up Delaware, a likely resurgent Richmond, New Hampshire, James Madison and UMass could all enter the fray. Both links via CAA Football Blog.
• The Pac-12 is winding down in Los Angeles after a successful and well-covered event. The air of uncertainty in the conference can be seen as a positive — many teams appear able to break through into the conference’s upper echelon. Mike Riley has shown an ability to lead Oregon State to unexpected heights, but after a 5-7 lull last year that included a loss to Washington State, will the Beavers rebounds? Beaver Byte examines.
• Pac-12? Mountain West? The SEC cares not about these other conferences. So little is SEC coaches’ apparent regard for the latter, Nick Saban and Les Miles believe Boise State should be denied a bid to the BCS Championsip game if BSU runs the table. (I don’t think anyone bothered to point out BSU would do so with a win over an SEC program should it come to pass). SEC arrogance is warranted, though. The conference routinely attracts the top talent, thus produces the best teams. There’s no secret formula to its success, as Twitter favorite Parrish Walton pointed out to this Gainesville Sun piece. College Football News spotlighted what really makes the SEC great: its player. Here’s the CFN All-SEC team.
• Could Indiana…INDIANA?!…beat out Alabama for one those coveted recruits? Quarterback Gunner Kiel has wittled down his list, and his QB lineage could give Kevin Wilson the inside track. Stay tuned to Hoosier State of Mind for the details.
• Adding top QB recruits could change the landscape of the Big Ten, but in the meantime it remains a conference where running game is king. Michigan State and Wisconsin’s shared title is no coincidence, and if those teams dominate game, it will be from the backfield. Breakdown comes via yours truly at OnsideKick.com.
• Rivals.com reporter Dallas Jackson has an extensive breakdown of some of the best future collegiate talent from last weekend’s Hoover 7-on-7.