On Mountain High: TCU’s flip-flop is further proof the BCS has to go

It was announced Thursday that TCU was considering, and on the verge of, ditching the Big East and instead joining the Big 12. It is a development that really grinds my gears. There’s an old saying ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game.’ But what do you do when the game is a result of the players in it and the players moves are a result of how the game is played.

Confused? I thought you might be. Let me break it down real quick.

The game is the BCS and the players are the 100-plus FBS athletic departments. Since the inception of the BCS, college football has become a money-driven sport. The revenue generated from reaching one of the six BCS bowls or a securing a rich TV contract has become the main focus of nearly every major college football program. It has become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between switching conferences to better the future of a program, like Boise State did, or switching conferences to make more money, like TCU seemingly is.

We’ve already seen Texas’ Longhorn Network prevent the Pac-12 expanding. When it comes to stabilizing the future of the Big 12, the Longhorn Network is a contentious issue. Independent Notre Dame, which participates in the Big East for all sports other than football, has its own TV contract with NBC that prevents it from joining a conference. Share revenue through a conference TV deal? No thanks. That’s the primary reason BYU chose to leave the Mountain West, to further revenue generated through BYU’s own TV channel.

TCU’s pending decision to not join the Big East, like it previously agreed to prior to the 2011 season, seems like a case of buyer’s remorse. TCU’s plan was to become the ninth football member of the Big East, whose conference champ is guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl at the end of the season. TCU, currently a member of a non-BCS conference, desperately wants the automatic-qualifier status. So much so, that when Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced they were bolting the Big East for the ACC, TCU got cold feet and bailed on the agreement.

In discussing this situation with SaturdayBlitz founder Kyle Kensing, I used the analogy of buying stock in a company, that company tanking, and then the stockholder trying to get all the money back they lost.

Fortunately for TCU, since they weren’t yet Big East members, they aren’t held to the same 27-month exit period as Syracuse and Pittsburgh will be. But, what message does that send to your players and the students at the university. If you agree to something but eventually don’t like what you agreed to, it’s okay to just back out and leave the other party hanging?

In a selfish move to join a BCS conference with slightly better stability, TCU has made it particularly difficult on the future of the Big East, who will now reportedly also seek expansion.

Why though, are all these conferences expanding? Better competition, hardly; More money, definitely.

Every team wants to make it into one of the five BCS conferences. Because of how the system is currently set up, only one non-BCS school is guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl, assuming of course that team is ranked inside the top-12. If you add Conference USA and the Mountain West to the five current BCS conferences, Big East, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac-12, you could have seven automatic bids. Combine those seven teams with the rest of the teams in the top-16 that aren’t conference champs, you’d have a four-week, 16-team playoff to crown the national champion.

This way, the longer a school stays in the tournament, the more money they stand to gain. It becomes more about going through the top-16 teams at the end of the season than simply winning a lot of regular season games and being granted the opportunity to play in one game for the BCS title. The system can still use the four major bowl games, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta as the quarterfinal locations to keep some of the old system.

For all the other teams that don’t make the playoff, keep the same lower-bowl system so those teams can still be rewarded at the end of a good season.

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It’s week six of the college football season and I’m still hovering just under .500 on the season for my picks. With Colorado State and New Mexico having the week off, it’s time I step my game up and get all my picks right. Last week I was 2-3 and am now 13-18 for the season.

Boise State (-21.5) at Fresno St.
Pick: I promise that I have not yet seen the score of the Boise State-Fresno contest that is taking place as I write this column. This is a future Mountain West matchup and I think Fresno is hoping to show Boise State the the WAC still has some talent left. Boise’s offense played well through three quarters last week against Nevada, but if they hope to avoid dropping in the polls after wins, they need to make their victories more convincing. This is the first step.
Boise wins/covers 52-14

Air Force (+14) at Notre Dame
Pick: Last week, Air Force shocked me by jumping out to a big lead in an early game on the East Coast. While they let the lead slip away and eventually won in overtime, I am confident that the Falcons will be able to cover a 14 point spread this week.
Air Force wins/covers 31-21

UNLV (+21.5) at Nevada
Pick: UNLV is clearly at the bottom of the Mountain West and their only conference win this season most likely comes against New Mexico later in the season. That being said, playing against their in-state and soon-to-be conference rivals, I see UNLV stepping it up just a bit this week and covering the spread.
UNLV loses/covers 38-20

Wyoming (+12) at Utah State
Pick: I know that Utah State almost beat Auburn to begin the season and lost a tough contest to Colorado State last week but 12-point favorites over 3-1 Wyoming? I think that’s a tad high, particularly because I expect Wyoming to win this game easily and get one-win closer to becoming bowl eligible.
Wyoming wins/covers 31-27

TCU (-5.5) at San Diego St.
Pick: We all remember last year’s game between these two teams in which the Aztecs nearly pulled off the upset and came five points shy of beating the Horned Frogs. This year, the Aztecs get TCU at home in San Diego with two weeks to prepare. After TCU lost in overtime to SMU last weekend, they can expect a packed house at Qualcomm Saturday night and their third loss of the season.
San Diego St. wins/covers 41-35