From Deseret News archives:

There's no easy answer to Boise State's bowl issue

Published: Friday, Nov. 28, 2008 12:36 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
BOISE — When the WAC athletic directors meet Tuesday to discuss bowl opportunities for the league's football teams, the group likely will face a daunting choice.

Send Boise State to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego to face No. 14 TCU — a decision that is a no-brainer on many levels but could put the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl's long-term future in doubt.

Or force Boise State to stay home and play in the Humanitarian Bowl against an Atlantic Coast Conference team like Wake Forest — depriving the league's dominant football program of one of the best bowl opportunities it has ever had.

The decision will be made by a panel of five — the athletic directors at Idaho, New Mexico State, Utah State and Hawaii and WAC commissioner Karl Benson. The athletic directors represent three schools that aren't bowl-eligible and one school with a concrete tie-in (Hawaii to the Hawaii Bowl). Their decisions must be approved by the WAC board of directors, which consists of the nine school presidents. The league decides on bowl berths because the schools share the revenue and expenses.

Story continues below
"I'm going in very open-minded," said Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan, who was the executive director of the Hawaii Bowl when the Broncos played there last year. "To me, economics are an issue, along with geography and competitiveness. Those are the major issues when you look at where we're going to slot teams."

The No. 9 Broncos (11-0, 7-0 WAC) wrap up their regular season today at sold-out Bronco Stadium against Fresno State (4 p.m. MST, ESPN2). Coach Chris Petersen says he doesn't want to talk about bowls until after that game, but it's obvious the Poinsettia Bowl would be an attractive choice.

Consider: The Dec. 23 Poinsettia is played in Southern California, the Broncos' prime recruiting base and home to nearly half of their players. Players could make it home for Christmas Eve with ease and their families could travel cheaply to the game. Boise State has not played a football game in Southern California since a 1999 game at UCLA.

The opponent, almost certainly TCU (BYU is still a slight possibility), is located in Texas — a state the Broncos are turning into a source of top-end talent.

TCU would be the highest-ranked opponent available and the game would quickly become one of the best five or six bowl matchups of the year. The Broncos played ranked opponents in bowl games after winning each of their past four WAC titles.

And unlike last year's Hawaii Bowl trip, Broncos fans likely would follow the team to San Diego in droves. It's a reasonably close, reasonably priced warm-weather destination.

Recent comments

To correct the record here, BSU has not lost to a MWC since they have...

BTBronco | Dec. 19, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.

"I agree with your comments Jessica. I lived in Northern Idaho for...

BSU#1 | Dec. 9, 2008 at 5:38 p.m.

The Utes would beat Boise State by at least 17 points. BSU had to...

Enough! | Dec. 1, 2008 at 1:44 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

what apology? that was an excuse....

First off, I've heard lots of Ute fans dispute Max's story about his family....

I for one am grateful for the Police. They are there to protect us all. If...

Utes won't respond to Hall

Gee Kyle, you are so statesman like. You were just as silent last year when...

Utes won't respond to Hall

P.S. The cheerleader was a guy and kinda beat the fan down lol

Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal

OK, he shouldn't have said it, but so what??? It's a rivalry and both sides...

If Kyle or Mr Hill had any CLASS they would send a public appology to Max and...

Clearly, Max Hall made a mistake in his comments. It was a bad mistake and...

Once and for all people, there is NO BEER sold as RES. Stop saying you keep...

Max Hall issues apology

Max did nothing other than tell the truth. It's a sad state of affairs. But...

Advertisements