From Deseret News archives:
There's no easy answer to Boise State's bowl issue
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.
"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.
