Big 12 Expansion: Why NOT Boise State

Nestled safely in the hills of the bustling Idaho metropolis, Boise State brings a lot to the table in talks of Big 12 EXPANSIONPALOOZA! When I first thought of adding Boise State to the conference, I immediately asked if Thad Castle was still playing and wanted to know if the Mountain Goats were ready to compete in a P5 conference. Turns out Blue Mountain State is NOT the same thing as Boise State and my world has been turned upside down.

The national talk about Boise State joining the Big 12 has been pretty much solidified as a "not terrible" option. The athletics budget has been brought up more than once. A school that thinks having a blue turf is a great idea has been brought up more than once. A school that takes way too long to travel to has been brought up more than once. While these are concerns, they aren't worthy of discussing like the rational adults we claim to be.

What is the point of adding Boise State to our club? We would all be blinded by blue and KU would suffer from sheer confusion at road games of which color combination out of 800 to wear. The team is basically another version of the Denver Broncos, aka the worst team on this planet, and it's inexcusable to rip off their colors AND mascot! Wait, you mean Denver stole from them? Yikes, of course they did.

Yeah, okay, they're good

Of course the fan base of the distinguished Boise State Broncos want in on this P5 conference as the Big 12 is a hot commodity right now. Boise State has been the nation’s sweetheart in multiple years when we all wanted to root for the underdog, especially in 2007 against the mighty Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. The Broncos also trampled (kinda) TCU in the Fiesta Bowl a few years later and, unlike some Big 12 schools, they have a record of 3-0 in the Fiesta. Yes, our very own Kansas State is 1-2 when it comes time to the Fiesta Bowl.

The fans are passionate, dedicated and loyal and it would just be awful to add that to the Big 12. We need people we can hate and people we can truly despise as fans in order to grow more rivalries in our conference.

Travel DOES matter, you know

If we added BYU and Boise State, could we just have them play each other for the first part of the year until a team from our conference could arrive in their part of the world? Seems rational to me. Boise State would be a great addition to our athletic programs in the Big 12 and would be a perfect fit if things like teleporting existed already. Boise State is really far away. From the closest option of Manhattan, Kansas you will have a 1,300 mile journey.

We’ve already discussed how far the distance of BYU to WVU is and how we are basically trying to alienate Bob Huggins by adding anyone THAT far west. 2,100+ mile journey for West Virginia, which would be an expensive and almost nine hour trip by airplane for the fans, taking into account connections and layovers. I already am tired just thinking of traveling THAT long and arriving in some place like Boise. Do you know where else you could go for nine hours of traveling by plane? Cancun. You could be in Cancun on the beach and enjoying an all inclusive resort instead of spending a weekend in Boise.

My eyes

That blue field is the worst thing I’ve seen. Possibly the worst thing in all of college football. They paved the way for other idiot teams to add colors to the field to distract from the actual game and gain a competitive edge? I have no idea why this is a thing. The only thing that Boise State has ranked in consistently for years is ugliest football field ever. Does BSU realize that being voted "most unique field" is another way of saying "most ridiculous and obnoxious thing we’ve ever seen" in a more polite manner? Either way, the smurf turf can stay in the Mountain West.

Boise State does not have a well rounded athletic program. With 20 athletic teams, 12 women’s and 8 men’s, the school has a lot to be desired when it comes to other sports besides football. One cool thing the Boise State men’s basketball program has in common with Kansas State? Both lost the first time they played La Salle in the NCAA Tournament! How neat is that! While the Boise State men’s program is on the up and up, they aren’t exactly equipped to keep up with the annual powerhouse that is Big 12 basketball. They don’t even have baseball to compete with the rest of the Big 12. Outside of football, Boise State looks less and less appealing the more you dive into their athletics program. Add that issue to the athletic budget being 64th in the nation and would roll in last in the Big 12, I don’t see Boise State being a feasible option -- and unlike certain other schools, no multinational corporation seems to be standing around with their checkbook open.

Sadly Boise State just will not be a feasible option for most of the Big 12 schools, and taking on such a remote location as an expansion team would be a very bad move on the conference’s part. We would spend more time traveling to and from then we would actually staying there. Boise State needs us more than we need them. Unless we add Cincinnati as a pairing for West Virginia’s location, I don’t see us moving this far west with the expansion.