Conference Realignment: Boise State Addition Makes Mountain West the New Big 12

With the Big 12 falling, the Mountain West Conference saw its opportunity and grasped it.

Despite earlier in the week claiming that it wasn't looking to add to its conference, today it announced that Boise State will be joining the conference effective July 1, 2011.

What does this mean for the BCS?

They have a new power conference on their hands while another one crumbles.

With the new addition, the MWC will likely replace the Big 12's automatic bid for a BCS bowl.

The conference is loaded with top-25 teams Boise State, TCU, and BYU. Sure it may have its lesser teams, but what conference doesn't?

Two of these teams played against each other in a BCS game last year, and neither has showed signs of letting up anytime soon.

This also poises the MWC to get bids in better bowls. Instead of playing in the Las Vegas Bowl every year, BYU and MWC have better leverage to get themselves into a better bowl against better teams to prove themselves.

It also gives them better leverage to get more bowl bids. With two teams vying for BCS bids every year, better bowls will want to draw in whoever doesn't make the BCS bowl (assuming they only get one—not saying they won't).

Just think of the possibilities. The MWC No. 2 vs. the Pac-16 No. 3 or the Big Ten (or whatever their new name is) No. 3. Those would be great games and would not be looked down upon by the college football crowd.

The MWC did what the Pac-10 did. They saw a crumbling empire and took advantage of the opportunity, only they didn't take half of the conference—just the one that mattered most.