shake-up

for my west virginia mountaineers, it's come down to this: a big east conference lunging to the west for the hope of keeping open its bid to play for national championships.

for a few hours after the league held probably its most important powwow, i actually got caught up in the hand-wringing: who would give a rat's ass about this frankenstein's monster of a conference?

but if it gets pulled off? boise state adds consequential wins, southern methodist and houston give us texas and strong programs, air force and navy give tradition and prestige.

don't let the door hit you on the way out, syracuse and pitt.

every conference has its bell cows and bottom feeders. this one would be no different.

after the top two, at the very least, the league would be competitive in and outside the conference.

and for what it's worth -- big east supporters in general and wvu fans in particular are going to have to get over this self-loathing that they believe only membership in a traditional -- read: southeastern -- conference will validate a program.

wvu fans need to channel their inner stuart smalley: we're good enough, we're strong enough, and, doggone it, people like us.

after the better part of five years being belittled for its cupcake teams in the western athletic conference, boise state, now in the mountain west, has bloodied the noses of the sec, acc and pac 12.

they've garnered so much respect that they're now seen as the last, best hope for saving the automatic bcs berth of the big east.

(and if all this comes to pass, we'll see how well the broncos will handle a schedule that promises a little more challenge, as well. the battle for standard bearer could become a lot more interesting.)