Boise State moves closer to joining Big East

Boise State's potential move out of the Mountain West to the Big East Conference appears much closer after the Idaho State Board of Education on Thursday gave university president Bob Kustra permission to move forward.

The next question for the Mountain West is whether Air Force will follow Boise State to the Big East.

The Big East is expected tcheap jerseys from chinao extend invitations to six schools: Boise State, Air Force and Navy for football only, and Houston, SMU and Central Florida for all sports, possibly as soon as today.

David Cannon, director of public affairs at the Air Force Academy, said Thursday there has been no contact with Big East officials since a meeting in Colorado Springs more than a week ago.

Boise State is in its first year competing in the Mountain West. Its loss would further weaken a league that lost Utah (Pac-12) and BYU (independewholesale jerseys free shippingnt) this year and is losing TCU (Big 12) after this school year.

A move by Boise State to the Big East would give the powerhouse football program a clear path to the Bowl Championship Series. The Big East is an automatic-qualifying league, whereas the MW is not. For weeks, the Big East has been courting several teams to shore up its dwindling membership that has dropped to five football schools. Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are leaving the conference.

Kustra indicated the final decision for Boise State could hinge on the Big East's ability to add a western segment to the conference iCheap NFL Jerseysn order to have two, six-team divisions and a championship game. Officials at BYU confirmed there have been discussions with the Big East.

In Colorado Springs, MW commissioner Craig Thompson said a meeting is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday with representatives from the MW and Conference USA to work on details about how the coalition will work between the two conferences in football. However, the prospects of losing five teams that are in the coalition — Boise State, Air Force, Houston, SMU and Central Florida — hangs over the meeting.

"My goal is to have both Boise State and Air Force remain in our conference," Thompson said. "Everybody has their own timelines, but I wish we all could take a deep breath and make these decisions when the football season has been completed."