Idaho board gives Boise State OK to join Big East

The Idaho State Board of Education has given Boise State permission to pursue membership with the Big East Conference, a move that would mean more revenue and give the Broncos a clear path to the Bowl Championship Series.

The board voted 7-1 Thursday to give school president Bob Kustra the authority to move Boise State’s football program out of the Mountain West Conference and into the Big East for the 2013 season.

Kustra has had ongoing discussions with Big East representatives, including during a campus visit by conference leaders last week. Boise State has not yet received a formal invitation to join, but Kustra told trustees he expects one to come in the next few days.

This week, Big East presidents met in Philadelphia and signed off on a plan to add more teams to a conference hit by the defections of prominent schools Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia. To offset those losses, the league is looking to add Boise State, Navy and Air Force for football only, and SMU, Houston and Central Florida for all sports.

But Boise State’s entry into the Big East carries a caveat.

Kustra told the state board — and board members agreed — that formation of a Western division is essential to bringing Boise State into the conference. Kustra suggested that SMU, Houston, Air Force and one other western school could make up that division.

WHITE HOUSE UNLIKELY TO CHALLENGE BCS

The head of the Bowl Championship Series told college and university presidents that the Obama administration was unlikely to challenge the legality of its selection process — and argued that even if the system were to be found illegal, so would a playoff.

Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, made the assurance in a Feb. 4, 2010, memo to the group’s presidential oversight committee after the Obama administration said it was considering several steps to review the legality of the BCS. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo from a state open records request filed with Western Kentucky University, whose president, Gary Ransdell, serves on the oversight committee.

Critics and playoff proponents who have urged the Justice Department to investigate the BCS contend it unfairly gives some schools preferential access to the title game and other premier bowls – along with the money that comes with access. Under the BCS, the champions of six conferences have automatic bids to play in top-tier bowl games; the other five conferences don’t.

Florida State 38, at Boston College 7: EJ Manuel threw for one touchdown and ran for another as the Seminoles opened a 28-point halftime lead and coasted over the Eagles. With their fourth straight win, Florida State (6-3 overall, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) qualified for a bowl game for an NCAA-best 30th consecutive year.

Boston College (2-7, 1-5), which had gone to a bowl game for 12 straight years, was eliminated from bowl contention.