M
MarsFrom San Diego:
" "I think we're going to be stronger than we were. We've kept the Utah market (BYU) and added Boise State, which, in the BCS formula, is a better value than Utah... if you look at it from a BCS standpoint, we're stronger. "
From New Mexico:
" "The Utes aren't gone yet; they'll compete in the Mountain West Conference during the 2010-11 academic year before relocating to their new, swankier digs in the Pac-10. But I choose to start missing them now, in hopes that, when September 2011 comes around, I'll barely remember what it was like to have the University of Utah in the Mountain West. To quote Fred Gwynne, sort of, from the movie "My Cousin Vinny" -- What's a Ute? That's the attitude, in fact, going forward, that the Mountain West needs -- not anger or jealousy directed at Utah, which only did what any MWC school would if it could, but a healthy dose of who needs 'em. Since the MWC ain't gonna have 'em, it might as well not need 'em." "
And here MWC Commish Craig Thompson talks about how much he loves Colorado and how they were always too good for the MWC, and CSU and Air Force's head coaches talk about their conference's BCS quest: http://www.dailycamera.com/top-sports/ci_15416193
I've also read about the ideas of the last game of the regular season in the state being BYU-Boise State and Utah-Colorado every year in football, both in the article above and in the Idaho Statesman. I think BYU gets the more intense rivalry there, by a factor of about 5x...