Reports: TCU football leaving Mountain West for Big East

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Published Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 | 7:54 a.m.

Updated Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 | 4:26 p.m.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that TCU will leave the Mountain West Conference and join the Big East Conference.

The move would put the Mountain West football power Horned Frogs in a league with a guaranteed spot in a Bowl Championship Series game.

Undefeated TCU is ranked third nationally in the BCS standings and has a chance to play in the national championship. But the winner of the Mountain West does not automatically qualify for a BCS bowl, which typically pays more than $15 million for the participating team, with other schools in the conference also receiving a share.

For schools such as UNLV in the Mountain West, TCU’s departure is a significant blow. The league appears to have lost its top three teams in Utah (Pac-10), BYU (independent) and now TCU.

The shuffling of conferences started this summer when Utah left to join the Pac-10. However, shortly after, BCS buster Boise State joined the Mountain West from the Western Athletic Conference. Also, in the last two months, Fresno State, Hawaii (football only) and UNR have accepted invitations to join the Mountain West from the WAC.

"There's been so much shuffling around that it's just like another day," UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said at his Monday press conference. "It will be interesting. The landscape always changes. I know it's kind of held for the last 15 years, but it always changes."

Boise State has won two BCS games in the last four years, and teaming with TCU and BYU could have made the Mountain West more appealing to the BCS to potentially earn an automatic bid.

Those aspirations, however, were a long shot — hence why TCU has decided to leave. The school has a press conference scheduled this afternoon to announce the decision.

"I knew they had the opportunity to go and like anything else, there's positives and negatives. It's their choice. Good luck to them."

Here’s the how the Mountain West will look starting in the fall of 2012: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNR, UNLV and Wyoming. Boise State will join the league next season. TCU will likely leave for the 2012 season.