Boise State football has recently been caught up in the national sports buzz; getting snubbed for a Sugar Bowl bid by 2010 foe Virginia Tech and Head Coach Chris Petersen ripping the BCS in a recent press conference which made ESPN headlines. Now there is another addition to the Bronco plate of commotion: we’re packing our bags and heading east.

The Big East Conference  has confirmed and announced the additions of Boise State University and San Diego State University as football-only members, and Southern Methodist University, University of Houston and University of Central Florida for all sports. As for the other sports at Boise State, the Broncos will be heading back to their old home in the Western Athletic Conference, while the San Diego State Aztecs will be taking their talents to the Big West. All five schools will make the transition into the conference for the 2013 season, in which the Big East will still have an automatic-qualifying bid to the BCS bowls.

This story has spread like wildfire throughout campus and has been a trending topic on Twitter and Facebook. Boise State and conference realignment have been hand-in-hand since 2006, when the Mountain West did not bring them in with TCU. This will be Boise State’s third home in five years, and with all the commotion and issues that have surfaced, it’s honestly the best thing for our school.

Let’s start off with the issues at hand. First, keeping Coach Pete satisfied. It’s obvious he’s shown some disdain toward the current workings of college football, and with no real answer on the status of AQ post-2014, this is an immediate solution. Boise State will have the opportunity to compete in a conference championship, in which the winner would head to the Orange Bowl, at least for two more years. No more chatter about what could’ve been or what should’ve happened—Boise State will have it’s glimpse at being an AQ school.

Next, the exponential increase in money is impossible to ignore. The Mountain West pays Boise State a little under $1.5 million annually to broadcast it’s games,.The T.V. contract for the Big East dishes out $6.5 million annually. For a school that is not only looking to improve its athletic (cue stadium expansion and football complex) and academic facilities, it’s hard to say no to those numbers.

This conference realignment also opens the floodgates in national recruiting and, with Boise State joining the Big East, could influence even more recruits to entertain the Broncos as a viable option for their playing careers.

All of those, along with a bit of steeper competition, increased national attention and viewership and the hopes of saving a once-promised conference can benefit Boise State University with such a giant move.

Flying for games would be not much different than it is now, as the Big East plans to make a western division with BSU, SDSU, SMU, Houston and Louisville, so most games would be centered around the midwest-western regions, and it’s hard to peg whether the Big East will be an AQ conference in a couple of years.

However, it’s the crucial move Boise State had to make in legitimizing an on-the-rise football program.