Boise State Confirms Move Back to NCR
Boise State Confirms Move Back to NCR
Boise State University's men's team has confirmed that they will be re-joining NCR this coming season after a year off.
The move brings up a continuing issue for teams in various parts of the country—who can you play?
Certainly the NCR-USA Rugby split makes that discussion even more difficult, but geographic isolation is a real thing regardless.
For Boise State, according to their leadership, travel was a massive issue for them, and playing an NCR independent schedule will allow the Broncos to be a little more flexible with their schedule.
However, the move also requires them to complete their 15s championship schedule in the fall, as that's how NCR rolls. That won't be a massive scheduling hardship for BSU as classes begin in August for them, so they should have something in the order of eight or nine weekends in which to complete a schedule before D1AA playoffs begin.
This past season, playing on the road west of the Cascade Mountains was a challenge for the Broncos.
At home they beat Utah State, Sacramento State, and Utah in non-conference games. They beat Oregon State in a league match and Western Washington as well (although by that point WWU had clinched the conference title and were in a playoff game a week later). They also got a forfeit win over a University of Oregon. Overall, against NCRC opposition, at home their average score was 42-13 (in BSU's favor) and away was 18-37.
A more local schedule should help even that out.
