I've posted fan posts at Cal Golden Blogs and Maize n Brew [the latter of which moved me up to the front page (thanks Maize n Brew Dave!)] on establishing a new out-of-conference rivalry with another BCS team.  I'm not a Buffaloes fan, but I think you already have a rivalry with Colorado St., Nebraska, and probably any school from Texas since everyone hates the state of Texas.  The goal is to boost interest, publicity, rankings, recruiting, etc instead of throwing down $55 to watch Louisiana Tech play for about 5 minutes.  The general consensus is that establishing a rivalry with ranked non-BCS schools (like Boise St.) isn't as good as establishing a rivalry with an established BCS school regardless of ranking.   Here's what I wrote about Colorado-Cal rivalry:

Cal vs. Colorado.  These guys are lined up to play in 2010 at Berkeley so we have some precedence developing.  These schools are geographically closer to one another.  It is easy to get an affordable flight to Denver and Boulder isn’t too far from the airport.  Hell, driving or taking the train isn’t that bad.  Especially with "road sodas."  I think they are the closest BCS school outside of the Pac-10.  Colorado is down in the Big 12 but certainly could be back up on top if it can figure out how to out-recruit Big 12 South teams (sounds like Cal and $C to me).  I believe Colorado has passionate Buffs fans.  They have one of the coolest traditions in all of sports: "Ralphie," a 1300-lb bison, runs out onto the field with 5 students guiding her with ropes and 6 others flanking her without ropes.  I’m thinking Ralphie can do what she wants to do and 5 students with ropes aren’t going to slow her down.  In some aspects, the greater Denver metro area is like CA.  They differ in politics and diversity; CO is a swing state and lacks non-Caucasians while CA is very diverse and votes Democratic.  Berkeley and Boulder areas attract more "intelligent people" than other regions of their state.  Colorado was the top out-of-state school chosen by members of my high school class.  The main drawback is that the Buffs are down; Colorado was 6-6 last year and lost to ‘Bama in the Independence Bowl.  However, programs cycle up and down and Colorado certainly has the potential to rebound.

One could argue a school like Colorado has not enjoyed the same success since the Southwest Conference essentially made the Big 12 South.  Perhaps this could help strengthen recruiting ties throughout the West.

Some people have suggested a neutral site rivalry game in LA somewhere to help tap into fUCLA and U$C recruiting pools.  That would benefit both of us.

What do Ralphie Report bloggers think?  I appreciate any comments or critiques.  Thanks to the chief bloggers for letting me post here!