It wasn't 100% about breaking into the BCS, or Boise and Hawaii would be in BCS conferences as well, but to say that winning in football in the ERA of great expansion didn't play a factor in which schools got invited to the big boy table is crazy.
Many things went into the decision for the Big 12 to pick up TCU....same thing for the Pac-12 to pick up Utah, but to say that two BCS bowl appearances for each of them wasn't a big factor in that....well, that's nuts.