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Mountain West pushing for BCS change
January 26, 2009 3:50 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
The Mountain West is angling for an automatic BCS bid.
It's something that has been talked about since Utah defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but now people who could elicit change are discussing the possibility.
According to USA Today, Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson and the presidents and chancellors of the nine members of the Mountain West Conference had a meeting in early January to discuss the prospect of pushing for immediate automatic qualification as a BCS conference. Thompson is expected to sit down with Atlantic Coast commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility.
It's probably not reasonable to think that the Mountain West will gain automatic qualifying status for the 2009 season. Even the article states that all of the conferences, including the Mountain West, agreed to the current BCS system.
However, this is definitely a step toward pushing for automatic qualification in 2012, after the four-year evaluation period ends.
As I wrote in an earlier post, the BCS is in the midst of a four-year evaluation to determine whether another conference is worthy of an automatic BCS bid or whether there are conferences that don't deserve to have them. Currently, six conferences have automatic BCS bids and BCS rules stipulate that no more than seven conferences will have automatic entrance.
The Mountain West has taken a huge lead in this race, and if history is any indication, it won't be relinquishing that lead any time soon. The Mountain West has had at least one team with double digit wins in every season except 1999, the first year of the conference. And since 2006, the conference has boasted at least three teams with nine or more wins.
This year, the Mountain West had three teams finish in the AP Top 25, which is as many as the Pac-10 and the ACC, and more than the Big East.
The one concern with the Mountain West, at least at this stage, would be parity within the conference. For the past few years, the conference has been dominated by Utah, BYU and TCU. While Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico have shown flashes of being competitive, those teams, along with Wyoming, UNLV, and San Diego State, will have to pick up the slack to keep the Mountain West competitive.
In all fairness, the Mountain West was one of six conferences to not have more than one team with fewer than four wins this season (San Diego State).
To show the Mountain West isn't taking its bid for automatic qualification lightly, it has put together some of the fiercest nonconference schedules -- as a conference -- in the entire non-BCS and perhaps the country. Every team in the Mountain West has at least one BCS opponent on their schedule, six of those teams were raked in the AP's final Top 25, and four of the nine teams have two BCS opponents, mostly from the Big 12. Each team also has scheduled a high-level team from a non-BCS conference.
There is no doubt the conference as a whole is making a push for this bid and the rest of the nation is sitting up and taking notice. From the various articles written about Utah having a chance at the national title to calls for legislation to change the BCS being brought to Washington. The Mountain West is spearheading a movement that could bring about radical change in college football.
January 26, 2009 3:50 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
The Mountain West is angling for an automatic BCS bid.
It's something that has been talked about since Utah defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but now people who could elicit change are discussing the possibility.
According to USA Today, Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson and the presidents and chancellors of the nine members of the Mountain West Conference had a meeting in early January to discuss the prospect of pushing for immediate automatic qualification as a BCS conference. Thompson is expected to sit down with Atlantic Coast commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford in the coming weeks to discuss the possibility.
It's probably not reasonable to think that the Mountain West will gain automatic qualifying status for the 2009 season. Even the article states that all of the conferences, including the Mountain West, agreed to the current BCS system.
However, this is definitely a step toward pushing for automatic qualification in 2012, after the four-year evaluation period ends.
As I wrote in an earlier post, the BCS is in the midst of a four-year evaluation to determine whether another conference is worthy of an automatic BCS bid or whether there are conferences that don't deserve to have them. Currently, six conferences have automatic BCS bids and BCS rules stipulate that no more than seven conferences will have automatic entrance.
The Mountain West has taken a huge lead in this race, and if history is any indication, it won't be relinquishing that lead any time soon. The Mountain West has had at least one team with double digit wins in every season except 1999, the first year of the conference. And since 2006, the conference has boasted at least three teams with nine or more wins.
This year, the Mountain West had three teams finish in the AP Top 25, which is as many as the Pac-10 and the ACC, and more than the Big East.
The one concern with the Mountain West, at least at this stage, would be parity within the conference. For the past few years, the conference has been dominated by Utah, BYU and TCU. While Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico have shown flashes of being competitive, those teams, along with Wyoming, UNLV, and San Diego State, will have to pick up the slack to keep the Mountain West competitive.
In all fairness, the Mountain West was one of six conferences to not have more than one team with fewer than four wins this season (San Diego State).
To show the Mountain West isn't taking its bid for automatic qualification lightly, it has put together some of the fiercest nonconference schedules -- as a conference -- in the entire non-BCS and perhaps the country. Every team in the Mountain West has at least one BCS opponent on their schedule, six of those teams were raked in the AP's final Top 25, and four of the nine teams have two BCS opponents, mostly from the Big 12. Each team also has scheduled a high-level team from a non-BCS conference.
There is no doubt the conference as a whole is making a push for this bid and the rest of the nation is sitting up and taking notice. From the various articles written about Utah having a chance at the national title to calls for legislation to change the BCS being brought to Washington. The Mountain West is spearheading a movement that could bring about radical change in college football.
I for one am for it. Did you see Utah, BYU, and TCU this year they could probably beat any team in the country on a good day. Plus Air Force, New Mexico and CSU always have their years. Plus Fairchild is doing a good job at CSU so expect them to turn heads in the upcoming years.
Plus this confrence actually puts hard opponets on their schedule. They put big BCS schools ar etheir schedule and do quiet well. I believe their overall record beat the PAC-10. The mountain west was better than the PAC-10 this past year.
SO I APPROVE THIS Petition :salute!:
i'll be at CSU the year they become BCS! 
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