Mountain West seeks auto BCS bid

[Da Bomb]

Boy these guys are awfully optimistic. One really good year for the teams at the top, and now the Mountain West thinks they should get an auto BCS bid every year just like the other top conferences? These guys have absolutely NO chance of this happening if you ask me.

Report: Mountain West Conference seeks automatic BCS bid - ESPN

 

[The Ram]

I am preparing my defense of this proposal but off the top of my head the Mountain West has had more than a "few good years". More to follow.

 

[Da Bomb]

this was obviously an awesome year for the conference, and i know utah had the other great year awhile back under urban meyer.

im sure theres been some pretty good tcu and byu teams over the years as well, but the bottom half of the conference consistently blows, and these teams have not consistently played and beat other "real" bcs teams in nonconference play, so i dont see how they can really claim a stake.

 

[The Ram]

If the Big East, consisting of:
Cinci
Pitt
West Virginia
Rutgers
U Conn
USF
Louisville
Syracuse

can be considered a legitimate BCS league than the Mountain West consisting of four teams (Utah, BYU, TCU and until recently CSU) that have consistently ranked or beaten ranked teams every year for a decade must be also thought of as a legitimate BCS league.

this was obviously an awesome year for the conference, and i know utah had the other great year awhile back under urban meyer.

im sure theres been some pretty good tcu and byu teams over the years as well, but the bottom half of the conference consistently blows, and these teams have not consistently played and beat other "real" bcs teams in nonconference play, so i dont see how they can really claim a stake.

The same can be said for the Big East and the ACC. This year TCU beat Boise State who I can assume you can consider a legit team. Alabama held the #1 spot in the nation prior to losing to the eventual National Champ and they were beaten soundly by Utah. CSU beat Fresno State who was ranked as high as #15 this season. I'm not saying the MTN West should replace the SEC or Big 12. But the if the Big East and ACC can be considered for the BCS the MTN West deserves equal consideration. Give the teams in the MTN West the same chance as the ACC and Big East and watch the teams all get better within 2 years.

 

[Da Bomb]

you are quoting bowl games though, and to me that is not the same as playing tough nonconference opponents and performing well year in and year out.

this year i know how the MWC did against the pac 10, so feel no need to quote that stat to me. but i also know, for example, how tcu did against oklahoma. and i know these teams need to heft up their nonconference schedules and then actually win the games too if they want to have a real beef.

i aree that the acc and big east RIGHT NOW dont look like bcs conferences, and this year the mwc definitely did. but i think the point is more over a spectrum of time, and i dont believe the mwc can make that case.

 

[The Ram]

you are quoting bowl games though, and to me that is not the same as playing tough nonconference opponents and performing well year in and year out.

this year i know how the MWC did against the pac 10, so feel no need to quote that stat to me. but i also know, for example, how tcu did against oklahoma. and i know these teams need to heft up their nonconference schedules and then actually win the games too if they want to have a real beef.

i aree that the acc and big east RIGHT NOW dont look like bcs conferences, and this year the mwc definitely did. but i think the point is more over a spectrum of time, and i dont believe the mwc can make that case.

Valid points, although Oklahoma is pretty darn good this year....if they lost to Duke or Baylor I'd agree with your assertion MWC teams don't win out of conference. When you look at the final schedules you'll see the 5 teams given Bowl berths did alright against out of conference opponents.

Here is the rundown for out of conference wins excluding cupcake games this year:

TCU - Stanford, SMU, Boise State....also the loss to OU you mention was 35-10. Considering OU racked up massive points against other teams I'd consider that a decent showing against a game offense.

Utah - Michigan (at home), Oregon State, Alabama

BYU - Washington, UCLA

AFA - The weakest out of conference schedule of them all. Houston and Army

CSU - Houston and Fresno State (and with my true homer glasses this team started 3/4 freshman and sophomores)

I think if the BCS includes the Mtn West all teams will be able to pull recruits they may lose to BCS teams competing for the best talent. The top four teams I mention have been "doing it the hard way" for ten years. Including this conference will jumpstart an already good conference.

 

[Da Bomb]

you make a good case for 2008. im giving you this year though. i know it was an absolutely outstanding year. i want to know how past years stack up, because im not sure they do.

 

[Kingdome]

The MWC winner should play the WAC winner for that automatic bowl bid.

 

[Miller]

you are quoting bowl games though, and to me that is not the same as playing tough nonconference opponents and performing well year in and year out.

this year i know how the MWC did against the pac 10, so feel no need to quote that stat to me. but i also know, for example, how tcu did against oklahoma. and i know these teams need to heft up their nonconference schedules and then actually win the games too if they want to have a real beef.

i aree that the acc and big east RIGHT NOW dont look like bcs conferences, and this year the mwc definitely did. but i think the point is more over a spectrum of time, and i dont believe the mwc can make that case.

OK....so how did UC, the Big East rep fair against those same Oklahoma Sooners??? Seems like ya lose your argument on the sake of relevance there...

I feel this is legitimate.....I also don't feel it will happen. This is one HUGE flaw of the BCS and why I hate the idea of included conferences and excluded conferences.....they are all NCAA division 1 programs...throw out these automatic and confrence champions and just take the top 10......if you insist on having 6 "champions"; fine, take the top 6 conference champions from the BCS rankings.....that way Utah would get an auto bid over a team like VT of UC.

 

[Runnik's Hambones]

This is one HUGE flaw of the BCS and why I hate the idea of included conferences and excluded conferences.....they are all NCAA division 1 programs.

That is exactly how I feel. They are all freaking D1 schools.

 

[Kingdome]

That is exactly how I feel. They are all freaking D1 schools.

Just because a school calls themself D1 doesn't mean they are of that caliber. Schools can play their way into the BCS conferences. Since the BCS conferences are getting full, it is time to open things up more. How about the Big East play the C-USA winner for a bid and the MWC and WAC winner play each other for a bid? Some smaller conferences get shutout, but the cream of the crop from those conferences could always move up to C-USA or the WAC.

 

[Runnik's Hambones]

I'm not saying to make a team in the MWC #2 just because they're D1. I'm saying that I don't think the BCS should discriminate against conferences. If a team is better than another team, then rank them higher. But just because a team, that happens to be damn good that year, is in a crap conference, doesn't mean they should be left out.

Now, I'm not saying that anything will change, cause it wont. I'm just stating how I feel.

 

[Mike]

3 teams finished in the top 20. One of those teams took down what went undefeated and took down one of the top teams in college football.

Since recruiting rules were changed, and scholarships are more even, the conferences become closer and closer each year, making the BCS more and more irrelevant every year.

I like what the Mountain West is doing here, and I hope that the other conferences start making similar noise. Between that, and the steady decrease in people watching the BCS title game, hopefully the BCS will go away sooner than later.

 

[Miller]

3 teams finished in the top 20. One of those teams took down what went undefeated and took down one of the top teams in college football.

Since recruiting rules were changed, and scholarships are more even, the conferences become closer and closer each year, making the BCS more and more irrelevant every year.

I like what the Mountain West is doing here, and I hope that the other conferences start making similar noise. Between that, and the steady decrease in people watching the BCS title game, hopefully the BCS will go away sooner than later.

Don't hold your breath......

 

[Mike]

I know............ I can hope for a day where I am watching bowl games in January again though.