Mountain West vs. BCS

[The Motley Fool]

I read this from the Abilene Reporter from Saturday's paper,

MWC commissioner lobbies for BCS changes.

The commissioner of the Mountain West Conference met with congressional aides, lobbying for changers to the bowl Championship Series. In the debate over how to best decide college football's national champion, commissioner Craig Thompson said he plans to present a proposal to BCS coordinator John Swofford. He declined to offer details. The league also hired a Washington lobbying firm.
Confrence member Utah has been shut out of the title game despite an undefeted record twice in the last five seasons. The Mountain West also is not among the conferences with an automatic bid to BCS bowls.
Thompson said the Mountain West had yet to sign the BCS's new contract with ESPN for 2011-14. It's the only conference that has not signed, BCS administrator Bill Hancock said. Representatives for the other conferences have not discussed what would happen if the Mountain West continues to hold out, Hancock said.


Sounds like a revolt in the making. More power to them.

 

[lbk419]

Thanks for posting this. Quite an interesting debate, as I think after this year, the MWC has a really compelling argument as to why they have no automatic berth, compared to the ACC and Big East, both of which were arguably worse than the MWC this year. However, I know it takes a lot for major changes like this to happen though. Additionally, if you exclude the past 5 years of play, they don't have much of a case. Therefore, how long do they need to demonstrate a record of putting out strong football teams/

I don't know if there is still talk of Boise St. joining the mountain west, but if they did, i think the conference could make a reasonable argument that they have the level of quality to be considered for the a BCS berth.

No one is going to argue that the MWC is on par with the SEC or Big 12, but they've made some strong statements the last few years.

 

[The Motley Fool]

MWC vs. BCS, Round 2,

MWC proposes football playoff:

The Mountain West Conference wants to lead the fight for a major college football playoff.
The MWC presented the BCS with a proposal wednesday to create an eight-team playoff system that would allow greater access to the national championship game to teams outside the six most powerful leagues.
Commissioner Craig Thompson and four university leaders from the MWC announced details on a conference call and the entire 2 1/2-page proposal was posted on the league's wed site. "I will put this as bluntly as a I can," said Tom Buchanan, University of Wyoming president and chairman of the MWC board of directors. "We all believe that change is needed. The current system is not fair and somebody needs to stand up and say that and ask for dialogue amongst all the parties involved.
"Our goal is to find a system that is best for college football." The next BCS meeting is scheduled for April in Pasadena Calif. "I would strongly suggest this will be a conversation topic," Thompson said.
Thompson would not speculate how the proposal will be received, but the chances of it being met with anything other than a resounding 'No thank you' from the commissioners of the six automatic qualifying conferences seems remote-at best.
"We have received the Mountain West proposal," BCS commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. "Some of these ideas or similar ones have been addressed before in BCS meetings. We will make sure that the proposal has a full airing by the commissioners and presidents." The Bowl Championship Series last summer shot down a proposal brought by Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive that would have created a four-team playoff.
One of the reasons commissioners from the Big East, Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten gave for being against the so-called plus-one model Slive presented was a fear that any playoff system would inevitably expand. Even in the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference, which also supported a plus-one, there are no signs university presidents want an NFL-style playoff system.
Meanwhile, fans and many members of the media grow more vocal in support of a playoff each time the current BCS format, which only gives two teams a chance to win a national title in the postseason, fails to produce totally satisfying results. Now, the Mountain West is vowing to be an advocate for those frustrated by the BCS. "There is a fundamental unfairness here that I think the whole country is aware of and somebody's got to stand up and confront that unfairness," San Diego State University president Stephen Weber said.
The conferences with automatic access to the five BCS games are the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, and Pac-10. The call for change comes after a season in which MWC champion Utah was the only unbeaten major team but was not in the running to play in the BCS title game. The Utes finished No. 2 after beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.