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Mountain West to make push for automatic BCS bid
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
The Mountain West wants a promotion.
On the heels of a milestone football season that saw undefeated Utah and two other conference teams rank among the Bowl Championship Series' top 16, Mountain West officials are pressing for automatic annual entry in the BCS' five-game postseason lineup.
Presidents and chancellors of the league's nine schools addressed the issue during a meeting shortly after the Jan. 8 national championship game and, with Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, will try to sit down with Atlantic Coast commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford possibly in the coming weeks, Thompson says. The BCS will conduct its annual spring meeting in late April in Pasadena, Calif.
The ACC is one of six conferences along with the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern whose champions automatically qualify for the BCS at the end of each football season.
Winners of the five other major-college conferences, including the MWC, must meet minimum-ranking guidelines to get in.
"The argument I will hear back (from the BCS) is, 'Craig, here it is. It's done. It's been agreed to. It's signed,' " Thompson says. "That doesn't mean you can't put it on the table
"One of the options would be to visit with the BCS coordinator just to lay out our position."
He adds, "I would not be optimistic. As I explained to them (the Mountain West presidents), it's a series of legal contracts among 11 conferences, four bowls, two TV partners with yet another TV partner coming in. I would not see much of a relaxation."
Swofford, who rotates with commissioners of the Big East, Big 12, and SEC as the BCS' coordinator, seems to underscore that. He echoes the fact that all 11 conferences, including the Mountain West, agreed to the current setup, which "incorporates the strength of a league as a whole over a series of years."
Utah, he says, "had a terrific season this year, and the BCS provided an excellent platform to showcase their team."
The BCS has created an opening for one of the non-automatic qualifying conferences to gain AQ status at least temporarily, drawing up a formula that factors in the number of top 25 teams, finish of the highest-ranked team and average rank of all teams over a four-year period. But Thompson says his presidents are pushing for the same annual entree afforded the ACC, SEC and other marquee conferences.
They not only point to Utah's No. 6 finish in the BCS' final regular-season standings and 13-0 record, including a 31-17 win vs. Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but also respective No. 11 and 16 rankings by Mountain West co-members Texas Christian and Brigham Young. The ACC and Big East, meanwhile, each had just one team higher than 19th and none higher than 12th.
The controversy has spilled into Congress, where seven U.S. representatives from both parties have introduced legislation to force a playoff or threatened hearings. Utah's attorney general is investigating whether the BCS violates federal antitrust laws.
Even President Barack Obama has weighed in, expressing his dissatisfaction with the non-playoff system.
While mounting its own push for change, it appears unlikely that the Mountain West will try to burnish its automatic-qualifying credentials by adding Western Athletic Conference powerhouse Boise State as a member.
Boise President Robert Kustra has voiced sentiment for the move on the Broncos' end. But "unless there is evidence, concrete evidence, that would say this will get you an automatic bid not just get you closer but get you or guarantee you I think we'll just play on with the current nine (MWC schools)," Thompson says. "There's cohesiveness. There's balance, four home games and four road."
"We've run all sorts of models. And there's no model where a 10th member would guarantee us automatic access." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo....htm?csp=sports
By Steve Wieberg, USA TODAY
The Mountain West wants a promotion.
On the heels of a milestone football season that saw undefeated Utah and two other conference teams rank among the Bowl Championship Series' top 16, Mountain West officials are pressing for automatic annual entry in the BCS' five-game postseason lineup.
Presidents and chancellors of the league's nine schools addressed the issue during a meeting shortly after the Jan. 8 national championship game and, with Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, will try to sit down with Atlantic Coast commissioner and current BCS coordinator John Swofford possibly in the coming weeks, Thompson says. The BCS will conduct its annual spring meeting in late April in Pasadena, Calif.
The ACC is one of six conferences along with the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern whose champions automatically qualify for the BCS at the end of each football season.
Winners of the five other major-college conferences, including the MWC, must meet minimum-ranking guidelines to get in.
"The argument I will hear back (from the BCS) is, 'Craig, here it is. It's done. It's been agreed to. It's signed,' " Thompson says. "That doesn't mean you can't put it on the table
"One of the options would be to visit with the BCS coordinator just to lay out our position."
He adds, "I would not be optimistic. As I explained to them (the Mountain West presidents), it's a series of legal contracts among 11 conferences, four bowls, two TV partners with yet another TV partner coming in. I would not see much of a relaxation."
Swofford, who rotates with commissioners of the Big East, Big 12, and SEC as the BCS' coordinator, seems to underscore that. He echoes the fact that all 11 conferences, including the Mountain West, agreed to the current setup, which "incorporates the strength of a league as a whole over a series of years."
Utah, he says, "had a terrific season this year, and the BCS provided an excellent platform to showcase their team."
The BCS has created an opening for one of the non-automatic qualifying conferences to gain AQ status at least temporarily, drawing up a formula that factors in the number of top 25 teams, finish of the highest-ranked team and average rank of all teams over a four-year period. But Thompson says his presidents are pushing for the same annual entree afforded the ACC, SEC and other marquee conferences.
They not only point to Utah's No. 6 finish in the BCS' final regular-season standings and 13-0 record, including a 31-17 win vs. Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but also respective No. 11 and 16 rankings by Mountain West co-members Texas Christian and Brigham Young. The ACC and Big East, meanwhile, each had just one team higher than 19th and none higher than 12th.
The controversy has spilled into Congress, where seven U.S. representatives from both parties have introduced legislation to force a playoff or threatened hearings. Utah's attorney general is investigating whether the BCS violates federal antitrust laws.
Even President Barack Obama has weighed in, expressing his dissatisfaction with the non-playoff system.
While mounting its own push for change, it appears unlikely that the Mountain West will try to burnish its automatic-qualifying credentials by adding Western Athletic Conference powerhouse Boise State as a member.
Boise President Robert Kustra has voiced sentiment for the move on the Broncos' end. But "unless there is evidence, concrete evidence, that would say this will get you an automatic bid not just get you closer but get you or guarantee you I think we'll just play on with the current nine (MWC schools)," Thompson says. "There's cohesiveness. There's balance, four home games and four road."
"We've run all sorts of models. And there's no model where a 10th member would guarantee us automatic access." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo....htm?csp=sports
