ESPN: MWC Among Top 6 Conferences

[MrTitleist]

Article by Graham Watson, writer for ESPN:

MWC ranks among the top six BCS conferences

August 7, 2009 3:20 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

For the six months between the end of the college football season and the beginning of media days, the Mountain West Conference shouted to anyone who would listen the merits of their inclusion into the BCS.

During the past five seasons, the Mountain West has the best win percentage in bowl games among the 11 conferences with a 14-7 mark (.667), beating out the SEC and the Pac-10.

During the past two seasons, the MWC has posted the third-best win percentage against automatic-qualifying BCS opponents trailing only the Pac-10 and the SEC.

The Mountain West posted a 6-2 record over teams from the Pac-10 last year.

Utah is one of 12 teams that have made multiple appearances in the BCS bowl games since 2005, and of those teams, Utah is one of six to win two BCS bowl games, joining Florida, LSU, Texas, USC and West Virginia.

With all that said, it would be hard to keep the Mountain West out of the BCS if it realigned and picked six new automatic-qualifying conferences.

The Mountain West is the first non-AQ conference to have three teams ranked in the preseason coaches' poll. It has more teams than the Big East and as many teams as the Big Ten. The Mountain West's top three schools -- Utah, BYU and TCU -- all finished last season ranked and Utah and TCU were in the top 10. Utah finished the year undefeated and ranked fourth in the country, the highest ranking of a non-AQ team since BYU was ranked No. 1 in 1984.

The WAC has an argument, too; especially having sent two teams to BCS games, as many as the Mountain West. However, the WAC is dominated by Boise State and the rest of the teams are struggling to catch up. Since joining the WAC, the Broncos have gone undefeated in conference play five of the past six seasons. In three of the past four seasons, the Broncos have completed undefeated regular seasons, in two of those seasons they lost in their bowl games.

While Boise State clearly belongs in the upper echelon of teams, the rest of the WAC has been inconsistent. Teams such as Fresno State and Hawaii have risen up at times, but haven't been able to maintain a high-level of play over time. This year, many expect Nevada to be a top team in the conference, but prior to this season it's lost almost all of its recent big games.

If I were ranking the top eight conferences, here's the order I would choose:

1. SEC
2. Big 12
3. Pac-10
4. Big Ten
5. ACC
6. Mountain West
7. Big East
8. WAC

[Wyokie]

Us MWC fans have always known we belong with the big boys!

But try to explain that to my Hawaii buddies who are nutso to believe the WAC is better which is a load and ahalf of total horse manure!!!!

[big z]

Us MWC fans have always known we belong with the big boys!

But try to explain that to my Hawaii buddies who are nutso to believe the WAC is better which is a load and ahalf of total horse manure!!!!

Your buddy needs to layoff the Thai Stick if he thinks the WAC is better than the MWC. They have 1 team in that league and it isn't Hawaii!