The Mountain West

The Mountain West is trying to wedge their way into the BCS. First thought is, you can't win if you don't enter. The second thought is they have as much chance of getting into the BCS as you do having your boss take less of a year-end bonus so you can have a larger one. His comment would be, "But if I do that, there's more for you and less for me. Why would I do that?"


My skepticism aside, let's consider the facts:


Here are Jeff Sagarin's ratings of the conferences:

2004:
1 - ACC
2 - Pac 10
3 - Independents
4 - Big 12
5 - Big 10
6 - SEC
7 - Mountain West
8 - Big East



2005:
1 - Big 10
2 -ACC
3 - Big 12
4 - Pac 10
5 - SEC
6 - Independents
7 - Big East
8 - Mountain West


2006:
1 - SEC
2 - Big East
3 - Pac 10
4 - ACC
5 - Big 10
6 - Big 12
7 - Mountain West
8 - Independents


2007:
1 - SEC
2 - Pac 10
3 - Big 12
4 -Big East
5 - ACC
6 - Big 10
7 - Mountain West
8 - Independents


2008:
1 - SEC
2 - Big 12
3 - ACC
4 - Pac 10
5 - Big East
6 - Big 10
7 - Mountain West
8 - Independents



Here are the highest ranked teams for each conference, 2004 - 2008

ACC - 7, 5, 23, 9, 17. Average = 12.2
Big East - 5 (Louisville, who was in CUSA at the time), 6, 23, 3, 26. Average = 12.6
Big 10 - 12, 3, 4, 11, 8. Average = 7.6
Big 12 - 3, 1, 16, 2, 3. Average = 5
Independents - 31, 8, 21, 74, 51. Average = 37
Mountain West - 4, 15, 13, 17, 5. Average = 10.8
Pac 10 - 1, 2, 2, 4, 2. Average = 2.2
SEC - 2, 7, 1, 1, 1. Average = 2.4

And the lowest ranked teams for each conference, 2004-2008
ACC - 90, 133, 153, 109, 57. Average = 108.4
Big East - 94 (Temple at 115 was dropped), 114, 73, 113, 104. Average = 99.6
Big 10 - 101, 96, 108, 123, 125. Average = 110.6
Big 12 - 103, 83, 94, 117, 114. Aveage = 102.2
Independents - 33, 86, 122 (165 ranked Temple now in MAC), 131, 161. Average = 106.6
Mountain West - 110, 128, 128, 120, 136. Average = 124.4
Pac 10 - 108, 81,124, 70, 138. Aveage = 104.2
SEC - 125, 107, 78, 80, 93. Average = 96.6

So, if you look at these facts with a slant toward rationalizing the MWC into the BCS, you have the following: in 4 of the past 5 years, the highest ranked Mountain West team has been higher ranked than at least one of the present BCS eligible conferences. The average ranking for the highest team in the MWC is considerably higher than the average ranking of the ACC or Big East representative, however Utah is the only MWC team to ever get a BCS bid.

On the low end of the totem pole is more of what plagues the MWC. The average lowest ranking is 124.4, and is significantly lower than the peer group that they seek.

Conversely, the BCS was designed to identify and reward top teams, not penalize crappy teams. Being that the Mountain West has consistently had a competitive top team in the rankings, you can't ignore the fact they deserve an automatic BCS bid just as much as Notre Dame, the ACC or Big East.