(08-02-2015 11:46 PM)CougarRed Wrote: (08-02-2015 11:52 AM)bullet Wrote: The MWC's problem was their bottom 3-4 (not always the same 3-4) were bottom 10 in FBS during those years. TCU, BYU, Utah and Air Force were pretty consistent, but the others were usually very bad during that time frame.
That wasn't a problem. The only reason they were even in the conversation for moving up to BCS-level was because they had 3 teams consistently at the top.
If the old MWC was as balanced as the current American is, none of those schools would have ever finished Top 12 or gotten into a major bowl.
This was THE problem for the MWC. At the time, national media always made mention of the MWC dregs as the main counter-point to the MWC's inclusion in the BCS autobid system.
IMO, Commissioner Thompson should have pushed for Boise St., Fresno St., and Houston to grow the conference to 12 and to have a CCG. This would have added another perennial top-25 team to the conference, which would have placed the MWC as one of the TOP conferences for the highest ranked teams and top-25 teams criteria and would have bolstered the middle of the conference for the average ranking criteria.
Tier 1: TCU, BYU, Utah, Boise St.
Tier 2: Air Force, Fresno, Houston, SDSU, CSU
Tier 3: Wyoming, New Mexico, UNLV
The MWC would have been a de facto BCS conference.
But, it would have imploded anyway when TCU and Utah were plucked away. But, the MWC may have been in a better situation to pick-up perhaps SMU and Memphis instead of back-filling with SJSU, Hawaii, USU, and Nevada.