The Mountain West has a press conference scheduled for today at 11:45am Pacific to announce the "new image" of the conference. This is rumored to be anything from an updated logo, change of conference name, something having to do with The Mtn. (MWC television network), getting AQ status, or a combination of some or all of the above.
The AQ status rumor comes from a Sporting News article from last week that pretty much said it was a done deal that the MWC would get provisional AQ status for 2012-2013, with an outside chance of that continuing through the next BCS contract as well.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-fo.../bcs-would-have-a-hard-time-denying-mwc-entry
If that happens, it would basically come down to politics, since the BCS is being hammered by congress and the DoJ, and they're actually meeting with the DoJ later on this summer. It would make sense for them to announce that the MWC is getting the waiver for the next two seasons, to satisfy those in Washington that are looking for a "fair" system. The MWC would most likely become a slightly stronger Big East, or at least equal due to the loss of TCU.
The other rumor that I've been hearing is that as a part of this, the current (just negotiated recently) BCS contract may be amended to include the Cotton Bowl as the fifth BCS bowl game, and the Big 12 would have their conference champion shifted there, with the MWC taking over the spot in the Fiesta Bowl.
Of course, there's a pretty damn good chance that none of this will actually come to fruition, but it's interesting nonetheless. It'd also be incredibly interesting to see what the MWC schools could become with BCS conference money. USF made the jump from D1 FCS to FBS in 2001, and then to the Big East in 2005, and they became very competitive in the Big East very soon after moving there... due in large part to the increase in athletic department funding to help recruiting and facilities.
Two hours to go until the press conference... but I doubt we'll actually hear anything about the BCS waiver until the end of the season. But even that probably depends on the performance of Boise and the rest of the current (Air Force, SDSU) and future (Fresno, Nevada, Hawaii) top half of the MWC.
Just when you thought the wild world of college football politics had died down.....
The AQ status rumor comes from a Sporting News article from last week that pretty much said it was a done deal that the MWC would get provisional AQ status for 2012-2013, with an outside chance of that continuing through the next BCS contract as well.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-fo.../bcs-would-have-a-hard-time-denying-mwc-entry
If that happens, it would basically come down to politics, since the BCS is being hammered by congress and the DoJ, and they're actually meeting with the DoJ later on this summer. It would make sense for them to announce that the MWC is getting the waiver for the next two seasons, to satisfy those in Washington that are looking for a "fair" system. The MWC would most likely become a slightly stronger Big East, or at least equal due to the loss of TCU.
The other rumor that I've been hearing is that as a part of this, the current (just negotiated recently) BCS contract may be amended to include the Cotton Bowl as the fifth BCS bowl game, and the Big 12 would have their conference champion shifted there, with the MWC taking over the spot in the Fiesta Bowl.
Of course, there's a pretty damn good chance that none of this will actually come to fruition, but it's interesting nonetheless. It'd also be incredibly interesting to see what the MWC schools could become with BCS conference money. USF made the jump from D1 FCS to FBS in 2001, and then to the Big East in 2005, and they became very competitive in the Big East very soon after moving there... due in large part to the increase in athletic department funding to help recruiting and facilities.
Two hours to go until the press conference... but I doubt we'll actually hear anything about the BCS waiver until the end of the season. But even that probably depends on the performance of Boise and the rest of the current (Air Force, SDSU) and future (Fresno, Nevada, Hawaii) top half of the MWC.
Just when you thought the wild world of college football politics had died down.....
