Mountain West Conference Bowls Over Competition and BCS

When the slate of bowls was announced for the Mountain West, it looked like it had drawn a very tough group of matchups.

The conference had five bowl teams, and four of them opened as underdogs.

Wyoming was an 11-point underdog to Fresno State: final score?

Wyoming 35, Fresno State 28

BYU was a three-point underdog to Oregon State: final score?

BYU 44, Oregon State 20

Utah was also a three-point underdog to California: final score?

Utah 37, California 27

Air Force was a five-point underdog to Houston: final score?

Air Force 47, Houston 20

I think we have a trend: The Mountain West might be the most underrated conference in all of college football.

It has gone 4-0 in four bowl games in which every single Mountain West team was an underdog—that is unprecedented.

Here is how the Mountain West stacks up to the "BCS" conferences:

• Mountain West: 4-0
• Big East: 2-0
• Big 12: 3-2
• Big Ten: 1-1
• ACC: 2-3
• SEC: 1-2
• Pac-10: 2-4

There are still a ton of bowl games to be played, and even though the SEC has a 1-2 record right now, it could very well finish 8-2 or 7-3, and I'd be shocked if it finished any worse than 6-4.

Regardless, when TCU crushes Boise State (which I think it will), the Mountain West Conference will finish with an unblemished 5-0 record.

TCU is a seven-point favorite over Boise, and if the trend of the Mountain West team covering the spread by a large margin holds, expect TCU to win by three touchdowns.

The MWC absolutely deserves a BCS auto-bid, there is no question about it now.

Can any conference boast 10 more-impressive OOC victories over the last two years?

Air Force 47, Houston 20: Houston was 3-0 vs. BCS teams.

BYU 44, Oregon State 20: OSU was four points away from winning the Pac-10.

Utah 37, California 27: Cal finished 8-5.

TCU 14, Clemson 10: Clemson was 9-5, and this was its only home loss all year. It was very close to being the ACC representatives in the BCS.

BYU 14, Oklahoma 13: Oklahoma was ranked third in the country at the time, and despite injuries, still finished 8-5.

Utah 31, Alabama 17: Alabama was 12-1 entering this game. Its only other loss was to Florida, in a game that was much closer than this one.

TCU 17, Boise State 16: Boise State was 12-0 entering this game. In fact, this is Boise State's only loss in its last 26 games.

Utah 31, Oregon State 28: Oregon State was the only team to beat USC (12-1), and finished 9-4, playing one of the toughest schedules in the entire country.

New Mexico 36, Arizona 28: Arizona finished 8-5 that year. New Mexico was 2-6 in the MWC that year. This was one of four games in one weekend last year when the MWC went 4-0 against the Pac-10.

Wyoming 13, Tennessee 7: Tennessee finished 3-5 in the SEC that year, Wyoming was 1-7 in the MWC.

TCU, which absolutely dominated the Mountain West this year, might just be the best team in the country.

If it crushes Boise State, and finishes 13-0, it should be voted No. 1 in the AP poll regardless of what happens in the Alabama-Texas game.

TCU's opponents are a mind-blowing 6-0 in their bowl games.

It should absolutely be a split national championship.

If Cincinnati crushes Florida, it should go three ways.

With five undefeated teams finishing the season unblemished, we need a playoff now more than ever.

But, the prospect of having to eliminate a MWC champion every year in a single-elimination playoff is not what any BCS teams want.