MWC May Struggle To Fill Bowl Slots
BYU is hoping for a fifth straight bowl appearance
The Mountain West Conference could sure use BYU winning its next three games.
The conference already has three teams that have become bowl eligible with TCU, Utah and San Diego State all with six or more wins on the season.
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Air Force is 5-4 and appears to practically be a lock to reach eligibility, needing just one more victory in its remaining three games against Army, New Mexico and UNLV.
The league has five bowl tie-ins however, and if the Cougars don’t qualify the Mountain West may not be able to fill one of its bowl commitments.
Both BYU and Colorado State have three victories a piece, while New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming have already been eliminated from bowl contention this year.
Between the Cougars and the Rams, BYU has the easiest road to become eligible with home games against UNLV and New Mexico, and a road contest at CSU before winding up the year in Salt Lake City against Utah.
Prevailing wisdom is that the Cougars need to win its remaining three games to get to six victories, seeing that are expected to be big underdogs in their game with the Utes.
Colorado State has two road games, at San Diego State and arch rival Wyoming, that sandwich BYU’s visit to Fort Collins. If the favored Aztecs knock off the Rams this Saturday, BYU would be the lone program with any hope to fill a fifth bowl game – that’s assuming the Cougars take care of business this week when the take on UNLV.
If Utah or TCU go undefeated and make it to a BCS game, then it becomes extremely difficult for the conference to fill all of its bowl slots. Then again I’m sure Craig Thompson and the rest of the league will settle for a BCS game over, say, the New Mexico Bowl. But if both BYU and CSU fail to qualify, and the Utes or Frogs advance to the BCS, then the league would be two teams short.
MWC Bowl Tie-ins
Las Vegas Bowl (vs. Pac-10)
Poinsettia Bowl (vs. Navy)
Armed Forces Bowl (vs. C-USA)
New Mexico Bowl (vs. WAC)
Independence Bowl (vs. ACC)
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