Conference USA Mountain West Merger Makes AQ BCS Bid a Reality

Conference-USA and the Mountain West Conference may not have automatic-qualifying BCS bids yet, but that doesn't mean that they can't earn one with their powers combined.

That appears to be the thinking of both conferences moving forward, to stage a 20-plus team conference and pursue an automatic berth in the BCS Championship Series.

Three competitive teams in particular stand to benefit if the potential mega-conference receives an automatic qualifying berth: No. 6 Boise State, Air Force and South Florida.

Boise State has perennially been excluded from the BCS Championship Game despite being undefeated for almost two straight years. A bigger conference with a team like South Florida in the mix may tip the scales as far as strength of schedule.

Said Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson in an announcement Friday, via USA Today:

"It's a proactive step. I think it's creative. I think it's bold in some ways. What we're trying to do is position our institutions in the best light possible. We're trying to get some stability to our system in general and to our membership specifically."

Boise State, Air Force and USF have reportedly been pursued by the Big 12 recently given the unrest in the conference. But there have also been reports that the Big 12 is looking at C-USA members Houston and Southern Methodist.

Thompson said the superconference could include anywhere from 20 to 24 teams, but that a merger wouldn't necessarily guarantee an automatic BCS bid.

But it's no question that this would bring more respect to the champion of the conference. While it certainly isn't the SEC, merging the two conferences does make a lot of sense from their standpoints: it simply gives them a better chance of receiving an automatic berth.

Perhaps Boise State going undefeated would actually net them a spot in the BCS Championship Game one day.

Hey, stranger things have happened.