The Mountain West has 5 teams playing in bowl games this season: Wyoming, BYU, Utah, Air Force, and TCU. The Mountain West has been the conference that many people think is simply the best mid-major conference, but not competitive on the national scale. TCU’s undefeated record has been called out by many college football fans on account of little or no competition. However, before someone passes judgement on the talent of the Mountain West, one must look at the success the conference in the recent bowl games. Wyoming played the first bowl game of the season and shockingly defeated Fresno State, who was highly favored in the game. Then BYU crushed Oregon State 44-20. Finally, last night, Utah defeated Cal, 37-27 in a virtual home game for Cal at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.
Air Force will play Houston December 31st at 12 PM. TCU will close the Mountain West bowl season January 4th against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. If the Mountain West wins at least one of its last two games, it would be time to consider the possibility that the Mountain West in better than at least one of the major conferences. The Mountain West has arguably 3 upsets already, and Air Force looks to be an underdog against Houston. TCU will be the lone Mountain West team that is favored in its bowl game, but that is only because the BCS tried to save itself by pairing the two non-BCS conference teams against each other, TCU and Boise State. If TCU played any other team in one of the BCS bowls, the Horned Frogs would be underdogs. Therefore, one more bowl win by the Mountain West would put the conference at 4-1 in the bowl season with at least three upsets. With this postseason resume, the Mountain West would deserve consideration as one of the top 6 conferences in the country.
Compare the Mountain West with the Pac-10, which is currently 0-2 in the bowl season with two losses to Mountain West teams. Cal lost to Utah by 10, and Oregon State lost to BYU by 24. As mentioned, both Mountain West winners were underdogs in the games, but these teams beat two Pac-10 opponents by a combined 34 points. There is certainly something to be said for that. The Pac-10 was extremely down this year, as USC finished 5th in conference. The Pac-10 struggled mightily as a conference on defense this year, and that weakness was exposed by Utah and BYU.
The Pac-10 has 5 remaining bowl games. USC will play Boston College, UCLA will play Temple, Stanford will play Oklahoma, Arizona will play Nebraska, and Oregon will play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl Game. The Pac-10 would be doing well if it went 3-2 in these five games, and it is probable that the conference will go under .500 for its remaining games. USC and Boston College is a toss up, but I think USC will win that game. UCLA v. Temple will be a good game, but I think Temple will win that game. Stanford has no defense, and that will hurt the Cardinal against Oklahoma. Nebraska has one of the best defenses in the country, and Arizona will have trouble moving the ball against the best defense it has seen this year. Oregon has not played a defense as strong as Ohio State this year, but when Oregon played Boise State, granted it was early in the season, it Duck offense could not move the ball well against the Bronco defense.
So even if the conference went 3-2 in its remaining games, which would be arguably the best case scenario, that would only put the Pac-10 at 3-4 for the bowl season. That would mean that the Pac-10 would have less wins in 7 games than the Mountain West does in 5. Couple that with the fact that the Mountain West gave the Pac-10 2 of its losses, the games in which both Mountain West teams were underdogs, and one must consider the possibility that the Mountain West is a better football conference than the Pac-10.