Tired of Crashing the Party?

Sometimes, you realize that you aren't Vince Vaughn. No matter how smooth you are, you will not be a "Wedding Crasher." Maybe once you can pull it off, but at some point, you might as well get invited to the party if you really want to have fun. This is why I'm not particularly surprised to read that the Mountain West is petitioning the BCS for an automatic bid to the major bowls next season.

While I have no doubt that this will not happen, it's a very intriguing idea that I think could work in the long run. After all, we've seen Utah, Boise State, and Utah again all win BCS bowl games against BCS apponents in the past five years, and TCU has shown that under Gary Patterson it can compete with most teams in the nation. What we have to be careful about, as Stewart Mandel points out to SEC lovers and Big 10 haters constantly in his mailbags, is that conference dominance is cyclical. 5 years is a small window to justify admittance into the BCS-- are they on a good run or are they a permanent power in college football?

Personally, I think that the Mountain West is showing the potential to be a decade to decade power in the future. What stands out to me most is that both Utah and TCU have given their coaches million plus dollar a year contracts to stay away from the recent high profile job openings. It shows that the schools in this conference are on good ground financially (well, for now) and are committed to creating legitimate programs.

If I was the BCS, I would tell the Mountain West not now, but that they will be allowed an automatic bid if they get Boise State to join the conference. That would give the Mountain West three legitimate top 25 teams with talented coaches. It would head off most of the complaints from non-BCS teams looking for an at-large birth every year, while still leaving 3 at-large births for the second place teams in the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, and, well, let's be honest there isn't going to be a second team from the Pac 10, Big East or ACC anytime soon. Sorry, Pac 10, Washington State isn't quite there yet. They could guarantee the winner go to the Fiesta Bowl every year as well, that way it would be easy for the Mountain West champion to sell it's allotted seats. While not a good idea for 2010, it would make sense for the BCS and the Mountain West (plus Boise State) in the future.

ED: I forgot to also include BYU, who has a national title in the modern era and it's own talented coach in Bronco Mendenhall, and regular bowl qualifiers in Air Force and Colorado State. I apologize for leaving them out, but they only further support my claim that the Mountain West is legit and only one team away from BCS quality--Brooks