The Mountain West Win Again

It's hard to figure out what to make of bowl ones, but one thing I can asses thus far from the 2009 Bowl season is that the Mountain West are looking pretty legit.

First Wyoming upset Fresno State, now more impressively, BYU dominated Pac 10 #3, and BCS #18 Oregon State. At this point Utah and Air Force still need to win their Bowl games, but there's a great chance that the Mountain West comes out of the 2009 Bowl season 5-0.

If the Mountain West teams pull that off, capped by a TCU victory over Boise State, it's going to be hard not to consider the Mountain West a major conference; Making it even harder to repel the conference from an automatic BCS bid every season.

I would definitely agree with anyone who said that the Mountain West from top to bottom really isn't that great, and you need a few somewhat bigger universities to step in and replace schools like San Diego State, New Mexico, and Colorado State. Those teams would do well in Conference USA or the WAC. If you could replace them with Boise State (who are looking to move conferences), SMU (who have the money, and are rivals with TCU), and maybe even a program like San Jose State, you'd have a conference that you could at least say from top to bottom has the tools necessary to compete with the major conferences.

I suppose we'll have to let the Bowl series play out before we can make any further judgement. But at least BYU's big win over Oregon State washes away the stain of their thrashing at the hands of Florida State earlier in the season.

Boise State or TCU: Does Either Have a Shot at the BCS?

For the past several years small conference teams have made a push for the BCS. There were the 2006 Boise Broncos, the 2007 Hawaii Warriors, and the 2008 Utah Utes, all of which made it to a big time bowl with both the 06 Broncos and 08 Utes making a case that they could've contended in the National Championship game.

2009 has been no different. The season began with Boise defeating Oregon and staking their claim as the best minor in the country. Two days later BYU upset Oklahoma. The next week Conference USA team the University of Houston Cougars defeated Oklahoma State, shuttling that program into the mix as well. As of week two of the season Boise, BYU, Utah, Houston, and TCU were all making an impressive case as this years "BCS Buster."

But there's a reason why it's so hard to make the BCS National Championship Game, and that's what makes College Football so exciting.

The gauntlet began week 3 as Utah went down 24-31 at Oregon crippling the teams national title hopes; they're currently ranked #19. The same week BYU got clobbered at home 28-54 against Florida State. Week 4 Houston lost it's only game thus far at the University of Texas El Paso 41-58, the team is currently ranked #15.

That leaves Boise State and TCU as the only two contenders remaining. At the moment TCU rank 6 in the BCS while Boise rank #7. It's likely that two of the teams ahead of them will lose games from here on out, shuttling the two teams to a probably #4 and #5 respectably.

If Oregon defeat USC this week, that would do wonders for Boise State's national title hopes. In week 1 Boise defeated Oregon 19-8. With a weak schedule after that game, there is likely no hope that the Brocnos play in the championship game with an Oregon win this week. Even with an Oregon win, it's likely Boise's incredibly soft schedule will prevent them from playing the SEC winner this January.

TCU on the other hand have a highly ranked defense, and have one more game against a ranked opponent, Nov 14 vs Utah. If the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs can win that one impressively, the way the dominated BYU 38-7 on the road, TCU would have made a great case for earning a shot at the national title; especially with wins Clemson and BYU on their resume.

Personally I feel as though if a non major conference winner is going to make a run at the BCS championship game this is going to be the year. If USC, Iowa, and Texas lose a game at some point from here on out, there's an incredible chance the the Horned frogs will play the SEC winner in the national championship game this year.

I also feel as though TCU are the better team than Boise, but who knows? I know that it's a different year and different teams, but my logic stems from the results of this past seasons 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, which TCU squeaked by 17-16. The game went on to be the most underrated football game of 2008. Bar-none.

So if you like Cinderella stories and you want TCU or Boise to get their chance, stay tuned to this blog because I'll keep you up to date with what needs to happen for these teams to get a shot.