BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock (middle) hints at the possibility of the Mountain West Conference becoming the next conference to receive an automatic BCS berth
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) meetings are taking place in Phoenix, Arizona, this week. While all the media talk has been about the potential expansion of the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences, the Mountain West Conference could end up as the biggest winner if the the BCS powers that be have their way.
BCS executive director Bill Hancock mentioned during meetings on Wednesday the possibility of Mountain West becoming the seventh conference to receive the coveted BCS automatic berth for the 2012 and 2013 football seasons. “If they (the Mountain West Conference) meet the threshold, they’ll be the seventh.” Currently, the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-10, and SEC all receive automatic bids for conference winners and qualifying teams. Because the Mountain West Conference does not receive an automatic bid to post-season BCS bowl games, conference teams must rely on receiving an at-large bid.
Mountain West has been arguably the best non-BCS conference the past few years. Utah knocked off a one-loss Alabama team in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, and while TCU suffered a loss in this year’s edition of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl to Boise State, they have shown that they can play with and beat teams from premiere conferences.
This would be a good move on behalf of Hancock and the BCS that would help cement his legacy. After all, the Big East has an automatic bid right? Enough said.
