Read the arguments from Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan about which conference had the best bowl season in 2009.
Like it or hate it, the bowl season is excellent for fans trying to identify the best major college football conference. Fans get the chance to see favorite schools play against other favorites for conference supremacy. While the national championship game rightfully receives the majority of attention from the media, the constant drumbeat of interest surrounding which conference features the best teams is the perfect backdrop for the season’s conclusion. With the bowl system, college football fans are able to identify the sport’s best team and its best conference.
It was nice to sit back, relax, and watch the 2009-2010 bowl season go off script. The SEC was supposed to be the clear, runaway, best conference college football had to offer this season, followed closely by the Big XII. Instead, while the SEC laid claim to college football’s best team in Alabama this season, it proved top heavy and uneven with a final bowl record of 6-4. The Big XII finished 4-3. Therefore, neither of the best conferences followed through on expectations this bowl season. The Pac-10, the sleeper for many “experts,” finished just 2-5.
No conference had a better winning percentage – or more pressure – than the Mountain West Conference in 2009-2010. Despite enormous expectations, the Mountain West delivered like no other conference.
The Games
- Wyoming 35 – Fresno State 28
- BYU 44 – Oregon State 20
- Utah 37 – California 27
- Air Force 47 – Houston 20
- Boise State 17 – Texas Christian 10
The Mountain West finished the bowl season, unsurprisingly, 4-1 – that’s an .800 winning percentage. That impressive list mixes bowl wins against some of the best programs from the Pac-10, which the conference handled with a perfect 2-0 record.
The one blemish on the conference’s record was a mistake-riddled performance in the league’s most highly anticipated game. Many believed that TCU deserved a shot at the national title game, and therefore needed to show a great deal against Boise State in the MWC’s lone BCS appearance. TCU did not win, but the game was still a good thing for the MWC because Boise State’s victory proved the value of putting the best from so-called mid major conferences into the conversation for the national championship game. Even in losing the conference won.
The MWC is in the process of vying for the all-important automatic BCS bid. Over the course of the next two seasons the conference will complete a four season long process of intense BCS scrutiny about the merits of adding the conference as a seventh automatic BCS team, probably with a Fiesta Bowl tie-in. Therefore, no conference has more demanded of it, or expected from it, than the MWC. The stakes are persistently high, but the conference does not crack or fold. Instead, it thrives and continues to prove it belongs. In the ultimate example of “the rich get richer” design to sports culture, the more the teams win, the easier it is to attract top coaching and athletic talent. I believe the conference will ultimately land that automatic bid, and all of college football will be better off for it. This postseason will be remembered as a crucial one for the entire conference.
It is time for the media to stop noting the impressive MWC, and start voting. Time after time the football programs in the conference are publically lauded beneath the media spotlight, but dismissed as mid-majors in the back-room votes. The more competition the sport has, the more popular it will become nationwide. Truly, what is good for the Mountain West is good for college football, the BCS, and the bowl system. Voters must demonstrate awareness of that fact.
The Mountain West Conference needed and earned the best outcome of the bowl season in 2009. Some conferences were seeking sustainability or respect or preservation. The Mountain West was seeking a measure of all three, giving it the best performance of the 2009 bowl season.
