Knudsen: Bowled over by The Little Guy
FacebookBy Mark Knudsen, The Mtn. Insider
January 3, 2011
Success in bowl games is nothing new for the Mountain West Conference. The MWC has won the "Bowl Challenge" several times before, and this year, another 4-1 mark looks pretty special, especially when the lone loss was inflicted by a team that will join the Conference next season, Boise State (the Broncos beat Utah in Las Vegas).
In fact, the teams that will be in the MWC next season went 4-0 this bowl season.
After what’s happened, do you think Ohio State President Gordon Gee might want to rethink his infamous "sisters of the poor" comment?
The Big Ten was collectively smacked around on New Year’s Day, and my guess is President Gee won’t be offering too many more sports takes any time soon. More importantly, it’s time for the national media to drop that same line of thinking and stop referring to MWC teams as "The Little Guy."
That’s not the case, folks. Just ask Wisconsin.
If anyone other than Gee had doubts about the merits of the MWC, those were erased by a sterling performance from TCU in the 21-19 Rose Bowl win over favored Wisconsin. Supposedly outmanned and undersized, the Frogs took the Badgers best shot early and responded by taking the game to the favorites. And when Tank Carder knocked down a two point conversion try late in the game, the celebrations began – not just in Fort Worth, but in places like Boise, Reno, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Laramie, San Diego and Las Vegas as well.
The "you won this for the little guys" line of questions came fast at Gary Patterson after the game and the coach was gracious in acknowledging well-wishers from places like Boise and elsewhere.
But the fact remains that "little guys" is no longer an accurate way to describe Mountain West teams. In terms of college football, the "little guys" reside on the East Coast now, not in the west. Is the MWC as deep as some of the automatic qualifier conferences? Not all of them, but do the champs of the Atlantic Coast Conference deserve a bid more than the champs of the Mountain West?
Of course not.
Everyone remembers that Boise State traveled across the country and beat the champs of the ACC, Virginia Tech, to open the season. And if there was a conference that didn’t belong playing in a BCS game at all, it wasn’t the MWC; it was the conference that sent a marshmallow champion to the Fiesta Bowl – the Big East.
Someone try to make a case for U Conn playing in a BCS game and TCU or Boise State not.
Air Force took down favored Georgia Tech from the ACC. San Diego State sunk highly-touted Navy to go along with Boise’s win over Utah. BYU added a MWC bowl win in their final game as a member of the MWC, just for good measure.
There wasn’t a MWC team that wasn’t impressive in its performance and the message should resonate loud and clear now: We aren’t the little guys anymore. The MWC is every bit a big boy conference that should have an automatic BCS slot, plain and simple.
With the Conference taking on a new look next season and a newer one the following year, it’s impossible to predict if and when the appropriate designations will be placed on the MWC and the Conference presented the “AQ” status it deserves.
But if you’re someone who looks into trends, you should certainly like the way this Conference is charting upwards.
And just to note: the bowl predictions from this space this bowl season?
5-0, thank you.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
