MWC struggles to get the Liberty Bowl Back?

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Did MWC over-reach when they shopped themselves as the next BCS Conference? See Memphis article:

MWC still trying to lock up Liberty Bowl
By Rory Brunner, U-WIRE
August 9, 2005

(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO -- For the first time since the Bowl Championship Series cartel was formed, a team from a non-BCS school -- the Mountain West Conference's Utah Utes -- sent a non-BCS team to the party.

So why can't the MWC lock down its own annual marquee postseason destination, the Liberty Bowl?

With Utah happily accepting the Fiesta Bowl invitation after last season, the Liberty Bowl committee opted for a game of unbeatens featuring Conference USA's Louisville vs. the Western Athletic Conference's Boise State, a game that was an instant classic and a 44-40 Cardinals win. But the game also marked the end of the MWC's agreement with the Liberty Bowl.

So as of now, for 2005, the MWC will send its No. 1 team to the Las Vegas Bowl to play the Pac-10's No. 5 team. That's right, the same Las Vegas Bowl in which Wyoming topped UCLA a season ago -- hardly the same buzz the BCS matchup Pitt-Utah generated.

Commissioner Craig Thompson said the MWC had a 25 percent chance of regaining the Liberty Bowl at the conference's media day, a game that had long been the MWC's and Conference USA's answer to the BCS. From 1998-2003, the MWC winner met up with Conference USA's winner, with the MWC going 2-4 in those games.

The Liberty Bowl wanted to re-up with the MWC seven months ago for a long-term deal, but the MWC wanted just a one-year deal and the freedom to see what was out there.

The conference took a shot at getting the Phoenix-area Insight Bowl, hence staying closer to home, but the Insight Bowl opted for a Big Ten representative starting in 2006 instead.

Meanwhile, without a representative for the upcoming season, the Liberty Bowl committee was exploring its options. But now in July, the MWC wanted a long-term deal with the Liberty Bowl, but the Liberty Bowl wasn't having it, at least not yet. The Liberty Bowl may go after the ACC No. 6 or 7 or the SEC No. 7. After all, East Coast teams will travel better. Bigger conferences and bigger universities mean bigger dollar signs for the Memphis-based New Year's Eve bowl.

Partly to blame, Thompson noted, is the turnover of MWC athletic directors (six in the last 18 months) and university presidents (five new in the last 18 months).

Greed is also to blame. Just seven months ago and riding the BCS wave created by the Utes, the conference figured it deserved a better deal closer to home, but it secured nothing. After all, a shaken-up Conference USA -- now featuring SMU, Tulsa, Marshall, Rice, UTEP, Central Florida, East Carolina, Memphis, Tulane, UAB, Southern Miss and Houston -- lost a few marquee teams to the Big East, Louisville among them.

The MWC also has to worry about its on-the-field play in a league that is more veteran in 2005.

"This league is so balanced and so deep that any team can beat any other on any given Saturday," said Thompson. "It does wonders to develop a league with that quality of depth."

UNLV coach Mike Sanford was one of many coaches that agreed.

"There's a good chance the winner of this conference could have two losses. It will be really difficult for a team to go through this conference like Utah did last year," said Sanford, who compared the MWC to some of its rival conferences. "I believe we're above Conference USA and, personally, I think we're above the Big East."

Regardless, Thompson said he would like to see the Liberty Bowl issue resolved before the beginning of the season.

Any way you look at it, the MWC will get its teams to bowls. The MWC could still be involved in five bowl games, with potentially the Liberty Bowl, the San Francisco-based Emerald Bowl, the new Poinsettia Bowl (which pits an MWC team against an at-large team in San Diego), the Las Vegas Bowl and the MWC has reached a verbal agreement with the Fort Worth Bowl that if the Big 12 can't offer an eighth team, which it hasn't the past two years, that the MWC would get looked at there as well.

But another potential problem arises there. Say Colorado State has already taken a trip to Fort Worth to play TCU, which it will do on Nov. 5. So the postseason rolls around and CSU is bowl eligible for that game. Will the Fort Worth Bowl want to invite the boys from Fort Collins for a second time? Would the Rams travel well?

That is to say that enough MWC teams qualify for the postseason, or finish with a winning record, which hasn't always been the case.

But as Thompson said, "As Utah showed, you can get to a BCS bowl in the Mountain West Conference."

Just win all your games -- something MWC coaches agree will be a tall task in 2005.

Updated on Tuesday, Aug 9, 2005 9:00 pm EDT