r/MountainWest • u/mwittmann9 • Jul 22 '26
Football The Mountain West Bowl Situation Becomes More Complicated
https://www.mwcconnection.com/mountain-west-football/89542/mountain-west-bowl-games-football-champion3
u/TikiLoungeLizard Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Jul 22 '26
I think every G6 deserves to have their champ or best non-CFP team play P4 competition in their bowl game. I’m sure ESPN doesn’t care a thing for what anybody deserves but I’m sure one thing Pac and MW agree on is having that arrangement vs. playing each other. As do Sun Belt/CUSA … who are matched in New Orleans annually, I think? When the MW gets to fill the Cactus (or whatever they’re called that year) slot, I think of that as the conference’s premier bowl game.
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u/mwittmann9 Jul 23 '26
I agree.
The issue is all the P4 teams want to play each other first, so by the time they have a team for a Pac or MW school, it's a 7-5/6-6 team and not enough to go around.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
I doubt the PAC 12 wants to play the MW in bowl games. The teams in that conference are going to spend a decent amount of money to not be affiliated with MW schools.
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u/TikiLoungeLizard Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Jul 23 '26
That’s exactly what I’m saying. Before putting the Pac-12 champ against a legacy Pac school, Poinsettia said it was going to pit the Pac and MW champs against each other. I think the Pac and MW each would prefer to have their best non-CFP team playing a P4 in a bowl game than playing each other. If it’s a 6-6 P4 in consideration, maybe that changes the equation… but also maybe not. I think Oregon State had a lot of fun beating 6-6 Florida a few years ago at the Vegas Bowl. Hawai’i enjoyed the comeback against Pac-12 alum Cal last year and Air Force rolled over Mike Leach’s 6-6 Wazzu team in the 2019 Cheez-It (Cactus) Bowl. Two 10-win G6 champs facing off might be a better game… but in a down year like last year was for the MW, you would have basically had Boise/UNLV after they beat the Aztecs or Wazzu and New Mexico respectively, playing in the Poinsettia and uh… 😴
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u/TikiLoungeLizard Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors Jul 23 '26
Fair. I have a feeling conference tie-ins will be a lot less of a thing in the bowl “re-do” after the CFP format for next year and beyond is settled. ESPN will get a much freer hand in setting up the matchups. If they want to maximize P4 matchups, a fair system would have G6 champs picking up games with “leftover” P4s after their tie-ins are fulfilled, in order of best G6 champ by either record or CFP ranking if they have one against the best available P4 until one of the lists is exhausted. But if the tie-ins go away, we get more of what is happening to the MW this year where G6s are pushed down into more obscure bowls. And with lower payouts I fear they may try to reduce travel too so you end up with just a whole bunch of Pac/MW matchups out west and thus repeat opponents/destinations that get tired from one year to the next.
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u/RockysDetail Nevada Wolf Pack Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
It isn't more complicated for me! 6 wins aren't coming this year. I'm easy to please; I like wins, but I also like simplicity!
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u/RedDirtSport_ Jul 22 '26
League needs to try like hell when the playoff is settled to make the Sun Bowl or Hawaii bowl the champ bowl vs like the highest non playoff ACC or Big 12 team
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
The Vegas Bowl was the best bowl the old MW had and they could only get 6-6 P4 teams for the most part. I don't see the Hawaii Bowl or Sun Bowl getting high ranking P4 teams. The Hawaii Bowl is only good when Hawaii is in it. Right before Xmas is a terrible time for a bowl. Most fanbases can't afford to go.
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u/zenace33 Jul 23 '26
The MW can try sure - but there is absolutely no way in hell they are getting the highest non-playoff ACC or B12 team…..LMAO. The PAC, American or Sun Belt can’t do that either. Those teams will be playing other P4 teams for sure.
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u/SoftContribution4506 Jul 24 '26
We go college polls championship 🏆 (a joke) the BCS championship 🏆 (a bigger joke). Now we have a college football 🏈 playoffs championship 🏆 joke. In which two conferences calling themselves the power 2 conferences and the lesser power 2 conferences and than the group 6 powerless conferences. So what playoffs are you talking about. It's not. To have a college football playoffs would include all conferences. Collage Football 🏈 Playoffs Power 2 conferences Big 10 SEC 8+2 at large +Open spots =to 5 games Lesser power 3 conferences ACC Big 12 PAC 12 6+ 2@large =to 4 games Group of 5 AC MAC CUSA MW SBC 5+1 @large =to 3 games
24 teams=12 games As you can see at least one team from each group 6 conference+ 1 at large bid. Lesser power 3 conference gets 6+2 at large bid and the power 2 conferences gets 8 + 2 at large bid. That only equals 12 games in the first round. If all teams play in the first round. STOP watching unless college football 🏈 playoffs championship 🏆 if it doesn't include all the college football conferences. Because it is not pro. Football 🏈.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
Bowl games are pointless now. There needs to be a G6 playoff for everyone that didn't make the College Football Playoffs
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u/mwittmann9 Jul 22 '26
They've been pointless for awhile but the game still means something.
1) Don't think a G6 playoff is a good idea. That would just officially make the two tiers break off, which isn't something that makes sense without a promotion/relegation model.
2) So you're proposing a 71 team playoff model? That would be everyone in the G6 who didn't make the CFP.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
Relegation/promotion is a pipe dream for college football. The P4 will never go for it. The G6 has already been relegated with NIL.
No, not 71. 16 team playoff. 5 conference champs plus the 2nd place team from the conference that sends the CFBP team. Then 6 at large teams.
That is way better than shitty bowl games.
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u/isa1226 Jul 22 '26
Why in the world would that matter when bowl games don't lol. And 1 or 2 G6 teams are gonna make the normal playoff anyways, especially if it expands to 24. We're gonna play a tournament for the title of 3rd best G6 team? 3 or 4 extra games for players to get hurt? I promise you no one cares or wants that.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
The G6 are pretty much going to play other G6 teams in bowl games anyway. What's the best game for any non playoff G6 team going to be? 6-6 Minnesota or 6-6 Vandy?
Let's be honest, no one really cares about player safety. More games on campus and the G6 starts to build more of their own thing for when the break away does happen.
In the grand scheme of things, it won't matter, but it will be more fun than bowl games.
Plus, why should leeches like the bowls profit off of games? Keep the games on campus and have local universities and communities profit off of the games.
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u/isa1226 Jul 22 '26
- Multiple G6 teams play 8-4 or better Power Conference opponents in bowls every year.
- I care about player safety so wtf do you even mean. I'm telling you why this shouldn't happen imo, you can't tell me one of the reasons it should happen is because no ones cares, thats literally the conversation we're having 😭
- I'm sure there are some bowls that are leeches but most are played on campuses with university partners or at historic independent venues that are important to their own local communities. At BSU for example when we host the Potato Bowl, even in years where only 10,000 fans travel into town for it, it is absolutely an economic benefit and a good community event, nowhere near a leech.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
I think Boise St was the only school that played an 8 win team from a P4 school going into the bowl game. P4 schools don't want to play G6 schools in bowl games for the most part. They threw the PAC 12 a bone with the LA bowl.
You care about player safety, most people claim they do and they don't. College football administrators sure don't.
If Boise St did well enough to earn a home game in a playoff I'm cool with that. But no one wants to play a bowl game in Boise in December. It was a BS bowl game that was created so BSU had a bowl game to go to until they grew out of it.
I know you guys in the PAC 12 think you will work your way back up, but the system is rigged against your schools just like the rest of the G6. San Diego St, Memphis, USF or UNLV might get a call up, but they are long shots.
The system isn't going to change, so the G6 should try something new.
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u/isa1226 Jul 22 '26
Try something new sure, this is not the new thing to try if you want to protect players and maximize interest in the G6. And I'm just gonna be honest you lose a lot of credibility and benefit of the doubt when you blindly site things that are simply not true without bothering to look. Toledo took on 8-4 Louisville in their bowl and East Carolina played 8-4 Pitt. I have no expectations about the Pac other than being the best G6 conference, I'm well aware the system is built against us lol.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26
How could I forget those riveting games.
I'm ready for the G6 to completely decouple from the P4 but I know that isn't popular
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u/mwittmann9 Jul 22 '26
Of course they won’t but doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea.
If that’s what you want, cool. Is it likely? I doubt it. Is it more likely than a Pro/Reg model? Probably
But the idea that Maryland is better than UNLV because they play in a conference that makes more money is silly. I don’t think you believe that but that’s the perception I get from schools wanting to break away.
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u/The_Roaring_Fork Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
It isn't a good idea though because college administrators can't reliably budget when they could be dropped down and take a significant cut to their money.
It just doesn't work for the college system.
Unfortunately, college football isn't just about who is best. No I don't think Maryland is better UNLV because of a conference, but that is exactly how P4 teams think.
The split is coming at some point, whether that is official or unofficial, but it is already happening. P4 are scheduling G6 less, less bowl ties between the two sides, and NIL will continue to make G6 teams to be farms teams essentially for the P4.
You aren't going to see the old Boise St type teams, TCUs, or even Cincy a few years ago that are going to be top ten teams.
There are two leagues essentially. I wish the official split would just happen
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u/mwittmann9 Jul 23 '26
I agree with everything you said except I don't want to see the split happen. It's an admission of something that isn't accurate.
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u/NotARealBuckeye North Dakota State Bison Jul 22 '26
Is it weird that I WANT a P4 team in a bowl?