CardinalJim Wrote:Almost 5 pages to answer a question that can be answered in a word....
"Has the MWC done enough to garner an autobid ?"
No...OK in two words HELL NO.
The next autobid should go to CUSA, not MWC.
CJ
I agree, the MWC is not quite there yet but they are pretty close IMO. They need to have more than 1 team finish ranked each year on a more regularly. But their is the catch, in 2007 BYU finish ranked AP #14, USA #15, but 9-4 Air Force, 9-4 Utah, and 9-4 New Mexico did not finished ranked. Air Force blew their chance to be ranked, they took 21-0 lead over California with 12:08 left in the 2nd quarter, only to give up 14 points to California by half after California put in their back-up QB. In the second half Air Force ended up kicking FG while California scored TD's. I not sure a 10-3 Air Force would have finished ranked in the top 25, but the loss and finishing 9-4 only gained them 2 votes in the AP (on side note a 7-6 California finished with 8 votes in the USA Poll). There was 3 Non-Auto teams that finished with 10 wins yet did not finished ranked in the top 25. The cards are stacked the Non-Auto teams, labeling, recruiting, Bowls, TV contracts, budgets, and ect...
The same things effect the Big East to a degree... Bowls- Gator/Sun ($2.25 million/$1.9 million), then it drops down to Meineke Car Care ($750,000), International ($750,000), Texas ($500,000), and Papajohns.com ($300,000). The Gator and Sun Bowls are nice Bowls, but Notre Dame could get the invite instead of a Big East teams, since the Big East and Notre Dame are both tied to the Bowls. IMO, I would love to see a Big East #2 pick (after BC$) vs the MWC #1 pick in the Vegas Bowl. I've heard the Las Vegas Bowl is close to $1.2 million in payout.
2006 it was $950,000;
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/f...outs_x.htm
I would think most Big East fans would not mind traveling to Las Wages for a Bowl game. Or the same match up in the Insight Bowl, who right now has the 5th pick after BC$ Bowls are filled of the Big 12 (2007 was 6-6 Oklahoma St) and Big 10 (was a 7-5 Indiana). Sorry but I a 9-3 UConn or 9-3 Cincinnati vs a 10-2 BYU would be a better match up for the Insight Bowl.