Columnist Steve Guiremand: Mountain West could be virtual no-show in bowls

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. His Around Campus column appears Friday during football season.

It's fair to say that Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson will be keeping his fingers crossed the next few weeks.

Depending on how the final three weeks of the season play out, the MWC could have three of its eight teams playing in a postseason bowl game for the second straight year.

But there is also a very real possibility that the MWC could have just one team -- Liberty Bowl-bound Colorado State (8-1, 5-0) -- in a bowl game.

That would be even more embarrassing than the fact the conference doesn't even have one school ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Ouch!

Only three Mountain West teams besides Sonny Lubick's Rams even remain bowl eligible heading into the conference's stretch run -- Air Force (6-3, 3-2), New Mexico (5-5, 3-2) and UNLV (4-5, 3-2) -- with the MWC still guaranteed spots in both the Las Vegas Bowl and new Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.

It was thought that Air Force had already met the NCAA minimum six victories for a bowl berth even though one of the wins was over I-AA Cal State Northridge. Division I-A teams can use a victory over a I-AA opponent once every four years for bowl eligibility.

But to be able count that I-AA win, the opponent must have an average of 60 scholarship players over a three-year period. Probation-plagued Cal State Northridge, it was discovered only this week, didn't fulfill that requirement.

So now the red-faced Falcons, who claim they were told by Northridge officials that the school met the 60-scholarship requirement, must win one of their final two games against either conference heavyweight Colorado State or San Diego State (3-6, 3-2). The Aztecs have a bye this week, which will allow them extra defensive preparation time for the triple-option.

Meanwhile, because New Mexico and UNLV are playing 12 games this season, they must finish with a winning record -- in this case, seven victories -- to be bowl eligible.

That means the loser of Saturday's game is eliminated from bowl consideration because the best that school could finish is 6-6.

New Mexico must defeat both UNLV and BYU in Provo next week to get a bowl berth. UNLV must win its final three games -- against the Lobos and road games at San Diego State (Nov. 25) and Hawaii -- (Dec. 2) to get in.

"I am concerned," Thompson said this week when asked about the MWC not being able to fill one or both bowl slots after the Liberty Bowl. "I always try to take the optimistic perspective on it. New Mexico and UNLV know one or the other will be out of contention after this weekend and they don't need to depend on anyone else if they can take care of business.

"I'm certainly concerned we won't have three bowl eligible teams but until the last breath is taken, we can hope for three."

The folks at CNNSI.com certainly aren't as optimistic as Thompson. In their bowl predictions this week, they already have Toledo penciled in to play San Jose State in the Silicon Valley Classic.

Meanwhile, the bowl game the Mountain West hoped to make its marquee postseason attraction -- the Las Vegas Bowl -- sputters along.

The bowl has yet to name a title sponsor, which is not a very good sign. And if UNLV falters, the bowl -- already warned to improve local ticket sales or risk losing its NCAA certification -- could be stuck with something like an Air Force-Arizona State matchup.

Thompson said the Las Vegas Bowl is looking hard at attracting a Pac-10 team, likely the loser of the Arizona State-Arizona game. A UNLV-Arizona State game would likely come close to filling 36,800-seat Sam Boyd Stadium. An Air Force-Arizona State contest would probably be hard pressed to get 25,000.

Like we said at the start of this column, Thompson and company will be keeping their fingers crossed the next few weeks.

Once around the nation

Once around the MWC