Columnist Ron Kantowski: Expanded bowls boost the MWC

Monday, May 6, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

There was more good news for the Mountain West Conference and its under appreciated football programs over the weekend when it was learned the MWC third- and fourth-place teams are locked into the Plastic Margarine Bowl and Humorous Tie Bowl, respectively.

Actually, the Plastic Margarine Bowl and Humorous Tie bowl may have been the only two that did not receive NCAA certification this year. But the fledgling Seattle and San Francisco Bowls were among the 28 -- up three from last year -- postseason "classics" that did receive the NCAA's stamp of approval.

The Mountain West signed long-term deals with the two relatively new bowls. Its No. 3 team will tangle with the Big East's No. 3, 4 or 5 in the next four San Fran Bowls at Pac-Bell Park and its fourth-place team will go against No. 6 from the ACC in the next five Seattle Bowls, to be played at the Washington State Soccer and Football Stadium in Seattle.

Combine those two commitments with the two existing ones -- the MWC champ annually advances/is exiled to Memphis to battle the Conference USA titlist in the Liberty Bowl while the runner-up squares off against the Pac-10 No. 5 in the Sega Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium -- and it means half of the MWC teams won't be home for Christmas/New Year's this year -- and for many years to come.

Not that commissioner Craig Thompson and the MWC teams are complaining.

Maybe they'll start beefing later, when they might find it next to impossible to purchase the thousands of tickets as prescribed by the various bowl contracts. Back in 1999, for instance, Brigham Young might have been better off to decline its bid to play in the Motor City Bowl. The Cougars lost a ton of cash by agreeing to play Marshall (a good program but one that doesn't trip the trigger of the casual fan) in a faraway place (Detroit) that was colder than the sideline stare of LaVell Edwards, their old coach.

I know, the game was played in 72-degree weather, under the Teflon roof of the Pontiac Silverdome. But most fans -- even BYU's teetotaling legions -- like to take in the sights in the days prior to kickoff, and frankly, there's not much to do in Motown during Frozen Spit Season.

But Thompson has succeeded in aligning MWC teams with bowl locations closer to home. In fact, it could now be argued that the league's champion actually will get the short straw when it comes to bowl assignments.

The Liberty Bowl has Graceland, tasty ribs and sultry blues, but the distance involved offsets a hunk of burning love, championship barbecue and B.B. King. Moreover, in that Conference USA is in much the same situation as the Mountain West -- mid-major conferences struggling for widespread acceptance -- it really doesn't enhance their viability by beating up on each other.

What you seek, if you're Thompson or a fan of the league, is the opportunity to beat up on an established program from one of the so-called power conferences -- which is exactly what Utah did to Southern Cal last Christmas Day at Sam Boyd Stadium.

You could argue that the Trojans' hearts weren't into playing a game that to them had to be considered a booby prize. But that's why this expanded postseason format works for the Mountain West.

Any bowl is better than no bowl at all.