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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Bowl Eligible

By Greg Archuleta
Journal Staff Writer
      LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Good news, Lobo fans. You may be able to watch the University of New Mexico football team play in the New Mexico Bowl for the rest of your lives.
    Or, you might start planning that postseason trip to Boise, Idaho.
    During Tuesday's Mountain West Conference media meetings, commissioner Craig Thompson said a plan set to go before a joint council of league and MWC-affiliated bowl representatives says that a bowl can pick a local team more than once in a three- or four-year cycle as long as that team is better than the other competing bowl-eligible teams.
    "By definition, 'Better' uses the six (Bowl Championship Series) computer rankings, the conference record and head-to-head," Thompson said. "We're still working on the full definition of that, but if you're better than (those other teams), you shouldn't be penalized."
    Thompson said he hopes to have the issue resolved before the football season starts in late August.
    New Mexico Bowl executive director Jeff Siembieda said the proposal would help all MWC-affiliated postseason events.
    It doesn't just help us," Siembieda said, "it helps all the Mountain West bowls pick the teams that are the best fit for their games. Obviously, our preference is not to have the same teams every year, but it helps to know that we don't have to discount the Lobos just because they played here once or twice in certain time period."
    During his "State of the conference" address, Thompson also announced that the MWC is in negotiations with the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise about an automatic berth opposite the Western Athletic Conference.
    The Humanitarian Bowl's current contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference runs out after this season. The ACC sends its eighth team to Boise.
    Siembieda said he welcomed the possibility of another MWC-WAC matchup because it would give both leagues even more flexibility in selecting teams for their games.
    If the MWC were to reach an agreement with the Humanitarian Bowl, the bowl would have fifth choice among MWC schools, behind the New Mexico Bowl.
    Thompson said, however, that the hierarchy could change because all the bowl contracts with the MWC expire after the 2009 season.
    The commissioner added that negotiations with the Humanitarian Bowl also could lead to an agreement in 2008 that if the ACC doesn't have an eighth bowl-eligible team, the MWC could take that slot, provided that it has enough bowl-eligible teams. That game will be on Dec. 30 this season.
    NETWORK TELEVISION: Another negotiation in the works is a possible MWC game broadcast Saturday mornings on CBS, Thompson said.
    The MWC is trying to secure a spot for a 10 a.m. MT time slot that would air prior to the nationally televised Southeastern Conference game.
    Two major obstacles stand in the way of the plan. The first is the FCC's mandate that the networks must provide a certain amount of children's programming, and CBS would have to scramble to fit time for that programming lost to accommodate the early football game.
    The second is that the game couldn't run over into the SEC's time slot. The SEC would not allow CBS to join its games in progress, Thompson said. A solution there might be to air MWC games on a regional basis.
    ALL-TIME LOBOS: UNM running back DonTrell Moore, center Ryan Cook, kicker John Sullivan and defensive back Brian Urlacher were named Tuesday to the MWC football 10th Anniversary Team. For a list of the entire team, see Page B4.
   

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