Mountain West wants to make sure people know its stance on a playoff even if no one is listening

The Mountain West completed it's spring meetings and offered up it's thoughts on a college football playoff.

"With regard to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), support was expressed for the four-team playoff model as a progressive step, and the group discussed options related to bracket composition, selection process and competition venues. There was consensus for a conference champion component and playing the semifinal games within the bowl structure. The BOD did advocate for an equitable revenue distribution model which includes an academic performance element."

Isn't it cute that the Mountain West actually thinks it will get a say?

And of course the Mountain West wants "equitable revenue distribution" or else it won't be able to compete with the major conferences.

When it comes down to it, only four commissioners will be making the decision regarding college football while the others stand on the sidelines and nod in agreement. There might not be official superconferences, but they exist in that boardroom. The leaders of he SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 have the money and stability and therefore have the power, and the rest of college football is at their mercy.

That's why this little snippet from the Mountain West will probably go unnoticed unlike Monday's Big Ten teleconference that made national news or the SEC playoff announcement that made headlines for a week.

But here's the kicker: We're probably not even talking about a playoff or any other changes to the BCS had the Mountain West not started an uproar after Utah's undefeated season in 2008.

I know a lot of people like to claim the Alabama-LSU rematch from last year prompted change, but the change actually started when Utah defeated Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl and sparked a debate about who should be the nation's No. 1 team. Utah was the only undefeated team that year and received 16 first-place votes in the AP, but still finished behind Florida.

That season sent Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson to Capitol Hill, prompted then-Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier to join him and got all sorts of Utah lawmakers in a tizzy. Alabama-LSU may have pushed the BCS over the edge, but the Mountain West walked the BCS to it.

And now the Mountain West is a shell of that upstart conference. All of the teams that gave it power have moved on — or are about to move on - to more profitable conferences. So instead of being the conference that sparks change, like it once was, the Mountain West is subjected to sending out press releases that likely fall on deaf ears and watching while changes happens around it.

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