From a scheduling perspective, the end of the 2017 Mountain West season was exactly what you don’t want to see happen. Boise State, sporting a 9-2 record and a perfect 7-0 mark in MW play, visited Fresno State, who was 9-3 overall and 7-1 in conference.
What would otherwise be a massive game was actually meaningless. The Broncos had already clinched the Mountain Division and Fresno State had won the West and the host of the MW title game was decided by whichever team was rated higher in a consortium of computer rankings. Boise State had the edge there, so even a 28-17 Fresno State win couldn’t keep the following week’s championship game out of Boise, which the Broncos turned around and won, 17-14.
That scenario isn’t likely to happen again, but the Mountain West on Monday protected itself from another lame duck finale by adjusting its title game-awarding procedures. Moving forward, the host of the championship game will be the team with the best conference winning percentage. Should that remain a tie, the first tiebreaker will now be head-to-head record. Should the teams not meet in the regular season, CFP rankings and computer rankings will determine the host.
“We had a very unique set of circumstances last December with the two divisional champions playing on the final weekend of the regular season,” deputy commissioner Bret Gilliland said in a statement. “That prompted a review of the formula and a shift to place a priority on head-to-head competition, while maintaining strategic positioning for the Mountain West champion to serve as the Group of Five representative to the College Football Playoff structure.”
With the Las Vegas Bowl moving on from the Mountain West upon the 2020 opening of the new Raiders’ stadium, one wonders if the MW will eventually park its title game in Sin City.
