BYU, Utah Utes football: MWC has a chance to obtain automatic qualifying status

PROVO — The Bowl Championship Series is conducting a four-year evaluation process — which began in 2008 and runs through 2011 — to determine if a non-automatic qualifying conference, like the Mountain West Conference, can become the seventh automatic qualifying league.

At "halftime" of that evaluation, with two seasons down and two to go, the MWC is looking strong.

Thanks to the BCS-busting campaigns of Utah in 2008 and TCU in 2009, as well as BYU's double-digit victories the past two seasons, an automatic BCS berth could be within the MWC's grasp.

"On-field performance will determine whether there's a seventh AQ conference," BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said. "Last season was the second year of a four-year evaluation period. If another conference meets the threshold, it will automatically earn an automatic berth for its champion."

Speaking specifically of the MWC, Hancock said, "The Mountain West has had two great years. They have a chance."

For now, there are six automatic qualifying conferences — the Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big East and Pac-10.

By becoming an automatic qualifier, the MWC would benefit financially. It would earn $18.5 million per year, compared to the $9.5 million it currently shares with four other non-automatic qualifying leagues.

"The league is in a good position right now," said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson. "It's probably lining up where the forefathers envisioned this league could go when they formed it way back in 1998. I hope we can continue to grow."

For the first time, the BCS recently released the criteria for a non-automatic qualifying conference to become an automatic qualifying conference.

"It's something I've been in favor of publicizing for years. I've known the formula and all the (conference) commissioners have known it for years," Thompson said. "It's been talked about and talked around, and I think the fact it is out there and people can run the numbers is a good thing. I didn't support that we kept the formula internal. I'm glad they released the formula."

Here are the criteria that measure conference strength over the four-year period:

The ranking of a conference's highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings

The final regular-season computer rankings of all the teams in a conference