The numbers show MWC is improving

It sounds a shade superfluous, but it's true and praise is overdue.

This bowl season is huge for the Mountain West, a struggling 10-year-old conference that's suddenly making strides in football.

The MWC has taken flak, been made fun of, put down and teased over the years for what it is not. But times have changed.

The new bark of this league isn't going away anytime soon, and those who rule this league believe they're on the brink of something important, like getting an automatic bid to BCS bowl games someday, if the trend continues.

Utah's second BCS bowl in four years, a crack at a formerly No. 1-ranked team (Alabama) perched deep in the storied elite of the game?

BYU's third straight 10-win season and TCU returning to the polls with a chance to take on undefeated Boise State in San Diego? Three league teams ranked in the BCS standings?

"If you were to have a system that would acknowledge a conference in any given year rather than automatic berths before you played it, the Mountain West is surely strong," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall told reporters.

Mendenhall should know.

This is the season his Cougars were supposed to get it rolling, even after the loss of eight defensive starters, BYU's offense was supposed to be pretty good. The Cougars settled for third place in the MWC race.

"It's only going to get tougher," said Mendenhall.

This is the year MWC champion, Utah, had to beat two ranked teams within its own league to win a conference title. The ACC and Big East didn't have to deal with that.

"It is my sincere hope that TCU, Utah, ourselves, AFA and CSU all win because eventually that credibility will be sustained and recognized to a point that it has to be acknowledged," said Mendenhall. "The quality of football being played right now — not only on the top end but some of the coaching hires with some of the teams in our league — the conference isn't going to get worse, it's going to get better. It's becoming very, very competitive."

In past three years, the Cougars (32-6) lost six games — four of them came against Boston College, Arizona, UCLA and Tulsa — but the last two (Utah and TCU) were the toughest, proclaimed Mendenhall.

The final 2008 BCS standings featured three MWC teams in the top 16, with Utah (12-0) ranked No. 6, TCU (10-2) No. 11 and BYU (10-2) at No. 16.

The MWC is one of three conferences with at least three teams ranked in the top 16 — the Big 12 has 4, and the SEC has 3.