Fort Worth, Texas – The Texas Christian Horned Frogs’ first-year domination of the Mountain West Conference may help the rest of the league.
With only three assured bowl slots, a nationally ranked TCU team would have a solid chance at landing the at-large spot in the Liberty Bowl, leaving three western bowls for other MWC teams.
Colorado State, New Mexico, Brigham Young and Utah are 5-4 overall, and as Utah coach Kyle Whittingham has said for weeks, it may take a 7-4 record for them to make a bowl instead of the technically eligible 6-5 record.
Liberty Bowl official Harold Graeter, who watched No. 20 TCU take the MWC title Saturday with a 33-6 rout of CSU, said: “A 10-1 TCU team would be very attractive to us. We’ve been contacted by the ACC, Big Ten.”
Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart will attend Thursday’s Fresno State-Boise State game for the Western Athletic Conference championship.
The MWC sent its champ to the Liberty Bowl until last year, when Utah went to the Fiesta Bowl. The league didn’t extend the contract with the Memphis, Tenn., bowl, leaving the possibility of sending a team this year. Next year, the Liberty Bowl matches an SEC team against the Conference USA champ. If the SEC can’t fill its slots, Graeter left the door open for future contact with the MWC.
The Las Vegas Bowl gets the first pick of MWC teams, followed by the Emerald San Francisco Bowl and the new San Diego Poinsettia Bowl.
Footnotes
CSU linebacker Luke Adkins played for the first time this season. He had been delayed by extended rehabilitation for a knee injury suffered late last year. Adkins finished with four tackles and admitted to some rust. … Safety Travis Garcia led the Rams with 12 tackles. … Cornerback Robert Herbert had to leave Saturday’s game after aggravating a leg injury. … Jason Smith is 6-for-6 in field goals since he was named the Rams’ top kicker. … In the last two meetings with TCU, the Rams have scored three field goals. … CSU lost to the Frogs in the 2002 Liberty Bowl 17-3.
