Guarantee for non-BCS schools is no molehill for Mountain West duo

It's not so bad these days being from below college football's Mendoza Line, where conferences don't have guaranteed BCS berths for their champions. Schools from four such conferences -- Fresno State, East Carolina, BYU and Utah -- inhabit the Top 25 having broken from the gate undefeated.

The 54 schools that comprise the Mountain West, WAC, Sun Belt, MAC, Conference USA and three independents have a constricted path for one (and only one) of them getting to a BCS bowl each season. They would like to widen the trail. That's why Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson has raised the idea of a guaranteed BCS spot for non-BCS schools.

Currently one non-BCS school automatically qualifies if it finishes among the top 12 in the final BCS standings, or top 16 if a champion from a power conference finishes lower. Thompson and Utah athletic director Chris Hill have gone on record as wanting to remove that threshold and guarantee a spot for the highest-ranked non-BCS school at the end of the regular season.

"I've run it by the (BCS conference) boys a couple of times; it hasn't got real traction," Thompson said. "Before it's even discussed there has to be criteria. (For example) 11 wins, a top 15 ranking. They said, 'You can't just say one of the 54 gets a guaranteed spot. What if that team is 9-3?'"

What if? The BCS should ask itself that question. Syracuse, at 8-3, got to the Orange Bowl as champion of the Big East in 1998. Stanford, at 8-3, got to the Rose Bowl after the 1999 season. Florida State, at 8-4, went to the Orange Bowl in 2005. The difference is the power conferences control the purse strings and, to a certain extent, the rules.

Prior to 2005, non-BCS schools had to finish in the top six to get an automatic berth. That meant the likes of Tulane (12-0, No. 10 in 1998) and Marshall (13-0, No. 12 in 1999) didn't get a shot. Utah did break through, finishing sixth in 2004. It took the threat of Congressional intervention for the qualification standards to be loosened prior to the 2005 season. Since then, WAC champions Boise State (2006) and Hawaii (2007) have taken advantage of the top 12 threshold to cash in on lucrative BCS paydays. But even then, both schools had to go undefeated in the regular season to get there.

Florida president Bernie Machen is a leading authority on the matter. He was president at Utah when Urban Meyer led the Utes to the Fiesta Bowl. Now Machen has the same job at Florida, overseeing a monster football budget in the football-rich SEC. Machen told CBSSports.com at the 2007 Final Four that he supported a limited liability corporation to run a full-on college football playoff. The idea died, as Machen never made a formal presentation to SEC presidents.

However, he still supports the little guy, the "schools that are clearly performing at the level of BCS schools, but have this unusually ... unfairly high bar."

"Look what Utah did on $20 million a year and then come in here and we've got $80 million a year," Machen said. "I don't begrudge us because we earn our way, but there are teams in our conference that are not as good as Utah and yet they get the BCS revenue which gives them an unfair advantage."

Hello, Vanderbilt?

East Carolina has arguably accomplished more than any team this season, beating two top 20 teams that won their conferences last year (Virginia Tech, West Virginia). Still, the Pirates are ranked only No. 14 in the AP poll. All coach Skip Holtz has to do now is win his 11 remaining games to go undefeated. Any loss along the way might doom his team's chances.

"We're getting to the point where we can compete (with BCS programs) on the field," Holtz said.

Mid-majors like BYU are more ferocious than ever. (Getty Images)

Thompson made the point that three of his top teams have competed well against power conferences in the BCS era (since 1998). TCU is 14-7 against BCS programs, Utah is 15-10 and Air Force is 8-8. Twelve of the 54 non-BCS schools are currently undefeated (New Mexico State has yet to play). Four ranked non-BCS teams is a large number going into the third week of the season.

"I think it's rational and it's doable," Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said of a non-BCS guarantee. "I think it is reasonable for our coaches to know, going into the year, if they have a great year they have a chance to play in one of the big bowls."

Hill's idea goes even further. He would like to see a playoff between the top two non-BCS schools at the end of the regular season. The game would be at the site of the highest-ranked team. Hill is not some loon: Under his watch Utah became the first non-BCS school to make it to the BCS. Hill also is currently a member of the NCAA's most power athletic committee, the Division I men's basketball committee.

"Maybe at the end of this year (hypothetically) we're playing Fresno State for the right to go to a BCS game," Hill said. "I understand the SEC has driven a lot of the bowl revenue for the other 50 or 60 of us. The thing that I struggle with is, if we have a great team and are league champs we don't have a chance to play at the top level. I can do that in every other sport I have."

Understandably, Hill is a playoff guy. That idea was dead on arrival in April at the BCS meetings. Although no formal vote was taken, a modest plus-one proposal from SEC commissioner Mike Slive was shot down 5-2 among the power leagues. Only the ACC and SEC supported it.

In a weird twist, though, Hill might get his wish for a non-BCS playoff this season. BYU is at Utah on Nov. 22 in what might be a winner-take-all game for that BCS berth.

"We have to let these high-achieving non-BCS teams get an easy shot into the BCS," Machen said, "Not like Urban did, (getting in) once in a lifetime."

For the rest of the national notes see the Dodds and Ends blog.