The MWC back then was stacked (Utah and TCU busting the BCS multiple times, BYU always competitive and occasionally winning the conference; Air Force and Wyoming fielding quality teams; just a few years removed from CSU’s run and New Mexico revolutionizing defense with Urlacher and the 3-3-5). They were making a legitimate case for supplanting the Big East, and got a lot of love in the polls for it.

Today’s Big XII includes those same MWC teams, and none of the big brands from the old Big XII. It says a lot about the state of the conference that the championship game will be played between Iowa State (the team that CB loved to point to during independence as a program being undeserving of P5 inclusion) and ASU (the perpetual doormat in the Pac10/12).

You can call it bias, but the fact of the matter is that BYU is playing in a weak conference (a conference with a lot of parity but a low top end) and, at 10-2, isn’t clearly better than a lot of 1 and 2 loss B1G teams or 2 and 3 loss SEC teams.

Of course, we’re not having this conversation if BYU had taken care of 5-7 Kansas at home… But here we are.