Much to my disappointment, the new Mountain West logo hyped for weeks and unveiled today wasn’t the old WAC logo, nor was it a giant middle finger pointed at TCU. Rather, the MWC went with a simple “M” and “W” in a mirror effect and kept the purple-gray color scheme. It’s a logo, not really anything for folks to lose sleep over contemplating. More worthy of discussion is the slogan “THIS Is Our Time.” Louisiana Tech sports information director Patrick Walsh put it best via Twitter: “Doesn’t the BCS decide if it is their time or not?”
The rebranding makes sense, given the conference’s ongoing transformation. Two of its founding members are gone, a third driving force behind MWC football success is out the door and Boise State is the first wave in a WAC-ification (trademark SaturdayBlitz.com) of the MWC. There’s plenty of change happening, but ultimately the league is running on a treadmill with all its exerted energy taking it nowhere. The addition of BSU should have been the starting point for Bowl Championship Series recognition, but instead is a consolation prize for Utah, BYU and TCU exiting. The additions of Hawaii, Fresno State and Nevada make the MWC a slightly better version of the Aughties’ WAC, but still persona non grata to those who determine Haves and Have-Nots.
This rebranding is yet another reminder that whether you’re a playoff proponent or bowl backer, the BCS is a ridiculous system. The MWC of 2010, and realistically every season dating back to about 2004, boasted teams more worthy of big game billing than some of the automatic qualifiers. For example, a one-loss TCU team that beat Oklahoma has a better case for bowl prominence than a Florida State that limped into the postseason with just eight wins, but TCU was defined by the San Diego States and UNLVs on its schedule. The lack of flexibility to determine a team’s worth on a case-by-case basis is the system’s greatest flaw. TCU and Utah are merely playing the game by leaving for AQ conferences. No road map is available for a conference to earn such status, so the individual universities have to scramble for their own means.
That leaves the non-AQs, specifically the MWC which has had upper tier programs consistently, having to find some way to stand out. Fantasy is the Big 12 dissolving as a result of Texas and Oklahoma having their own TV networks, and the league’s former members find refuge in the MWC. Reality is a new logo introduced by the narrator from Idiocracy.