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Ever since the advent of the BCS, those conferences with automatic BCS bowl bids have considered themselves a step above those without.  By and large, the rest of the country bought it.  Whether they pointed to rankings, facilities, athletes, fanbase, wins or anything else, conferences like the Big 12 and SEC were just inherently better, even if their chosen criterion didn't actually support that claim.

As time has gone on, teams like TCU, Utah, Boise State and BYU have risen to national prominence, often competing with and beating blue-blooded programs such as Alabama, Michigan and Oklahoma.  The non-BCS leagues, especially the Mountain West, began to rightly say that their teams are just as good as any other conference's, and that they deserve equal treatment.  The BCS, intent on keeping the status quo, could no longer rely on the unquestioned idea that their schools were superior.  The fall back position has become that every team in their cadre is a quality program, while the lesser-prominent teams in non-BCS leagues were of such low quality that their presence made the entire conference unworthy of inclusion into their elite club.  This has been accepted by most people as a valid reason.  After all, who thinks a program like UNLV or Colorado State is even close to schools like Texas A&M or Cincinatti?  Unfortunately for BCS fanboys, the numbers tell a very different story.

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The votes are in.  BYU has been selected to finish 3rd in the conference by the media.  This wouldn't be much to talk about, but looking at the number of points each team received reveals a certain lack of faith among the media in BYU's ability to secure a top 3 finish in the conference.  TCU was a great team last year, and with so many starters returning they figure to be a great team this year.  The media doled out 279 points to TCU to secure the #1 position.  Utah got 242, and BYU ended with 207.  This Mountain West Trifecta is expected, as the rest of the conference is considered a step down.  But only 12 points behind BYU is Air Force, and that is something to talk about.

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