Mountain West notebook: Don’t hold your breath on expanded playoff

July 26, 2017 5:30 PM PT

las vegas —

The two-day Mountain West Media Summit provides an opportunity for coaches to talk about the coming football season in general and their teams in particular.

Invariably, discussions include Group of Five schools’ remote shot at playing for the national championship.

San Diego State head coach Rocky Long is among those who suggests expanding the playoff from four to eight teams.

Long posits that an eight-team format would allow all five champions from the Power Five conferences, two at-large teams and one Group of Five representative to get a spot in the playoff.

“Now you’ve got a legitimate chance for the national championship,” Long said. “It might not be one out of 10 years, but there’s going to be a time within that period where a non-Power Five team is going to be good enough to beat them. And then if you have one of those teams, you actually have a chance to win it.”

There’s one problem with that scenario — it will never happen.

“We are very comfortable with four,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “Four is not going away.”

Certainly, not anytime soon. The 12-year agreement for the CFP is in only its fourth year.

“We get all kinds of comments on this,” Hancock said. “The majority of people like what we have. They like it because we keep the focus on the regular season. Unlike almost every other sport, we don’t play a regular season and then have basically an all-comers meet at the end of the season. … Also, the bowl experience top to bottom is so important to college football that we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize it.”

Hancock, who spoke Wednesday morning at the summit, gets together regularly with a committee that includes presidents and commissioners representing each of the 10 FBS conferences.

“When we meet, it’s not even a topic of discussion because they are so pleased with what they have,” Hancock said. “They realize they have much more inclusion than ever before because of that automatic spot in the top-tier bowl games.”

Added Hancock: “There’s absolutely a tremendous chance for one of the teams from any conference to qualify for the championship game.

“What I like to say is go play a good schedule, win your games and you’re going to be in the hunt.”

Not everyone buys into that.

For instance, when Hancock’s comments were shared on social media, this tweet came from @geauxcrimson: “Yes yes and my daughter performed in the summer camp play so she is in the mix for an Oscar.”

MW bowl berths

When the Poinsettia Bowl ceased operations in January, it eliminated one of the guaranteed bowl spots for a Mountain West representative.

The MW, which has averaged seven bowl teams over the past four years, now has only five guaranteed spots.

The Mountain West has guaranteed spots in the Las Vegas Bowl, Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Hawaii Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. It also has secondary positions with the Cactus Bowl and Foster Farms Bowl, providing a team if the Big Ten, Big 12 or Pac-12 don’t have enough teams to meet their commitments.

Nothing that some 5-7 teams have gone to bowls the past two years in order for all the games to have teams, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson believes all the teams still will find places in the postseason.

“If people aren’t qualifying, we’re the first in line to take those positions,” Thompson said. “The system has allowed for openings, but there’s no guarantee.”

Conference bowl alignments have three more years to run before new any agreements can be put into place.

Stadium talk

Long was questioned by seemingly every media member about SDSU’s stadium situation.

Among his responses: “I think our athletic director and the city council and the mayor are going to come up with a great solution. Any solution (is good) that gives us a chance to play in a college-size stadium that is brand new with all the bells and whistles, with all the electronics and all that stuff. ... If that happens, then I think San Diego State will really be a prime candidate to move up in the world of college football.”

Suds from SDSU

Coaches for the West Division began a gift exchange at last year’s meetings, with coaches bringing something inexpensive that is locally produced.

Long endeared himself to his peers this year by having a 12-pack of Ballast Point Brewery delivered to their hotel rooms the night before the meetings began.

Viva Las Vegas

Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich hired an Elvis impersonator for two hours — at $350/hour — to follow him around during the meetings.

To which many asked: “Why?”

Not sure.

We do know it wasn’t the craziest idea Rolovich had this week.

He originally wanted to rent a monkey that could ride around on his shoulder. That would have been even more costly, however, and Rolovich would have needed a permit for the primate.

Aztecs