If my humble opinion (Note: opinion) is ‘right on’ about the American Athletic being the Cadillac of the G5 Conference, then the Mountain West, is the best of the muscle cars, the 1966 Pontiac GTO Coupe, the coolest conference.
That said, back in the day, I always liked the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner better then the 1966 GTO, when ranking the 1960’s Muscle cars. However, that is not what the experts say. They always go with the 66′ GTO as being the coolest of these machines. So, for the purposes of this blog, the 1966 Pontiac GTO Coupe = the 2022 Mountain West Conference as the coolest of the Group of Five leagues!
The MW conference has great rivalries, here are some of the best; 1) Boise State vs Fresno State, they play for the ‘Milk Can Trophy, related to both States dairy industries’, 2) Wyoming vs Colorado State, the Border War, the teams play for the ‘Bronze Boot’ (an ROTC history); 3) Utah State vs Wyoming, these teams play in the ‘Bridger Battle’ the winner gets a .50 caliber Rocky Mountain Hawken rifle (American Mountain Man, Jim Bridger’s weapon of choice); And my favorite, UNLV vs Hawaii or Sin City vs Paradise Island (Evil doers & Temptation everywhere). I may be the only guy in Wisconsin, who never misses this this game, one of my favorites!
If you have read earlier blogs that I have written re: 2022 schedules, the information provided below will be redundant, I always place this data on/in the blog for 1st time readers!
On Sully’s College Football Page, we use a system of color coding to make the reading of a particular team’s strength of schedule, easily recognized and understood!
The color Red is used to identify conference games, Yellow, for Power Five (P5) opponents, Green, to signify Group of Five (G5) teams, and finally, we use Light Blue for the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The FCS can offer up to 63 scholarship (not more than 63, yet can offer fewer), while the Football Bowl Subdivision ( P5 & G5) must provide 85 scholarships or lose their status as an FBS program!
In should be noted, the terms P5 & G5 are not NCAA language, but rather the constructs of five conferences (ACC, B-10, B-12, PAC 12, & SEC) and Notre Dame! No one is quiet sure of the origin of these terms, Power Five & Group of Five, they seem to have evolved over time, suffice to say, they are not NCAA Terms!
The link provided below will take you to Sully’s College Football Page (SCFP) featuring Mountain West Conference (MWC) 2022 schedule information!
The MWC has twelve (12) teams and is divided into two (2) divisions of six (6) teams a side The Mountain Division (Utah State, New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, Air Force, & Boise State) and the West Division six (6), (Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada, & UNLV).
The conference plays eight (8) conference games annually, for a total of 96 conference dates (12 conference teams x 8 Games = 96 dates) and four (4) Non-Conference battles for a total of 48 games. Since Hawaii gets an extra game (to off-set travel costs), the MWC plays 49 NC games!
This year, the Mountain West takes on 21 Power Five (P5) opponents, here is the breakdown … they play the Pac 12 in seven (7) games, the Big Ten in four (4) tilts, the MWC has four (4) dates with the Southeastern Conference, One (1) game with the B-12, and five (5) meetings with independent playing programs. Of the 21 meetings, seven (7) of the games are being played in MWC Arenas, while fourteen (14) are scheduled in P5 stadiums.
The conferences that make up the Group of Five (G5), are the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference–USA (C-USA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Sun Belt Conference (SBC), & of course the Mountain West Conference (MWC)!
On Sully’s College Football Page, we break up the 7 Independents in the following manner, Army, BYU, & ND are considered part of the power Five (P5) realm and we integrate, U-Conn, U-Mass, Liberty, & New Mexico State into a G5 designation for identification & scheduling purposes.
The MWC gets-it-on with sixteen (16) G5 programs in 2022! The breakdown goes as follows: they take on the AAC twice (2), they battle C-USA in five (5) games, the MAC on two (2) occasions, and the SBC once (1)! The Mountain also kicks-it off, on six (6) dates vs teams that play as Independents! in 2022, 10 of these games are scheduled to be played @ MWC sites, while six (6) will be played on the road.
Every team in the MWC will play an FCS (63 scholarship program) opponent in 2022. All twelve (12) of these games will be on MW fields, with the majority, seven (7) games being played against Big Sky opponents. They also will be taking on 5 other FCS teams, from five (5) different conference (Missouri Valley Football Conference {MVFC}, Ohio Valley Conference {OVC}, Northeastern Conference {NEC}, Southland Conference {SLC}, & Colonial Athletic Association {CAA}.
An important fact re: FCS programs, that is rarely discussed is that while Football Championship can only award up to 63 scholarship, they can offer partials up to the 85 scholarships that the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) can/must offer to maintain their good standing with-in that subdivision.
In other words, North Dakota State, an élite, FCS Program, could offer 50 full rides and then use the remaining 13 scholarships, to supplement academic & economic dollars. As a result, NDSU could field a team of 85 players, who pay zero tuition dollars out of pocket.
This explains why FCS (63 scholarship) teams, can and often do, beat FBS (85 scholarship) programs, while, on paper, having 22 fewer scholarships!
And as Always … Enjoy the Games!
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