With so much talk the last few months discussing Big Ten expansion, and the possible ramifications–not just within the conference, but in the responses by the Big XII, SEC, or ACC, and even regarding the continued feasibility of the Big East after, presumably, a member or two had been plucked–perhaps the most immediate news regarding the BCS’s future was overlooked in the shuffle.

Last month, the Bowl Championship Series, which governs college football’s post-season play, outlined how a conference not currently in the “Big 6,” the aforementioned leagues, plus the Pac-10, could earn an automatic berth to the BCS series of bowls.  And unsurprisingly, one conference in particular has earned the most speculation.

The Mountain West Conference has performed so well the last two seasons that it could receive an automatic bid to the BCS in the 2012 and ’13 seasons.

BCS executive director Bill Hancock was hesitant Wednesday to say the MWC, which has placed Utah and TCU in the Bowl Championship Series the last two seasons, was on course to become the seventh automatic qualifying conference.

But he did tell the conference commissioners and athletic directors gathered here this week for meetings that they should be aware of the strides the Mountain West has made toward earning an automatic bid.

With the emergence of the Mountain West conference over the past few years, and the public groundswell of support for mid-major and small-conference teams, especially as it relates to a potential playoff scenario, it’s not hard to imagine Utah, TCU, and Brigham Young shedding that very label, and joining their on-the-field equals in terms of perceived stature.

But don’t consider this charity on the part of the BCS.  Those who run the the system would prefer to promote the traditional powers, the Texases, the Floridas, the Ohio States, the USCs, not just because of a claimed superiority, but because it makes more financial sense.  Those teams draw better TV ratings, and better attendance figures than do the mid-majors.  But the Mountain West achieving BCS status might be the only way for the Bowl Championship Series to survive.

Because mid-major teams are not guaranteed a spot in the 5 bowls that make up the Bowl Championship Series, (the Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, and BCS Championship Games), the BCS does not have to distribute the same amount of revenue to the schools in those conferences.  For proponents of a playoff, that’s been a key issue when deriding the unfairness of the current system.  Last year, for instance, the Big Ten and SEC received $22 million each from the BCS. The other four power conferences were awarded $17.7 million each.  But the 5 non-BCS conferences were granted just $24 million, to split among the leagues.  Consider that Notre Dame is awarded $1.3 million dollars annually, if they fail to reach a BCS bowl game, and the difference is even more staggering.

Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, has cited the revenue discrepancy as a reason for his legislation that would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff. The bill passed a subcommittee last month but faces an uphill battle in Congress.

So what exactly would the Mountain West, or any other conference need to accomplish in order for one of its teams to earn an annual berth to any of the most prestigious, and highest paying, bowls?  There’s a three-part formula, and the conference in question would need to eclipse any BCS conference in all three.

• The BCS ranking of the conference’s top team
• The average computer ranking of the teams in the conference
• The number of teams in the conference ranked in the end-of-year Top 25 (adjusted by number of teams in the conference)

However, there is a caveat in the third criterion, that a conference that ranks in the top 6 of the first two thresholds only needs to be at 50% of the #1 team in the third category.

The SEC blog Team Speed Kills did the math, and showed exactly where the Mountain West stacked up against the other conferences.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t too pretty for the Mountain West, .  But they did uncover yet another caveat.

The computations will be made according to the conference’s membership on Dec. 4, 2011.

Why is that so important?  Because the rumor mill is starting to circulate that come the 2011 season, Boise State will join the Mountain West.  A Fresno, California TV Station reported that the Broncos, who have been perhaps the most elite non-BCS team over the past few seasons, will be offered a spot in the Mountain West conference.

Boise State, which has won two BCS games in the past 5 years, have established themselves as a top team heading into next season. Some have gone so far as to suggest that they might be the first mid-major team to earn a shot at the crystal football.  While that’s no given, the fact remains that the Broncos’ success has given credence to the idea that these teams might be just as good as one from the Big XII.

ESPN’s Joe Schad corroborated the report, though it’s probably not as done a deal as claimed.

But what would Boise State joining the Mountain West mean? Well, according to Team Speed Kills:

As far as 2008-09 goes, things look better. The MWC would soar to third in Criterion 1, edge into sixth ahead of the Big Ten in Criterion 2 (by a margin of 0.45), and it would be the top league in Criterion 3 by a wide margin with 28.75 points. In other words, the MWC would be in position to get an automatic bid without a petition.

With that in mind, would it even be possible for the Mountain West  to spurn Boise State?  With the Broncos joining Utah, TCU, Brigham Young, and Air Force, among several other lesser teams, the conference would boast as much talent at the top as the ACC or Big East, which, in all fairness, may not actually exist come 2011.  It would guarantee that conference an equal share of the BCS pie–the same $17 or $24 million that the other power conferences receive.  And most importantly, for the Bowl Championship Series, it would shut up detractors who claim that a playoff is the only chance for the mid-majors to receive equal consideration.

With this in mind, we would need to see an equal shift in the minds of voters as well as the potential institutional change.  If TCU or Boise State had been in a “power conference” last year, would they have received consideration for the national championship last year?  Probably not, since they’d still have been thought to play a lighter schedule than even the undefeated Cincinnati team that played just three ranked teams.

The Mountain West will still be treated as the red-headed stepchild of the BCS, with grudging acceptance rather than with whole-hearted welcoming.

But it would be a start, a much needed start, towards achieving equality for all of college football’s teams.  Once the Utahs and Boise States of the world are presented with the same BCS endgame as the members of the more prestigious conferences, it’s not hard to imagine an even greater push for a playoff structure.  We’ve seen the success of mid-major teams in BCS games over the past decade, and it’s not hard to imagine that they’d continue such play.  Once those teams prove that, on a  year-in, year-out basis they’re every bit the equals of the current Big 6, their next championship game snub might not be perceived as so just.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that college football will be the same, even five years down the line.  We’ve all read the articles about how Big Ten Expansion could set off an implosion into four superconferences, that those could even break off from the NCAA and set up their own structure.

But right now, that’s fantasy.  And all that’s concrete is the potentiality for the Mountain West to finally find themselves on equal footing as the power conferences.  Adding Boise State would be the first step towards fixing college football’s broken system.