Mountain West Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez became the latest conference commissioner to lobby for their league ahead of Sunday’s College Football Playoff bracket reveal, insisting No. 10 Boise State has earned a first-round bye.
“Participation in the College Football Playoff isn’t about entitlement,” Nevarez said. “It should not be contingent upon a conference patch or the logo on the helmet. It’s based on performance and Mountain West Champion Boise State’s body of work this season, including an 11-game win streak, has earned it one of the top four seeds ahead of the Big 12 champion.”
The statement — which notably does not mention the ACC — appears to be a direct response to multiple comments made this week by Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who has made the case his conference’s champion deserves to be ahead of any Group of 5 champion.
“In no way should a Group of 5 champion be ranked above our champion,” he said Wednesday.
He reaffirmed that sentiment Saturday, after No. 15 Arizona State beat No. 16 Iowa State 45-19.
“There should be no comparison between us and any G5 conference champion,” he said. “Strength of schedule matters. We played nine conference games, we mandate a 10th [a nonconference game against a Power 4]. You know the data points. I don’t want to get into too much of that today, but I’ll double down on that for sure.”
The possibility of ASU (11-2) jumping Boise State (12-1) seems unlikely considering the Broncos had a comfortable 21-7 win against No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West championship game Friday night. Heisman Trophy contender Ashton Jeanty ran for 209 yards on 32 carries for Boise State.
As the commissioners lobbied against each other’s conference, they both could wind up with first-round byes, considering Boise State and Arizona State were ranked ahead of No. 17 Clemson (9-3), a participant in Saturday night’s ACC title game against SMU. If Clemson beats SMU, it opens up the possibility the ACC champion could play a first-round game.
