The Mountain West had a great year in 2008. There is no denying this.

A season that had teams from the conference go 6-2 against the PAC 10 is nice.

I just don't get over excited about the six wins when four of them came against teams with a less than .500 mark.

The season was capped by a couple big bowl wins over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and undefeated Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl.

The Mountain West has been lobbying for a place at the big table and to become a BCS automatic qualifying conference.

I was on board at first. I think the conference has taken a good first step.

But it was one good year. The conference was only 8-10 in their games with BCS conference teams and 5-6 against the PAC 10 in 2007. I would like to see a few more years like 2008 before they are granted an automatic berth.

I think the bar has been set higher now for the Mountain West. Last seasons 9-5 record against BCS conference teams shows they can play with the BCS teams and was a vast improvement from 2007.

With 14 games on the schedule against BCS conference teams next season, I think that they need to at least match that for the season to considered a success.

The conference is pretty solid top to bottom. Eighth place Wyoming went in to Tennessee and beat them. Tennessee only finished about ninth in the SEC but it shows the Mountain West bottom team can play with an SEC bottom team to go along with Utah beating Alabama at the top.

This isn't an article about the Mountain West and the BCS though. That has been done to death. I didn't feel like I could write an article about the Mountain West and the 2009 season without at least touching on the subject though.

For 2009, it appears that the Mountain West is looking to make a mark around the rest of the country, not just in the Pac 10.

Air Force is playing at Minnesota.

BYU is taking on Oklahoma and Florida State.

Colorado State plays their annual game with Colorado.

New Mexico is going to both Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

San Diego State will go to UCLA.

TCU is making the trip to ACC country twice to play Virginia and Clemson.

UNLV will host Oregon State.

Utah will play at Oregon and welcomes Louisville.

Wyoming goes to Texas and then returns home to play Colorado.

While 2008 was PAC 10 heavy, 2009 looks like the Big 12 is the conference of choice.

Six games will be played with what was considered by some the best conference of 2008.

If you didn't know, the Mountain West was 1-3 in 2008 against the Big 12.

Both the ACC and PAC 10 will have three games each with the Mountain West.

The big three in the conference, Utah, BYU, and TCU, were all able to hold on to their coaches while rumors were flying that any one of them were candidates for a number of job openings.

Air Force was fourth in the conference and extended second year head coach Troy Calhoun's contract for another five years. Calhoun has amassed a 17-9 record in his two seasons with the Falcons.

Colorado State and UNLV have also retained their coaches.

Colorado State had just gone through a coaching change after 2008 when Steve Fairchild took over for legendary Sonny Lubick. Fairchild took the Rams back to a bowl for the first time in three seasons.

UNLV has seen a rising trend in wins going 5-7 in 2008 after four consecutive two-win seasons. Mike Sanford has been there for three of those two-win season and has now laid the foundation to get UNLV back to a bowl game.

The three teams that brought up the bottom all have new head coaches heading into 2009.

New Mexico tabbed Illinois offensive coordinator, Mike Locksley, to head up their program. Locksley has never been a head coach, but has 17 years of coaching experience as an assistant.

Wyoming has also brought in an offensive coordinator. Dave Christensen from Missouri takes over in Laramie. Christensen has been coaching at the college level since 1989 but has never been head coach.

San Diego State probably had the biggest hire by stealing away Brady Hoke from Ball State. Hoke had been at Ball State for six season and just finished his best season there going 12-0 through the regular season before losing in the MAC championship game to Buffalo.

With an established collection of coaches mixed the new faces, the coaching in the Mountain West looks like it could be a whose who of the next best coaches in America.

If these coaches can guide their teams through, what looks like a tougher non-conference schedule and repeat the success of 2008, then the bid for an automatic BCS berth just got stronger.

If they can't, the conference may fall back and be referred to as a one hit wonder.

Five teams in bowl games and a sixth team eligible. Unfortunately the Western Athletic Conference came up short and played to a 1-4 record in their bowls. Louisiana Tech topped Northern Illinois, 17-10, in the Independence Bowl.

That's not to say that in their losses, the WAC wasn't entertaining.

Boise State lost to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl, 17-16 in what has been regarded as one of the best bowl games of the season.

Nevada lost to Maryland in the Humanitarian Bowl, 42-35. Minutes into the fourth quarter Nevada ties the game at 28 apiece. Maryland then scored the next two touchdowns to take a 42-28 lead. With less than two minutes in the game Nevada pulls the score to within seven. Nevada fell when they were unable to recover the on-side kick.

Fresno State had a 28-20 lead going into the fourth quarter of the New Mexico Bowl. Colorado State out scored Fresno State in the final quarter 20-7. Unable to recover an on-side kick, Fresno State lost by five.

Only Hawaii was blown out in their bowl game. Notre Dame routed the Warriors 49-21.

Where does that take the conference into the 2009 season?

To be honest, I feel like the conference takes a bit of momentum in to next season.

In both 2006 and 2007 there was only four teams from the WAC that went to bowls. That is one more bowl team along with the eligible team in 2008. I see this as improvement.

The conference is perceived as weak but with an increase in teams making it to, and being eligible for bowls I am not so sure they are quite as weak as believed. Close losses show that the conference can play with the rest of the country.

In the bottom half of the conference, New Mexico State and Utah State have brought in new coaches.

New Mexico State has hired former UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker. New Mexico State was 3-9 overall but only 1-7 in conference. Rebuilding New Mexico State will have to be done without quarterback Chase Holbrook or leading receiver, Chris Williams.

Utah State has brought in Gary Andersen, former defensive coordinator at unbeaten Utah. Utah State had three conference wins last season and has not had a winning program since 1996. Quarterback Diondre Borel was the team leader in both passing and rushing and returns for his junior season.

Boise State is always favored to win the conference and has established itself in the front of the line as a BCS team every year.

In 2009 the play host to Oregon, who they beat in Autzen Stadium last season. Both teams appear as though they may start 2009 ranked in the top 15.

After that it is a matter of getting through the WAC. They have done it many times before but I feel like the rest of the conference is improving and may soon catch up to them. Hawaii did it in 2007.

Nevada looks like they may have the best shot in 2009. They play at Boise State but the other top teams in the WAC all must play in Nevada. Nevada returns quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick played in 10 games as a freshman and started as a sophomore. In 2008, he was second on the team in rushing with 1130 yards.

The leader was running back Vai Taua with 1521 yards. He ranked eighth in the nation in rushing. Taua will be back for his junior season.

Nevada does however lose leading receivers Marko Miller and Mike McCoy. While this will hurt, it appears that the running game is the strong side of the offense. The run will be key until some new receivers can step up.

Another team that may position itself in a place to grab the WAC title is Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs enter their third season under Derek Dooley. Dooley took a 5-7 team to an 8-5 bowl winning team in two years time.

Louisiana Tech found a quarter back in Ross Jenkins. Jenkins established himself late in the season going 6-1 down the stretch including the bowl win.

Running back Daniel Porter came in and looked to played as a nice complementary back to senior Patrick Jackson. Porter quickly became the feature back and will help the Bulldogs have a well balanced offense.

In an improving conference that is still trying to catch a team that has established itself among one of the best in the country, the rest of the WAC are taking strides to give Boise State something of a challenge.

While they have been beat before, one season with a different champion doesn't release the hold Boise State has on the WAC. If one of the other teams such as a strong returning Nevada or an upstart like Louisiana Tech, can do what Hawaii did, the hold will at least loosen.

Take a look at some numbers for me.

5-0

6-2

4-2

4-2

3-2

Anyone want to guess what these are?

These were the top records for the conferences in bowl games.

Do you know who they belong to?

Unless you have been living under a rock, I am sure you know that the Pac 10 was 5-0 and the SEC was 6-2.

The Big East and one other conference went 4-2. I will give you a hint for the other 4-2 conference. It was a non-BCS conference.

Everyone has been talking a lot about the Mountain West, but it wasn't them. They actually came in at 3-2.

That 4-2 record belonged to Conference USA.

Why didn't we hear more about it? Why was this overlooked?

The four wins came against other non-BCS conference teams.

Does this make Conference USA bad? No, I don't think so.

In fact, they beat a team from three of the other four non-BCS conferences. The teams they beat were good teams from those conferences.

MAC West champion 12-2 Ball State

MAC West second place team 9-4 Western Michigan

Mountain West fourth place team 8-5 Air Force

Sun Belt champion 8-5 Troy

And while those are nice wins they weren't as impressive as wins over teams like Alabama, or undefeated Boise State which were a couple of wins the Mountain West earned.

So what does this mean about Conference USA?

Bowl records alone don't make up the whole picture. Both the Pac 10 and SEC had nice looking records in bowl games but you would still have trouble finding anyone who wouldn't say that both conferences, as a whole, were down.

Instead of a big bowl win, the signature wins for the conference actually came at the start of the season when East Carolina beat defending Big East champion West Virginia. The Pirates then went on to beat highly ranked, and the eventual, ACC champion, Virginia Tech.

Unfortunately, no other team in the conference had wins that even came close to the caliber of these two.

By no means do I think of this as a one team conference though.

Tulsa came up just short with Arkansas, losing by seven.

UCF lost by seven to both USF and at Miami.

Memphis fell by seven to Louisville.

Southern Miss and UAB lost to Auburn and South Carolina respectively by two scores.

If the success from the bowl season can carry in to next season and some of these close losses turn into wins, Conference USA may start challenging the Mountain West as the top non-BCS conference.

How do you get your name out there to the public? The Mid-American Conference is doing it with a little help from the leader in sports, ESPN.

The MAC and ESPN have announced an eight-year agreement that will include football, and both men's and women's basketball. The agreement will run through the 2016-17 academic year.

In this new deal the ESPN will televise a minimum of 25 events each year. The deal is for the events to be produced and aired on ESPN platforms. That includes ESPN, ESPN, ESPNU and any other ESPN channels.

After a couple of record breaking games in the 2008 season, ESPN and the MAC felt it a good business move to ink this deal.

The game between Ball State and Central Michigan was the highest-rated college football telecast for a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the history of ESPN2.

The MAC championship where Buffalo upset previously undefeated Ball State was the most watched conference game in MAC history as well.

With both of these games on the ESPN family of networks it shows that there is a wide interest in the conference.

Getting the MAC name and their brand of football out to the nation is a good thing. While the schools stay the same the names continue to change. And I don't mean the players graduating or going to the NFL.

Brady Hoke, the coach behind Ball State's 12-0 regular season record has vacated for San Diego State and the increasingly more popular Mountain West Conference. Hoke is replaced by Stan Parrish.

At Eastern Michigan, Ron English takes over for Jeff Genyk. Eastern Michigan has been a perennial bottom team in the MAC which is the reason behind the change.

Another team that has taken up residency in the MAC cellar is Toledo who has hired Tim Beckman to replace Tom Amstutz. . While Amstutz has a nice looking resume at Toledo which includes four bowls and two MAC championships, there was no getting away with having three straight seasons with a losing record.

In the MAC east, Bowling Green has brought in Dave Clawson to replace Gregg Brandon. Brandon only had one losing season at Bowling Green however his first season was his best and since then the program has had inconsistent results finishing last season at 6-6.

Miami of Ohio hired Mike Haywood after Shane Montgomery went 17-31 over his four years as head coach. Montgomery already has another job though. He is now the offensive coordinator at MAC east rival Akron.

That's five out of 13 coaches changing in this year alone. In addition to these changes, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Buffalo and Temple all have coaches who are not even entering their fifth year at the school. That's nine schools who have players that have been there more time than the current coach.

Ball State also helped get the MAC into the public eye by going 12-0 through the regular season. They climbed the rankings to their highest position of 12 in both the AP and BCS polls. They then went on to lose the MAC championship game and their bowl game by a combined score of 87-37. Ball State did it's part to get the MAC more air time. I don't believe that with a new coach and some key players leaving that they will approach the same success they had in 2008.

Central Michigan, on the other hand has one of the MAC's best quarterbacks returning in LeFevour. With him leading the offense, Central Michigan looks to return to the MAC championship game after winning two of the last three.

With a new ESPN deal, a turn over in coaching to try to improve the standing of some teams and playing on the success of teams like Ball State and Central Michigan, the MAC is making a push to show it can play with the rest of the nation.

The Sun Belt Conference has a big change coming in 2009 and some things to build on from 2008.

The big story is Western Kentucky. For the last two years, Western Kentucky has been a probationary FBS school, making the transition from FCS to FBS. As a probationary school, they were considered an independent.

Starting in the 2009 season, Western Kentucky joins the Sun Belt Conference. Technically they are already a member but the Sun Belt has football members and non football member. Since 1982 Western Kentucky has been a non football member.

I see this addition as nothing but good for the conference.

In my opinion they aren't just adding an in the bank win for the conference members. Western Kentucky has been playing Sun Belt teams regularly for a while now. Over the last seven seasons or so they have gone 3-8 against current Sun Belt teams.

Now I know that isn't a great record but also consider some of the losses being close. In 2005 Western Kentucky lost to FIU 35-38. The 2007 season saw a couple close losses. Troy managed to hold on for a four point win while North Texas edged out a one point win. Just last season had a four point loss to FAU and a couple losses by about 10 points.

My gut tells me that Western Kentucky will be a mid to low tier Sun Belt team next season.

While I don't believe they will make a mark in the conference such as winning the conference title or making a bowl, I still see them having an impact in a more indirect way.

Instead of playing five nonconference games, each conference member will play four. The Sun Belt teams can therefore keep a FCS team on the schedule but eliminate one of the usual big money games that they lose 90 plus percent of the time anyway.

Here is an example. Louisiana Monroe played a nonconference schedule of Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama A&M, Tulane, and Mississippi in 2008. They went 1-4 through those. The 2009 schedule consists of Texas, Texas Southern, Arizona State and Kentucky. I think this will result in a 1-3 record.

They still have an FCS school on the schedule and some games where no one will really expect them to win, but they will get experience for the players and money for the school.

But instead of going a likely 1-4 through the nonconference slate again, a 1-3 record leaves more room for the opportunity to gain bowl eligibility. By going 1-4, a team then has to win five of seven remaining games just to be eligible. With a 1-3 record, winning five of the remaining eight seems more within reach.

Last season the Sun Belt sent two teams to bowls for only the third time in conference history. Also a historic mark was FAU invitation to a bowl game as a 6-6 at large team. This is the first time that has happened for a Sun Belt team.

ESPN and the Sun Belt Conference reached a new television deal.

Details of the deal from the Sun Belt official page.

The Sun Belt Conference maintains national exposure on the most prominent all sports network.

As an emerging football league there is now a greater chance for inclusion in national telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU through the 12 day rolling window.

60% increase in the number of games/appearances over the current ESPN agreement.

There is the potential for the SBC to have over 40 appearances on the ESPN through ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television each academic year.

As it applies to football.

The Sun Belt Conference receives guaranteed national exposure on ESPN or ESPN2 with a minimum of 2 Sun Belt controlled games a year.

Upon request the Sun Belt Conference will make available two midweek games to ESPN/ESPN2.

Through a 12 day rolling window (i.e., by the second Monday preceding each Saturday telecast date) ESPN may select additional games to air after the first three weeks of the season for inclusion on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. Previously this option did not exist.

With the addition of another team, the 2008 success of the conference as a whole and a new television deal, the Sun Belt conference should keep moving in the right direction.