The Mountain West Conference is about to make a rather radical change, as they are set to change the way football is played in the conference in the near future.
Whilst the changes are not set to come into play until the 2023 season at the earliest, it seems the way that we know NCAA football in this conference is about to undergo a huge change and provide fans of the college programs with something entirely new.
Following the decision by the NCAA to relax its regulations on how FBS conferences choose to participate for a league title game, the Mountain West conference has decided to scrap the division format that has been in force.
Indeed, those who use Betway will want to ensure that they remember this moving forward, as instead of the two division winners that it used to be, an MW championship game will now see the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage square off against each other.
Traditionally, it had been the two winners of the Mountain and the West Divisions to compete in the championship game, however the league has decided to make a change as they look to make sure they are best positioned to have a place in the College Football Playoff.
Changes not being made until 2023 season
As mentioned, those who wish to place wagers on the new season at Betway will be able to continue the more familiar format for the time being, as the change is not scheduled to take place until the 2023 season at the earliest.
This means we will continue to see the two divisional winners meet in the MW championship game in the 2022 season. However, changes to the way the schedule is created and released are yet to be designed or announced, nor has the procedure should a tiebreak be required.
Fans will know that we had to have a tiebreak last season in the MW as Utah State had finished tied for first in the MW Mountain Division alongside Air Force, but managed to hold the tiebreaker before advancing to the MW championship game where they managed to defeat San Diego State.
Pac-12 could be a great case study
The Pac-12 has also decided that they would look to take advantage of the newly relaxed regulations from the NCAA, though, thus not making the move by the MW the only one to happen. The Pac-12 will feature a similar system where they will use the two highest conference winning percentage teams to compete in the Pac-12 championship game instead of using the two divisional winners. This is something that the MW could perhaps watch and learn from, as the Pac-12 will start this format in the upcoming 2022 season.
Nonetheless, it will be extremely interesting to see what happens, and whilst we still have another year of the familiar MW Conference as we know it, perhaps things will be a little more exciting from the 2023 season moving forward?
