WAC Signs BCS Pact

Ferd Lewis writes about the WAC reluctantly signing the new BCS agreement with ESPN.

The Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors voted unanimously yesterday to sign the new Bowl Championship Series agreement with ESPN while also expressing its reservations about the present football championship format.

WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said the conference will be submitting a letter voicing its "concerns about the current structure (of the BCS)."

The WAC and Mountain West were the last two of the 11 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) conferences and Notre Dame to commit to the new agreement that will run from January 2011 through January 2014.

In his column, Ferd gives it to the MWC.

The MWC, along with all the rest, agreed back in November to the terms of the upcoming agreement. Then, it belatedly got religion. And got greedy.

After Utah went 13-0, the MWC in March began promoting a new plan to rewrite automatic BCS eligibility. One that just happened — surprise — to favor the MWC at the exclusion of the four other non-automatic conferences.

So the MWC's demands for equality not only rang hollow, they garnered little support and no leverage. Now, only Justice Dept. action will change that in the next four years.

Too bad, too, because the BCS system cries out for real change. The kind that would have had a better chance of coming with a united front.