MWC wants automatic BCS bid

The Mountain West Conference wants Bowl Championship Series officials to give it automatic entry in the post-season calculations.

MWC officials contend the conference deserves automatic consideration after 12-0 Utah and two other conference schools finished last year in the top 16 of the BCS standings, USA Today reported Monday.

The newspaper said presidents and chancellors from the nine MWC schools met with conference Commissioner Craig Thompson shortly after the Jan. 8 championship game to discuss a strategy for lobbying John Swofford, the BCS coordinator and Atlantic Coast commissioner, for inclusion into the five post-season games.

The conference champions of six conferences — the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern — automatically qualify for the BCS. The remaining major conferences have to meet a series of standards each season to participate.