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MOUNTAIN WEST FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BOISE STATE VS HAWAII

December 6, 2019

Craig Thompson

THE MODERATOR: Seventh year of the event, Commissioner, and we have a mix of some of the old, Boise State, a staple in the game, and something new in Hawaii in their first Mountain West Championship Game.

COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: It's interesting reflecting, I think I said it last year as well, but to believe that this is the seventh Championship Game already. I remember vividly just starting a couple years ago with the first, but it is fun to have a new team such as the west division champion Hawai'i in the game and experiencing it.

I had a cup of coffee with their AD this morning and very excited to be here and a lot of excitement in the islands for the program and certainly for Boise State. This is their fourth appearance, but nonetheless, this is the game you want to be in, and so I know that Coach Harsin and his group is ready to play and excited to be hosting again, and so it's going to be a fun game.

I think that, you know, you look around the country, there's so much that's still in play with Bowl placement, with Bowl selection. The very best news for the Mountain West Conference is we have seven Bowl-eligible teams and we will place all seven teams.

I've said many times, one of the most challenging issues for you a commissioner is not to have a Bowl-eligible team play and participate. So we'll get all seven placed and it's going to be a fun postseason for our league.

THE MODERATOR: With the Bowls, how difficult is that to get, when you do have so many teams that have had great seasons and do have that many Bowls, it's a tricky situation, I know you've been working on for weeks, months.

COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: We have and it's really interesting this year, and just about the time you think you have a handle on Bowl placement, something unique and different happens and this year is no exception. I think there's 20-plus 6-6 teams that will be placed because of contracts that those conferences have with Bowls, and consequently, where there are openings, there's going to be a pool of a lot of 6-6 and 7-5 teams, which is a challenge for an 11-win Boise State, for a ten-win Air Force, for a nine-win San Diego State to find a comparable opponent, either within or without of our system.

As you know, we have five Bowl contracts, or we're going to look for two Bowls outside of our system, and everything is still in play with all ten conferences having championship games this year, there's a lot to be played starting tonight with the Pac 12, and games tomorrow.

Q. 24 hours away from potentially a big day for the conference. How are you feeling and I don't know if in the last couple days, anything's changed in terms of your feeling on where the conference sits, but just been a lot of back and forth. How excited are you to see it play out on the field and see what happens Sunday morning?
COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: You answered the question in part, the answer with your question, in that we'll see how things play out, and nobody has any control over this. There's going to be a very exciting game. They have played earlier in the season, a highly competitive game, and that's going to trigger a lot of the movement and motion.

It's been a great year since we have nine wins against nine autonomous conference opponents -- I hate that other word that they use, other words, but the autonomy leagues, the impressive thing to me is that eight of those nine wins, eight institutions in the Mountain West have a win against an autonomous group program, which is very special. Just shows the depth and the quality of this league, people will say, well, our league is this and their league is that.

But when you have eight of the 12 institutions that are playing at that level and capable of winning those games, those conference games are brutal. Just look around, we only have of the seven Bowl eligible, check me if I'm wrong, but I think four of the seven have five and three conference marks.

Now, having said that, first call this morning 8:03 from Terry Tumey at Fresno State telling me that Jeff Tedford was stepping down. We heard the rumor last night but he called officially morning so we'll in the Mountain West next year what does that mean to the League, good, bad, indifferent, sideways, forward?

You know, our programs are at a level that were very competitive. We're going to attract very quality opponents. But it's going to be a new look next year, with 25 percent of the head coaches fresh.

Q. Mike Aresco has been open about politicking for his conference, and less so on your part. Do you find that to be something that is necessary and if maybe so, that it's less your style, why is that?
COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: Yeah, good question. Fair question. You know, it's a bit of an apple-to-orange comparison, but I sit on the NCAA Men's Basketball selection committee. All the polls, all the metrics, all the garbling, it really comes down to 13 people in Grapevine, Texas. That's what I worry about.

I think we have done a great job in messaging. We have talked about Boise State exhaustively and deservedly. All year we've had four calls with our conference monitors. We pushed with them Air Force. I think Air Force should be in the Top-25, two losses at Boise State and at Navy, and so I think our league is very strong, very competitive.

You pull out the metrics, this team, that team, who won, who lost, etc., all great, sells interest, promotes the wonderful game of college football, but I'm worried about 13 people in Grapevine, and you know, they will do the deciphering, and they will do the breakdown and comparative, and a potential one-loss -- team and there's three people in conference championships from the Group of Five with one loss all the very good football teams and all very competitive.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. But they are going to have to parse through that.

Yes, I am not as vocal as that counterpart at the American Conference, but for 21 years, I've got five BCS/CFB Bowls in our office. I think we do a great job in our messaging. They know about us. We don't have to get out there. I testified about the BCS and a playoff format over a decade ago.

So we've been around a little bit in talking this through. I'm very comfortable with our positioning and as far as us getting the value of Mountain West teams in front of the people that matter.

Long answer. Short question.

Q. You did answer my question a little bit at the end there. Just curious, what do you think of the perception right now and why do you think it appears they think more highly of the ACC, especially with some of the stuff the Mountain West teams have done in the non-con this year against Power Five opponents.
COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: I don't know that I necessarily agree who they might be.

Certainly they have a couple teams in the Top-25. Basically our year to last year is what the American is doing this year. We had three teams in the AP final top 25 and we had two teams in the CFB Top-25. That's just about where the American is right now, so nobody said last year, they are better, we're better, they are comparable leagues, I would love and I know that Kurt's done a great job and in future scheduling and you know, played some games and cross over games against the American; we're 3-0 in Bowl games against them. I think we're .500 in the regular season against them through time.

But very competitive and comparable leagues. Maybe I'm old school, but may style is more of let the record speak for itself. We will tell people our record, but we don't have to go out and do a lot of politicking.

Again, this is really pretty simple when it gets down to it. There will be 13 people, I don't know they get to Grapevine today or tomorrow for sure. They are probably watching games in some command center tomorrow in Texas, but they know and they are the only 13 votes that matter.

Q. We asked you back in July at media days about the new TV deal. What's the latest on that? How close are you maybe it was right around when you wanted to get it finalized and announced. How close are you to that?
COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: We are inching. I think we are fairly close. We have, I'll give you an example. We had a call with a potential partner yesterday and we spent 45 minutes talking about name, image, likeness. Their concern is what if we have to pay players to participate in a televised game? That's not the case today. It might be the case a year from now.

California has a bill that's passed and so it's that kind of a nuance and depth of conversation I think in terms of what we might be able to televise, and how many games they are interested in, and potential price points, we're getting pretty close on a lot of that, but there's some nuances that still need massaging.

I said, I thought it would be late in the fall. Maybe a little bit behind. But we have exchanged a lot of paper, a lot of concepts with people and so we're still trying to sort through all that. Close.

Q. The crowd will be 25,000 or less tomorrow. Is there any way to have a contingency in season ticket packages for schools or it is what it is?
COMMISSIONER CRAIG THOMPSON: We have talked about that, and certainly Boise State has hosted a number of them.

Do we try to make it a check-box part of the season ticket package. So when you buy it in August, you're already committing that you will by that, so that would allow us the date and site to go on sale to the general public instead of giving an opportunity for season ticket holders to have a few more days or a week to make their mind up if they want to come or not.

One of the things we talk about all the time and as we mentioned the television contract, it's a double-edged sword. It's very convenient and easy to stay home. Good news is, it's on TV. The bad news it's on TV and you don't have to come to the game to follow it.

So all athletic directors and all commissioners are in the mode of trying to get the game experience. You don't get that at home when you're sitting at home on a couch by yourself or with your family. You don't experience the band and the smells and the noise and the camaraderie and all that. You know, we are still trying to sell the sizzle. You're missing something if you don't come to the game.

But I get it. We have talked about as a league, a neutral facility. The answer might be in the fact that if we're having not sold out games on campus, what would it be like in a neutral site and -- pick a city, somewhere in the west. It's probably not going to work.

So you know, this is the best scenario for our league right now is to play on a campus, and you know, we had a two-week notice this year, but again, we're asking them to give us six hours of their time, and dollars from their pocket to be entertained and make a decision to come to the game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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