The Mountain West has picked up another bowl bowl game as the league has partnered with Shearton Hawai'i Bowl for the 2012 and 2013 bowl seasons. The Mountain West takes over the WAC tie-in due to the Hawai'i Warriors joining the Mountain West beginning in the 2012 season. The opponent will still be a Conference USA team and Hawai'i goes to this game if they are bowl eligible.

Here is a portion of the release from the Mountain West:

"We are very pleased to announce this agreement to participate in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl,which brings us back to five bowls slots and matches our number of bowl-eligible teams from the most recent five consecutive seasons" said Commissioner Craig Thompson. "This progressive step is also part of our institutions' blueprint for the future. It is a natural extension of the University of Hawai'i's membership,which begins next season,and our long, productive relationship with ESPN Regional Television."

There is no word on what team will take Hawai'i's spot if they are not eligible, but it probably will rank as the third or fourth bowl within the pecking order of the Mountain West's lineup.

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The Hawaii Warriors open head coaching job has had about 3,201 candidates mentioned or interested for the position and the current leader for the job is Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator -- who is the former Boise State and Arizona State head coach -- Dirk Koetter. Koetter maybe the leader but Texas Longhorns defensive backs and assistant head coach Duane Akina, Oregon State defensive coordinator Mark Banker and Baylor safeties and associate head coach Brian Norwood all met with Hawaii officials on Sunday.

Wyoming Cowboys head coach Dave Christensen has agreed to a new five-year contract extension and is salary is to increase significantly from his current $843,000; my guess is that it tops $1 million. Also, his assistant coach salary pool will increase by $100,000 per year. Wyoming did lose a coach over the weekend when defensive backs and recruiting coordinator Alex Grinch took a job at Missouri coaching their safeties

Finally in minor coaching news at Colorado State, quarterbacks coach Daren Wilkinson, tight ends coach Anthoney Hill and defensive backs coach Tim Duffie all will have opportunities to interview with the new coordinators for their current position. None of the other staff is being retained or will have a chance to interview for a job.

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College football bowl season is here and the Mountain West is taking part in two games today, plus there is a big time basketball game between Illinois and UNLV sandwiched between the two football games.

New Mexico Bowl, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN

Wyoming Cowboys vs. Temple Owls

Highlights from Wyoming's come from behind New Mexico Bowl win from 2009.

Basketball:

UNLV Rebels at No. 19 Illinois Fghting Illini 5 p.m. ET (The Big 10 Network)

New Orleans Bowl, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN

San Diego St. Aztecs vs. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns

Enjoy the games and remember if you wish to comment in our open thread you must register on the site. Also, if you are at a game or not able to watch the game make sure to use the mobile version of our site or the new SB Nation iPhone app.

See, college athletes are not to accept a measly soda or cheeseburger or face some sort of penalty, but not during bowl week when these football players are spoiled with Best Buy gift cards, PlayStation 3's, flat screen tv's and other sweet stuff. Well, unless you go to the Sun Bowl where the main prize is a hair dryer.

Here are the gifts that the Mountain West bowl teams will be getting. This list comes from the Sports Business Journal.

New Mexico Bowl:

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The Mountain West Conference will be playing in five different bowl games again this season. It makes the fifth consecutive year that five Mountain West teams have qualified and been accepted for postseason play. The Mountain West teams begin postseason play on Saturday with two teams, Wyoming and San Diego State, both appearing just hours apart:

First up is the Gilden New Mexico Bowl: Wyoming (8-4, 5-2) vs. Temple (8-4, 5-3) the representative from the Mid-American Conference. The two teams have met once before, in 1990 where Wyoming won a home game by a score of 38-23. This is only Wyoming's second trip to the New Mexico Bowl, but it marks their 13th overall bowl appearance. The last time the Pokes were down in Albuquerque was in 2009 when they defeated Fresno State 35-28 in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl. The game this year will also be held at University Stadium in Albuquerque on Saturday, December 17, and get underway at 12:00 PM MT and televised on ESPN.

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The bowl season begins this Saturday and two Mountain West teams are in action with Wyoming taking on Temple in the New Mexico Bowl and San Diego State playing Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl.

So with games upcoming it is time to look at who is favored in what bowl games.

New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 17: Wyoming Cowboys vs. Temple Owls (-7)

Temple being favored by seven points seems like a lot. Both teams have eight wins, Temple plays in a lesser league and Wyoming's best two wins over Air Force and San Diego State trump Temple's best two wins. The only conceivable reason for Temple to be favored by so much is because they have the best player on the field in running back Bernard Pierce. I am calling for an outright Wyoming win in this game.

New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 17: San Diego St. Aztecs (-5.5) vs. Louisiana Ragin Cajuns

The Louisiana-Lafayette is taking part in their first bowl game in school history, but they get to play in their home state. The Ragin Cajuns went 8-4 in the Sun Belt to finish third and have a fairly impressive offense that put up 32 points per game, but they allow 29 per. I think San Diego State will cover this spread as they hand the ball off to Ronnie Hillman on nearly every play.

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The 2011 Mountain West football post season awards have been released. There was only one unanimous selection and one would think it would go to Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, but it actually went to San Diego State running back Ronnie Hillman. So, it is somewhat odd that Hillman was a unanimous selection, yet Moore won player of the year.

San Diego State and Boise State tied for the most first team selections with seven a piece and New Mexico wide receiver Deon Long is the first freshman to earn all-conference honors since UNLV wide receiver Ryan Wolfe was a freshman back in 2006. I was somewhat surprised that Casey Pachall beat out Brett Smith for the second-team quarterback spot.

The complete awards after the jump.

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Boise State fans clad in a mixture of orange and blue were on hand Saturday afternoon at Bronco Stadium to watch their team close out their first season of play in the Mountain West Conference. The #7 ranked Boise State Broncos (11-1, 6-1) handed the New Mexico Lobos (11-1, 1-6) another big loss on the year, and gave the Lobos their third shutout this season to Mountain West teams. The victory for the Broncos was a chance to let their seniors play in front of the hometown crowd a final time.

The Bronco win was assured from the beginning when they put up 21 points in the first quarter over a troubled New Mexico program that fired its head coach midway through the season. The Lobos were held to one first down in the quarter. In fact, they were held to just eight first downs total in the loss, and they converted just 3-of-15 third downs. Lobos QB B. R. Holbrook was 16 of 18 passes for 145 yards and no TD's, but the running game helped kill their chances. His runningbacks accounted for a paltry 52 ground yards.

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