At Mountain West Conference media day in Las Vegas, Commissioner Craig Thompson, mentioned the possibility of the league adding a fifth bowl game as early as this year, but 2009 would be more realistic. The bowl game is the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho and would match up the Mountain West against the Western Athletic Conference. The previous opponent was the ACC who would travel to Boise and take on either Boise State or a top three WAC team.
A fifth team from the Mountain West sounds pretty bold, even though last year the team did get five in, and the opponent is another WAC team which the league all ready has with the New Mexico Bowl. Cold weather is an issue by playing in Boise, so the only good things out of this possibility is geographical location to most schools, exposure, and the money the league would receive.
The way a Mountain West team would be considered this year would be if an ACC can not provide a 6-6 team to travel to Boise. An extra bowl game has positives, but the league needs to try to get into a better bowl game.