ESPN’s Heather Dinich Discusses #MWPathToThePlayoff

[Music] the college football season is officially underway and the Mountain West is primed and positioned to carve its path to the playoff hi everybody I'm Jesse kurts here in the Mountain West Network Studio we have big changes this season in college football as it relates to the postseason who better to provide some context and some insight on the 12 team playoff than the expert in the field Heather denich of ESPN Heather thank thank you so much for taking time for us here on the Mountain West Network yeah Jesse thank you so much for having me on I can't wait for this season I think it's going to be the best season I've ever Co covered in my life I'm ready for it I'm right there with you so let's talk about the expansion of the college football playoff from four teams to 12 teams this year complete with equal access points for all nine FBS conferences for the first time in the cfp era what excites you the most about this new format the inclusive is going to be fantastic and as somebody who has talked about the Ohio States and Alabam of the world at nauseum for the past decade I know we're going to continue to talk about those blue blood programs but to be able to open the door to possibilities to everyone else including teams outside of the SEC Big 10 pack 12 ACC it's going to be fantastic and it's going to be exciting and it's going to make what is truly a regional sport more National everyone is going to be paying attention to teams from coast to coast and fan bases are going to be energized because their teams have a shot well let's talk about the format the playoff will take the five highest ranked Conference champions to start from there the cfp will take the next seven highest ranked teams to round out the 12 teams that will play in the expanded playoff how significant is that for the Mountain West with this new cfp format well it's significant in so many ways not just exposure Revenue but to be able to have eyes on you from a playoff perspective contending for a national title is a completely different story and narrative than even a new year six bowl which is prestigious alone but the Stars no longer have to align in some miraculous formation for a Mountain West Conference team to have a shot at this thing and I think that's just a whole new scenario for this conference in terms of the exposure that it can have I mean golly when you think about a team like Boise State just for example playing on a national stage against the likes of a team that had a Buy in the first round I mean that has has David vers Goliath written all over it everybody loves those types of stories um but it might not necessarily be a Cinderella story because there are teams in the Mountain West that are good enough to hang with these teams in the college football playoffs so there's certainly an opportunity there not only for the exposure but to show yeah we have beaten powerful teams in the past and can do it again when everything's on the line well under the direction of commissioner Gloria navarez the Mountain West has put a strong emphasis on strength of schedule here this season and going forward with non-conference scheduling agreements with Washington State and Oregon State the Mountain West will play 35 games against A4 opponents the most of any league in the country how important is it in playing a strong tough schedule to the cfp committee Jesse it's critical it it's one of the tiebreakers that they use when comparing common opponents is strength of schedule and I'll be honest with you as we sit here I still have no explanation as to why they chose Liberty last year which was last in the country in strength of schedule and did not play any power five opponents and it's important people remember that the committee members changed will'll be new faces in that room and a lot of people like Liberty but I would be surprised if they do that again knowing strength of schedule is part of their protocol and to your point with the Mountain West Conference scheduling the those games with Boise State even if they lose to Oregon if they have wins against Washington State and Oregon State those are the things that can separate them from another group of five Contender and emerge as the highest ranked conference champion in that committee meeting room as long as those teams are at least 500 or better those are respectable wins and not only is the Mountain West Conference lining up those types of opponents they're beating them too when you look at last year four wins against four opponents and over the past three seasons they've had 14 of those such wins the only other conference that can compare to that is second behind the Mountain West that's the American Athletic Conference so strength of schedule is a critical component in these conversations well the proof is in the scheduling as it relates to what we'll see for the Mountain West here this upcoming season Boise State as you mentioned plays Oregon Washington State and Oregon State Fresno State has Michigan Washington State and UCLA Colorado state will open up at Texas they have Colorado at home and then Oregon state unov gets Houston Kansas Syracuse and Oregon State Wyoming will open up in temp against Arizona State they also play BYU and Wazoo and Air Force will play at Baylor and we'll have Oregon State at home all right Heather it's time to put you on the spot just a little bit who is the team or teams here from the Mountain West who will be in best position to carve their path to the playoff here this season Jesse I'm gonna go with Boise State and stick with them as a clearcut favorite in my mind as the best representative I mean they have 18 starters back I had a chance to talk to Spencer Daniels in this off season he's a fantastic energetic coach I think the players will really continue to take to him in his style defensively they have to get better and not allow as many explosive plays but they've got a secondary that has mainly seniors back there so I think we'll see some improvement there and they will certainly be tested against Oregon but I think when you look overall boisy state has arguably at least in my opinion the most talented team of the group of five contenders this year yeah got a Heisman candidate and Ashton jenty on one side Ahmed Hassen maybe the best pass rusher in the country on the defensive side and to your point they've got a heck of a motivating coach in Spencer Danielson Heather thank you so much for taking time for us today thank you for your terrific coverage of college football and we look forward to a great football season this fall thank you Jesse that's Heather denn senior writer for ESPN the national expert on all things college football you can follow her tremendous work and coverage of college football on X and Instagram handles on both platforms are @ CFB Heather from the Mountain West Network Studio I'm Jesse curs [Music]