MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson held his annual "State of the Conference" address this morning here at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, and after ticking off some of the league's very impressive accomplishments of the last number of seasons, he got into the topic that has generated most of the heat during college football's offseason: conference expansion.

You can hear all of Thompson's podium remarks and a few highlights from his post-podium group interview by clicking his audio links in the "Cougar Cuts" box to the right.

*******

During his formal address, Thompson said this summer's expansion discussion was fueled by "speculation, innuendo and hearsay," and that after talk of "seismic landscape changes" and "super 16-team conferences," only four teams changed places.

He did say he expects expansion conversations to continue in "the next three to five years," as TV contracts are negotiated and re-negotiated. "Let's make no mistake: most of the (expansion) decision was based on primarily TV sets, revenue contracts and market share. As an old traditionalist, that's frustrating. At the end of the day, we lost something on history and natural rivalries."

Thompson really likes the notion of rivalry. He said he hopes the BYU-Utah rivalry "plays on forever."

He added that the "backbone of college athletics in my mind is the dislike of the other schools."

"I think sometimes when we look at these decisions based more on finances and commercial issues we take a step back a little bit and don't reflect on the impact it has on alumni, the fan base and those communities."

Re: expansion, Thompson says "getting bigger is getting bigger. Getting bigger doesn't necessarily mean you enhance the league."

Thompson said the MWC will remain a nine-team league for "the foreseeable future."

Asked about WAC commissioner Karl Benson's assessment that losing Utah will cost the MWC a chance of securing an auto BCS bid after the 2011 season--even with the addition of Boise State, Thompson said "I don't know what numbers he's looking at. Boise State has finished 6th and 9th in the last two years of BCS final rankings; Utah has finished 6th and 23rd. I'm not a mathematician, but 6 and 9 is better than 6 and 23."

*******

After his podium session, Thompson sat down with reporters for an informal Q-and-A, and I have posted a few highlights of that conversation in the "Cougar Cuts" box.

From that conversation:

"We will soon see a (MWC basketball) game or two... on CBS (this next season); we have not finalized the schedule, but I would anticipate (MWC) basketball on CBS...just a game or two to get started."

Asked about how the loss of Utah and addition of Boise State will impact BYU's football schedule, Thompson said it would be "easiest to simply take Utah out and put Boise State in their place. If BYU and Utah could find dates to continue the series, it'll probably be in September."

Asked if BYU and Utah could do like Georgia-Georgia Tech or Florida-Florida State and play a non-conference rivalry game to end the season, the commissioner said "if both conferences agree to give them that (season-ending) date, it could be done." He noted that any future Pac-12 title game in the first week of December would make it unlikely that Utah would schedule BYU to end its regular season.

On the future of BYU-Utah, Thompson said "what I don't want to see is 'Oklahoma-Nebraska'...they (hardly) play anymore, and who knows if they're ever going to play again."

Thompson also had comments about his battle with BCS organizers to release updated BCS qualifying standards on a regular basis, and also talked about inroads the MWC is making with the Fiesta Bowl and his desire for a contractual relationship: "That's a natural for the Mountain West Conference. We do deliver in that stadium and in that game. Why not bring us into that game?"

*******