The Real Reason the MWC does not want to schedule BYU.

In Bronco Mendenhall's first season as BYU head coach, the Cougars lost their first two conference games.  A home overtime loss to TCU and then an embarrassing 31-10 loss at San Diego State.  Since then, TCU and Utah and Air Force are the only teams in conference play to have beaten BYU.  Arguably, 2010 was the worst BYU team since Gary Crowton was replaced as BYU's head coach.  BYU still went a respectable 5-3 in conference play.  Against the Mountain West 2012 lineup, BYU is 34-3 under Mendenhall, with the a fore mentioned losses to the Aztecs and Falcons and a 2010 loss to Nevada.  Bronco Mendenhall, as BYU's head coach, has never lost to Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico nor Wyoming.  He is 0-1 against Nevada and has not yet played Boise State, Fresno State nor Hawaii.  (BYU visits Hawaii at the end of this coming season, and plays at Boise State next season.)

Why is this not good for the Mountain West?  They are trying to get BCS automatic qualifying status, and the one area that is holding the conference back is average computer ranking for all teams in the conference.  Colorado State, UNLV, New Mexico and Wyoming, the schools that have never beaten Bronco Mendenhall, are holding the conference back.  It is probably best for the Mountain West that these schools avoid playing other schools that they have a bad history against for the next 4 or 5 seasons.  Although, MWC BCS Automatic Qualifying status takes a huge hit with the loss of TCU, Utah and BYU.  If this is not granted to the conference after the end of the 2012 season, their hope, as was the case with the WAC, is the continued success of Boise State.  And the hope that the bottom feeders in the conference do not continue to drag down the conference.  One way they can do that is to continue to be mad at BYU for bailing out and becoming independent.  I would expect, however, to see UNLV, New Mexico and Colorado State on BYU's schedule after 2016 after the hopes for the MWC are either realized or dashed for good.  Or possibly after the BCS is dumped for a real playoff.

Bronco's MWC record:
Air Force            5-1
Colorado State    6-0
New Mexico       6-0
San Diego State   5-1
TCU                    2-4
Utah                    3-3
UNLV                 6-0
Wyoming             6-0

Future MWC Teams
Nevada            0-1
Has not played Boise State, Fresno State or Hawaii