In this day and age of instant feedback, the Mountain West’s Twitter feed told the story.

As the final seconds ticked down of Utah’s 37-27 win over Cal in the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the Mountain West’s Twitter page was flooded with tweets of congratulations and joy about yet another big Mountain West victory and affirmation that it belongs in the same breath as the six automatic conferences.

The Mountain West is 3-0 this bowl season. Wyoming kicked the streak off with a double-overtime win over Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl. BYU followed with a 44-20 thrashing of Oregon State in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas and the Utah’s win has the rest of the nation talking.

There was little question that the Mountain West’s top three teams -- TCU, BYU and Utah -- could compete with the upper echelon of programs, but to see Wyoming, a team that squeaked into the bowl season with a new head coach at the helm, defeat a seasoned and well-respected Fresno State team was surprising.

Wyoming’s win was huge for the conference to show that it’s not just about three teams. That the rest of the conference is coming up and with another proven coach joining the mix at UNLV, the Mountain West could be more competitive beginning next season.

While the conference's final two bowl games are not against teams from the automatic qualifying conferences, they are against teams with fantastic résumés. Air Force plays a 10-win Houston team that was the only squad to knock off three AQ teams in the nonconference season. Then TCU takes on Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, the first time two non-AQ teams have participated in a BCS bowl game.

It was a little less than a year ago, after Utah’s thrilling win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl that the Mountain West started protesting for inclusion. But critics said that the conference needed to show some level of consistency. Well three games in, the Mountain West is doing just that.

While bowl games aren’t factored into the formula that will determine whether the Mountain West earns automatic qualifying status after the four-year evaluation cycle is complete, it does put public perception on its side.

And that’s already a step in the right direction.