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When the Mountain West decided to invite Boise State to join the conference last summer, it figured it was enhancing its chances to get an automatic qualifying bid for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

My how things change.

When Boise State agreed to join the league starting this season, Utah, BYU and TCU were still members. Had the league retained all four schools, it would have been well positioned to become a seventh AQ. But Utah decided to join the Pac-12 and BYU went independent for 2011 and TCU will move on to the Big East in 2012.

That leaves the Mountain West a vastly different league than the one that has accrued so many points in the three criteria it must meet to gain AQ status. With the departure of those three schools, the Mountain West has added Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii to fill in for them -- essentially a better version of the WAC. Boise State and Hawaii have made it into BCS games, so that helps. It also helps that the Mountain West will be able to count everything TCU has done during this current evaluation period.

As it stands now, the Mountain West ranks No. 4 in the average rank of its highest-ranked team, ahead of the Big Ten, ACC and Big East. The MWC is No. 5 in the number and ranking of teams in the Top 25. But it is No. 7 in the average computer ranking of all teams in the conference. The Mountain West must be in the top 6 in this category to qualify. The league has an average rank of 63, well behind the Big East's average rank of 50.

That means schools like New Mexico and UNLV have to vastly improve this season for that number to improve. It appears as though the Mountain West will fall short of meeting the criteria, so it will have to petition to the Presidential Oversight Committee for a waiver. Whether that waiver is granted is anyone's guess.

"I wish it were as simple as saying if we had two 10-win teams, five eight wins teams and a 6-6 team ... but it's not that simple," MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said. "We have performed at a very high level, gone to three straight BCS games, but we probably need to have minimally one if not two Top 25 teams and then we can't afford to have one- or two-win teams."

Is the Mountain West deserving when the league will be a completely different composition than the one that got them so many of its BCS appearances and Top 25 finishes?

"It is a different look, but we also are adding Boise State, 2-0 in BCS bowl games," Thompson said. "Hawaii played in the Sugar Bowl, so we are replacing people with BCS performers."

The fact remains that no non-AQ team has ever played in a BCS national championship game. No one-loss non-AQ team has made it into a BCS game period. Even if the Mountain West does get an AQ bid, there are no guarantees it would get any closer to getting into a national championship game. Conference expansion did little to enhance the MWC cause.

Welcome to the 13th game, Pac-12 and Big Ten.

The ACC, SEC and -- once upon a time the Big 12 -- know not only the glory that comes with having a conference championship game, but also the gamble it is for teams with even bigger aspirations.

While recent college football expansion didn’t have any direct impact on the ACC in that the conference did not add or lose any teams, it could have a trickle-down effect in two regards: 1. The increased number of teams in both the Pac-12 and Big Ten will increase the competition and make it more difficult for one team to escape undefeated; and 2. The addition of a championship game is one more obstacle that has and could prevent a team from finishing among the top two in the BCS standings. Overall, conference expansion could help level the playing field for the ACC.

Could.

Nobody has been burned by a championship game more than the Big 12, which has since done away with its title game for the 10 teams that remain post-expansion. Texas (2001), Oklahoma (2003) and Missouri (2007) all lost Big 12 championship games that kept them out of the national title picture.

In 2009, Florida and Alabama were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the BCS standings heading into the SEC title game. Without it, they would have played for the national championship. Instead, Florida lost and Texas was in.

The back door is now closed to Utah, which must beat the likes of USC, Arizona and Arizona State in the South Division if it is going to enter the national title conversation. And the Big Ten, one of the most successful conferences when it comes to teams receiving two BCS bids, will now get the ACC’s perspective on just how difficult that is. Nebraska will be another challenge for Michigan in the Legends Division, and could affect the postseason fate of Ohio State if the Huskers and Buckeyes were to make it to the title game.

The one variable that can’t be overlooked, of course, is simply the strengths of individual teams in any given year. The SEC's championship game certainly hasn't prevented it from winning each of the past five national titles. In the end, only the ACC can control its national title hopes by beating the top nonconference competition it lines up against. If Alabama and Ohio State are better than the best teams in the ACC, respective conference championships or 12-team leagues aren’t going to change that.

It could, however, change the path some teams once took to get there.

There is no question the Big East enhanced its football profile when it added TCU to the mix. The Horned Frogs join in 2012 and should give the league a little more national credibility. After all, TCU is ranked in the preseason USA Today coaches poll. No Big East team is ranked.

Whether the Horned Frogs can come into the league and compete for a league championship immediately remains to be seen. But does the addition of TCU help the league's chances of getting into a BCS national championship game?

That also is unclear. The Big East has never had a team in the BCS national championship game.. In 2009, Cincinnati went undefeated but the Bearcats finished No. 3 in the final BCS standings behind Alabama and Texas. Had Texas lost to Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game, many believe undefeated TCU would have leapfrogged Cincinnati into the BCS title game.

What the Horned Frogs have going for them is something that has eluded Big East teams of late -- sustained success. TCU has gone to two straight BCS bowl games and had two straight unbeaten regular seasons. This is a team that has dropped one game in two years, and has won 11-plus games in three straight seasons. No Big East team can say the same.

That success has allowed the program to build up credibility and a national profile. The Big East might have legacy programs like West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, but TCU has overtaken them of late.

So does that mean adding TCU helps overall league strength of schedule? Yes. Does it mean an undefeated Big East team can get into the BCS national championship game ahead of teams from other conferences? ESPN BCS guru Brad Edwards weighs in:

"Having TCU would theoretically help the schedule strength of all other teams in the Big East and give an opportunity for a quality win, but I'm not sure it will make a big difference in terms of the BCS pecking order," Edwards said. "The most important thing about TCU's addition is attempting to preserve the AQ status of the conference for the next BCS contract (if there is one)."

Indeed, the Big East is not in danger of losing its AQ status for this cycle. But when it ends in 2014, then all leagues will be reviewed to determine whether they deserve to remain automatic qualifiers. There was much outrage last season when UConn made it into a BCS game with an 8-4 record as the Big East representative. Adding TCU is not going to avoid something like that happening in the future, but it does strengthen the league.

There also is the possibility the Big East is not done expanding. With its new media rights deal up for renegotiation in September 2012, the league is still looking at future possibilities. But for now, the Big East is a nine-team league that still has an outside shot at the national championship game, even with TCU.

The winds of conference expansion have blown through college football, and the landscape will have a different look in 2011.

Most notably, the Big Ten welcomes Nebraska. The new Pac-12 has added Colorado and Utah, and the Big 12 is now down to 10 teams with Nebraska and Colorado both jumping ship.

What’s all the shuffling do to the SEC’s quest to make it six BCS national championships in a row?

It certainly doesn’t hurt.

For one, the Big Ten just got a lot tougher with the addition of Nebraska, meaning the grind will be even more daunting in that league.

What’s more, with the Big Ten and Pac-12 both implementing championship games, that means both of the champions from those leagues will have to win one extra game to put themselves into the BCS National Championship Game mix.

It’s been that way in the SEC since 1992 when the league expanded and split into two divisions.

When former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer announced two decades ago that the SEC was going to a championship game, the coaches in the league were up in arms. They hated the idea and were convinced that it was going to put the SEC at a huge disadvantage.

As it’s turned out, having that extra game to play has actually helped a lot more than it’s hurt.

Florida got some extra pop with the pollsters in both 2006 and 2008 by winning the SEC championship game and was able to jump into the top two spots in the final BCS standings.

LSU certainly needed another chance to impress in 2007 after losing the regular-season finale to Arkansas, the Tigers’ second loss of the season. They navigated their way into the BCS National Championship Game after holding off Tennessee that next week in the SEC championship game and benefited from just about everybody else losing that day.

When you look at the 2011 national championship race, it could be that No. 1-ranked Oklahoma gets a break. The Big 12 is dropping down to 10 teams and will not play a league championship game this season.

However, the Big 12 is adding a ninth league game, which means the Sooners will have to face everybody in the regular season. Of course, even in the old divisional format, they would have faced the other two Big 12 teams that will start this season in the top 10 -- No. 8-ranked Oklahoma State and No. 9-ranked Texas A&M.

At the end of the day, adding league championship games in the Big Ten and Pac-12 probably reduces the chances that there will be more than two unbeaten teams at the end of the season from the six BCS conferences, and that's good news for the SEC.

Even though history’s not supposed to matter when filling out that final ballot, it doesn’t hurt the SEC any that the league is 7-0 all-time in BCS National Championship Games.

In other words, a one-loss SEC champion is probably going to get the benefit of the doubt from the voters when choosing between one-loss champions from other conferences.

Six out of the past eight years, the SEC championship game winner has gone on to play in the BCS National Championship Game. That’s a 75 percent clip.

Don't look for those odds to change much with the recent conference expansion, and if anything, they may go up.

When the carousel of conference expansion came to a halt last year, Notre Dame once again stood outside the queue, content to stay in its own playground area.

The Big Ten has always had interest, the Big East dreams of making the Irish a full-fledged (read: football) member, and just about any other league would find a way to bring the Notre Dame brand into its fold. But the school stubbornly clings to its independence and will continue to do so for as long as it is economically possible.

Yet there's no disputing that the college football landscape has changed. And how will that change affect Notre Dame?

In many ways, it doesn't mean a thing. The Irish will keep on playing a national schedule, keep on banking on their national fan base and keep on cashing checks from NBC. They still have an entry way into the BCS and are as attractive an at-large option for the BCS as anybody because of the crowds and TV ratings they will draw.

At the same time, expansion could hurt Notre Dame's chances of playing for the BCS title. OK, let's face it: It's been a long time since the program was even within sniffing range of a national title. But if Brian Kelly can get the team back to the level that Lou Holtz enjoyed in his heyday, the Irish could find themselves at a disadvantage.

A 12-0 Notre Dame team is going to get unrelenting attention and hype, and the strength of schedule will always be good enough to help its BCS numbers. But what if, say, a Big Ten team also goes undefeated? That team would have a compelling argument that it had gone through a rugged conference schedule unscathed and then survived a conference title game a week after the Irish had wrapped up their season. The most recent impression matters to voters. Same goes for the Pac-12 with its new championship game. And at this point, it's almost a given that an SEC team will get one berth in the title game.

The flip side is that conference title games also provide another chance for teams to lose a game. So if Notre Dame is sitting there behind a team or two in the BCS pecking order, and the ones in line in front of the Irish get upset in their conference championship tilt, the Domers could slide into a title shot.

Another thing to consider with conference expansion is the effect on Notre Dame's future schedules. The Big Ten announced last week that it would go to a nine-game schedule in 2017, joining the Pac-12 and Big 12. Teams in power leagues will have fewer slots for nonconference games and will likely have less of an appetite to schedule aggressively when they know they already have nine league games to fight through. Will schools like Oklahoma still want to make a deal in the future?

Much of this remains to be seen, and Notre Dame's first goal is to get back to a place where these discussions even matter. But clearly, the actions of others affect the Irish, even if they don't want to play in the same sandbox.

The Big Ten is tired of tipping its cap to its rival conference, but there's an important lesson to be learned from the SEC's dominant run.

Five consecutive national championships are remarkable, but what's even more impressive is that four different SEC teams have hoisted the crystal football in January. While the Big Ten has held its own against the SEC in non-BCS bowls, the SEC's depth advantage at the top is undeniable.

Other than Ohio State, the Big Ten hasn't consistently put enough teams in the national championship mix. The Big Ten has had nine different teams win at least a share of the league title since 2000, but how many of those teams could be labeled national championship caliber?

Here's where expansion can really help the Big Ten. The addition of Nebraska potentially gives the Big Ten another dog in the national championship fight.

It's important to note that Nebraska hasn't been to a BCS bowl since after the 2001 season (Rose). Fourth-year coach Bo Pelini still needs to prove he can beat top 10 opponents. But Nebraska has recorded 10 wins in each of the past two seasons, coming up just short in the Big 12 title game in both years. The Huskers have been close to a BCS breakthrough, and they've restored their traditional excellence on defense. Pelini and his staff also are recruiting well. There's momentum in Lincoln.

Nebraska also has reached college football's pinnacle before, winning five national championships, most recently in 1997 (shared title with Michigan).

Unlike some expansion additions in other leagues, Nebraska enters the Big Ten with a team equipped to immediately compete for a conference championship. Nebraska is a program, much like Wisconsin and Iowa, which isn't far from claiming a spot among the nation's elite. Michigan State could be knocking on the door, too.

This is important as Michigan works its way back and Penn State tries to establish some greater consistency after failing to build on the 2005 and 2008 seasons. Make no mistake, the Big Ten needs Michigan to be Michigan and Penn State to be Penn State, but Nebraska's arrival along with the continued improvement of Wisconsin allows more margin for error.

Nebraska also enhances the Big Ten brand, bringing another national name to the conference, and will help the league boost revenue. The Huskers' arrival also should make the Big Ten more appealing to recruits, as Lincoln is another first-rate destination to play games.

Could adding Nebraska hurt the Big Ten's chances for a national title? Sure, but only in the sense that the Huskers' arrival, along with the implementation of divisions and a championship game, make it tougher to run the table. But a deeper, more competitive league should ultimately produce teams in the title mix.

These days, major conferences are judged solely by national championships -- the Big Ten knows this better than most. Ohio State can't continue to be the only Big Ten squad in the title talk.

But if Nebraska continues to take steps, the discussion about the Big Ten and the national championship should broaden in the coming years.

The Pac-12 added a pair of teams. The Big Ten added its 12th.

The Big 12? Well, it was the only major conference to lose members in the past year. What the league lost in general respect and bad publicity, however, it might gain in its road to a national title.

The early December roadblock has become all too familiar for teams in the Big 12.

Three times, the neutral site Big 12 Championship game has prevented a Big 12 team from playing for a much bigger trophy, most recently in 2007.

A Missouri team toting a No. 1 ranking into the Alamodome in San Antonio was muscled out of a title opportunity by three touchdowns to Oklahoma.

Two seasons ago, Texas needed a controversial extra second and a 46-yard field goal as time expired for a 13-12 win and a date with Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

The Big 12's coaches have long opposed the game, if for no other reason than national championships look nice on a resume and do wonders for job security.

Finally, in 2011, they'll get their wish. And the Big 12 might find it easier to reach college football's grandest stage.

The departures of Nebraska and Colorado will and have cost the Big 12 plenty, chief among those costs the fear that every problem inside the conference will result in a fiery demise. For all the Big 12 got in its recent 13-year, $1.1-billion television deal from Fox for its second-tier television rights, it's hard to imagine it wouldn't be more if the Huskers were still in the fold, rather than gearing up for a fall filled with smashmouth Big Ten football while the temperatures flirt with the teens.

For the teams at the bottom of the league, the new configuration will only make life more difficult. Instead of a fourth nonconference game, perhaps against the cutest of cupcakes, they've added a game against a loaded team from the former Big 12 South, which put five teams in bowl games in 2010 ... and Texas wasn't one of them.

But for teams like Texas and Oklahoma that have proven capable of contending for a championship and showing up in Big 12 title games, that ninth Big 12 game is no longer guaranteed to be the Big 12 North champion.

In the long run, that might pay off for the Big 12. Despite its failures in the championship game (2-5 all-time, including a loss by Nebraska), the league is still tied with the SEC (yes, SEC. We know. You're 7-0.) for the most appearances in the BCS title game.

The Big 12 might have added another title if those three teams were given a shot, rather than stumbling at the final hurdle for a chance at history.

And even if all three lost, 10 BCS Championship Game appearances since 1998 is an eye-popping stat.

And a non-existent one, thanks to the Big 12 title game.

What will the future hold for the Big 12? Recent events have created, to quote a bow-tied decision-maker in College Station, "uncertainty."

But as long as the Big 12 is together and not playing a championship game, it might get plenty more cracks at bringing a crystal football to the conference.