Ready to do some bowling?

It may be a bit egregious to be talking U football and the postseason at such an early juncture, considering two years ago the team was picked to finish atop the Mountain West Conference and the Utes finished 4-7, then this season, the Utes were picked to finish sixth in the conference and finished behind only the Y.

You can tout, predict and prognosticate all you want, but nothing can be certain until the final gun of the season sounds.

However, with the addition of another bowl to the MWC’s postseason slate, I think I can safely assume the Utes will be bowling come December.

With a restoration of the MWC’s stingiest defense and proven quarterback Lance Rice back under center, a gomerish, Yoda-like knowledge in MWC football would suggest to me that the Utes would finish in the top four in the conference.

Yesterday, the previous limit of 26 collegiate bowls was lifted, as the San Francisco Bowl, the Hawaii Bowl and the Queen City Bowl were added.

The MWC signed up for the San Francisco Bowl, a late night, New Year’s Eve date with an opponent from the Big East Conference.

The MWC already owns a guaranteed position in three other postseason bowls.

In the Memphis, Tenn., Liberty Bowl, the top MWC seed faces the top Conference USA team. In the Las Vegas Bowl, the bowl the U was chosen for a year ago, the MWC’s No. 2 faces a team from the Pac-10. Finally, the MWC’s No. 4 team takes on the Atlantic Coast Conference’s sixth-best team in the Seattle Bowl.

In the other newly created bowls, the Hawaii Bowl will pit representatives from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and Conference USA against each other.

Coaches are going to love attempting to control players in this one. How can you keep your players’ heads in the game when you play: a) on Christmas Day; b) in a place where the weather is 50 degrees warmer than the mainland; and c) it’s Hawaii?the sand, surf and the glean of ultra-violet rays off members of the opposite sex?

Finally, the Queen City Bowl, played in Charlotte, N.C., will be played between members of the ACC and the Big East Conference.

The influx of the three latest bowl games is going to eventually amount to an extra week of the college football season, where every team with an above-even record will find a spot somewhere in America to stuff with fans, accumulating the greens for the host city.

But should these mediocre teams be rewarded? Aren’t only the best teams supposed to be playing in the postseason?

Eventually, it’s going to happen. It’s a mere precursor to the inevitable?the Toilet Bowl, pitting college football’s two worst teams against each other for the drag-out, slop infested, hands-down right to be called the worst team in collegiate football.

Of course, someone has to willingly want to watch the game, which may throw those plans to the birds.

There’s no real hope to rectify the situation, so why even make an attempt?

There’s money in rewarding placement of large, unsuccessful collegiate institutions into postseason games, so it is going to happen.

At least the U will benefit.

Rory welcomes feedback at: [email protected].