The most important month of the season for the Mountain West is September.
The conference has underperformed in the opening weeks of the college football season for several years, and it’s had an impact so lasting that the American calls itself part of the “Power Six.”
It’s a marketing ploy, sure. The American isn’t getting the money and College Football Playoff access of the Power Five anytime soon — no matter how many ways UCF declares itself a national champion for its undefeated season in 2017.
But it’s a marketing ploy based on irrefutable evidence that the conference Boise State planned to join in 2013 has surpassed the conference it decided to stay in.