Ernie Anderson / SDSU Athletic Media Relations)
As Power 5 and Group of 5 started to become popular terms to signify the haves and the have-nots of college football, the same process was going on between the two groups themselves.
Reputation means everything. How conference wins are viewed by the bigger schools, how your record stands against the others outside that power structure. And for a long time, the Mountain West liked to view itself as the best conference outside the big boys.
Not so much last year. Teams were just 18-30 in the non-conference portion of the regular season, and 10 of those victories were against FCS schools.