I was today years old when I learned how the Mountain West Conference determines a three-team tie-breaker heading into their conference title game. I don't know what I assumed they would do before today. I guess I've never once thought about the prospect of a tie-breaker in the Mountain West Conference. Hard to believe, I know. But I will say this: I'm pretty confident that the MWC hasn't updated their rule book since the conference was founded in 1998, because their method of determining the two teams that would get the nod for their championship game is right out of the playbook of the often-criticized and now-defunct Bowl Championship Series.

“The Rebels and Broncos finished tied with San José State at 6-2 in conference play. Because UNLV and Boise State did not play each other during the regular season, the three-way tie was broken by an average of four computer rankings: Anderson & Hester, Colley Matrix, Massey and Wolfe.” (h/t Kyle Bonagura of ESPN)

I don't know how ESPN's Bonagura didn't drop an “LOL” anywhere in his write-up, because the situation actually elicited an audible chuckle from yours truly. Clearly he's more professional than I am. I mean, seriously though, the Anderson & Hester computer poll was literally one of the three polls used to determine the BCS rankings. What the hell are they doing in the Mountain West?

And how about poor San Jose State? The Spartans won their final six games of the season, including a 37-31 victory over UNLV in their season finale IN LAS VEGAS, and they get left out in the cold all because someone's MacBook says so. Incredibly, despite the home loss to one of the three teams involved in the tie, UNLV now gets to host a Boise State team with an interim head coach in the championship game.

I thought “Madness” was supposed to be associated with college basketball, not college football.