Well, a couple thoughts:
ESPN, at least with college football, has to set the lineup almost completely in preseason. Not necessarily the teams, but the conferences. Each conference gets their set times for airtime, and the games are chosen for that airtime a couple of weeks in advance. But the basic principle is that all the time slots are basically accounted for. This leaves little wiggle room to pickup whatever hot teams there are.
The Mountain West has their own network (think Big 10 Network). They control rights to games for the MWC. ESPN doesn't have the rights - and therefore, ESPN spends more energy promoting teams and games they CAN show - to increase revenue.
I guess what I'm trying to say - Yes, the media is completely screwing over Utah. But not because Utah is "mid major" - it's because they're worried about bottom line and are in a situation to promote other programs. It's not meant as a slight.