The Mountain West Conference gets no respect. For any of you familiar with the BCS and their "National Championship" shennanigans, I would like to state as a fan, that the remainder of this season is being observed under protest. It seems as if there is a bit of a ceiling when it comes to non-BCS conference schools; and why the Pac 10 is currently one of the "it" conferences I'll never know! BYU shot up to #7 in the coaches poll and has been languishing around 8 or 9 ever since. This is in spite of winning each week and having several teams ahead of them lose. This past week for instance, BYU was ranked #8, & #9 in the two main polls going into the weekend. BYU then won 21-3, and three of the top four teams lost and BYU is still ranked #8, & #9. Teams leaped ahead of BYU and others fell back, but with all of the commotion going on in the rankings, BYU has remained eerily motionless.
The only hope comes in that several teams (the Big 12 in particular), have to play against each other, so several of them will pick up a loss (or a second loss) before the end of the season. One exception to this is USC. They should not have lost to Oregon St., but with a win the following week, they bounced back up to the top 10 and their schedules shows no sign of slowing them down. Playing in a weak PAC 10 conference with only an average Cal team on the horizon, they shouldn't lose another game. Since the year began, the MWC has a 6-1 record against Pac 10 schools including a 59-0 BYU thrashing of UCLA as well as a UNLV victory over an overrated ASU team who was then ranked #15.
So do I think the MWC is that good, or is the Pac 10 that bad? It's a little of both.
The best of the best:
The class of the Pac 10 is clearly USC. Their annual oversight of a poor team (see Oregon St. '08, or Stanford '07) notwithstanding, they should never lose a game in that conference. The class of the MWC is BYU, Utah and to a lesser extent, TCU. They are currently a combined 19-1 with wins over Michigan, UCLA, and the same Oregon St. team that beat USC, with the lone loss coming against a then #1 ranked Oklahoma team.
The worst of the worst:
The bottom of the Pac 10 includes the University of Washington who is currently 0-5 still having to play USC. They have what may well be considered a lame-duck coach in Tyrone Willingham since everyone knows he can't survive this season. Keeping them company at the bottom of the heap is Washington State who has one victory in 7 tries and it came against PSU; no, not Penn State University, but Portland State University, a I-AA team. This last week WSU gave up over 60 points for the third time this season, this time to Oregon St. WSU resorted to playing a walk-on at quarterback when their third stringer went down with significant knee damage. The dregs of the MWC includes Wyoming and San Diego State who lost a tough 21-13 game at Notre Dame earlier in the season.
I've got high hopes for BYU and the rest of the MWC. The way I see it, either BYU or Utah will go to a BCS bowl while the loser of their season finale will beat up on another Pac 10 team in the Las Vegas bowl. TCU will bowl somewhere as will Air Force and possibly Colorado State. If MWC teams only had to play Pac 10 teams all season and vice versa, the Mountain West could have several undefeated teams this year. :-)
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4 comments:
Wow, I am so informed now. I just hope BYU can keep it up. I haven't seen more than a game or two but college football is the best! We should get together sometime before your busy season starts.
A football team is a "which" not a "who"! Do you talk about the PAC 10 like this at work? A little humility like Bronco exhibits might be nice. I don't think UW is talking smack this year, for a change, so don't rub it in.
I think the Rose Bowl venue gives UCLA and USC a "special" status, whether it is earned or not. I think they think they own New Year's Day! Maybe if skiers were football fans, Utah would be a destination and we could own a BCS Bowl. Put it out on YouTube and see if anyone bites...
Which vs. Who...who cares. Teams, particularly College teams allows for the subjective and dare I say liberal flexibility of the English language. And yes, I do talk about the PAC 10 like this at work. BYU lost last week so what does that mean? It means that the top 3 in the MWC are now a combined 21-2 with the two losses being TCU's loss to Oklahoma and BYU's loss to TCU. Not too shabby.
BYU is doing alright, but you guys never give any respect to UTAH!!!
If they can keep up their streak at New Mexico this week and then against TCU...man, that would be awesome! I can't wait to see it all go down. I'm sad that BYU lost too, but I would be more sad if Utah had lost.
You're right about the BCS being overlooked. People down here in the south practically worship the SEC and everyone else is nothing, especially the BSC. Matt gets garbage from his friends around here all the time. "Any Junior College could beat any one of those BCS teams". Yeah, whatever!
Hopefully Utah will get into a respectable bowl game and we will see!
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