SB Nation Mountain West Conference preview

by JazzyUte on Aug 24, 2009 3:20 AM MDT in Football

Block U, along with the Mountain West Connection, Vanquish The Foe (BYU) and Mid Major Madness, put together a pretty solid 2009 preview of the conference.

TCU was pegged the favorite to win the conference, with BYU and Utah rounding out the top-three. For full disclosure, I actually have Utah, TCU and BYU finishing tied at the top at 7-1 - with BYU beating TCU and losing to Utah and the Utes beating the Cougars and losing to TCU. Of course, it's possible one of those three (maybe more) is upset against a lesser team.

With that out of the way, I actually haven't asked on the blog what you think the conference will look like in November. Now instead of asking you to predict the entire standings (I don't think it really matters outside of the top-three), we'll just stick with the potential finishes for Utah, BYU and TCU.

Let me know how you see it all going down.

Poll

Who'll finish where?

Utah, TCU and BYU all split the conference championship.

12 votes

#1. Utah, #2. TCU, #3. BYU

96 votes

#1. Utah, #2. BYU, #3. TCU

2 votes

#1. TCU, #2. Utah, #3. BYU

71 votes

#1. TCU, #2. BYU, #3. Utah

8 votes

#1. BYU, #2. TCU, #3. Utah

10 votes

#1. BYU, #2. Utah, #3. TCU

3 votes

Other: One of these three will finish outside the top-three.

2 votes

204 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Utah First, TCU 2nd, BYU 3rd

By far the fewest issues reported out of camp in terms of injuries and cohesion. If TCU stumbles early, they might not recover. BYU’s line is in flux, never a good thing. Utah might not have a single man like Brian Johnson, but we seem to be more stable overall and the team seems to have learned something from last year: hard work pays off, team attitude means something.

Last year everyone picked the Cougars, yet it was Patterson’s best team, they both blew it although TCU realy could have quite easily replaced Utah in the BCS and I wager shown with that D that the MWC was for real. No one saw Utah coming on as strong, most ascribe it not to a rebuilding effort that is now entrenched and rooted in depth and continuity, but as a quadrennial occurrence that they may see in the future. Time will tell, starting September 3rd.

Utah’s best news? Two quarterbacks who can run the entire offense and a solid line to go along with what looks to be the conference’s best defense, no apparent problems with the new offensive coordinator (the defense will be nothing less than fine, hold to my words if I am wrong). Worst news? No playing time between the WRs and QB that will indicate any wrinkles to iron out. They need the weeks between games to prepare for the upcoming games, that was a luxury they had last year, this year we might be practicing as much as preparing.

Best news at TCU? Offense looking sharp, Dalton is a great college QB, they’ll be very tough to stop, look out BYU. Worst news at TCU? They did not replace their defensive talent, their games with Utah and BYU might be nasty, high scoring “last possession wins” affairs. Best news at BYU? They are playing loose, having fun according to their staff. Worst news? O line is really depleted, D line may or may not be deep enough to compete season long.

by Aardvark on Aug 24, 2009 5:34 AM MDT reply actions