Mountain West Conference week three power rankings
by JazzyUte on Sep 23, 2010 11:48 PM MDT
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PrintLast week was not very good to a great deal of the Mountain West teams. Teams that did not play conference games (everyone except Utah and New Mexico) struggled in out of conference games that, had they won, would've certainly validated the conference this season.
Unfortunately, even though there were some close games, no team could make any national noise.
Oh well.
Team of the Week: TCU. The Frogs looked impressive in a 45-10 blowout over instate rival (yeah, right) Baylor.
Team of the Weak: BYU. The Cougars had a chance to get their season back on track after a difficult loss to the Falcons a couple weeks ago and appeared to do just that in the first half of their game against Florida St. However, in the second half, they were outclassed and eventually lost a laugher 34-10.
The rankings after the jump...
It's only Baylor, but any time you beat a BCS team, specifically one from your same state, 45-10, you're doing something right. TCU looked pretty much flawless in their win and I've got to believe that, at the moment, they're the elite of the non-BCS. Still a lot of football left to played, though, and the Frogs have yet to leave the state of Texas for a game (that won't change this week, as they take on cross-metro rival SMU tonight). Air Force's game against the Oklahoma Sooners was a tell of three - they looked good in the first half, terrible in the third quarter and once again good in the fourth. Unfortunately, that third quarter is what ended up killing the Falcons. Though they fought back in the end, Air Force still came up short 27-24 in Norman. This weekend they travel to Wyoming, which should be a win. San Diego State had their game won against the Missouri Tigers. All they had to do was put together a few stops with less than a minute left. The Aztecs couldn't and Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert found T.J. Moe for the 68-yard touchdown - closing the chapter on San Diego State's upset bid. Still, it was a good showing against a top-25 BCS team. This week they host the Utah St. Aggies, who, like SDSU, has shown improvement under their second year head coach. Not much good came out of BYU's 34-10 loss to the Florida St. Seminoles. Okay, they held their own for a half. That's about it. Jake Heaps didn't look stellar, the offense continues to struggle and the defense isn't much better. This week is essentially a must-win against the Nevada Wolfpack. I think the Cougars will pull it out, because it's in Provo, but they can't afford a 1-3 start. I thought about swapping the Lobos and Rams this week because at least the Rams didn't give up 56-points in their loss. Of course, the competition isn't equal - as the Utes are far better than Miami Ohio. So, for the second week in a row, New Mexico is 8th and not 9th because the Rams, though only ever so slightly, edged 'em out for the bottom spot. You could make the claim, though, UNLV, New Mexico and Colorado St. are all equally bad.
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The Utes looked eerily like their 2009-selves early against the New Mexico Lobos - but by the second quarter appeared to be the team we all expected when the season started. Utah easily beat the Lobos 56-14 for their most dominant win in nearly two years.
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The Cowboys looked lost in their 51-6 loss to the Boise St. Broncos. We knew this season could be difficult - we just didn't expect Wyoming to look as bad as they have. It doesn't get much easier, either, as they open up conference play hosting Air Force this weekend.
7
UNLV is only here by default. Their loss, though bad, was not nearly as horrid as New Mexico's and Colorado State's. Make no mistake, however, this is one of the worst teams in the conference. For how good the Mountain West is at the top, they're equally awful at the bottom.
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Our conference stinks this year
For all the improvements the MWC was making, it seems that outside of TCU, Utah, Air Force and possibly San Diego State all the other teams are taking a big step backwards. Add to that the fact that Utah’s marquee OOC opponents, Pitt and Notre Dame, are looking less than stellar. What are you people trying to do to our strength of schedule?
I keep accidentally eating my pets. Maybe I should get something less appetizing, like a cat instead of a Twinkie.
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It’s all a big conspiracy…they are still mad we are leaving for the PAC-12
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Sep 24, 2010 10:47 AM MDT up reply actions
The MWC certainly isn't giving Utah a reason to stick around.
It really is striking how quickly the conference goes from decent to bad.
The problem with the MWC today is that it has gotten REALLY terrible at the bottom. I don’t ever remember it this bad at the bottom. It was always a far more consistent league. Then TCU joined and it’s like all the power consolidated at the top between Utah, TCU and BYU – with AFA a distant fourth.
Even in 2004, when the conference was probably at its worst, there was only one truly awful team in UNLV.
Of course, back then, the conference was just as bad at the top (outside of Utah). The second best teams were New Mexico and Wyoming at 7-5. But it was a bit more balanced.
The problem may be that as the top gets better the bottom sort of has to get worse.
If you have 10 teams (to make the numbers easy) then you have 120 games. 80 of those games are in conference (with the 8-game conference schedule). Even if every team goes 4-0 out of conference (very unlikely), if there are three teams at the top at 12-0, 11-1, 10-2, then there are going to be three teams at the bottom with records like 4-8, 5-7, 6-6. A couple of years of 4-8 records (and keep in mind, that assumes a 4-0 start) will hurt a team and push them even lower.
And if you average 2-2 OOC, then there will be three teams or more with 1-3 or 0-4 starts, who then are likely to go one to 2-10 records.
But if you only have one great team at 12-0 and then a bunch of middling 7-5 or 6-6 teams then even if you go 2-2 out of conference you can get 4 wins in conference because there are more opportunities because the middle of the conference has a lot of room for wins. Fewer 3-9 teams, but also fewer 9-3 teams. I think the conference gets more respect with a good top tier than it does if it’s “balanced” but average.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Sep 24, 2010 12:30 PM MDT up reply actions
The problem is that our bottoms aren't doing nearly as well in OOC games as they did in years past.
New Mexico, in 2004, beat Texas Tech.
UNLV had that upset in Wisconsin a few years ago.
CSU, even in 2004, would’ve easily won against a MAC team.
Those head turning OOC wins just aren’t there anymore from the non-Utah, TCU and BYU teams.
2008 was the last real season the MWC was a fairly good conference top-to-bottom.
Considering a death in the family...
…as well as a few other students who lost limbs in that tragic accident, I think it would have been classy for Texas and Boise to postpone their games until weeks 14 &15..
I’ll certainly ask any Utah coach to offer the same concession when it comes to a team losing one of their own to death.
I mean injuries are expected and losing 4 players to legal/moral issues like has befallen Pittsburgh is really somewhat of their own undoing, But to pass by a teammates locker every day, knowing he is gone (not due to alcohol or drug use or getting in a bar or street fight like some athletic savants) has to be emotionally wrecking.
And given that the Cowboys lost to #4 & #7 in the country and not 2 unranked teams (all be it a very good unranked Air Force) shouldn’t they be above BYU in power rankings?
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