Last 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.
Rank
Team
Comments
1
2
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.
3
4
5
6
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.
8
9
