Farewell, Colorado
BYU football takes its final trip to the state of Colorado for the foreseeable future. It has no future games scheduled in the state. There are no bowl games played in the state. If BYU did play any of the MWC Colorado schools, it "due" a home game before it would return to Colorado to play. And yet, I am not able to make it to the game this Saturday. Sad...I guess I will have to travel to see BYU play from now on!
Avoiding Last Place
Wyoming, which came into the season with some promise after an encouraging bowl win in 2009, needs to win at UNLV to have any chance at avoiding last place in the MWC. This is almost an exact repeat of Colorado State in 2008: hire a new coach, go to a bowl, win the bowl game to everyone's surprise, and then finish in last place in the MWC the following season.
The Boise State Spotlight Begins
Boise State now has ample opportunities to showcase their abilities. This Friday starts a 3-game Friday Night televised on ESPN or ESPN2 stretch. Three straight nationally televised blowout wins, with 2 of them on the road, would go a long way towards gaining ground on TCU and returning to the National Championship picture. All of the opponents are beatable, but all of them are at least decent teams (though arguments could be made that Idaho doesn't fall into that category).
BCS Conferences Better Than Non-AQs?
Here is a little breakdown of how certain BCS conferences are doing in the rankings vs. non-BCS conferences. There is 1 ACC team in the top 25, Virginia Tech is sitting between 16-20, depending on the poll. There are 0 Big East Teams, though Pittsburgh is 33rd in one poll. There are 2 MWC teams, both in the top 15, including a team in the top 3. SDSU is also sitting just outside of the rankings. For now. There are 2 WAC teams, including a team in the top 4. There is even a Conference USA team in the rankings. The SEC, Big XII, Big Ten, and Pac 10 are all very good leagues. But this elitist mentality of all BCS conferences being superior to all non-BCS conferences is getting a bit old. And it is not backed up by on-the-field performance, particularly in the case of the ACC and Big East. Even the computers have a tough time with the Big East and ACC. I agree the conferences are tougher and deeper, but not so much better that the revenue from the BCS should be 5 or 6 times what MWC, WAC, and C-USA schools get...
BYU, TCU, and Utah could compete in the ACC or Big East regularly, but not in the other BCS conferences. Utah will find out next year what I mean.
ReplyDeleteOur champion has been playing a middle of the road PAC 10 team the last several years with mixed results. When an undefeated champion blocks a field goal at the end to beat a so so Pac 10, that says something.