I just don't think you get all excited about a team going to a BCS game and beating Oklahoma. I think Boise State is a legitimate team, but I think you judge a conference by tradition and by history of success, and it's just my feeling that there are more teams in the Mountain West that have exhibited a history of success over a length of time over the WAC.
The big three of the Mountain West, let's face it, have been pretty remarkable. TCU, BYU and Utah are very legitimate programs. Does the Mountain West have some duds? Yeah. But on a consistent basis of teams lining up and physical play, I don't think it's all that close. I think the Mountain West is the superior conference.
I don't want to take anything away from Boise State. They're a very nice program. But I'm talking about long-term stability from your athletic department with the money that's being spent. Colt Brennan complained that he didn't have soap in the showers at Hawai'i. Does that sound like a stable program that's on the rise to become a dominant force in college football? No. The commitment from TCU, for example, has been remarkable. And it's not only from the university and athletic department, but from the locals in Fort Worth. There's a history of success there. BYU? Same thing.
Is Hawai'i a pretty good team? Is Boise State a pretty good program? Yeah. But from top to bottom, the Mountain West's viability is better positioned for the long term than the WAC.
Let me just put it this way. If you were asked to be a commissioner of a college football conference, and it was between the WAC and the Mountain West, you wouldn't think twice.
Posted by Trev Alberts
July 25, 2007
So Mr. Nebraska Cornhusker Trev Alberts, you think the Mountain West Conference is the best of the non-BCS conferences in college football? Well, listen up you tall drink of water, you’re flat out wrong! The best of the non-BCS conferences is currently the WAC. That’s right, I said it…The WAC is back baby!
I admire what the MWC has been able to accomplish in the past few years, with teams like TCU winning at least 10 games the last four out of five seasons, Utah garnering national attention with a 12-0 season in 2004 and BYU going 11-2 last year. So, one-third of the conference is respectable. And the rest of the league is well, to borrow from those non-athletic expert sports pundits, "serviceable."
If you take a peek at the WAC, you’ll find this conference coming off a banner year in 2006. The conference champion Boise State went undefeated. Not to mention, it upset perennial power Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the greatest games in college football history. The WAC has two, count them Trev, two legitimate Heisman candidates in Boise State running back Ian Johnson and Hawai’i quarterback Colt Brennan. All Brennan did was lead the nation and the world in passing last season. The young man set a Bowl Subdivision record for touchdowns with 58. I don’t think there were 58 passing touchdowns collectively in the MWC. Brennan also led the nation in passing yards, Mr. Alberts, with 5,549. I know it’s difficult for an Iowa farm boy to count that high. If that’s not impressive enough, the WAC also boasts the second leading passer in 2006 in New Mexico State’s Chase Holbrook, who threw for a whopping 4,619 yards. Are these numbers making you nauseous, Trev?
Let’s compare the running games of both leagues. The WAC has three returning players with over 1,000 yards rushing. The MWC…One! If you look at the receivers, it only gets better for the WAC with three 1,000-yard pass catchers versus zero for the MWC. Wow, only Mr. Butkus Award winner Trev Alberts could deduce from those statistics that the MWC is still the best non-BCS conference.
While the MWC can applaud their three teams that were above .500 last year, the WAC had four. The resurgent San Jose State Spartans actually defeated MWC member New Mexico in its own bowl, the New Mexico Bowl. Come on, Trev. How the heck do you lose your own freakin’ Bowl? San Jose finished with a terrific 9-4 record. The Nevada Wolf Pack won eight games and is vying for its second league title in three years. The always competitive Fresno State Bulldogs had an unusually lackluster ’06 campaign, but trust me, Pat Hill will bring the Bulldogs back to respectability.
Speaking of respectability, Trev, you just lost yours and this argument! The WAC is back!
Posted by Brian Jones
July 25, 2007
http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/waroftheweek/
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Wonder why our man Brian forgot about the two Playboy All-Americans...
