https://theathletic.com/1226488/2019/09/...e-bluster/

Quote:Pop quiz time.

Which FBS conference has the most wins so far this season against Power 5 opponents in nonconference play?

You might be thinking it’s the SEC.

The leader?

The Mountain West.

Mountain West teams have won seven games this season against Power 5 opponents.

San Jose delivered an 8th since the article was written Friday.

Quote:The Mountain West’s success shouldn’t surprise anyone who has paid attention. Last year, the league had three teams (Fresno State, Utah State, Boise State) finish in the top 28 of Football Outsiders’ S&P+ predictive ranking. The ACC had two (Clemson and Miami). But because the league hasn’t gone out of its way to pound its chest, that fact probably went unnoticed by the average college football fan.

(09-22-2019 08:04 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  https://theathletic.com/1226488/2019/09/...e-bluster/

Quote:Pop quiz time.

Which FBS conference has the most wins so far this season against Power 5 opponents in nonconference play?

You might be thinking it’s the SEC.

The leader?

The Mountain West.

Mountain West teams have won seven games this season against Power 5 opponents.

San Jose delivered an 8th since the article was written Friday.

Quote:The Mountain West’s success shouldn’t surprise anyone who has paid attention. Last year, the league had three teams (Fresno State, Utah State, Boise State) finish in the top 28 of Football Outsiders’ S&P+ predictive ranking. The ACC had two (Clemson and Miami). But because the league hasn’t gone out of its way to pound its chest, that fact probably went unnoticed by the average college football fan.

If the MWC conference had pounded it's chest that it had 2 in the top 28 in Football Outsiders’ S&P+ predictive ranking, and a P5 only had 2, it would have come across as weak sauce. Especially considering that the ACC's #1 was the national champion.

It is surprising that the Mountain West has been so successful against Power 5 teams, because it doesn't feel like the contending teams are as strong as some of their predecessors. Overall, the West Division seems to be weaker than the Mountain. I mean, how can Nevada beat Purdue with a stirring comeback, then just lay down and die against Oregon? Sure, the Ducks are good, but they aren't THAT good! Wyoming dispatches Missouri, but struggles against Idaho and loses to Tulsa? Utah State got an important win at San Diego State Saturday, but it seems like the Aggies and Aztecs have looked sharper and more fluid in years past compared to what I saw. Boise State is tough too, but I wonder if the Broncos are good enough to hit the road in the MWC with the same kind of swagger they showed in the past. The comeback win over Florida State could still go a long way in helping BSU through any adversity the Broncos may encounter for the rest of the season.

(09-22-2019 08:25 PM)ChrisLords Wrote:  

(09-22-2019 08:04 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  https://theathletic.com/1226488/2019/09/...e-bluster/

Quote:Pop quiz time.

Which FBS conference has the most wins so far this season against Power 5 opponents in nonconference play?

You might be thinking it’s the SEC.

The leader?

The Mountain West.

Mountain West teams have won seven games this season against Power 5 opponents.

San Jose delivered an 8th since the article was written Friday.

Quote:The Mountain West’s success shouldn’t surprise anyone who has paid attention. Last year, the league had three teams (Fresno State, Utah State, Boise State) finish in the top 28 of Football Outsiders’ S&P+ predictive ranking. The ACC had two (Clemson and Miami). But because the league hasn’t gone out of its way to pound its chest, that fact probably went unnoticed by the average college football fan.

If the MWC conference had pounded it's chest that it had 2 in the top 28 in Football Outsiders’ S&P+ predictive ranking, and a P5 only had 2, it would have come across as weak sauce. Especially considering that the ACC's #1 was the national champion.

Right. No need to pound our chest. We, well, the programs in the MW, need to not focus on celebrating yet because we are not yet P5 strength top to bottom. We still have work to do and MW isn’t even at the strength it was, top to bottom, the years just preceding the conference realignment. We are getting closer, tho. And that’s a great sign. We weren’t quite “left for dead” after realignment, but we were kind of left for perpetual purgatory. I’m glad that appears not to be the case either.

AAC isn’t even where the MW was prior to realignment. Both conferences are rising, tho. So...I am happy and hopeful for continued incremental successes in the coming years. IMO, for AAC and MW to continue to rise and rise at a more robust pace, we need to somehow work together. Maybe at least claim to be a collective dual conference that could share something the size a P5 conference does. Other than a few ideas I have, I am not quite exactly sure what that would look like, and we need not consider P5s as our enemies. In fact, we need to consider P5s as allies...allies in the common prospect of keeping collegiate athletics robust and entertaining because, if we haven’t noticed, attendance is slowly going down from it’s peak a few years ago.

(09-23-2019 08:00 AM)Midwestan Wrote:  It is surprising that the Mountain West has been so successful against Power 5 teams, because it doesn't feel like the contending teams are as strong as some of their predecessors. Overall, the West Division seems to be weaker than the Mountain. I mean, how can Nevada beat Purdue with a stirring comeback, then just lay down and die against Oregon? Sure, the Ducks are good, but they aren't THAT good! Wyoming dispatches Missouri, but struggles against Idaho and loses to Tulsa? Utah State got an important win at San Diego State Saturday, but it seems like the Aggies and Aztecs have looked sharper and more fluid in years past compared to what I saw. Boise State is tough too, but I wonder if the Broncos are good enough to hit the road in the MWC with the same kind of swagger they showed in the past. The comeback win over Florida State could still go a long way in helping BSU through any adversity the Broncos may encounter for the rest of the season.

MWC wins against P5 are cyclical with the rise and fall of the Pac 12. There have been prior years where they had winning records against a weak Pac 12. When the Pac 12 is up, the MWC wins go down.

(09-23-2019 08:00 AM)Midwestan Wrote:  It is surprising that the Mountain West has been so successful against Power 5 teams, because it doesn't feel like the contending teams are as strong as some of their predecessors. Overall, the West Division seems to be weaker than the Mountain. I mean, how can Nevada beat Purdue with a stirring comeback, then just lay down and die against Oregon? Sure, the Ducks are good, but they aren't THAT good! Wyoming dispatches Missouri, but struggles against Idaho and loses to Tulsa? Utah State got an important win at San Diego State Saturday, but it seems like the Aggies and Aztecs have looked sharper and more fluid in years past compared to what I saw. Boise State is tough too, but I wonder if the Broncos are good enough to hit the road in the MWC with the same kind of swagger they showed in the past. The comeback win over Florida State could still go a long way in helping BSU through any adversity the Broncos may encounter for the rest of the season.

Fair and good points. Which might be a positive, in that, if we are struggling this year compared to just a couple years ago, yet, we do what we’ve done up to this point in this season, what does the next couple seasons hold for us (the MW) when we (the collective MW) get our chit together again? Take my Bulldogs, for instance. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy and lost on the last plays of the two games we would have won had those games (@USC & vs Minn) been played towards the middle and latter of last season when we were ultra not sloppy and extremely efficient on both sides of the ball.

(09-23-2019 08:25 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(09-23-2019 08:00 AM)Midwestan Wrote:  It is surprising that the Mountain West has been so successful against Power 5 teams, because it doesn't feel like the contending teams are as strong as some of their predecessors. Overall, the West Division seems to be weaker than the Mountain. I mean, how can Nevada beat Purdue with a stirring comeback, then just lay down and die against Oregon? Sure, the Ducks are good, but they aren't THAT good! Wyoming dispatches Missouri, but struggles against Idaho and loses to Tulsa? Utah State got an important win at San Diego State Saturday, but it seems like the Aggies and Aztecs have looked sharper and more fluid in years past compared to what I saw. Boise State is tough too, but I wonder if the Broncos are good enough to hit the road in the MWC with the same kind of swagger they showed in the past. The comeback win over Florida State could still go a long way in helping BSU through any adversity the Broncos may encounter for the rest of the season.

MWC wins against P5 are cyclical with the rise and fall of the Pac 12. There have been prior years where they had winning records against a weak Pac 12. When the Pac 12 is up, the MWC wins go down.

This season the Pac12 is marginally better (top to bottom) than they were last season yet the MW is doing what it is doing this season. Maybe both Pac12 and MW are rising together. Would be super interesting out in our lonely time zones in the next few years if that were the case. Maybe stop the bleeding of top western high school recruits from going east to big P5 eastern/southern USA programs.

(09-23-2019 08:42 AM)fresnofanatic Wrote:  

(09-23-2019 08:25 AM)bullet Wrote:  MWC wins against P5 are cyclical with the rise and fall of the Pac 12. There have been prior years where they had winning records against a weak Pac 12. When the Pac 12 is up, the MWC wins go down.

This season the Pac12 is marginally better (top to bottom) than they were last season yet the MW is doing what it is doing this season. Maybe both Pac12 and MW are rising together. Would be super interesting out in our lonely time zones in the next few years if that were the case. Maybe stop the bleeding of top western high school recruits from going east to big P5 eastern/southern USA programs.

That's interesting about top talent in the West migrating East to play college sports. I wonder how prevalent this is? Is it so they can get more media exposure playing in the Eastern and Central time zones compared to the Mountain and Pacific (and beyond)? If that's the case, it really puts a premium on quality coaching and recruiting at western schools. It's always interesting to see how western football teams do when they travel to the Central and especially the Eastern time zones. Historically, Western teams usually struggle in the NFL when they go to Eastern locations, but the Rams have won in Carolina and Cleveland, San Francisco won at Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, Arizona pushed Baltimore to the limit, and Seattle won in Pittsburgh. Sure, some of these teams aren't very good, but in the past, there would have been more than 1 western loss in these 6 games. California won at Ole Miss over the weekend, Boise State won earlier this month in Tallahassee, and Utah State lost a nail-biter at Wake Forest. I don't know if any new trends are going on, but I like the idea of teams being willing to travel more than a time zone away from their own campuses to play as diverse a schedule as possible. Wish more teams from the Central and East would head West on occasion, like Minnesota did with Fresno State and Missouri did with Wyoming (although that isn't really an extreme difference).

(09-23-2019 08:33 AM)fresnofanatic Wrote:  Fair and good points. Which might be a positive, in that, if we are struggling this year compared to just a couple years ago, yet, we do what we’ve done up to this point in this season, what does the next couple seasons hold for us (the MW) when we (the collective MW) get our chit together again?

The MW has a nice roster of P5 wins this year, but that can mask weakness. E.g., this past weekend, SJS's shocking win at Arkansas covered for the fact that in other games, Wyoming was beaten by AAC Tulsa and Colorado State was beaten by MAC Toledo.