BYU vs. Oregon State Gameday

Today, my Alma Mater plays my new, substitute Alma Mater in football.  I'll be cheering for the team that would win an IRL mascot cage match (in impressive fashion).  I have the unique opportunity of knowing both of these teams very well, so I will offer an extended preview of today's matchup.

Prediction:
Even Sean Mannion would have had trouble with BYU's defense in Provo.  Cody Vaz, making his first career start, in LaVell Edwards Stadium against this monster of a D, has little to no shot.  I'm assuming that Riley Nelson is going to start and play most of the game.  If that's not the case, we're looking at 3-0 game in 3OT.  BYU's offense has struggled, but should be able to find some renewed life behind a renewed Riley Nelson.

BYU - 13, Oregon State - 6

Player to watch: BYU QB Riley Nelson
Matchup to watch: BYU WR Cody Hoffman vs. OSU CB Jordan Poyer
Stat to watch: Cody Vaz Turnovers

Keys to the Game

BYU
Play smart on offense
Take advantage of turnovers
Kick the ball through the uprights

Oregon State
Protect Cody Vaz
Contain Riley Nelson
Execute in the Red Zone

Favorites

So, it's the time of year when professional and collegiate sports abound and everyone can follow their favorite teams.  I've recently been thinking about what my favorite teams are in each of the sports I follow... and conversely, which teams are my least favorite.  Here are a few lists of my top 5 favorite and most despised teams in each of the 4 sports leagues I enjoy watching most.

NCAA Football
Favorite
1. BYU Cougars
2. Whoever's playing SpUtah
3. Oregon State Beavers
4. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
5. Air Force Falcons

Least Favorite
1. SpUtah SpUtes
2. Another Ohio State Buckeyes
3. University of Spoiled Children (USC) Trojans
4. Texas (not so) Christian Horned Frogs
5. Florida Gators

Major League Baseball
Favorite
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Houston Astros
4. Texas Rangers
5. Toronto Blue Jays

Least Favorite
1. Arizona D-bags
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
1. San Francisco Giants
4. Atlanta Braves
5. New York Yankees
5. Boston Red Sox

NFL Football
Favorite
1. Denver Broncos
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. Houston Texans
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. Arizona Cardinals

Least Favorite
1. Oakland Raiders
2. New England Patriots
3. Green Bay (Fudge) Packers
4. Kansas City Chefs    (Yes, I misspelled that on purpose)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers

NHL Hockey
Favorite
1. Colorado Avalanche
2. Montreal Canadiens
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Winnipeg Jets
5. New York Rangers

Least Favorite
1. Detroit Red Wings
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Calgary Flames
5. Minnesota Wild

Some of these have interesting stories behind them, but I'm not going to go into detail.  If you're curious about any of my selections, I'll be glad to reveal my reasoning.  It's also noteworthy that there are a couple of cities with which I have a very ambivalent sports relationship, namely LA and Atlanta.

That Time of Year Again

With my two favorite baseball teams being, unquestionably, the worst two teams in the league, it's time for me to look forward, once again, to football season.  Before I really begin, some notes on the coming season:

• There are about 33 days until the whited out kickoff of my BYU Cougars against the Cougars of Washington State in a game I've affectionately dubbed the 'Cougar Bowl.'  I'm going to try to get a pair of tickets to this game and head over to Provo to see it. 
• I hate Utah.
• My BYU Cougars, again, take on the Oregon State Beavers, whom I've come to know and love.  I'm a Beaver believer when they take on any other opponent, but against my Alma Mater, they're just another team to slash down.
• Both Oregon State and BYU look very similar to what they were last year, for good or ill.
• Though I love OSU, I think I want to travel down to Eugene to take in a Ducks game at Autzen Stadium.  I've heard it's loud and awesome, and I'd like to see it for myself.

Oregon State

Unfortunately for the Beavers, looking very similar to what they were last year means that they'll probably look about as bad as thy did last year.  I don't think they'll slip against Nicholls State, like they did last year against Sacramento State, but the outlook is still bleak.  This team has a lot of young players on both sides of the ball that still haven't quite meshed into a teamed.  Though the Pac 12 is largely overrated, it contains good teams with many more talented and more experienced players than OSU's squad.  The Beavers are a better team at home than on the road, and this year's home schedule is tougher than last year's, with more teams that are capable of beating OSU.

Record: 3-9
Wins: Nicholls State, @Arizona, Wazzu
Losses: Wisconsin, @UCLA, @BYU, Utah, @UW, Arizona State, @Stanford, Cal, Oregon

This year's civil war game will, once again, go to the Ducks.  The Beavers always play well against the Ducks and usually play very well at home.  However, the University of Oregon doesn't have to worry about things like "academics," and thus, like much of the SEC, are perennial national championship contenders.  The Beavers will, likely, finish last in the Pac 12.

Ducks - 38, Beavers - 24

BYU

With the abomination of a quarterback know as Jake Heaps now being Charlie Weis' problem, the BYU Cougars are set to do at least as well as they did last season.  This year's schedule has a good balance of teams throughout, with there being a bit of a cakewalk there at the end.  I think (as objectively as possible) that BYU is capable of beating any team on their schedule this year.  The games against Utah, Boise State, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech will be tough, but I think BYU is capable of winning all of those games.  Much like last year, the offense should be capable of making plays and the defense will bend occasionally, but won't break often.

Because the Cougars are very likely to win at least six games, they should earn and accept a bowl bid, likely the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego against a second choice from the Mountain West.  Though San Diego State may not finish second in the Mountain West Conference, an SDSU v. BYU Poinsettia Bowl would probably sell as many tickets as any bowl game is going to sell, including the BCS bowls and the National "Championship."  Therefore, I'm picking San Diego State to go up against BYU in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Record: 11-2
Wins: Wazzu, Weber St., @Utah, Hawai'i, Utah St., Oregon St., @Georgia Tech, Idaho, @San Jose St., @New Mexico St., (@)San Diego St.
Losses: @Boise St., @Notre Dame

Believe it or not, Riley Nelson hasn't really had a chance to go up against Utah.  We can all see that the abomination of a quarterback known as Jake Heaps didn't have what it takes to take on a bitter rival, especially at home.  However, Riley Nelson, like the acclaimed, mobile lefty that came before him in BYU history does have it... in abundance.  I think Utah goes into this game confident that nothing much has changed in the BYU squad since the end of last year and will realize that they've never actually faced Riley Nelson when the team around him hadn't already given up.  Riley, in his one and only opportunity, should be able to go into Rice-Eccles Stadium and bring the Cougars home victorious... by more than 7 points...  for the first time in 16 years.

Cougars - 38, Utes - 28

Oregon State @ BYU

This one is going to be no-contest.  Last season, BYU beat Oregon State by 10 in Reser Stadium despite not playing their best game.  Like I said before, Oregon State plays much better at home than they do on the road and BYU defends LaVell Edwards Stadium well.  Riley Nelson will plague the Beavers' defense with his running ability and the Cougars defense will be able to shut down OSU's running game handily.  The Beavers will get their points and stay in the game for a while, but it won't be close in the end.

Cougars - 41, Beavers - 20

I'm excited.

Being Under-appreciated

A little less than two weeks ago, the BYU Cougars took on the Golden Hurricane of the University of Tulsa in the 2011 Armed Forces Bowl.  The game was a hard-fought slugfest between two equally-matched opponents.  Near the end of the game, BYU drove down the field and scored a touchdown on a fake spike, Dan Marino style to win the game.

The official MVP as well as the Player of the Game awarded by ESPN went to wide receiver Cody Hoffman, who caught all 3 touchdown passes for BYU in the game.  Though Hoffman's performance was impressive, I wouldn't have given him the MVP.  The commentators for the game suggested that they might vote for Matt Reynolds for MVP after an impressive block that he made late in the first half to set up Hoffman's first touchdown pass.  While I think that offensive lineman are among the most underrated and under-appreciated players on the gridiron, I still would have given the MVP to another player for his outstanding performance.

That man's name is Riley Stephenson.  He wears number 99 and punts for BYU.  Yes, I would have given the game MVP to the punter. (As a side note, that's a sharp-looking suit.)

Punting is probably the most underrated and under-appreciated position in football (with the possible exception of long-snapping, though it's pretty much the same idea).  No one likes to punt.  Teams would much rather keep their offense on the field and continue trying to score.  In leagues with less maturity and less defense, punting is rare and teams almost always elect to go for it on 4th down.  However, punting is also key to the game of gridiron football.  Especially when a team is in its own territory, punting puts more distance between the opposing team and their end zone.  If a coach has any faith in his defense, he will usually elect to punt the ball away when his team is on its own side of the 50.  If he doesn't have any faith in his defense, it's going to be a long game, either way.  Coaches will tell you that field position is important in any football game.  It is universally better to start at your own 45 than at your own 5 yard line.  The closer a team is backed up to its own goal line, the more conservative play calling usually is.  On complicated plays, it's too easy to get tackled for a loss and give up a safety or cough up the ball for an easy touchdown.  Winning the field position battle helps a team win the game.

In the 2011 Armed Forces Bowl, Riley Stephenson had an exceptional game punting the football.  BYU sent him out onto the field to punt 8 times throughout the game.  Of those 8 kicks, none were brought out to the 20 on a touchback, 7 of them landed inside the Tulsa 20 yard line, and 3 made their way inside their 10 yard line.  Riley only had one non-amazing kick all game: a 36-yarder that went out of bounds at the Tulsa 42 yard line.  Even that kick didn't look all that bad.

The biggest risk in punting is that the punt returner will be able to make a play and carry the ball for a large gain or even a touchdown.  However, a punt is not really returnable if it hangs up in the air long enough for the coverage team to get down the field and get in the face of the returner or if it goes out of bounds before it can be fielded.  This is the part of Riley Stephenson's punting game that impressed me the most in the Armed Forces Bowl.  Of his 8 punts, 7 were not returned and either went out of bounds or were downed by the BYU punt coverage team.  The one that was returned was a poor decision by the return man inasmuch as he only made it 1 yard before being hit by a BYU defender and fumbling the ball.  This fumble was recovered by BYU and led to the Cougars' only touchdown in the first half.

I relate to Riley Stephenson and punters in general because I'm a civil engineer.  If you live in something that's not a naturally-occurring cave, you're the beneficiary of the work of multiple civil engineers all at once and you probably never recognized it.  Civil engineers design structures like buildings and bridges so that they don't fall down and kill you.  They design the drinking water and sewer systems that keep you from contracting dysentery.  They design roads and traffic signals to be as stupid-proof as possible to try to keep idiots from running into and killing you on the roadways.  They (hopefully) even analyze the dirt underneath a structure so that it doesn't get reclaimed by its mother Earth.  And you know who gets credit for all of it?  The architect (and maybe a little bit the construction crew... maybe).  Yes, the nancy with an art degree who does nothing but make the building look pretty gets all the credit.

So, thank you Riley Stephenson, for your MVP-worthy punting performance and helping the BYU Cougars to a 3rd consecutive bowl victory.  Few others seem to appreciate it, but I know I do, because I'm in the same boat.

The Big IX

There's been a lot of talk, recently, about Texas A&M moving out of the Big 12 in favor of another conference. After being snubbed by the Southeastern Conference, the two biggest candidates are the Big Ten and the Pac-12, both of which would enjoy an increase in their ability to recruit in Texas. The problem for the Big 12 is that the departure of Texas A&M would take them from 10 teams down to 9, which, at best digs an even bigger hole for a conference whose brand is highly numerical, and at worst, breaks the conference apart.

Naturally, many people in the analysis business are discussing what teams could come in and fill the voids left by the recent departures in that conference. The name that's getting thrown around far more than any other is BYU. Now, before I go any further, I'd like to say that I do not represent Brigham Young University in any respect, other than being an alumnus similar to any other BYU alum in the nation and abroad. That being said, I think I can offer some insight into the circumstances that could lead BYU to the Big 12 Conference.

Starting this year, BYU will go independent in football and join the West Coast Conference (WCC) in most other sports, excluding a few in which the WCC does not participate. Institutions of higher education are rarely very organic, and BYU is no exception to this rule. This decision to change conference affiliation was well thought out and undoubtedly prayed over for months before it was made. At this point in time, BYU is committed to going independent and staying independent in football for years to come. BYU is also an uncannily good fit for the WCC, a conference of west-coast religious schools, in other sports.

While BYU is very committed to its current plan, it would be possible for the Big 12 to sweeten the pot enough for BYU to come on board. A year ago, the conference was not desperate enough to make those sacrifices, with its biggest anchors, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M remaining firmly in place. Now, with Texas A&M heck-bent on getting out of the conference and BYU being one of the few good teams left without an Automatic Qualifying (AQ) conference affiliation, the Big 12 might just have the incentive to give BYU what they want.

In my opinion, here's most of what it would take:

• Giving BYU full autonomy over its TV contract with ESPN. The biggest reason BYU went independent was to get out of the infernal abyss of The Mtn. television programming and actually get some nationwide exposure for the football program. They signed an 8-year contract with ESPN and will have many of their games broadcast on the unquestionably popular network during that time. The Big 12 would have to, in no way, interfere with this contract in order to get BYU in the conference.
• Limiting the term of BYU's Big 12 contract to the remaining 7 years of the ESPN contract. Basically, BYU would be free to walk away after 7 years with full rights to its broadcasting contract with no (that means zero) exit fees.
• Allowing BYU to keep certain already-scheduled opponents for their non-conference schedule. I mostly speak of Notre Dame, Boise State, Utah and Georgia Tech, but BYU would need to be free to schedule conference games around its non-conference schedule for games that have been scheduled as of the time BYU joined the conference.
• Allowing BYU to play Utah on whichever week they chose as long as they were a member of the conference. If Utah could get permission from their pimp, maybe we could have the game on rivalry weekend. What a concept!
• A big, fat check to any school with whom BYU has to abandon a future meeting. When schools back out of an agreed-upon meeting, they often cut the other school a check, just to make sure lawyers don't get involved. The Big 12 would need to cover any of these costs for BYU.
• An agreement with the WCC. Most everyone involved likes the fit of BYU with the West Coast Conference in sports other than football and would hate to see them move back out after only a year or two. The Big 12 would probably need to supply some cash and some exclusive scheduling rights (many to BYU) with the WCC for some years to come, but the terms would be negotiable.

The terms that I've listed here are quite a price to pay for a team that's not a perennial national "championship" contender, though such schools are becoming fewer and farther between. However, this is why BYU did not join the Big 12 a year ago, even though I'm sure there was at least some discussion between University and Conference representatives. The Big 12 was just not willing to pay the asking price while it still held together and had many of its best teams. BYU is also comfortable with and committed to football independence and to the WCC; and it will take a rather hefty sum to get them to pack up and move.

Will the Big 12 want a team like BYU enough to make the necessary compromises? Only time will tell.

Football and Other Unregrets

I have very few regrets about the decisions that I've made in my life so far. There are decisions on which I wish I had been better informed. There are also decisions that have been made for me that I wish had turned out differently. Though, I don't have many regrets, I've been out of control of my life for a high enough proportion of my time to create feelings of regret even though the word "regret" doesn't really fit. I've looked around, and I haven't really found a single word that fits this phenomenon very well, so I usual end up calling them "unregrets" because they are kind of like regrets, but they aren't.

Of course the biggest unregret of my life is not being able to serve a full-time proselyting mission for the Church of Latter-day Saints. When I was 18 and 9 months, I decided that I was going to serve a mission for the church, but the missionary department had other plans, and my mission papers ended up coming back negative. In case anyone is curious, you don't actually get any paperwork back when you're not allowed to serve, you just get called into your bishop/branch president's office where he informs you that you will not be serving a mission, but I digress.

I was inspired to write this post today because one of my good friends asked me a very simple question today:

"Did you play football?"

I was wearing the BYU football shirt new for the 2011 season, so it was a perfectly reasonable question to ask. In all honesty, at 6'2" and a couple bucks and change, I'm surprised that I don't get asked more often, but it made me think.

I would have loved to have played football. I can't remember a time in my life where I didn't like football and watch it frequently. I even have the build of a guy who could play in the NFL, not that I necessarily suppose I would have made it that far. The position I would have played is tight end, for which I would have been perfect. In addition to my impressive ability to catch things (footballs in this case), I have a plethora of lower-body strength that would allow me to effectively block other players, my size and larger. Simply put, I would have loved football and football would have loved me in return.

The problem was that my father had a borderline-irrational fear of me blowing out a knee and never really being the same again. For whatever reason, he allowed me to play catcher in baseball, (my knees did just fine, my ankles actually took the worst of it) and ride a dirt bike around like a madman, but not play any position in football. Since we have way too many lawyers in this country and every organization morbidly fears getting sued for all the contents of its balance sheet plus some, there's a mountain of paperwork that has to be filled out before anyone can play any sport. Since I was under 18 at the time, I could not vouch for myself, but required parent/legal guardian signatures for everything. Since my dad wasn't having it and my mom wasn't going to sign anything that my dad wouldn't sign, I was hosed.

I don't want anyone to think that I don't love my parents or that their decision ruined the life of fame and luxury I could have had playing in the NFL (or merely going to college for free). I just happen to disagree with them on this particular thing. I believe that I possessed enough cognitive and emotional ability, even at the age of 12, to make that decision for myself, and I don't think I would have regretted it. I could even understand requiring me to quit if I got injured even once, but I think totally forbidding me to play based on the possibility of injury was unreasonable.

I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes things in life get decided for you regardless of your feelings for the outcome. The important thing is to choose wisely how you react to these situations and not dwell on things that you cannot change. If you're a man or woman of God, you have to recognize that He has a plan for you regardless of whether you end up playing football, or going on a mission, or a whole host of other things. And maybe trust the decisions of your children if made with wisdom and discernment. :)

On a totally unrelated note, I've decided that, if I ever have the money and resources, I'm going to get myself an Emerald Toucanet and build it a climate-controlled, steel-framed plexiglass structure on the back side of my house.


Now there's a decision I wouldn't regret.

I Am, Indeed, Ready...

...for some football.

Of course, I'm speaking of college football, since I haven't watched much in the way of pro football in the last 6 years. This year, there will be two teams that I'll legitimately cheer for, the BYU Cougars and the Beavers of Oregon State. These teams do play each other this season in Corvallis, where I'll be in grad school. Not only will I be cheering for BYU, but I'm 99.99% confident that they'll win the game, and 85% confident that they'll embarrass OSU like a bunch of dirty n00bz. If the game was played today, my prediction would be:

BYU - 37, Oregon State - 17

but week 8 is quite a ways off.

Now, my thoughts on the seasons for both BYU and Oregon State, complete with best case, worst case, and most likely scenarios.

BYU

Worst Case Scenario

Record: 9-4

Wins: UCF, Utah State, San Jose State, Oregon State, Idaho State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Hawaii, ECU

Losses: Ole Miss, Texas, Utah, TCU

Naturally, the worst case scenario begins BYU football independence with a 3-game skid. However, I believe that with the (lack of) strength of schedule, BYU should be able to make and impressive run at the end of season including a bowl win in the Armed Forces Bowl over East Carolina University, who I predict will be C-USA's #3 this season.

Most Likely Scenario

Record: 11-2

Wins: Texas, Utah, UCF, Utah State, San Jose State, Oregon State, Idaho State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Hawaii, ECU

Losses: Ole Miss, TCU

For this scenario, I gave BYU a win against Texas and a loss against TCU. In reality, that could easily be switched up to give a win against TCU and a loss against Texas, but I don't think the most likely scenario ends up with BYU winning both, as much as I would enjoy that. I honestly don't think Utah is going to beat BYU again this year. Last year, Utah needed the help of the officials to beat BYU by one point in Salt Lake. This year, the teams aren't much different and the game is in Provo. Most scenarios, including this one, have BYU going to the Armed Forces Bowl against the C-USA #3.

Best Case Scenario

Record: 13-0

Wins: Ole Miss, Texas, Utah, UCF, Utah State, San Jose State, Oregon State, Idaho State, TCU, Idaho, New Mexico State, Hawaii, LSU

Losses: N/A

Of course, the best case scenario has to end up with the Cougars going undefeated. If BYU went undefeated, despite the (lack of) strength of schedule, I think they would end up being chosen for a BC$ bowl. This year, the order or selection is Fiesta, Sugar, Orange. While an undefeated BYU could be picked up by the Fiesta Bowl, I think they would favor a 2nd or 3rd place SEC/Big Ten team or an undefeated Boise State team. Since the Orange Bowl will be forced to take the Big Least champion against their will, that leaves the Sugar Bowl to be the most likely scenario for BYU. Since the 1st place SEC team (my prediction - Abalama) will probably end up in the "championship" game, that would leave the 2nd place team for the Sugar Bowl. My prediction would be Louisiana State to play an undefeated BYU in the Sugar Bowl. Naturally, there's also a scenario in which BYU loses to LSU, but that wouldn't be the best case scenario.

Holy War

BYU - 27, Utah - 21


Oregon State

Naturally, Oregon State's outlook is a little more bleak. Don't forget that BYU has won infinitely more national championships than Oregon State (or Utah).

Worst Case Scenario

Record: 3-9

Wins: Sacramento State, UCLA, Wazzu

Losses: Wisconsin, Arizona State, Arizona, BYU, Utah, Stanford, Cal, U-dub, Oregon

A losing record means no bowl bid for Oregon State. Under this scenario, OSU would be 1-4 in games in which I am present and would be 0-6 on the road. In the words of Simon Cowell, "Dreadful, absolutely dreadful."

Most Likely Scenario

Record: 5-7

Wins: Sacramento State, UCLA, Arizona State, Wazzu, U-dub

Losses: Wisconsin, Arizona, BYU, Utah, Stanford, Cal, Oregon

Similar to last season, I think OSU will end up just short of bowl eligibility. It's possible that Oregon State could match up well against Cal and come away with a win and a shot at bowl eligibility, but with the game being played in San Francisco, I think Cal will be able to edge them out. One could also argue that Washington has a shot at beating Oregon State. However, I think that, without Jake Locker and in Corvallis, they're not going to be able to overcome OSU's scoring ability.

Best Case Scenario

Record: 7-6

Wins: Sacramento State, UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona, Wazzu, Cal, U-dub

Losses: Wisconsin, BYU, Utah, Stanford, Oregon, TCU

To be honest, Oregon State actually has quite a few heavy hitters in their coming schedule. I just don't think OSU has the weapons to go up against Wisconsin or Stanford and come away with a win. In one of the few scenarios in which I have Oregon State being bowl eligible, I have them going to the Las Vegas Bowl and losing to the Horned Frogs of TCU.

Civil War

Oregon - 35, Oregon State - 20

So there you have my preview for the teams which I'll be following during the 2011 college football season. I'm ready.

Independence Day

As most anyone with connections to BYU will know, BYU's football team is going independent in Division I-A football, with many other sports affiliating with the West Coast Conference. As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited about BYU football going independent and playing various opponents from all across the country. I'm also pretty stoked that BYU is coming to Corvallis in the fall to play Oregon State at Reser Stadium. I bought two tickets in the visitors' section of that game and I will be wearing virtually all blue with absolutely zero orange. I'm also contemplating making a sign that says, "OSU Grad Student" and below that, "(Guess where I did my undergrad)" with an arrow pointing down toward me. It would be legit. Anywho, there are some other things that I will enjoy about BYU going independent in football:

• Dusting my feet off on "The Mtn." TV network. Bad cameras, camera angles, and cameramen, are compounded by the terrible commentary.
• Getting rid of Mountain West officials. Through the years watching BYU and Mountain West football, I've seen terrible call after terrible call. As we liked to chant at LaVell Edwards Stadium, "I'm blind! I'm deaf! I'm a Mountain West ref!"
• BYU on ESPN. My Alma Mater has seven games on the ESPN networks for the upcoming season, most likely with more to come. People all over the country and the world will get to see Jake Heaps and the BYU offense steamroll "power conference" opponents.
• Referring to the Pac-12 as SpUtah's pimp. "It's unfortunate that SpUtah couldn't get permission from its pimp to have the Holy War game at the end of the season."
• Something that resembles a student section at LES. While I was at BYU, the athletic department always scattered the students about in order to optimize revenue. With BYU on ESPN, this is not an option and there will actually be a student section. [Scratch that, bad info]
  
• Leverage and options for conference bids. With conferences courting schools all over the place, BYU will have the power to negotiate with big six conferences like the Pac-12 and the Big XII if they would even want to entertain such offers.
• Independence. As with most other forms of independence, being independent in football will allow BYU to do whatever they want with their money and efforts without a conference commissioner lording over them.

This year, Independence Day comes a few days early, on July 1st. I will be sporting my various BYU gear in celebration and it will be a day of rejoicing in Provo and the BYU faithful all around the world.

Go Cougars!

Beyond Criminally Stupid

Today is the day that Auburn University and their Heisman trophy winning quarterback, Cameron Newton meet the University of Oregon in Glendale, Arizona to play for a crystal football in the Bowl Championship Series "championship" game. I hesitate to call this game the National Championship, or even a championship at all, because the way that it selects its "champion." Throughout history, the United States and the world have seen cases of greed, corruption, and just plain evil, but aside of the choke hold that DeBeers has on the diamond industry and *MAYBE* OPEC's control of petroleum, this country has never seen a cartel quite like the cartel that burdens college football's postseason.

In case you're not familiar with the current scheme of college football's "championship," it goes something like this. All 120 Division 1-A (the division for the largest schools) football teams play 12 games during the regular season. After that season, a few groups of pollsters (from the coach's and Harris polls) and an undisclosed computer ranking system rank the top 25 teams in the nation. The number 1 and 2 teams in the country play each other in the BCS "championship" game and others go to various bowl games. The 4 oldest and most prestigious bowls are the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange bowls. These bowls combined with the BCS "championship" actually have contractual obligations to the six oldest and richest college football conferences to invite the conference champion to one of these bowl games. There are eleven conferences in Division 1-A college football. The six "Automatic Qualifying" (AQ) conferences are the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Ten Conference, the Big XII Conference, the Pacific 10 Conference (Pac 10), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the Big East Conference. The five non-automatic qualifying (non-AQ) conferences are the Mountain West Conference, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), and the Sun Belt Conference. The AQ conferences send their champions to the most prestigious and well-paying bowls, while the non-AQ schools get sent to the likes of the papajohns.com bowl.

If you haven't discerned it yet, the Bowl Championship Series, and by default the entire Division 1-A college football postseason is governed by who has the stranglehold on the power that there is, and not who legitimately has the most competitive college football team. In recent years, teams like Boise State, Texas Christian, Utah, Brigham Young, Houston, and others have demonstrated that they can beat just about any other team in college football and should have the opportunity to play for a national championship. However, they have been denied because they do have a long and storied football program and don't come from one of the richest conferences in the system. In the 13 years of BCS postseason football from 1998 to 2010, only 12 teams in the country had the opportunity to play for the "championship." Keep in mind that two teams meet every year for the game, and thus there would be a maximum of 26 teams that would have been able to play in that game. Only the most storied football programs from the richest conferences actually make it to the "championship" game. Even the teams in the "Big Six" conferences that are a little lower on the totem pole haven't gotten a chance to play for the title.

I'll admit 2 things: 1) The BCS is slightly better than the previous system. 2) The trend that I just mentioned did change a little this year. The previous system for college football's Division 1-A championship was to have the bowls select whoever they wanted, then have pollsters choose who they thought was best after the bowl season. This system was terrible because the top-ranked teams in the country wouldn't necessarily have to play each other. However, I feel pretty confident in saying that matching the two highest-ranked teams at the end of the season is not sufficient in crowning a true champion. Saying the BCS is better that the previous system is like saying that the frying pan is better than the fire: It may be a little bit cooler, but it still sucks.

This year Oregon and Auburn face each other in the BCS "championship" game. These two teams have never been to the BCS championship and have usually been considered second-tier in their conferences. However, this only goes to the incriminate the BCS further because it exemplifies the parity that exists in Division 1-A college football. No longer do USC, Texas, and Florida dominate every team they play and walk to an easy national "championship." Now, every team has to fight for its conference because players have easy access to information and aren't willing to sit for years at a historic program when they could play at a less historic one. Now teams like Auburn and Oregon can contend for their conference championships and teams like Boise State, TCU and Utah can contend that they deserve a shot at the national championship.

Part of the reason that I feel this way toward the BCS is that I have recently read the book Death to the BCS by Yahoo! Sports writers Dan Wetzel, Jeff Passan, and Josh Peter. The subtitle to this book is "The Definitive Case Against the BCS," and I don't think that this could be any more true. The authors of this book went into painstaking detail, investigating the financial reports of universities and incorporated bowl games to discover the truth about the BCS and to develop probably the best alternative that anyone has conceived so far. This book has changed that way that I see college football and I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the sport.


The alternative that Death to the BCS suggests is a 16-team playoff in which the highest-ranked teams get home field advantage. Under this scenario, the 11 conference champions would all get a seed in the playoff bracket and the 5 remaining seeds would be chosen at large by a selection committee, similar to NCAA basketball tournament. Most of the bowls would continue to exist, but would not be quite as obscenely profitable as they are now. Bowls like the GoDaddy.com Bowl and the Insight Bowl would probably perish, and I say "good riddance," to them. However, the large bowls would survive and the fans and schools would get to have an actual championship instead of the imitation that the BCS is putting on.

Now, I've saved the most incriminating evidence against the BCS for last; and trust me, it's incriminating. Anyone who pays taxes in the United States ends up subsidizing the college and universities in their state of residence. I currently live in Colorado, so my tax dollars go to the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and others. The bowl games in the current system claim that they pay out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollar to participants in their bowl games, however this comes with a catch. Teams that play in these bowl games have to pay (usually in the form of a decreased payout) for tickets for that bowl. The teams have to pay full price for these tickets, and usually one sell a fraction of them for less than face value. Even though I'm a die-hard fan of my alma-mater, I'm not going to pay $155 dollars for a Fiesta Bowl ticket when they're going to $30 on StubHub. Universities also have to pay for travel and accommodations for their team as well as for cheerleaders and band, if they choose to bring them, with no help from the bowl. Bowl games end up paying their participants almost nothing, and in many cases end up costing the university money. This deficit in the athletic budget has to be made up somewhere; usually from the university coffers, and at least in part by the tax dollars of the people. If you pay state taxes, you are subsidizing the Bowl Championship Series.

Lest you go preaching that college football is a waste of money, let me assure that the alternative playoff system would be much more profitable for universities. First of all, schools would be able to sell their own tickets, and make their own revenue instead of paying someone else to host a bowl game at a random neutral site. This money could be shared with traveling schools so that no one has to lose money on college football. Secondly, television ratings and conversely, commercial revenue for playoff games would skyrocket, leading to manifold more money that is had in the Bowl Championship Series, and much more money for the schools. With a playoff system, college football could subsidize your tax dollar instead of the other way around.

The book Death to the BCS is currently selling on Amazon for $13.50, which is a ridiculously low price considering the valuable information that's available therein. If you enjoy college football, let me urge to read this book and to know what I and many others know about the cartel that is the BCS. Boo payoffs, hooray playoffs!

Am I Blagging on a Friday Night? Yes, I Submit that I Am.

As my undergraduate experience is about to come to a close, I'd like to reflect on some of the things I will probably miss when I leave BYU campus and Provo. (In no particular order)

• Football-During the time that I've been attending BYU, the football team has gone 32-7 (.821) , including a 16-2 (.889) record at home, and a 2-1 mark against Sputah. Speaking of Holy War games, I've attended 2, and charged the field at both after seemingly miraculous victories. I will definitely see more BYU football games in the future, because football was one of my most fond memories during my undergrad experience.

• Zoobies-Have you ever seen an undergraduate with 3 kids? I have. During my years here, I've seen kids anywhere from newborn to about 5 sitting in class with their parent(s). I'm not entirely sure why I appreciate the concept of zoobies so much, I guess I just do.

• The Police Beat-There's very little in the Daily Universe (DU) that has any redeeming value. I mean, how can you report on dumpy apartment remodeling as your front-page headline and still take yourself seriously? Anywho, with so little to read in the University newspaper, those things that actually have entertainment value are golden. Thus is the police beat. Since there's very little legitimate crime on BYU campus, the police beat ends up reporting on things like the many pranks around Helaman Halls, the mind-bending crap that goes on in student family housing, and people losing their iPhones, only to find them ten minutes later in their apartment. I have genuinely looked forward to it every Wednesday for quite a while now.

• The DU Readers' Forum-Similar to the Police Beat, the Readers' Forum of the Daily Universe has some entertainment value. The Readers' Forum is basically a place where students can submit preposterous claims like, "If Brigham Young was around today, he wouldn't be able to go to BYU, because he has a beard," or "The principles of the Gospel are essentially similar to socialism." Other readers then take the golden opportunity to criticize these remarks and break them into tiny little bits. The net effect is a section in each day's DU that is jam-packed with pure hilarity... as long as you can appreciate the humor of someone taking themselves WAY too seriously.

• The Environment-Have you ever seen a university where, for the most part, students don't drink, smoke neither the legit tobacky nor the wacky tobacky, and even if they are having illicit sexual relations with strange people, at least keep it on the down low? Welcome to Brigham Young University. I love that this environment produces probably some of the most honorable people I may ever meet in my life and that I am surrounded by them daily. Additionally, I've met some of the smartest people, whether students or professors, while at BYU. This university is truly one-of-a-kind.

• Conservatism-Along the same lines, there is probably not a region in the United States that is nearly as conservative as Provo, Utah. Here politicians actually get voted out of office for not being conservative enough. While we will probably see some of this come November of this year, I've enjoyed living in a place where it happens on a regular basis.
  

• The Testing Center-Now you're probably supposing at this point that I am FREAKING INSANE, but I've counted it a blessing in my life to have a testing facility like this. In most other colleges and universities nationwide, professors just schedule 3 hours for an exam in some classroom on campus, and if you miss it, you're just kind of SOL. I've enjoyed being able to take tests at my leisure, at least within a certain time frame. While I won't particularly miss taking tests, I will miss the freedom afforded to me by a testing facility.

• Religion Classes-I feel like I've been spiritually fed above and beyond what I could have been otherwise. Let me just say that Institute is just not the same. Maybe it's just that my brain isn't in learning mode at 7:30 on a Thursday night, maybe it's that I'm actually somewhat accountable for what I learn, maybe it's that religion professors are better teachers because it's not just their calling, it's their job. Whatever the reason, I've enjoyed the opportunity to have religion classes at BYU. It also doesn't hurt I've taken 5 classes and gotten 5 A's... and am well on my way to a 6th.

• Seeing General Authorities Speak-Before I came to BYU, I saw a grand total of 3 general authorities of the church in person. Since coming to this school, I've lost count. I've seen more prophets and received more guidance from them in the 3 years I've been here than in the 19 years prior. Receiving special words for me and a few thousand of my closest friends from the general authorities of the church is a tremendous blessing that is available at few other places on the earth.
  

• Making Fun of Easy Majors-I remember taking Stat 221 and thinking that the class was a joke. I'd play calculator games the whole time, then go and get 98% on the test. People would often tell me that they struggled with that class and considered themselves lucky to have passed it. What's the reason for this disparity? Stat 221 is required for: Business, the School of Family Life, Psychology, Sociology, and Family History majors. Since that time I've taken it upon myself to make fun of people whose majors require half the number of credit hours as mine and have dramatically easier classes. While this wouldn't be specific to BYU, it's something that I've treasured during my undergrad experience.

• Norm Nemrow-Though I'm taking his Accounting 200 class in my senior year, I still feel blessed to be on the same campus as him. Norm was a great entrepreneur and made like a googol dollars in both his business and his later investments. Yet, he's still a great teacher, even over his DVD software. Norm is the man.

• Dissing the Spyewts-Trust me, I will continue to disrespect the University of Utah and their Spyewts as much as is reasonable, but I will probably not have the opportunity to do it as a student again. I have relished the opportunity to go to a school that has such a bitter rival so close in proximity. I will probably not have another opportunity to accuse my rivals of being in line with Satan (unless I go to the University of Arizona for grad school). In fine, the Holy War rivalry is part of what has made my BYU experience so great.
  

So there you have it. While there will certainly be some things that I won't miss about my undergrad experience, there have also certainly been a good number of things that I have embraced, and that I will certainly miss when I leave this place.

Going Bowling

Over this most recent (2009) college football bowl season I've realized that not all bowl names are created equal. There are some that are just plain wrong and some that are actually pretty cool. Here, I've endeavored to rank the names of all 33 college bowl games other than the national championship, with number 33 being the coolest and number 1 being the raunchiest.

33. Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl-Since literally every bowl game has a sponsor, it is necessary to consider the effect that this sponsor has on the bowl's name. Not only is the Armed Forces Bowl a sweet name for a bowl, it's also sponsored by a company that makes freakin' helicopters...you just can't top that.

32. FedEx Orange Bowl-Sometimes, when I hear the name of a bowl game, I like to imagine an actual bowl filled with the object of note. I just like the thought of a bowl full of oranges.

31. AT&T Cotton Bowl-Maybe it's just that I like the word "cotton." Maybe it's that this game is a classic. Maybe it's just that the "Cotton Bowl" just rolls off your tongue. I don't know, but I like it.

30. Allstate Sugar Bowl-Someday, I'd like to burn down an insurance company, just so they'd actually have to make a claim. If the sponsor wasn't an insurance company, this would be at #31. Along the same lines as the Orange Bowl, I just like the idea of a bowl full of sugar.

29. Sheraton Hawaii Bowl-Who doesn't like the sound of Hawaii...or the Sheraton?

28. Texas Bowl-No inflammatory sponsors or needless frills. Just the Texas Bowl.

27. Brut Sun Bowl-Considering that this game is played in El Paso, I think I can ignore the fact that it won't actually be that hot. Also, the sponsorship with Brut aftershave works inasmuch as football is a rather violent and brutish sport in general.

26. Pacific Life Holiday Bowl-The bowl season is the holiday season after all. I don't really like the Pacific Life sponsorship... but I don't hate it...

25. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl-Let me just say that anyone who's going to be having a "fiesta" is probably going to be more interested in "futbol" rather than football.

24. AutoZone Liberty Bowl-I like the concept of liberty... However I only go into AutoZone when I have little or no liberty left.

23. Outback Bowl-No, this game isn't being played in Australia...it's just brought to you by Outback Steakhouse.

22. Citi Rose Bowl Game-If this game was called the "Tool Bowl," it'd be up near #33. I really just don't like the pageantry and underhanded skankiness that goes along with this game. If you're actually interested in inviting good teams to your bowl game, it should be one of the elite bowl games in the nation. If you plan on inviting the "champions" of the same two conferences every year, regardless of how bad they suck, your bowl should be considered amongst the likes of #1 on this list.

21. Emerald Bowl-For any wondering, this game is not based off a shiny, green gemstone, but rather a company that sells mixed nuts...and you now know why the Emerald Bowl is #21.

20. Insight Bowl-I don't know what to say other than, "I'm just not feeling it."

19. Champ Sports Bowl-I like that the sponsor for this bowl is actually relevant...other than that it's just a corporate buyout.

18. Valero Alamo Bowl-Do you remember the alamo?

17. St Petersburg Bowl-It kind of gives me a feel of playing football on a cold Russian day during a snow storm. Then I have to come to reality and recognize that it's in central Florida where it will be 75 degrees with 98% humidity in December.

16. Chick-fil-a Bowl-Uhh...Eat more chicken?

15. Capital One Bowl-What's in your wallet?... Uh, nothing, actually.

14. R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl-A bowl in N'awlins is a great idea. Sadly, by the time you finish saying the irrelevant sponsor's name, you can't remember the rest of the bowl name.

13. GMAC Bowl-A bank that's an offshoot of a bankrupted company that's been receiving government bailout money? Where do I sign up?

12. EagleBank Bowl-You spent how much to get this bowl sponsorship?! I see my money is safer elsewhere.

11. Konica Minolta Gator Bowl-I like the concept of naming a bowl after a predatory regional animal...though Konica Minolta...I'll pass.

10. New Mexico Bowl-New Mexico: cleaner than the old Mexico... but not by much.

9. Meineke Car Care Bowl-Who the h3Ll plays in this bowl game? The axel rods and the torque converters? You must be freaking joking.

8. Maaco Bowl Las Vegas-This bowl would be much closer to the top if they had called it the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl. But Maaco b*7cH3d and moaned until they got the word "bowl" next to their name. I hope you're happy Maaco...no one respects your sponsorship.

7. Roady's Humanitarian Bowl-In addition to the insult of playing on Boise State's atrocious blue field in the middle of December, the participants also have the privilege of playing in a bowl that makes people ask, "WTF, seriously? There's actually a bowl called that?!"

6. International Bowl-The fact that it's played in Toronto is a mere technicality.

5. AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl-By the time you leave Shreveport, you're going to need those AdvoCare vitamins to keep from growing an arm out of your forehead.

4. San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl-I know, seriously. I didn't believe it either.

3. Papajohns.com Bowl-This bowl isn't even named after a restaurant...it's named after a restaurant's website.

2. Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl-When the phrase, "Hot 'n' Greasy" actually adds value to your bowl name, you know you have problems.

1. Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl-This one genuinely speaks for itself.

Expansion

So, it has once more come to that time of the year when college football "pundits" (if you can call them than without ralphing a little in your mouth) start talking about how each conference should expand and try to incorporate new teams. I usually abstain from any participation in this conversation, but this year, I must make two contributions:

1) If the Big Ten is going to expand to 12 teams, they should have to change their name. And since the Big XII is already taken, I recommend the "Big Turd."

2) As I am going to a Mountain West school, I feel I should make a few comments on the possible expansion of the Mountain West Conference. I really think that they should. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) commission is evaluating each of the 5 non-automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences for inclusion in the BCS scheme (or risky scheme, if you prefer). Though the Mountain West is, by far, the leading candidate for inclusion in this system, it is by no measure in certainly. The three parameters which the BCS commission is using to evaluate the non-AQ conferences are, top ranked team in the final BCS standings, number of teams in the BCS top 25, and the average rank of teams in conference. The Mountain West is amongst the leaders in the first two categories, but is lagging somewhat behind in the third. I believe that adding 3 teams to the conference and introducing division/championship play would increase the Mountain West's average ranking as well as make the conference more dynamic in general.


The 3 teams that I would add if it was up to me would be, Boise State, Tulsa, and Houston. Boise State's athletic director has already expressed interest in moving his program(s) to the Mountain West, mostly due to the travel schedule associated with being in the Western Athletic Conference. The addition of Boise State would not necessarily improve the overall average ranking of the conference teams (since it is an average, after all), but would improve the perception that championship football is being played in the Mountain West. The addition of the last two Conference USA West champions, in Tulsa and Houston would help to improve the average ranking of teams in the Mountain West, as well as the overall perception of the conference without dramatically worsening the travel constraints of the teams in the conference. An additional team worth consideration would be Southern Methodist, in order to bring the TCU-SMU rivalry into the conference, and possibly re-establish the BYU-SMU rivalry. Additionally, having Tulsa and Houston in the conference would increase the recruiting footprint for all Mountain West schools in Texas and Oklahoma.

With 12 teams in the conference, it would be both beneficial and necessary to establish division play. This would involve splitting the conference into two divisions of 6 teams each. The 6 teams in each conference would play each other every year, and the teams with the best division record would play each other in a conference championship game, similar to other 12-team conferences. Once again, if it were up to me, I would organize the divisions this way:

Mountain West North Division:

Boise State

Brigham Young

Colorado State

Nevada-Las Vegas

Utah

Wyoming

This division breakup would maintain both the BYU-Utah rivalry and the CSU-Wyoming rivalry in the division, as well as distribute the talent somewhat evenly between the divisions.

Mountain West South Division:

Air Force

Houston

New Mexico

Texas Christian

Tulsa

San Diego State

Naturally, the team that gains the least from this division breakup is San Diego State, with all of their division foes being halfway across the country. While this would not be much different than the current travel constraints, it would be getting worse instead of better. However, I am confident that a comprimise could be reached via even-odd year and neutral-site agreements.

One of the primary benefits of division play is that, since every team doesn't necessarily have to play every other team every year, the overall record. I could go into a detailed explanation of Simpson's rule and matchup scenarios to explain this, or I could just say that, through the regular season, it is possible for a conference with divisions to have 2 undefeated teams. Division play would increase the overall average ranking of the conference based solely on the fact that not all teams must play each other.

Another interesting challenge to Mountain West expansion in this scenario would be the location of the championship game. As long as UNLV is not playing the championship game, it would seem that Las Vegas would be the best option. However, as we've seen in Mountain West Basketball, UNLV wins the Mountain West tournament every year, because it's on their home floor. With this in mind, I'd like to see the championship game played in Denver, Colorado. Not only is this a somewhat neutral site, but it has the capacity of providing an NFL stadium in Invesco Field at Mile High. Additionally, there is certain nation-wide perception of Denver being a mountain town, though it is more on the high plains. This would create a marketer's dream of a television program, "The Mountain West Conference Championship, live from Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado."

While I'm aware that there are many other concerns when considering the expansion of a conference, some of which I'm not even aware, I think this would be beneficial for all schools involved as well as the conference in general. The addition of Boise State, Houston, and Tulsa would boost the overall rankings and perception of the conference and would help to increase the recruiting footprint of all schools without greatly increasing the geographic range of the conference. The introduction of division play would also improve the overall average record of teams in the conference, as well break up the talent in the conference between divisions. While this plan or anything resembling it may never come to fruition, I believe that it would be a great move and investment for all involved parties if it was pursued.

We Get No Respect

Yesterday, as I was casually perusing ESPN.com as I often do, I stumbled across a sportsnation poll that royally pissed me off, for lack of any more satisfactory vocabulary. This poll simply asked, "Which Conference is Better?" and listed two choices, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Mountain West Conference. In my mind, the results were appalling. It showed that nearly 60% of the voting populous had selected the ACC as being a better conference than the Mountain West.

Now let me put this into a little bit of perspective. My two favorite teams in college football are the Brigham Young Cougars and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Seeing as these teams are split between the ACC and Mountian West, I figure I've done enough following of each conference to give informed commentary on either.

That being said, let me say that this ESPN Sportsnation poll is bull$h*7. Anyone who payed even the slightest attention to NCAA football during the first week of the season should be able to see that fairly clearly. Let's review the results of the ACC's week 1 games:


South Carolina-7, NC State-3: North Carolina State barely shows up against one of the SEC's more beatable teams and is totally shut down.

Georgia Tech-37, Jacksonville State -17: I'm not going to say too many bad things about the Yellow Jackets, but last year Utah State fans were chanting "overrated" when BYU only beat them by 20 points... I think the same principle applies here.

Boston College-54, Northeastern-0: This is exactly what should have happened, props to BC for being a standout in an otherwise mediocre conference.

Baylor-24, Wake Forest-21: Do you know how many games Baylor has won over the past five years? Epic fail, Wake.

North Carolina-40, Citadel-6: UNC gets zero props for beating a team that hasn't won against a FBS team in uh... how many years?

Clemson-37, Middle Tenessee State-14: Clemson allowed 14 points to MIDDLE TENESSEE STATE... I think I've made my point.

William & Mary-26, Virginia-14: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... I think this is Exhibit A of my point.

Richmond-24, Duke-16: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Exhibit B

Alabama-34, Virginia Tech-24: Virginia Tech played a good game, and is undoubtedly the cream of this lackluster crop, but was ultimately outplayed and outlasted by a better team.

Miami-38, Florida State-34: An in-conference game that, while fun to watch, doesn't really apply to my point here.

The two most notable stats that I would like to point out here are that the ACC was 4-2 against FCS teams, with two of those wins being mostly unimpressive; and a whopping 0-3 against schools from other automatic qualifying conferences. (0-2 v. SEC and 0-1 v. Big XII)

Now, let us recap the Mountain West's week 1 performances:

Utah-35, Utah State-17: An unpredicatable rivalry game that resulted in a moderately impressive victory for Utah.

Air Force-72, Nicholls State-0: A thorough pounding of a no-name FCS school is exactly what one would expect from schools in an elite conference.

Wyoming-29, Weber State-22: The buttcrack of the Mountain West managed to irk out a win against an FCS school... I'm looking at you Virginia.

Brigham Young-14, Oklahoma-13: A hard-fought, physical victory and upset of the #3 ranked Sooners was landmark for this program and the conference.

Texas A&M-41, New Mexico-6: In a heavy rebuilding year for New Mexico, no one expected much from them against Texas A&M... and they delivered.

UCLA-33, San Diego State-14: Considering how bad this SDSU program has been over the past few years, scoring two touchdowns against as legitmate of opponent as UCLA is an accomplishment.

UNLV-38, Sacramento State-3: Domination on both sides of the ball from beginning to end by the team that should win.

Colorado State-23, Colorado-17: An in-state, cross-conference rivalry game that was well coached and well played on the part of the Colorado State Rams.

Now the same stats for the Mountain West are 3-0 against FCS teams and 2-2 against automatic qualifying teams (2-1 v. Big XII, 0-1 v. Pac-10)

Now as you can see, the Mountain West and ACC have not yet played any head-to-head matchups, which would very much help to determine which conference is "better". But don't be too discouraged, because on this very day Texas Christain will play Virginia in Charlottesville, a week from today, BYU will play Florida State in Provo, and in two weeks TCU will match up against Clemson in South Carolina. You can pretty much guarantee that TCU will trash a Virginia team that was defeated convincingly by an FCS foe last week. In the next two weeks the class of the Mountain West will go up against the upper echelons of the ACC, and it will be then that we will see which conference prevails.