TCU and the Mountain West

**CYKOFAN** · 12-24-2009, 11:37 AM

After watching two Mountain West Conference teams take apart two of the best teams in what was thought to be a strong Pac 10, how good is the MWC? TCU thumped both BYU and Utah, and if they handle Boise State it's hard not to think they may be the best team in the country, which is what many thought about Utah last year. And Utah's freshman qb is fast becoming a star, and we get to face them the next couple of years. Yikes.

**Bader** · 12-24-2009, 11:40 AM

BYU has always had a good program with a history of great quarterbacks. With the recent emergence of Utah and TCU I would say that the Mountain West has just as much of an argument as an automatic qualifier as any of the current BCS conferences.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Utes come to Ames next Fall and seeing what we can do against them.

**ajk4st8** · 12-24-2009, 11:41 AM

I know we recruited Utah's qb pretty hard last year. I will be excited to see how he performs again next year. Hopefully nothing like he did last night.

**dualthreat** · 12-24-2009, 02:27 PM

the arguement craig james made last night during the utah game was the MWC doesn't deserve an automatic qualifying bid because the conference is top heavy and those teams aren't challenged on a weekly basis like the power conferences are.

**ISUChippewa** · 12-24-2009, 02:31 PM

the arguement craig james made last night during the utah game was the MWC doesn't deserve an automatic qualifying bid because the conference is top heavy and those teams aren't challenged on a weekly basis like the power conferences are.

I understand what James was saying, but at the same time I think the worst teams in any conference are all pretty bad. Colorado got smoked by a fairly mediocre Toledo team, Illinois lost to a run of the mill Fresno State team, Louisville and Syracuse are both awful, and I don't think too highly of Vanderbilt or Mississippi State either.

That argument doesn't hold much water for me.

**dualthreat** · 12-24-2009, 02:38 PM

then where do you draw the line? The WAC has boise state... The Conference USA has Tulsa, Houston, Rice, East Carolina...

I think that is kind of a big reason why they aren't adding MWC to the BCS

**JP4CY** · 12-24-2009, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by dualthreat

the arguement craig james made last night during the utah game was the MWC doesn't deserve an automatic qualifying bid because the conference is top heavy and those teams aren't challenged on a weekly basis like the power conferences are.

I wonder though how many football teams want to schedule schools like this though as a non conference. If you put Boise State, or TCU, or BYU in any stadium in the country they can win. Period.
So much football now a days is lose one game and you are out of the national title hunt so they are scared about it. Look at Iowa, we stopped them from a national title shot this decade.

**CYKOFAN** · 12-24-2009, 04:40 PM

The emergence of teams like TCU, Utah, Boise State, etc is just another reason we so badly need a national play-off with at least 8 teams.

**cyfan15** · 12-24-2009, 04:41 PM

The Mountain West is top heavy. BYU, Utah, and TCU are consistently good to very good, but after that the conference is usually mediocre to downright bad.

Look at this year. Air Force is the 4th best team in the MWC and is decent, but after that you have Wyoming who is an okay mid-major but wouldn't be bowling in a BCS conference, UNLV, San Diego State, and Colorado State who are bad, and New Mexico who is just terrible. Every BCS conference team in the country except maybe Washington State could finish 5th or at least 6th in the Mountain West.

**CYKOFAN** · 12-24-2009, 04:58 PM

I really think the Mountan West is better than the big 10, even when you consider top to bottom. If Oregon handles Ohio State like I think they will, I'll be even more convinced because it's pretty obvious TCU, BYU and Utah are as good as or better than anybody in the Pac 10.

**TykeClone** · 12-24-2009, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by cyfan15

The Mountain West is top heavy. BYU, Utah, and TCU are consistently good to very good, but after that the conference is usually mediocre to downright bad.

Look at this year. Air Force is the 4th best team in the MWC and is decent, but after that you have Wyoming who is an okay mid-major but wouldn't be bowling in a BCS conference, UNLV, San Diego State, and Colorado State who are bad, and New Mexico who is just terrible. Every BCS conference team in the country except maybe Washington State could finish 5th or at least 6th in the Mountain West.

Wyoming won their bowl game.

**cyfan15** · 12-24-2009, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by CYKOFAN

I really think the Mountan West is better than the big 10, even when you consider top to bottom. If Oregon handles Ohio State like I think they will, I'll be even more convinced because it's pretty obvious TCU, BYU and Utah are as good as or better than anybody in the Pac 10.

That's just Big Ten hate talking. I might take TCU, BYU, and Utah over Ohio State, Iowa, and Penn State (even though Iowa-BYU and Penn State-Utah are probably even match-ups), but after that it's not even close. Air Force is the 4th place MWC team and they lost to Minnesota. I have a really hard time believing Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, and Michigan State wouldn't beat Wyoming, UNLV, San Diego State, Colorado State, and New Mexico. And that's without even looking at Wisconsin and Northwestern.

Ohio State vs. TCU: moderate advantage TCU
Iowa vs. BYU: 50-50, maybe slight BYU
Penn State vs. Utah: 50-50, maybe slight Penn State
Michigan State vs. Air Force: slight Michigan State
Purdue vs. Wyoming: moderate Purdue
Minnesota vs. UNLV: moderate Minnesota
Illinois vs. San Diego State: moderate Illinois
Michigan vs. New Mexico: heavy Michigan
Indiana vs. Colorado State: moderate Indiana

If you take out the two 4-4 teams (Michigan State and Purdue) and put in the two 5-3 teams (Northwestern and Wisconsin) it gets even uglier in favor of the Big Ten.

**cyfan15** · 12-24-2009, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by TykeClone

Wyoming won their bowl game.

And they still wouldn't have gone to a bowl if they played in a BCS conference. Congrats to them for getting it done, but they aren't a good team. Here are their wins that got them to a bowl:

Weber State by 7
UNLV by 3
at Florida Atlantic by 2
New Mexico by 24
at San Diego State by 3
at Colorado State by 1

They didn't beat a bowl team in the regular season. Four of their regular season wins were by a total of nine points, another was by seven over an FCS school, and the other was a blowout against possibly the worst team in FBS.

They were exited to be in the New Mexico Bowl and beat the less excited Fresno State Bulldogs in double overtime. Again, congrats to Wyoming, but they still aren't a good team.

**jdoggivjc** · 12-24-2009, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by cyfan15

The Mountain West is top heavy. BYU, Utah, and TCU are consistently good to very good, but after that the conference is usually mediocre to downright bad.

Look at this year. Air Force is the 4th best team in the MWC and is decent, but after that you have Wyoming who is an okay mid-major but wouldn't be bowling in a BCS conference, UNLV, San Diego State, and Colorado State who are bad, and New Mexico who is just terrible. Every BCS conference team in the country except maybe Washington State could finish 5th or at least 6th in the Mountain West.

How is that really any different than any other conference, especially this year?

Pac 10 - Oregon and Oregon St (which lost to a MWC team). Even USC sucked this year.
Big 12 - Texas, OSU, and Nebraska. No one else is really even worth talking about (yah, I know, this is an ISU fan site - but not relevant to the discussion at hand)
Big 10 - Ohio St, Iowa, Penn St. Maybe Wisconsin.
SEC - Florida, Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss. Even this strong conference is down this year.
ACC - Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech. Does anyone else even play football in the conference?
Big East - Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, maybe West Virginia.

Excuse me if I think the dismissal of the MWC is acceptable simply because it is top-heavy is ridiculous. Not only is every conference top-heavy, but how many years in a row is the MWC going to have to own bowl season before they get their respect? Or own the Pac 10 like they did last year? Or embarrass an SEC team in a BCS bowl? The only reason why they're not treated on the same level is because all those schools are "smaller" schools (which is a laugh because Ole Miss' enrollment is in the neighborhood of 15,000) from states with less population and less money, and have just decided they don't want to fork over the big time revenue that the MWC deserves.

**jdoggivjc** · 12-24-2009, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by cyfan15

And they still wouldn't have gone to a bowl if they played in a BCS conference. Congrats to them for getting it done, but they aren't a good team. Here are their wins that got them to a bowl:

Weber State by 7
UNLV by 3
at Florida Atlantic by 2
New Mexico by 24
at San Diego State by 3
at Colorado State by 1

They didn't beat a bowl team in the regular season. Four of their regular season wins were by a total of nine points, another was by seven over an FCS school, and the other was a blowout against possibly the worst team in FBS.

They were exited to be in the New Mexico Bowl and beat the less excited Fresno State Bulldogs in double overtime. Again, congrats to Wyoming, but they still aren't a good team.

You know, it's not like we wouldn't be in the same position if it weren't for the fact that we were extremely lucky that we forced 8 turnovers against Nebraska. Actually, we wouldn't be in the same position as Wyoming - they'd be bowling and we'd be staying home.