SOAR Blog

Rivalry week is over, and what a fun week it was.

The Brigham Young University Cougars defeated the University of Utah Runnin’ Utes 17-10 on a last-minute, come-from-behind, touchdown-scoring drive late in the fourth quarter of what had primarily been a defensive struggle.

Much has been written about the game itself, so as I write this post Sunday afternoon (11/25/07) I will not elaborate here about the ins and outs of the contest. (Those interested in additional info should check out the sports sections in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret Morning News or the Provo, Utah-based Daily Herald.)

The win elevates BYU to a season record of 9-2, with eight straight wins and a likely move upward within the national polls of two to four spots from their current consensus ranking of 23 in the nation in both the USA Today and Associated Press polls.

While driving back home to Sandy from Provo and listening to “the most interactive and uncensored post-game BYU talk show” 1280 the Zone, I was shocked by some of the comments from Cougar fans who felt that BYU wasn’t getting the national respect or attention it deserved. Some felt that BYU and the rest of the teams in the Mountain West Conference were being unfairly slighted.

Are you kidding me!?!?

It’s now clear that the university presidents at the nine institutions within the MWC bought a pig in a poke when they authorized the broadcast deal with nascent network called the mtn. At its best, the mtn will reach 4 million households in the U.S., putting MWC games in front of less than four percent of the households in America.

The result is that the visibility of MWC teams — particularly in the top power sport of football — has dropped dramatically.

That said, just having games broadcast regularly on one of the ESPN channels (let alone on one of the big four networks — ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC) is not going to gain greater credibility or respect on a national scale. No, when it comes to colleges in the so-called Mid-Major conferences only one thing matters . . . winning.

The powers-that-be behind the workings of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), nee the six power conferences — ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, PAC-10 and SEC, have conspired to keep the bulk of the big time bowls/sponsorship dollars at home and out of the hands of the Mid-Major Conferences.

So, in spite of the fact that both Utah and Boise State have broken through to play in BCS bowl games and that the Hawaii Rainbows are likely to do so this season, Mid-Major teams have one chance of playing on a national stage at this time, and that is to win. And by win, I mean win every single game.

Take Texas Christian University.

The TCU Horned Frogs began the year as the consensus pre-season #1 team in the MWC. And given how TCU finished last year, with the players it had returning to the squad for the 2007 season, national pollsters granted TCU a pre-season ranking of 22 in the AP Top 25.

The first week of the season, TCU defeated Baylor 27-0 and jumps three slots to #19.

The second week of the season, TCU went on the road and fell to Texas 34-13 (the then #7 ranked team in the country). When the polls came out Sunday night, TCU fell out of the Top 25 coming in at the effectual #30.

The third week of the season, TCU went on the road again and lost in overtime 20-17 in Colorado Springs to the Air Force Academy. The next AP poll showed that TCU were no longer receiving any votes at all.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

It’s now late Sunday night (11/25/07).

On the other hand, the University of Hawaii began the pre-season in the AP Top 25 ranked at #23. Here’s week-by-week list of results Hawaii games and the resultant rankings the following Sunday:

• Week 1: Hawaii beat Northern Colorado at home 63-6; following AP rank — #20
• Week 2: Hawaii beat Lousiana Tech (on the road) 45-44 in overtime; following AP rank — #24
• Week 3: Hawaii beat UNLV (on the road) 49-14; following AP rank — #19
• Week 4: Hawaii beat Charleston Southern 66-10; following AP rank — #19
• Week 5: Hawaii beat Idaho (on the road) 48-20; following AP rank — #16
• Week 6: Hawaii beat Utah State 52-37; following AP rank — #16
• Week 7: Hawaii beat San Jose State (on the road) 42-35 in overtime on ESPN; following AP rank — #17
• Week 8: Hawaii bye week; following AP rank — #16
• Week 9: Hawaii beat New Mexico State 50-13; following AP rank — #12
• Week 10: Hawaii beat Fresno State 37-30; following AP rank — #14
• Week 11: Hawaii beat Nevada (on the road) 28-26 on ESPN2; following AP rank — #13
• Week 12: Hawaii beat Boise State (ranked #17 at the time) 39-12 on ESPN2; following AP rank — #14

More importantly, with its 12-0 regular season record, Hawaii is now ranked #12 in the BCS ranking and is virtually assured a BCS bid in one of the big bucks bowl games slated for January 2008.

Conversely, BYU began the season unranked in the AP Top 25, but did receive 14 total AP votes, enough to put it at a mythical #37.

The first week of the season BYU defeated Arizona and moved up to a mythical #34. BYU then lost back-to-back road games — 27-17 to the then AP-ranked #13 UCLA Bruins and then fell 55-47 to Tulsa — and received no AP votes whatsoever in the AP poll for week 4. And BYU remained unranked until last week.

Including Saturday’s victory against the Utah Utes, the Cougars have since won eight straight games.

BYU now has a #21 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll, a #19 ranking in the USA Today ranking and a #19 ranking in the BCS ranking.

Given how topsy-turvy this year’s football season has been (12 top-five teams have lost this year to unranked teams, while there have been eight teams ranked #2 this year and four teams ranked #1 this year), it is easy to predict that any Mid-Major team would be a strong BCS bowl candidate this year. (Ask the Hawaii Warriors if this is the case.)

Had BYU gone undefeated this season, there is no question in my mind that the Cougars would have at least a #10 BCS ranking, perhaps even a top-five BCS ranking at this time.

So what do the Cougars, Utes, Horned Frogs, the rest of the teams in the Mountain West Conference and all other Mid-Major conference teams need to do each year to national attention, respect and credibility? Simple: Win ‘em all.

Win every game and reap the rewards come January in a big money BCS bowl game. It’s really that easy.

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