I hate to say it but this draft says a bit about our competition the last 2 years; especially our conference.

We did pound Oregon into submission, with Dixon and Stewart but I'm not sure what to think of those 2 guys as NFLers

Well aside from Antoine Cason (who I believe is the best football player we've played against in some time) , most of our competition has not fared well in this draft.
Matt Ryan I suppose validates our close games with BC in the past
Bruce Davis in the 3rd round is understandable considering his size- some coaches wouldn't have drafted him regardless of his speed at his size

As of the middle of the 6th round.....
No Tommie Blake or Chase Ortiz
No Spencer Larson or Louis Holmes (remember the guy we were supposed to be all afraid of after he should have been suspended by Stoops)
No Paul Smith (I'm surprised here)
No one from Air Force, Colorado State, Utah, TCU, Wyoming

(a wideout from NM, and Oconnell from SDSU to backup Brady)

Just not a good year for the MWC. I guess you could read into it that 1. Our conference doesn't get a lot of respect from the NFL 2. Our conference has a lot of young players returning 3. Our conference has good football players but not great prototypical athletes.... take your pick, probably a combo

Don't forget about Beau Bell!

But generally I agree. I was also surprised by Paul Smith and also a little by Spencer Larson.

I think having the absence of TV coverage has taken its toll. Hopefully that will start to change now that people will actually be able to watch players from the Mountain West play.

4. Our conference is run by a retard. 5. The BCS bias.

If it weren't for the tv issues, I think we would have seen a couple more players drafted. Each year it seemed we had an over-achiever or two that made some noise and had enough exposure during the season to get drafted. I think most of those kinds of players are still making teams via free agency. Dan Coats is a great example of this. Pre-Crowton/Craig Thompson, he and Harline would've been drafted.

I think we'll continue to see star-ish players (Kehl, UNLV's Bell) get drafted every year, regardless of the fact they're from the MWC. The difference will be for the marginal players. 8 years ago, Kelly Poppinga would've been drafted. Now he'll likely have to go the free-agency route.

You beat me to it Craig. I was disappointed when I looked at ESPN's Drafttracker and saw Blake and Ortiz still on the board (and so poorly rated). The MWC certainly isn't anything to be proud of.

BTW, does anybody have an idea of what percentage of NFL players come from each conference?

Larsen just went to Denver in the mid 6th rd.

And yes, Colt Brennan will have a job this summer. (Redskins 6th rd) Even Colt should break through against Todd Collins and Sam Hollenbach.

And who could forget about Tyler Schmitt, the fabulous long snapper from San Diego State drafted by Seattle in the 6th round? That is something the conference can hang their hat on. "We sent the only long snapper drafted into the NFL."