WACoug wrote:

BYUtx wrote:

I don't think there will be a sleeper this year. I think the closest thing will be UNM and maybe Wyoming. If either team played well, it wouldn't be a HUGE surprise because I think both teams could pull off moderately sucessful seasons.

I think CSU, SDSU, UNLV will all be bad this season-with no more than 8 wins between them. AFA will be a team that will be surprisingly poor-they won't be bowl eligible.

This bottom-heaviness will help inflate Utah and TCU's records-both mediocre teams that could end up in the 8-10 win range.

Then there's us: 12-0.

That's a good point about Utah and TCU's records being inflated do to poor Mt. West play. I actually think that will work in our favor. Even if the rest of the conference is weak, if we can beat Utah and TCU, each with 9 or 10 wins, to me that is better than beating an overall more competetive Mt. West field where no one else besides BYU has more than 7 wins.

The only way the MWC improves overall is by winning OOC games against decent (ie BCS) competition. Without that, it won't make a heck of a lot of difference whether yewtah & TCU have stellar records when we beat them or if the conf cellar dwellers actually win some conf games. Watch the OOC game results to get an idea about whether we'll have a decent SOS at year end.

i'll say everyone except BYU, and mediocre's will be tcu, yewts, unm.

Conosticator wrote:

WACoug wrote:

BYUtx wrote:

I don't think there will be a sleeper this year. I think the closest thing will be UNM and maybe Wyoming. If either team played well, it wouldn't be a HUGE surprise because I think both teams could pull off moderately sucessful seasons.

I think CSU, SDSU, UNLV will all be bad this season-with no more than 8 wins between them. AFA will be a team that will be surprisingly poor-they won't be bowl eligible.

This bottom-heaviness will help inflate Utah and TCU's records-both mediocre teams that could end up in the 8-10 win range.

Then there's us: 12-0.

That's a good point about Utah and TCU's records being inflated do to poor Mt. West play. I actually think that will work in our favor. Even if the rest of the conference is weak, if we can beat Utah and TCU, each with 9 or 10 wins, to me that is better than beating an overall more competetive Mt. West field where no one else besides BYU has more than 7 wins.

The only way the MWC improves overall is by winning OOC games against decent (ie BCS) competition. Without that, it won't make a heck of a lot of difference whether yewtah & TCU have stellar records when we beat them or if the conf cellar dwellers actually win some conf games. Watch the OOC game results to get an idea about whether we'll have a decent SOS at year end.

I agree that having them win OOC games against BCS competition is the most important factor. My point was simply that I would rather have Utah and TCU be good and beat them while the rest of the conference struggles than to have a more even playing field with mediocrity across the Mt. West.

Conosticator wrote:

The only way the MWC improves overall is by winning OOC games against decent (ie BCS) competition.

I disagree.

It's better to be 4-0 OOC against four non-BCS teams than to be 2-2 OOC against four BCS teams. Sorry.

The pick of TCU as a sleeper is just ridiculous. You can't be a sleeper if you are a perennial contender for the league crown. By definition, the sleeper pick has to come from outside of the top 3 of BYU, Utah and TCU.

I would say that both NM and Wyoming will be good teams this year but I don't know if they are true sleepers because 1) I don't think they actually have a chance at the title with BYU, Utah and TCU appearing very strong this year and 2) most people expect them to be good so again they are not really sleepers.

I honestly don't know if there will be any real surprised this year. AF and CSU should be really bad. UNLV should be bad but has some talent and might surprise. Suck Dog State lost quite a bit of talent but you have to think that eventually Coach Long will turn them around. I don't see them having enough talent to really surprise anyone but they may get to 6-6.