The battle for No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference starts on Saturday as TCU visits New Mexico in the only conference game scheduled.

"Whoever wins the ballgame sits at the top of the conference for about five weeks," the coach said with a bit of a chuckle.

But Patterson's humor ended there.

"Any time you come into someone else's house, you've got to bring your own intensity," he said.

Rocky Long's Lobos are looking for some revenge after the 37-0 beating they got last year in Fort Worth.

"We have to be ready to play," Long said. "TCU is a great football team. They are probably the fastest team in our conference."

Long realizes the Frogs are flying under the radar this year with all the focus on BYU and Utah.

"They could make a run and win all their games, too."

Around the MWC

AIR FORCE

Is there a positive to losing 26 seniors? Not really, but when asked during the MWC weekly teleconference, Troy Calhoun found one.

"From a leadership and character standpoint, it gives the young guys a chance," he said.

BYU

Bronco Mendenhall is in no danger of underestimating this week's opponent, Northern Iowa of the Football Championship Subdivision.

"They are coached as well as any team in our league," Mendenhall said when the Panthers where compared to Appalachian State.

COLORADO STATE

The Rams will be playing on Sunday this week because of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. But coach Steve Fairchild doesn't seem to mind.

"I told the guys that some of them would get the chance to play on Sunday," the first-year head coach said. "I guess this does give them a chance."

SAN DIEGO STATE

Chuck Long is an optimist. His Aztecs are only bringing back three starters on offense but he sees the potential.

"Look at the bright side," he said. "If we have everything going at the end of the year, we have everyone coming back."

Long will be starting with a freshman quarterback, Ryan Lindley.

"Ryan reads defenses very well," Long said. "He comes from a great passing background running the spread in high school."

UNLV

The Rebels are facing an Aggie team that lost 10 games last year but won its final two.

"They were doing a lot of the same things, they were just doing them better at the end of the season," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said.

The Rebels will face an unknown commodity in USU's new quarterback, Sean Setzer.

UTAH

With the marquee game of the week, Ute coach Kyle Whittingham is confident in the health of his quarterback.

"Bryan Johnson is 100 percent," he said. "There is no pain in the shoulder, so that is a dead issue."

Utah will take on Michigan in the Big House, a game that will be televised nationally on ABC.

WYOMING

Joe Glenn hates turnovers, but loves Ohio coach Frank Solich.

Glenn talks as though he and Solich go way back, calling Solich a personal friend.

But what really got Glenn excited was a simple question about turnover margin.

"Uggh, Turnovers," the Cowboy coach groaned. "You just can't throw interceptions and fumble the ball. But that was last year and this is this year."