Thursday, August 09, 2007

NCAA Projections: Mountain West


Today, I will project results for the Mountain West Conference. This is traditionally the best of the non-BCS conferences, though Boise State and the WAC would have an argument with that.

This conference was helped by the addition of TCU. The Horned Frogs won the league two seasons ago in their debut, and finished second last year. The Frogs have been to six bowl games in the last seven years. Only BYU and Utah have beaten the Frogs in conference play.

TCU will be good again this year. However, I expect for them to stumble twice. The first loss will be to Texas in Austin. It will be a very good game, but I don't expect the Frogs to catch Texas by surprise. The Longhorns know what happened in Norman when TCU last visited there. TCU will give the Horns all they want, and will probably even outplay Texas. But, I look for the Horns to luck out and take advantage of some home cooking. I would love to be wrong on that.

The second TCU loss will allow BYU to win the conference. TCU visits Provo on a Thursday night in November. I look for the Y to take advantage of home field and handle TCU, thus winning the conference.

Utah will be pretty decent, but is playing a killer non-conference schedule, including Oregon State, UCLA, and Louisville. Still, they should be much better than the bottom two-thirds of the conference.

The rest of this conference is pretty forgettable. But, a bottom-dweller here isn't as bad as one in the other non-BCS conferences.

Projected Standings:

BYU 10-2 8-0
TCU 10-2 7-1
Utah 7-5 6-2
Air Force 5-7 3-5
New Mexico 5-7 3-5
Colorado State 4-8 3-5
San Diego State 3-9 2-6
UNLV 3-9 2-6
Wyoming 3-9 2-6

6 comments:

Zee said...

TCU will not lose to those dang mormons again. I don't expect them to lose to the longhorns either. If they lose it will be to some lame-o team like SMU again. lol

John said...

There is a lot of truth to that comment. It might not be SMU, but possibly some team like Wyoming or Colorado State.

I hope they don't lose to BYU. A Thursday night game in Provo in November looks really ominous, though.

I really hope they beat Texas. I'd really be shocked if it happened, though. We know the quality of Big 12 officiating, and we know how much Big 12 refs like Texas. The Frogs won't be able to overcome that. I do look for the Frogs to totally outplay the Horns, though.

Zee said...

I can't believe that you're still whining about the refs! lol

John said...

In all honesty, the officiating won't play as much a part of the outcome as I mentioned. But, I'm afraid UT will get a crazy bounce on their home field.

You'll be glad to know that Charlie Palillo, Houston's resident sports radio geek, says on the air that these are the two best programs in Texas. I would call him a younger version of Norm Hitzges. This means he considers TCU better than A&M, Tech, and all the rest.

Zee said...

I've been telling you that TCU is better than those other teams for how long now? Sheesh! Maybe I should look into doing radio. ;)

John said...

Charlie's right. TCU is the second best program in Texas right now.

They have a chance to become the best by knocking off the Horns in Austin.