I can only imagine the hype leading up to The Holy War if both BYU and Utah are undefeated the week of November 22. The winner gets in a ludicrous BCS bowl, the loser gets smacked into the Vegas Bowl and gets to blow out a crappy 6-6 Oregon or Arizona St.

Although the chances are extremely small, especially for Utah, a national championship birth could be on the line. That would just be a ridiculous amount of awesomeness.

Obscenely early prediction:
BYU 38
Utah 33

In the column the article says that the Pac-10 is 0-6 against the Mtn. West and the WAC. That is not true. As an Aggie that lives in the Pacific Northwest, I am all too aware of the thrashing that Oregon laid on USU in the second game of the year...I wish it were true...but it's not.

BYU and Utah both undefeated on November 22nd?

Not likely ... but the hype, national exposure and divided loyalties (some within families) would be a lot of fun!

Here's hoping the MIRACLE happens ....

Hey Dick, maybe the UNLV qb is getting into a grove now BECAUSE he is NOT playing UTAH! In other words, I'll spell this out for you Dick, Utah and its D held him in check like they did to the AFA running game. So before you say, in a few weeks, that its good that Utah got AFA early as the running game is now clicking.......Maybe realize that part of it is because of what Utah did.

My top 5: USC, Florida, LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma. I base it on two things. Who they beat and how they have looked doing it. USC beat a top 5 school. The Gators thumped a good SEC program on the road. LSU [who could be #2] beat a top 10 Auburn on the road.

Big Blue, How do you figure that BYU has a much better shot at a national championship match? Your showing your blind fanisim to BYU in saying that. The reality is that Utah, TCU & BYU have the same shot at the title game. ZERO. If there is any chance then at this point all three of these schools have the same chance.

The MWC is an embarrassment. Your champion "gets" to go to the mighty Las Vegas Bowl?!

So let's say at the end of the year you still have 3 teams ranked. If the Las Vegas Bowl is the best you can do for your champion (or possibly runner-up this year), then which impressive bowl will your third ranked team "get" to participate in? The only way to get respect is to beat good teams, regardless of conference. Wins against bad teams in good conferences don't mean much.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for TCU to beat Oklahoma.

Random thoughts,

As you rip dick for being biased you are more biased towards utah than he is towards byu. Maybe the reason why BYU is more favored than utah is for a few reasons: BYU is ranked higher nationally than Utah, BYU has an offense much better than Utah (by the numbers my friend), BYU has the nations longest winning streak, BYU has a candidate (long shot but non the less a candidate) for heisman. BYU has pitched two shut outs in a row (proving their defense is not nearly as bad as some thought). BYU has had much more national coverage this year than Utah (proving that non biased people are looking at BYU more than Utah). Thus this is how dick figures. But thanks for playing and maybe next time you ll be able to use some logic before you post a comment.

What are you growing in your backyard? BYU playing for a national championship? YEA RIGHT!!! Will never happen until there is a playoff system in football like every REAL SPORT.

UNLV will rock your world when you play them.

Just thought that I would let you know that beating BCS conference schools does jack squat. You have to beat good teams. Washington, UCLA, Michigan all suck this year. How about you buck up and play someone that will actually finish with a winning record?

I'm sorry the embarrassing MWC is kicking the tar out of your even more embarrassing PAC-10. At least we'll have enough teams to fill our bowl allotment, even if the MWC has the worst bowls in America...

Southern Florida underated? Explain that when they barely beat a team (FIU from the Sun Belt Conference) that has hardly won a game in the last decade and is 0-3 this season.

Come on, say something that makes sense.

Not true, Random Thoughts. You have to be ranked low enough in the polls to be considered. BYU being ranked ahead of the other schools has the best chance to get to the low numbers because if they keep winning the will stay ahead of those other two teams. If the teams ahead of BYU in the polls were all to have one loss BYU could possibly move into the NC game. If Utah continues to win also it could possibly become that team if it beats BYU. It will be difficult for either team but is still possible. The BCS will do all it can to not let that happen but is still possible. Remote, yes but still possible.

You forgot to mention how many top 25 teams the MWC has beaten. I believe it is zero

The BCS conferences are an embarrassment. Mediocre teams being "rewarded" with automatic bids to the "elite" bowls.

The whole BCS system is nothing but a farce; a power and money grab by the "haves" to keep the "have nots" from ever being able to play on a level playing field.

To: Anonymous | 7:01 a.m. The embarrassment is NOT in being rewarded with less than you deserve, the embarrassment is in being rewarded for something you DID NOT earn.

The ACC, Big Least, and PAC-10 conferences are the biggest embarrassments in college football and none of them are worthy of the "BCS" label they've attached to themselves.

Michigan, UCLA, Arizona State were all ranked in top 25 then they lost to MWC schools.

I propose that BYU and Utah both schedule top ten teams to play next week to settle the argument about whether they're any good or not.

Comments like yours prove just how rigged the system is. BCS conference teams are supposed to be top to bottom FAR superior to non-BCS conference teams. Yet, when the non-BCS teams start beating up on the BCS teams, suddenly, the non-BCS teams haven't played anybody.

Face it, many of the non-BCS teams are just plain better, in fact, MUCH BETTER, than most of the BCS teams. There are good and bad teams in both groups.

The BCS is nothing but BS and should be scrapped for the good of college football.

Time to learn the difference between a turnover "margin" and a turnover "ratio." 1.75 is a ratio, not a margin.

There's more to gaining national respect than having a few teams ranked. It's a nice gesture, and you almost have to at least get some votes when you are undefeated four games into the season. But wait and see how far these MWC teams fall should they lose in-conference. That's when you'll get a real indication of the level of respect for the MWC.

The conference will have to win consistently for a long time before real respect is earned. And we'll need more than just BYU, Utah, and TCU to show up occasionally in the ranking, but will need the majority of MWC teams over the years to rotate through rankings and bowl games with success.

UNLV finally has a talented QB.
byu should win the fiesta bowl

Even one-loss teams would be chosen over BYU. If Florida, Georgia, LSU or USC or any other school that plays in a tougher conference and is in contention at the end of the year would be chosen over an undeafeated BYU team. Just not in the cards.

UCLA was ranked #18 when BYU beat them.

To Innaccurate:

When did USU become part of the Mountain West Conference?

To Lord Kelvin:

1.75 is the average of turnover margins for 4 games and is not a turnover ratio.

USU is in first place in the WAC.

Let's enjoy it while we can.

All of you have your heads in the clouds. A few wins against mediocre opponents and you have crowned yourself to be one of the elite. There is a saying, "The biggest lie you tell is the lie you tell yourself" Seems to fit perfectly for Cougar fans.

Although I hate the Pac-10, I cannot say that the MWC is substantially better. This is the first year that the MWC has even shown up (and I have to say that they have shown up!) Notwithstanding, the majority of teams within the MWC are usually easy opponents on any team's schedule. The MWC is talking very proudly about its record against the Pac-10 and other BCS schools. Let's break this down: Utah's win over Michigan (please, Notre Dame beat them); BYU's thrashing of UCLA (a bottom-of-the-Pac-10 team); UNLV's win over ASU (uh, did you see the game against Georgia?); UNLV's win over Iowa State (ISU is the worst team in the Big 12).

Give it to the teams in the MWC b/c they have beaten everyone they are put up against. However, don't jump to the conclusion that they deserve more respect. This is only the first year they have accomplished anything. Secondly, the MWC's schedule is very weak in conference play. Seriously, when you are worried about playing Wyoming and New Mexico, it isn't that good.

You forgot to mention how many BCS teams were overrated and didn't deserve to be ranked this year.

As far as Top 25 teams the MWC has beaten:

Utah beat USAToday #24-ranked Michigan
BYU beat AP #23-ranked (the previous week) UCLA
UNLV beat AP #15- USAToday #13-ranked UNLV

BYU, Utah and TCU are all currently ranked in both polls, so all three have at least two ranked teams remaining on their schedules.

After 10 years of performances like this year's performance - not the previous 10 years track record....

USC does not play in a tougher conference than BYU. The PAC 10 as note is not playing well this year besides USC. Yes USC is dominating, but they should not lose this year. I give you that LSU, Georgia and Florida play in a harder conference. But ESPN and others think the MWC is stronger than the Big East and the ACC this year and would be stronger than the PAC 10 if USC didn't exist. All other arguments aside - the BSC is inherently unfair. Yes conferences like the SEC and Big 12 and maybe the Big 10 deserve the automatic berth but the big east and ACC don't deserve it this year. Who cares if the schools have tradition, the stink and don't deserve the bowls games this year. Lets base bowl games off the who deserves to be there this year instead of off the tradition of the school. Best example, the ACC is 1-9 in the BSC. They don't deserve the automatic berth. Plain and simple.

To the fan that wondered why BYU had a better shot at a National Championship this year if they were undefeated, I have a few answers for you.

1) BYU has been a national champion before, which will help get them back into it.

2) BYU has the longest active winning streak in college football, giving them more credibility.

3) BYU is already ranked highly in the polls. At number 11 this early in the season it gives them a better shot of taking over some of those highly coveted top 10 spots early in the season.

4) The year Boise State was a bracket buster with an undefeated season, they were out of the top 10 most of the year, but BYU is already ahead of schedule from where they were, giving them I think a better shot, while Utah is sitting about where Boise State was, making it look like they would be playing in just a major bowl, but not THE major bowl.

How about this for a new MWC?

Air Force
Boise State
BYU
Colorado State
Fresno State
New Mexico
TCU
UNLV
Utah
Wyoming

Great football conference and still a good basketball conference as well.

Talk about inaccurate. Dear Inaccurate 1:31AM,
The thrashing by Oregon notwithstanding or your claim to be an Aggie supporter, Utah State is not part of the MWC. OOOOPS, I guess your really are inaccurate.

Several on here have belittled the MWC's thrashing of PAC-1 teams this year, stating that each MWC win has been against a bottom PAC-1 team. Are Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, UCLA and Stanford all at the bottom of the PAC-1? Who's left? USC of course, Oregon (beaten at home by Boise last week), Cal, Oregon State and Washington State.

Utah plays Oregon State in a couple of weeks, do any of you PAC-1 boys want to throw down some money on that one? ...didn't think so.

There are only 2 PAC-1 teams that you can argue would have any chance of competing for the MWC Championship this year. USC would, of course, be favored and Cal would be a long shot at this point. The rest have already been eliminated.

USC would have a much more difficult road to the conference championship this year, were they playing in the MWC, rather than the PAC-1.

If Utah, BYU or TCU were in the PAC-1 this year, they would probably finish 2nd.

Inaccurate?? | 8:22 a.m. Sept. 23, 2008
"Talk about inaccurate. Dear Inaccurate 1:31AM,
The thrashing by Oregon notwithstanding or your claim to be an Aggie supporter, Utah State is not part of the MWC. OOOOPS, I guess your really are inaccurate."

You might want to re-read the article and his post and eat your words. Harmon said that the Pac-10 was 0-6 against the MWC and the WAC. Two conferences mentioned there. That's in reference to Boise State's win over Oregon in addition to the MWC wins. The poster was reminding Dick and the readers that Oregon had previously beaten Utah State -- also a WAC team.

Talk about inaccurate.

Level the playing field and then see if the Y and the U can earn respect. When BCS teams get BCS money and automatic bids to entice recruits it gives them a huge advantage.

Asking the Y and the U to consistently beat BCS teams before they deserve respect is like grading a room full of students exactly the same for an ACT test and yet not allowing some of the students to have calculators or access to study materials.

The MWC not only has to be as good as BCS teams to get rewarded they have to be better - they have to be undefeated and even then have almost nil chance of playing in a NC game.

The inability of non-BCS teams to beat BCS teams has little to do with their effort and everything to do with the system. The BCS system is a joke that gives BCS teams unfair advantages. I thought this was America.

BYU did not beat a top 25 team. UCLA was ranked in the top 25 the week before they played BYU, but then was dropped out of the top 25 before they played BYU. Utah beat a top 25 ranked (at the time) Michigan team. UNLV beat a top ranked (at the time) ASU team. MWC does have some wins against "top 25" opponents.

Dick talks about Utah being "lucky" to catch the UNLV rebels before the quarterback got hot. I remember Utah destroying UNLV. I'm not sure a hot quarterback is enough to make up a 21 point difference. Utah is just the better team.

I am interested to see how a few upcoming games play out. BYU still has to play UNLV, TCU, and Utah. These, along with BYU and possibly AirForce, appear to be the good teams in the conference. BYU hasn't played much competition yet, so I'm anxious to see how they do.

It'll be interesting to see how Utah does against TCU, since they will be the next big test for UT. "Lucky" for Utah, they've already beat 2 of the top teams in the MWC in AFA and UNLV!!

You get respect year-by-year, week-by-week. Even storied programs like Notre Dame and Michigan can lose respect within a very short time, with just a few ugly losses and a couple of losing seasons.

To all the insanely biased, BCS elitist, wannabe college football experts, the MWC has already gained the respect of the national media and the college football world this year. A few wins over supposedly superior BCS teams was all it took. A few bad losses by the BCS conferences was all it took for the PAC-10, Big Least and ACC to lose respect.

Respect is very fluid and has much more to do with what have you done lately, than what have you done historically.

Re-read the 'inaccurate' comment:

"the article says that the Pac-10 is 0-6 against the Mtn. West and the WAC. That is not true."

Please train yourselves how to actually pay attention to others before you jump to your ridiculously inaccurate judgments...

I apologize to inaccurate. He does say WAC in addition to MWC. The article is wrong in this regard.

The MWC is 5-0 against the Pac Ten, while the WAC is 1-2, with Oregon State beating Hawaii as well.

For the record, Massey's consolidation of 46 computer polls has the following rankings of Pac Ten and MWC teams and is probably about as close as we can come right now to such a list:

1      USC
10      BYU
12      Utah
14      TCU
17      Oregon
27      California
36      Arizona
44      Air Force
45      Arizona St
52      Oregon St
61      UNLV
62      Stanford
70      UCLA
80      New Mexico
82      Washington
90      Colorado St
96      Wyoming
103      Washington St
111      San Diego St

BYU in the BCS title game? Better hope every Big 12 and SEC team has two losses then...I'd take a one-loss OU, Mizzou, Texas, LSU, UF, UGA, 'Bama, etc. over an undefeated BYU in the title game. Can't necessarily blame the Cougs for the schedule - that's done years in advance and who knew UW and UCLA would stink this year. However, if BYU, Utah, and TCU all ended up with one-loss by beating each other (and TCU needs to get by OU as well) one of them should still get a BCS berth. The BCS as a whole stinks, but just because you're undefeated doesn't mean you should play for the crystal ball - and just because you're non-BCS and have one loss doesn't mean you should be eliminated from consideration.

Just keep taking care of business MWC. And my how awesome another upset in Norman would be!

So, BYU didn't beat a Top 25 team, in UCLA, they beat a #26 AP and #27 Coaches team. Big flipping deal, one or two spots out of the "Top 25".

The Bruins had been ranked #23 AP the week before their game with BYU, and dropped barely out of the Top 25 after a bye week, simply because a couple of previously unranked teams (East Carolina and California) won and leapfrogged UCLA in the polls.

AP poll:
#24 Illinois (164 points)
#25 West Virginia (163)
#26 UCLA (150)

Coaches poll:
#24 West Virginia (145)
#25 California (128)
#26 Illinois (124)
#27 UCLA (86)

Which simply demonstrates the bias of fans who claim that MWC teams haven't beaten anybody, but then will claim that USC beat 5th ranked Ohio State.

Using their "but where are they ranked now" argument, BYU (11th in both polls) is now ranked higher than Ohio State (14th AP/13th Coaches), showing that voters in the polls currently think BYU is a better team than Ohio State.

The MWC, as reflected in the polls, in currently ranked higher than half of the BCS conferences.

As a Ute fan, I'm confused. Everybody always says "those directional schools are weak", "you dumbed-down your schedule because you added a directional school", Eastern Washington, U of Northern Iowa, and ekseddera. So why is the University of SOUTHERN California ranked ahead of our beloved Utah? We're undefeated just like they are and we also beat the Big House. This isn't fair. Could somebody please write a letter to someone about this? Thank you!

With all the positives that this league has going for it right now, still nobody cares! It's time we all come to the realization that no matter how could we are, and no matter who we beat. The rest of the country doesn't care. If Utah or BYU wins a BCS game, nobody will care.

Let's get up off our hands and knees, and quit pleading for the rest of the country to take us seriously. They don't care. Let's at least preserve our dignity, and enjoy the ride ourselves. Why do we care so much, that they con't care.

Mostly good Sagarin rating system has BYU at #7 and the Utes at #11...by the way TCU is at #15. Before you Cougar fans get too excited using the BCS system Utah would be ranked #7 and the Cougars would be #12, Schedule strength to date Utah #39 and BYU #79...if the Utes and Cougars played today at Rice-Eccles the Utes would be favored by 1/2 to 2 points

Bottom line is we have some great teams this year in the MWC, it's too bad that unfortunately only 1 will likely bust the BCS-and that's assuming 1 stays undefeated. TCU's chances of that go down dramatically with an Oklahoma meeting this week, but if they do, they quickly become the favorite in the media.

Between BYU & Utah I think Nov. 22nd comes down to a coin toss. Utah still hasn't found a strong offensive rhythm, but they have more poise under pressure than they did last year. BYU has the edge on the offense but I believe Utah has the stronger defense. It'll be a great game either way.

Another note-Boise State would never want to join the MWC, in the WAC they maybe 1 or 2 decent competitive games a year.

BYU in the NC game, fun to dream but not going to happen (no Utah wont be there either). It isn't impossible, but extremely unlikly and yes I would agree (as much as it pains me), that BYU would be in a better postion than Utah for this to happen. If you remember 1984, if BYU was just undefeated in that year, they would not have been NC, it took what they did the year before and the undefeated '84 season to get there. They have that going for them now this season as well, as Utah doesn't.

The thing is, what is going on in the MWC so far this year is great, but there is a long way to go before we can even think about being considered a "Real" confrence by the rest of the country. If either Utah, BYU or TCU can go undefeated this year, they will be in better shape than in the past since they will have done in by beating other ranked teams in the confrence (assuming that the other teams only fall to each other as well). All of this goes away though, if the MWC can't keep it going.

We need, and deserve, a playoff to determine the NCAA Major College Football Champion (NOT a BCS Championship beauty contest).

Until we have a true playoff, all we have is a "mythical" BCS champion, elected by the "beautiful" conferences, that is, the BCS conference monopoly.

LSU, USC, Florida, etc., etc., can "claim" to be recent college football champions, but the only thing that they've actually proven is that they could beat the other team that was chosen to play them in the BCS (note, not NCAA) championship game.

Look carefully at the lists of champions on the official NCAA site, and you'll notice the most significant difference between major college football and ALL of the other sports, including all other college football divisions -- there is NO NCAA Champion in major college football.

Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Div 1-A)
Bowl Championship Series
Year School SELECTING ORGANIZATION

Consensus National Champions
Year School SELECTING ORGANIZATION

Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Div 1-AA)
Year Champion Record

Division II Football
Year Champion Record

Division III Football
Year Champion Record

Division I Men's Basketball
Year Champion Record

All this talk of BYU or Utah in the championship game,Sorry they aren't that great, They could compete against ranked 6-25 but don't have a chance against the top 1-5.

Much ado about nothing.

In a few weeks, we'll have a better pulse on who is really decent and who is not. That is why the BCS systems waits until November to start the rankings.

There are always teams who the experts pick as good (i.e., West Virginia, Rutgers, Texas A&M, UCLA) and find out that they goofed.

Likewise, there are teams that they overlook badly and then jump on the bandwagon (i.e., East Carolina, Wake Forest, the entire MWC, etc.).

We have all of about 8 weeks of football left to play. Lets give it a few more weeks before we start getting too excited.

I must admit though, BYU has a really, really good offense-maybe the best in the nation!

I guess if they would come play us we would know, wouldn't we. In point of fact, the only top 5 team ever to come to Provo, got beat!