TCU's speed lets Frogs leap atop the MWC

Speed.

Athletes who cover great spans of turf quicker than other humans.

Speed: Forty-yard-dash times that make your eyes bug out.

If you don't have speed, if you can't deal with it, are you destined to lose? Is TCU, sporting the nation's No. 1 defense in 2008, picked to reign the Mountain West because of speed? Is Utah's speed, thanks to Texas recruiting, approaching TCU's realm? Did BYU get picked second in the MWC because of a lack of speed? Does speed rule supreme? It's debatable.

I interviewed two MWC football beat writers, Greg Archuleta of the Albuquerque Journal and Steve Guiremand, editor of Rebel Nation, and asked why they voted TCU No. 1. Both said speed. Both were very impressed with how TCU handled BYU a year ago.

Said Guiremand, "I thought TCU was the best team in the league last year but let it get away at the end at Utah. Speed-wise, I think they are the quickest defensive team I've seen this side of USC. The Oct. 24 game with BYU in Provo could be a classic."

And Archuleta?

"What separated it for me was TCU's dominance of the Cougars in their game last season," he said. "The difference in athleticism in that game made me lean towards the Frogs. I'm not sure BYU can make up that difference in one season. I thought TCU was the best team in the league last year but fell victim to a destined Utah team."

If appropriately coached, speed rises to the top in the MWC, and TCU and Utah should rule in years to come. BYU, some claim, is the red-headed stepchild until it finds another Bryan Kehl.

TCU's squad is blistering quick. Utah is progressively getting a quicker roster. Ask Alabama. BYU has historically won a lot of WAC and MWC championships without much speed, including back-to-backs in 2007-08. San Diego State and New Mexico have had a truckload of athletes with speed but always battle to get to .500.

Speed is also relative. How does Stanford beat USC in the modern era? How does Florida lose to Mississippi at home? In that famous 2008 fourth-and-18 at LaVell Edwards Stadium, Ute corner Brice McCain, a 4.3 sprinter, got beat deep by a 4.6 Austin Collie, a play that helped change the outcome of the game. It was a fluke, a hesitation, a wrong step by McCain and the slower Collie made the play.

In 2009, a fired-up Horned Frog team absolutely splayed and roasted a 6-0 BYU squad in Fort Worth. It looked like hares vs. turtles, molasses against thunderbolts.