As long as the BCS holds together, the Mountain West will be perennial also-rans in terms of attracting top-level talent. The numbers will go up and down a bit every year but the story is still the same. If BYU were in a BCS conference, it, too, would yield as many as 10 players a year to the NFL. I hope Congress breaks up the BCS for the sole reason that every Division I university ought to be able to win the championship by going undefeated. Thus, a playoff system is a necessity, and I'm not talking about restricting a playoff to BCS teams but all undefeated teams.

Now,
finish the story,
and tell us how many players actually made NFL rosters, including, free agents.

The facts here are really irrelevent, when you consider the draft has half as many rounds as it used to have.

Let us know how many players form various schools actually played in the NFL. My understanding is that BYU was behnd only USC, in the number of free agents who made rosters.

Thanks
ajrizona

ajarizona What are you smoking? "BYU was behind only USC" Maybe in your small little world, but not in the real world

ajarizona, like most byu fans, needs a large dose of truth and reality.

Didn't BYU's Staffieri get a free agent deal?

Yet another reason not to care about the MWC.

players in the NFL
BYU 17
Utah 18
USC 40
Florida 44
Florida st. 44
Michigan 50
Ohio st. 50
Miami 54
it is very close ajarizona

i think you'd run into some numerical problems with that one. A playoff system would require a seeding process, and then we'd all be complaining about that too

Not surprising stats. Of course CA, FL and TX would be leading the way--they have the population. What I find amazing is what BYU is able to do with the talent it has. UCLA has superior talent yet BYU was 1-1 against them this year. USC will always attract the top talent, no surprise there. Boise St is another example of what a program can do with lesser talent. It says a lot about the coaching staff. The mystery is why SDSU continues to underachieve--the only university in that area with a Div I football program, surrounded by talent. It always amazes me when WYO can beat those guys. If you have been to Laramie and San Diego you would know what I mean.

re:rich - I'd rather complain about a seeding process than the current BCS system

ajarizona must remember two years ago when Bronco was telling recruits that BYU had more players in the NFL than any other western school other than USC. When I read that two years ago, I thought "no way" and looked it up. There are many other western schools with more NFL players - I'm not sure how Bronco was doing the math.

The wikipedia page on the BYU/Utah rivalry has a link to an info page with a complete list of all BYU and Utah players who have made it in the NFL. It's a good comparison.

Blah, blah, blah. Bag on Bronco all you want. He wins and he recruits the right kind of players for his program, most of whom weren't headed for the NFL anyway certainly not if they chose to ride the pine at USC for four years. And I am sick of all the attempted comparisons. Let's be clear. There is really no comparison. BYU has real fans. Fans that travel and buy tickets to road games. Fans that actually have jobs and buy season tickets. Fans that help buy good facilities. Utah is a commuter school with a fan base comprised of angry, bitter, BYU hating people who spend most of their time writing anti-BYU messages on stories unrelated to their own program.

No Ute fan wrote an anti-BYU message on this thread and this story is every bit as much about Utah as it is BYU. In fact, this story mentions 5 Utah players and 1 BYU player – so maybe this is unrelated to BYU. Get over yourself.

Actually UK Cougar is dead-on correct. Almost any article in this mediocre regional newspaper will almost invariably lead to some sort of anti-LDS or anti-BYU comments. No matter how irrelevant-someone will post some inanity bashing the church or its flagship university.

Really an amazing phenomena.

Someone please re-read what ajarizona actually said.
Which is that BYU trails only USC in the number of "free agents" signed. Not number drafted or the number actually playing in the league, but only the number of actual undrafted free agents signed.

Of course, you only wanted to belittle BYU fans anyway-so no need to read what he really said. Another prime example of your need to get a life!

I think you are the angry one....maybe you have been to one too many footie matches in England.

I didn't realize Utah fans didn't have jobs or travel to their team's games. Makes me wonder how Jon Huntsman managed to scape up the cash to get a basketball area named after him. Last time I checked the U of U had pretty nice facilities including a basketball area that had a Nat'l Championship played in it and a football stadium that was used for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

How is it a mystery that SDSU continues to underachieve. San Diego will always be PAC-10 country and SDSU will always loose out to any PAC-10 school. They might get a few good players here and there but overall, they and the MWC can't compete with USC, UCLA, etc. in recruiting.