Comments about ‘The numbers show MWC is improving’

MWC had a great year, but as usual, BYU does nothing to help contribute to the MWC success. Having a strength of schedule ranked #111 of #119 is embarrassing. BYU is a horrible road team, and is not known to win their bowl games. 1984 was a long, long, long time ago. Somebody besides Utah needs to do something BIG, to further the MWC national stature.

It is more than a little embarrassing that Utah and the MWC have only sold 10,000 tickets to what is arguably the biggest game in school or conference history. Gripe all you want about the lock the "big" BCS schools have on college football, but their dominance begins with fan support.

You're right, J.D. Going 2-0 against the Pac-10, including beating UCLA 59-0, as well as ending the season ranked #16 has done absolutely nothing for the MWC.

Why not get rid of them? That would really move the conference forward.

If the MWC gets 3 of 5 bowl wins, not bad. But, that depends on which 3 of the 5 to some extent. Going to be fun watching these games, starting with today. With several early in the bowl season, we'll know soon, won't we?

I think all 5 are winable, but Utah-Alabama the long shot.

Sure am glad to have hi-def! What a fun holiday season this will be.

Are you even a fan? BYU actually has a NC in the conference. Who else does? BYU has had three straight 10 wins (will be 11 by tonight) and recently had the nations longest winning streak by far. They beat UCLA 2 of the last 3 meetings, and also beat Oregon, Arizona, and Washington. Take a look at who BYU has played in bowl games and you'll see they are powerhouses, and not teams like Tulsa and Navy like Utah plays year after year after year.

"Fan Support"=Tradition. You, like the BCS, prize prestige above the quality of the football teams.

If the MWC wants respect this year, Utah must beat Bama, BYU must beat Arizona and TCU must beat Boise State. As for JD, who let this troll onto our reader comments? He was on another article saying "Go Wildcats." He's so wrong! Go Cougs!

Dick writes, "the new bark of this league isn't going away anytime soon..."

Huh?

TCU has a national championship.

Oregon, Arizona, UCLA are NOT powerhouses. They are a good teams, but they are no where near Florida, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, which ARE powerhouses.

And Washington? Are you seriously bringing that up? The only team in college football to go WINLESS in 2008. They were a blocked kick away from beating BYU. That's sad.

Longest winning streaks don't mean anything until you start getting into the twenties.

Since 2000, Utah has beaten Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, USC, Tulsa and Navy in bowl games (which can be comparable to ANY team that plays in the Las Vegas bowl, as they get 5th pick out of the Pac 10 at any given year).

Three straight 11 win seasons is impressive. But the losses that BYU suffered in that span have been against the best teams they played that year (Arizona, Boston College, TULSA, UCLA, TCU, and Utah). So I understand why BYU wants to dumb-down their schedule. How else could the cougars go undefeated?

BYU has only one undefeated season. Utah has 5.

I will be wearing blue today, purple on Tuesday, and red every other day until the Sugar Bowl.

Go MWC!

Yeah, someone else in the conference won a football NC.

TCU won one in 1938.

Didn't know that did you? Well my BYU friend, at the national level the kUUgs have become a Trivial Pursuit answer.

The question? Which of the following 'national powerhouses' in NCAA football have as many or more national championship in football as BYU?
a). Harvard
b). Princeton
c). Yale
d). Minnesota
e). Pittsburgh
f). Penn (not Penn State)
g). Army
h). Cal
i). Cornell
j). Colorado
k). All the above

Congrats to both BYU and TCU on their NCs in the distant past!

And to BYU at today's game, for heaven's sake please represent. Let's see a convincing victory, not another nail-biter blocked kick in the last seconds of the game against a middle of the PAC(10) team.

JDWGA | 7:32 a.m. Dec. 20, 2008


Embarassed?

Why don't you wait until your coogs get a BSC berth (if ever) before getting embarassed about how others handle theirs.

the point he was making is that BYU seems to think that their title in 84' adds prestige to their program. nobody evens knows that byu has a national title except for your own fans. no one in the nation brings up national titles from the 80's, not oklahoma, not texas, not alabama, not ohio state, not usc. they bring up what is going on now. and that is Utah, Boise State, and the rest of the non-BCS trying to break in, which Utah has done now twice.

Utah does play good teams in bowl games. UCLA last year was worse than the NAVY team we played. We beat #25 Georgia Tech in 2005 38-10. Beat Pittsburgh in the FIESTA bowl 35-7. We ARE playing #4 ALABAMA this year, the same team that was ranked #1 all season. So open your eyes and take off the blue goggles to realize that a national title in 1984 is doing nothing for your program now. all it is is history that you BYU fans like to point out, but reality is, you haven't done anything recent to call for the BCS' HEAD. start going undefeated. then talk.

Re:jd

Have to agree with the others. BYU has been the traditional powerhouse of the league going back to the WAC days and they continue to make a great contribution to MWC prestige. Utah is looking great in recent years with two BCS games in 4 years. And, TCU may well be the best of the bunch this year with the only difference being a loss to potential national champions OU and a narrow away loss to a good Ute team. So, get out your history book and cheer on the conference.

MWC is better than the Pac-10? I am an avid fan of Oregon State and of the Pac-10, and I would say that without a doubt the MWC is better than the Pac-10 this year. In my mind, wins and losses is the litmus test for determining the better conference, and the 6-1 record makes it pretty clear. I'll be pulling for the Pac-10 in bowl games and for 'Zona tonight. Go 'Cats!

Thank you Dick Homer for that obviously objective report on the Mountain West Conference. Who pays your salary, the Deseret News or the Moutain West Conference?

When all is said and done, the WAC will have a better bowl record than will the MWC. It happens this way every year.

The numbers show Harmon is not improving.

Sorry 10:01 poster - you only have four undefeated seasons (only one in the modern era - you know, within the past 50 years or so).

No way does Utah beat Alabama.

It's past time for the DN to add a "Report Violation" link with the opportunity for readers to red flag comments that have nothing to do with the story or are personal attacks on the writer or some other commenter.

It's burdensome to try and make sense of 50-100 comments when over half of them do not deserve the space they occupy.

JD,

Surely that #111 of 119 Strength of Schedule rating has something to do with Utah?

MWC is underrated, but all we can do is win games.