MWC Winners and Losers: Week 1

By Ryan Greene

Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009 | 10 p.m.

Each week during the 2009 football season, we'll take a look at the winners and losers from the weekend in the Mountain West Conference.

Winner: BYU

Well, slap me silly and call me captain obvious, here. Of course BYU is the biggest winner of the weekend, following a 14-13 upset of No. 3 Oklahoma.

You know, a lot of people around the country might not give the Cougars full credit here, saying that they beat the Sooners with reigning Heisman winner Sam Bradford spending the second half on the sideline in a sling with a bum throwing shoulder.

But, you know what? Oklahoma has All-Americans and future NFLers all over the place. Surely, if this team is so great, someone else could have gotten it done, right?

Instead of taking away from BYU's moment in the sun, how about some praise for senior quarterback Max Hall's skills in the clutch? I, for one, thought the guy was a bit overrated coming into this season after seeing how he operated against a blitz-happy defense last season in a lopsided loss to TCU. But the drive he put together that led to the game-winning touchdown pass to McKay Jacobson with 3:03 to play was beyond impressive. The highlight was easily a 23-yard pass to Dennis Pitta on fourth-and-23.

All told, Hall was 26-of-38 for 329 yards and a pair of scores. BYU is poised for a jump in the polls, and let the hype begin to build.

But don't forget — the road gets no easier for the Cougars, who host Florida State in two weeks in their home opener following a trip to Tulane.

Loser: New Mexico's defense

In their first game under Mike Locksley — a 41-6 loss to Texas A&M — New Mexico's defense was flat-out, well, flattened.

The Lobos surrendered 606 yards of total offense, including a painful 245 on the ground.

Meanwhile, former head coach Rocky Long's first test as the d-coordinator at San Diego State didn't go so hot, either. The Aztecs gave up 359 yards, but did pick off UCLA's Kevin Prince twice and kept SDSU in the game well into the second half.

Winner: Air Force

I don't care who you're playing. 72-0 is damn impressive. Especially for a team that runs the ball about 96.7 percent of the time.

And it was Nicholls State, for the record.

The Falcons scored eight of their 10 touchdowns on the ground and ran for 474 yards when it was all said and done, averaging 6.9 yards per attempt on 68 — yes, 68 — rushes.

Loser: FCS foes

Well, Nicholls State, for obvious reason.

Sacramento State found some success running the ball against UNLV, but still couldn't cross the goal line against a defense that bent and never broke.

Weber State lost 29-22 to Wyoming in Dave Christensen's debut as the Cowboys' sideline chief.

Winner: League reputation against BCS conference opponents

The Mountain West went 2-1 against the Big 12 this weekend, as Colorado State knocked off Colorado in Boulder for the first time in 23 years on Sunday evening. League teams were 2-2 in total against BCS conference opponents, which probably makes MWC commish Craig Thompson do backflips, even though his fight with the BCS is currently on hold.

TCU's upcoming trips to ACC country — against Clemson and Virginia — and BYU's aforementioned date with the Seminoles leave the league plenty of opportunity to further boost its credibility.

Loser: The BCS

So much for that Florida vs. Oklahoma title game rematch ...