Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Is this the rise of the Mountain West?

Beyond the Sun

It was moments after Utah’s 25-23 victory against Michigan at the Big House, and Brian Johnson, the Utes’ quarterback, was standing in the Wolverines’ end zone when a local reporter approached. You could tell he was local because his notebook was blue with maize stripes, like the Wolverines’ helmets — and you could tell because this was the question he asked:

“So how does Michigan’s defense compare to the ones you face in the WAC?”

Johnson shook his head.

“Nobody knows us, still,” he told the Salt Lake Tribune reporter who overheard the exchange.

Maybe at long last you can get The Mtn. on satellite back there. But apparently, not everybody is watching.

The Mountain West may believe having its own TV network, posting a 4-1 record in minor bowl games and reminding people that Brian Urlacher once played at New Mexico is the shortest path to national credibility.

But what it really needs is a few more wins like Utah’s at Michigan.

“We knew we had one chance to do this,” said Zane Beadles, a Utah offensive lineman.

Actually, that’s not quite true. Maybe it was for Beadles and the current Utes, who on Saturday will host a team at the other end of the tradition spectrum. If you were to rank college football teams in the manner of traditional holidays, Michigan would be the Fourth of July. UNLV, which visits Utah this weekend, would be Arbor Day. They don’t close the New York Stock Exchange on Arbor Day.

Six years ago a Utah team that finished 5-6 lost 10-7 in Ann Arbor. Michigan went 10-3 that season and beat Florida in the Outback Bowl.

But close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and drive-in movies — and the sports book, if you bet the underdog and got a ton of points.

Utah was getting only 3 1/2 points against Michigan. It was an upset, but only a minor one. Yet, the average college football fan will view it as a major upset, because the average college football fan — not to mention the average college football reporter — thinks Utah still plays in the WAC.

And teams from the WAC don’t beat teams like Michigan at home. Only Ohio State and Appalachian State do that.

If you saw the game, you know Utah was the dominant team, yet it played well for only a half, was penalized more often than Redd Foxx at income tax time and should have won by at least two touchdowns.

But when people east of the Mississippi aren’t familiar with your conference affiliation, you don’t throw wins against Michigan back like they were small fish or rubber boots. In that case, 25-23 will suffice every time. Have it mounted and nail it on the wall.

“This is right up there with the Louisville win,” Johnson said, alluding to Utah’s 44-35 victory last year.

Really? Beating Louisville is comparable to beating Michigan?

First Appalachian State, now a comparison with Louisville. It can be assumed Bo Schembechler is no longer resting in peace.

Louisville plays in a stadium named for a pizza parlor. Michigan plays in the Big House. With all due respect to the Cardinals football team, tradition should count for something.

My prediction is that in a couple of years, when Brian Johnson is trying to impress somebody, he’s gonna mention beating Michigan first. Because in addition to the long ball, chicks dig upsets over proven national powers.

Chicks would have loved the Mountain West last year, when Air Force beat Notre Dame, BYU and Utah beat UCLA and Wyoming beat Virginia. OK, maybe Virginia isn’t a proven national power. But it did win nine games and play in the Gator Bowl.

There will be similar opportunities for other Mountain West teams if they can win a few of these matchups — San Diego State-Notre Dame, TCU-Oklahoma, Wyoming-Tennessee and UNLV-Arizona State. Colorado State gets another shot at Cal, which the hapless Rams almost beat last year. New Mexico plays Texas A&M, which sounded like an intriguing matchup until the Aggies lost to Arkansas State at home last week. Now it’s not so intriguing.

This could be a strange year in the Mountain West. From top to bottom, it’s not nearly as good as last year. In fact, there’s probably a major drop in talent from the top three teams to the bottom six. Like a 23-point drop, the margin by which TCU, probably the third-best team heading into the season, beat New Mexico, arguably the fourth, on Saturday.

And yet, it could turn out to be the best year ever for the 10-year-old league in terms of credibility and recognition. In most years, if the Mountain West team wins the Las Vegas Bowl, there’s a good chance it sneaks into the Top 25 at season’s end after a bunch of better-known teams with five losses lose their bowl games.

But it’s only the second week of the season, and BYU and Utah already find themselves among the nationally ranked instead of Others Receiving Votes. A lot of experts have the Cougars and Utes on their list of possible Bowl Championship Series crashers.

If that happens, the Mountain West will be back in the situation it was in 2004 when Alex Smith led Utah to a 35-7 rout against Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl — a situation, it can be argued, on which the MWC didn’t exactly capitalize.

Two things about playing college football in the Mountain time zone — as hard as it is to impress the non-BCS media, it’s not nearly as difficult as keeping your coach when one of those BCS schools asks permission to speak with him.

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