Mountain West off to strong start in football

BYU notched one of the biggest victories in the history of the Mountain West Conference last Saturday night, knocking off then-No. 3 Oklahoma, 14-13.

The Cougars did it, in part, according to coach Bronco Mendenhall, by not trying to treat the game like it was larger than life.

“I think the tendency for most of us any time there’s a huge opportunity is to press and feel like we have to be different than what actually has taken us to the chance to get the opportunity,” Mendenhall said. “One of the things that I told our team is we were selected for that game based on how we had played over the previous couple of years. It wasn’t a random lottery pick that was us and Oklahoma. … So I made them acknowledge, at least to themselves, that they were deserving to be in the game and then, they were certainly deserving to play in a manner that would give us our best chance. And that wouldn’t be by being anyone else than ourselves. So just because the opportunity was large, the stage was large, the exposure was large doesn’t mean that we had to be anyone different than who we have been and who we intend to be in the future.”

Schematically, Mendenhall acknowledged he used more blitzes to try to slow down the Sooners' potent offense.

“We’d seen a lot of teams that simply played zone coverage and thought they could out-execute Oklahoma,” Mendenhall said. “I didn’t believe that was possible, nor did Jaime Hill, our (defensive) coordinator. And so to his credit and our defensive kids’ credit, there were increased risks. However, it was within things we’d practiced for a specific purpose, for a specific protection and against certain formations.”

“I thought Bronco did a tremendous job of preparing his team for that game,” Wyoming coach Dave Christensen said. “Their kids played extremely hard, and it’s a tribute to the Mountain West Conference, and it just keeps making the case stronger and stronger that we belong.”

Blast off

Could BYU’s victory serve as a launching pad for a BCS-busting season?

A year ago, Utah opened its season with a victory at Michigan. Though the Wolverines went on to have a disastrous season, beating a traditional power on the road was provided a confidence-inspiring start for the Utes.

“That can give you a spark for the rest of the season … certainly it gets you in the right frame of mind and gets your guys believing,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Hold the preseason polls

Count Whittingham and Mendenhall among those who don’t like preseason polls in college football.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to rank teams prior to the fourth or fifth week of the season,” Whittingham said.

“I really don’t even think there should be a poll until about week six or seven,” Mendenhall said. “We don’t know how good a team we currently have, nor does anyone else.”

Replacing ‘The Tank’

UNLV coach Mike Sanford is planning to use a committee of running backs this season to replace Frank “The Tank” Summers.

But 5-foot-8, 200-pound junior Channing Trotter has established himself as the starter. Trotter rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries in the Rebels’ 38-3 victory over Sacramento State last Saturday.

“Very quick, very tough, very good runner,” Sanford said.

Lobos need to flush opener

New Mexico coach Mike Locksley said he has a “48-hour rule,” meaning his players can take Saturday and Sunday to enjoy a victory or get a loss out of their systems.

They had a lot to flush out from their opener.

Texas A&M piled up 606 yards and drubbed the Lobos, 41-6. New Mexico managed just 21 rushing yards, and quarterback Donovan Porterie was sacked five times.

Locksley said there were some positives that came from the game, including that the Lobos “played good football in spurts.”

MWC the girl next door?

TCU coach Gary Patterson had perhaps the day’s best analogy for the increased respect and national attention the MWC has garnered of late.

“You have to first get people to notice you,” he said. “It’s like the girl next door. You date everybody else because she’s just next door. You don’t pay any attention. One day she’s walking out to the car with some other guy, and you say, ‘Wow, she’s pretty.’ And you already knew she was nice. You already knew she was a quality gal, but you didn’t notice her. Now it’s kind of where we’re at. We’re finally walking out the door with somebody else, and people are taking notice. Now what we’ve got to do is keep moving forward.”