Hello, Brigham Young. Goodbye, Mountain West.
Goodbye, BCS. Goodbye, $14 million paycheck. Goodbye, national adoration for the little conference that made good.
It all went up in the purple haze that became of Texas Christian after BYU’s 31-17 thrashing Thursday night in Fort Worth, Texas. To get into one of the five multimillion dollar BCS bowls, a non-BCS conference, such as the Mountain West, needs all the planets aligned right, let alone its offensive linemen, which TCU didn’t do.
The loss drop-kicked the Horned Frogs from 15th to out of the USA Today coaches poll, one of two used in the BCS rankings formula. Considering it must make the top 12 of the BCS rankings by year’s end or the top 16 and ahead of one of the six BCS conference champions, TCU must drop its sights from $14 million to a swell MWC championship ring.
Too bad. A BCS bowl is there for the taking. Atlantic Coast Conference stock is dropping like Larry Coker supporters. Georgia Tech’s 38-27 win at then-No. 11 Virginia Tech left the top-ranked ACC team in the USA Today poll as No. 15 Clemson.
If TCU had won Thursday, it would not have been a surprise if it stood ahead of the top ACC team today.
The only good coming out of Fort Worth was the obvious evidence that BYU is back. Was it only two years ago that Utah thrashed BYU, 52-21, with the same intensity Boise State pummeled Utah, 36-3, on the same field Saturday? It was, and Bronco Mendenhall has made the Cougars the new team to beat in the MWC.
Unfortunately for the Mountain West, they’ll get to show off their conference rings in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Could Boise …?
Don’t count on it. The coaches moved the Broncos up only one spot to 21st and they stayed 22nd in the Harris poll, the other poll in the BCS formula. ACC teams ahead of them in the coaches poll are No. 15 Clemson, No. 16 Florida State, No. 18 Virginia Tech and No. 20 Georgia Tech.
“Those teams will move up faster,” said Jerry Palm, BCS analyst for collegebcs.com. “If Boise didn’t move up this week, I don’t know what will move them up.”
Karl Benson, commissioner of Boise State’s Englewood-based Western Athletic Conference, remains optimistic but, while Boise is 13th in one computer ranking, he said, “That was an underdog team (Saturday), on the road and they absolutely dominated the University of Utah. I don’t understand how the voters can’t recognize that as significant.”
More Smith woes
Not to beat a dead horse – after all, John L. Smith was still breathing, although barely, Saturday night – but Michigan State’s embattled coach is morphing into Bobby Williams, his predecessor who got fired four years ago.
Following a 49-3 loss to Michigan, Williams said he didn’t know what to do with his 3-6 team. Athletic director Ron Mason fired him two days later. Saturday, after a 23-20 loss to Big Ten bottom feeder Illinois, on homecoming, Smith said, “The way we practiced is what you saw. I can’t get them to go and, apparently, I don’t have the answer.”
Smith is 21-20 and has lost eight of his past 12. Williams finished 16-17. Mason refused to address questions about Smith after the game.
O, is Georgia in trouble
Do you remember a more overrated 5-0 team than Georgia, ranked 10th in the AP? Its two freshmen quarterbacks, Joe Cox and Matthew Stafford, were a combined 11-of-28 for 115 yards in Georgia’s miserable 14-9 win over anemic Mississippi. It could have been better but they were running for their lives and Bulldogs receivers can’t catch the ball.
A week ago, Cox’s hot fourth quarter rescued the Bulldogs after Stafford, higher touted than ex-Dawgs star David Greene ever was, went only 8-of-16 for 76 yards against Colorado. Georgia has won its past two games by a total of six points over two schools that are a combined 1-9.
Senior quarterback Joe Tereshinski, who has missed the past two weeks with an ankle injury, is due back at practice today. Said Cox, “He can have a calming influence.”
Flying high against Coker
It was sad irony in Miami, where three planes flew above the Orange Bowl before the Houston-Miami game with banners calling for Coker’s head. But the Hurricanes are losing and only a few thousand fans were in the stands at the time. Miami won, 14-13.
Footnotes
Memphis coach Tommy West fired defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn after a 35-20 loss to East Carolina and took over the responsibility. Tennessee rolled up 566 yards and won, 41-7. … Stanford is battling Duke for the worst team in a BCS conference. At halftime of its 31-0 loss at UCLA, the Cardinal had been outgained 220-69. Ahead only 7-0, UCLA was booed off the field. … Don’t expect a change atop the polls soon. Ohio State’s next six opponents are Bowling Green, Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern. … In his past two games, Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter is 22-of-53 for 210 yards with five interceptions and two touchdowns. Last year’s pass efficiency champion is ranked 50th.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
