This is Brigham Young’s conference. The other eight schools only live in the Mountain West.
The Cougars have rendered the MWC football race devoid of any drama while defeating six league opponents by an average of nearly 30 points.
Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson and New Mexico coach Rocky Long said Tuesday on the MWC’s weekly conference call that BYU (8-2, 6-0) is playing as well as any team in the country.
The season was going well for Wyoming until BYU decided to impress pollsters with a 55-7 rout of the Cowboys last week.
“Bronco (Mendenhall) has done a great job of rebuilding that team and putting the swagger back in BYU,” Wyoming coach Joe Glenn said of the Cougars’ coach. “They are starting to crush people like that BYU of old.”
But Mendenhall can’t compare his team to Utah’s perfect season in 2004 because of BYU’s early losses to Arizona (16-13) and Boston College (30-23 in overtime).
“I don’t think the program would be where it is now without those two close losses,” Mendenhall said.
The big question now for Mendenhall is to decide whether he wants MWC commissioner Craig Thompson to present the league’s championship trophy Saturday if the Cougars defeat visiting New Mexico (5-5, 3-3).
In past seasons when the title was clinched a week early, the winning school delayed the presentation until the final game. That meant handing the trophy in 2002 to tearful Colorado State players who were just shocked 36-33 by Nevada-Las Vegas in the regular-season finale.
Mendenhall said Tuesday he hadn’t thought about it yet, and Thompson said it’s an institutional decision.
Bowl picture
BYU, which is No. 25 in the BCS standings, likely is bound for the Las Vegas Bowl. TCU (7-2, 3-2) has three MWC games left and most likely will stay home for the Fort Worth Bowl.
That leaves Utah (6-4, 4-2) contending for the MWC’s remaining bowl games in Albuquerque and San Diego.
Wyoming (5-6, 4-3) wraps up Saturday at UNLV. New Mexico finishes at home against San Diego State (2-7, 2-3) after playing BYU. Air Force (4-5, 3-2) hosts Utah on Saturday, then closes with UNLV (1-9, 0-6) and TCU.
Thompson said a 6-6 team can’t be selected for a bowl until 7-5 or better teams are locked in.
Familiar faces
TCU, which hosts San Diego State on Saturday, is familiar to new Aztecs coach Chuck Long. The Horned Frogs upset Oklahoma in 2005 when Long was the Sooners’ offensive coordinator.
New Mexico and Mendenhall, a former Lobos defensive coordinator, also meet again Saturday.
“He’s one of the best defensive minds I’ve ever been around,” Mendenhall said of the Lobos’ Long. “I learned a lot about how to run a program from him.”
Staff writer Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
