Mountain West Conference 2009 Power Rankings – Week Five

The second tier teams in the Mountain West Conference had a terrible weekend: Air Force fell on the road for the seventh straight time, UNLV lost for the fifth straight time to Nevada, and Colorado State fell on the road to perennial doormat Idaho. 

TCU, BYU, and Utah continue to be the big three teams in the conference, without another team rising in the conference this season to compete for the Mountain West Conference title. 

This weekend is the first full schedule of Mountain West Conference games.  The difference between the upper-level teams and the lower-level teams will really start show after this weekend.

Here are the Week Five power rankings.

1) TCU — The Horned Frogs started slow, but finished off SMU easily. For all of the hype the defense is receiving—and rightfully so—the offense is also playing well. TCU is ranked 27th in total offense, and 21st in scoring offense. TCU is very good at controlling the ball, with just six turnovers the entire season. 

TCU’s defense shouldn’t have any trouble containing the Air Force option. The interesting part will be to see if TCU’s defense will continue to avoid turnovers against a ball-hawking Falcon defense.

Week Six Schedule: TCU @ Air Force

2) BYU — The defense played well at home against Utah State. The Cougar defense held the 9th-ranked Aggie defense to just 322 total yards of offense (the majority of those yards coming when the game was out of hand), with just 106 yards on the ground. The offense continues to struggle with ball control. BYU is ranked 115th in turnovers lost.

This weekend should help both the offense and defense gain confidence as BYU heads to UNLV. The Rebels are coming off an embarrassing performance in which they gave up 773 yards of total offense to a previously winless Nevada team. Harvey should be licking his chops just thinking about going against UNLV.

Week Six Schedule: BYU @ UNLV

3) Utah — The bye week came at the right time for Utes. Utah needed to reformulate their offense after losing Matt Asiata for the season. The Utah defense has looked dominating at times this season, but nothing like the shutdown defense of last season.  Terrance Cain will need to take on more of the offense for the rest of the season. 

This week will be the true coming out party for backup running back Eddie Wide. Unlike the Louisville game, Colorado State will be prepared for Wide and the Asiata-less Utes.  The Utes, though, have had an entire week to plan for Colorado State, and have seen the Rams lose twice in a row to BYU, and then to Idaho. Utah should get the win.

Week Six Schedule: Utah @ Colorado State

4) Air Force — Another heartbreaking loss to Navy for Air Force. For the past few seasons, it only appeared Air Force would reclaim the Commander and Chief Trophy. Once again, the Midshipmen were too much for the Falcons to handle. Air Force managed just three conversions on third down. The defense for the Falcons was excellent, but couldn’t hand the Falcons a big win.

Now the Falcons go from playing a huge rivalry game to taking on the best team in the conference at home. The Falcons defense will have to play another excellent game to even give their offense a chance to upset the Horned Frogs.

Week Six Schedule: TCU @ Air Force

5) Colorado State — Idaho only has a single loss; however, losing to Idaho was embarrassing for the Rams. Colorado State has not played up to their potential since they fell on their face in the first quarter against BYU. Colorado State is a much better team than the team that lost to Idaho over the weekend. 

Colorado State could really take a huge step forward with a win over Utah this weekend. The Rams will have the first crack at taking on the Utes without Matt Asiata, but they will have to elevate their game in order to win.

Week Six Schedule: Utah @ Colorado State

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