Columnist Steve Guiremand: MWC off to horrible start

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. His Around Campus column runs on Fridays during football season. Reach him at 259-2324 or steveg@lasvegassun.com.

For a conference whose goal is to become part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), the Mountain West Conference sure has a not-so-funny way of showing it.

There's no better way to garner national respect than by winning head-to-head matchups against teams from BCS conferences. But the Mountain West, which was a dismal 2-18 against BCS conference teams last year, stumbled badly out of the gate last week.

Among those making the conference's dishonor roll:

Four games against BCS conference schools. Four embarrassing losses.

"Our pride has been damaged," UNLV head coach John Robinson admitted.

"There's no denying that it hurts the image," Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick said. "There's no sense trying to sugarcoat it."

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson was not quite ready to throw in the towel, however.

"We've still got some opportunities in front of us," Thompson said. "We are what we are. ... We need to win some of these games. ... I'm not going to sit back and say, 'Oh boy, the sky is falling.' "

Still, this is a crucial week for Mountain West pride. Six teams, including Wyoming, which lost to Texas A&M Thursday night in Laramie, play BCS conference schools this weekend.

UNLV can make the biggest statement with an upset of defending Big Ten champ Northwestern tonight at Sam Boyd Stadium. Utah (at Oregon), New Mexico (at Texas Tech), San Diego State (at Arizona State) and BYU (at Cal) all play road games against BCS conference foes. Beating the Nevada-Renos and Furmans of the world may be good for a team's won-loss record, but it does little for conference respectability. It's time for Mountain West teams to walk the walk. Once around the MWC

Notes and quotes