Bowl picture clearing up for MWC

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2002 | 1:36 a.m.

While the bowl picture has cleared up slightly for the Mountain West Conference, it's far from decided.

The only certainties entering this weekend is that Utah, Wyoming and San Diego State will not be playing in the postseason and Colorado and Air Force will.

The league has four automatic bowl bids and MWC front-runner Colorado State 8-2, 4 (0)- has already locked up one along with Air Force 7-3, 3 (2)-. New Mexico 5-5, 3 (1)-, Brigham Young 5-5, 2 (3)- and Nevada-Las Vegas 4-6, 2 (3)- are slugging it out for the others.

The picture will clear up a little more Saturday when New Mexico visits BYU.

"We have to win one of our next two and they have to win two of their next three," Brigham Young coach Gary Crowton said Wednesday.

Because they played a 13-game schedule, the Lobos need seven wins to qualify for a bowl. The Cougars need just to win Saturday or next week at Utah 3-6, 1 (4)- to avoid missing a bowl game.

"Right now they're in good position just as we are as far as the position of getting into the bowl," Crowton said. "Both teams need to continue to win to do that."

New Mexico has Colorado State next week, so getting one of the two wins the Lobos need out of the way Saturday could be critical.

"I think everyone is trying to look forward toward what we need to accomplish to have a successful season," New Mexico quarterback Casey Kelly said. "This game against BYU is just one more that means a lot but it's basically setting up things down the road."

New Mexico has come up just short on bowl eligibility the last two seasons. It could happen again if they don't find a way to snap a 31-year losing streak at Provo.

"That streak has to end some time and it would be great if it was this week," New Mexico coach Rocky Long said.

UNLV is much more of a longshot to clinch a bowl berth, especially after losing last week at Utah 28-17. The Runnin' Rebels are at home against Air Force on Saturday and close the regular season at Colorado State on Nov. 30. UNLV would need to sweep the top two teams in the league to qualify for a bowl.

The MWC has agreements with the four bowls. The league champion goes to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis to play the Conference USA champion. The Las Vegas Bowl picks second from the MWC, followed by the inaugural San Francisco Bowl and the Seattle Bowl.

If Colorado State and Air Force win out, the Rams will be heading to the Liberty Bowl and the Falcons would be the likely pick for the Las Vegas Bowl against a Pac-10 team.

The San Francisco Bowl and Seattle Bowl would have the final picks among the Cougars, Lobos or Rebels, if they qualify.

The list of possibilities was a little longer two weeks ago. After opening the conference season 3-0, San Diego State was among the league contenders for bowls but that changed quickly with consecutive losses at Brigham Young and at New Mexico on Saturday. The two losses, combined with the Aztecs' 0-5 start, knocked San Diego State from contention.

About the most the Aztecs can hope for is to put a blemish on Colorado State's perfect league record on Saturday and close the season with a win at Hawaii on Dec. 7.

Utah and Wyoming don't even get a chance to play spoiler this week. The schools meet in a game that has no bowl implications.

MWC NOTES:@ If BYU, New Mexico and UNLV all collapse, the league's streak of having at least four teams finish 6-6 or better will end. In the three seasons of MWC, that's never happened. ... BYU's offense appears to be back with the emergence of freshman quarterback Matt Berry. Berry has passed for 640 yards and five touchdowns in wins over San Diego State and Wyoming. The Cougars had scored a combined 22 points in their previous three games, all losses. ... Colorado State is 21-4 under coach Sonny Lubick in November. "In November, we've always been in position to play for something, the championship or a bowl game," Lubick said. "I really think that makes a difference. If you don't have that, it's hard to keep your team focused." ... Air Force's 49-30 win over Army last week snapped a three-game losing streak, but the Falcons' two-game MWC skid is still alive. ... There will be no sleeping in for San Diego State fans who want to watch the Aztecs on Saturday. Because of television, the game will start at 9 a.m. PST.