Mountain West
1. Utah
It is hard to argue with 2 BCS bowl game victories, 3 conference championships and 8 bowl victories in 8 tries. One of four things that changed the course of this conference in the 00's was the hiring of Urban Meyer. This man raised the bar for the conference, even though he was in Salt Lake City for only two years. The two times the Utes failed to earn a bowl birth were when Ron McBride was still on the hill. The program is rising and will be a national force for years to come.
2. TCU
The second thing that changed the course of the Mountain West in the decade was admitting TCU to the conference. The Horned Frogs have pushed the rest of the conference to be better. The program is rising. Winning 2 conference championships and four bowl games--so far--has helped. Making it to a BCS bowl game, win or loose, helps the stature of the program and the conference.
3. BYU
I know Cougar fans well, and they would like to think that thier program deserves a better ranking than this. But this is for the entire decade. Half of the decade, including LaVell Edwards last season, Bronco Mendenhall's first season, and three of Gary Crowton's four seasons found the Cougars at .500 or lower. The program is back in the right direction now. Bronco Mendenhall's hiring was the third of four events that have propelled the conference to one of the best in the country. The Cougars have won three conference championships and three bowl games and have a streak of four consecutive 10+ seasons.
4. Colorado State
The Rams won three of the first four conference championships, with two bowl wins, and then the bottom fell out. Steve Fairchild appeared to have things turned around in 2008 adding another bowl win, but 2009 found CSU winless in conference play. The program is in free-fall right now.
5. Air Force
The end of the Fisher DeBerry era was the only blip in an otherwise good decade for Air Force. The Falcons did not win a championship, but did finish 2nd in 2007, and now have two bowl victories. The program is back on solid and steady footing.
6. New Mexico
Rocky Long had a good, solid, consistent winner until the 2008 season. Not sure what happened, but some close to the Lobo program said it had something to do with recruiting. Long kind of gave up. No conference championship, but the Lobos have five bowl appearances with one win. The program fell to where there was only one victory in 2009. The program is in fast free fall and needs a parachute. But at least the basketball Lobos are winning and that is all they really care about in Albuquerque.
7. Wyoming
This was a rough decade for Laramie. It is book ended by two bowl winning seasons, however, and Dave Christensen has a talented team to take the program into the next decade as a winner.
8. UNLV
Football is about the only program at UNLV that can not seem to find a footing. They did start the decade with a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arkansas, but then things floundered and not even the legendary John Robinson could keep the ship aright. We will see what Bobby Hauck can do where Robinson and Mike Sanford failed.
9. San Diego State
The Aztecs are the only MWC team without a winning season or bowl appearance in the decade. They have been as close as they were this past year before, just to return to a one or two win season the next year. If Brady Hoke can deliver at least five wins next year, it will be a break in recent trends.
Prior decades team of the decade:
The MWC began in 1999 when BYU, Colorado State and Utah tied for the championship.
Play of the decade
Moments like this are helping the US discover the MWC. The fourth event for the MWC that changed the course of the conference was, like it or not, the creation of the Mtn.
WAC
1. Boise State
Seven conference championships and perhaps the most memorable moment of the decade belong to the BSU Broncos. If only they would fire their color-blind groundskeeper! Lately, however, the team has had little competition from the rest of the conference. In WAC history, when one team began to dominate, someone else in the conference would rise up and challenge them. That has not happened to Boise State. Either the WAC will need to improve, or the Broncos will need to play somewhere else.
2. Hawaii
June Jones brought winning football back to the Islands. Then he left. The Warriors could be a good program to challenge the BSU Broncos, but alas, they have not only chased Jones away, but the Pro Bowl as well. Hawaii has a conference championship, three bowl victories out of six appearances including a loss in the Sugar Bowl. The Hawaii Program has been in slow decline since Jones left.
3. Nevada
Former Head Coach Chris Ault resumed his duties at Nevada in 2004 and the second half of the decade was nothing but successful for the Wolfpack. They earned a share of the conference championship in 2005, and a bowl victory that season. They now have a streak of 5 consecutive winning seasons and bowl appearances. They are now as steady as any WAC program outside of Boise.
4. Louisiana Tech
The Bulldogs joined the WAC in 2001 and won the championship in that season. Most of the decade, however, the team from Reston, LA has been just on the cusp of a winning season. In addition to the 2001 championship, the Bulldogs earned a trip to the Independence Bowl in 2008. Expect more of the same from them.
5. Fresno State
Fresno State has to be considered the underachiever of all three conferences that this site covers. The Bulldogs begin every season in the BCS Buster conversation, but have not won a conference championship since 1999...which is why they are not ranked higher. But, they do have nine bowl appearances to their credit and they won four of them. At least they are consistent.
6. San Jose State
Considering that SJSU plays in the shadow of a pair of PAC-10 programs and in aging facilities, they still have four winning seasons and a bowl game to thier credit in the last decade. Considering that in this day of 30-plus bowls, the fact that they have been passed over for the post season three times does not speak well of fan support in the south-bay area. But they have survived where other bay-area colleges like Pacific and Santa Clara have dropped football.
7. Idaho
The Vandals went bowling and won perhaps the most exciting bowl game of 2009. Otherwise, they spend the decade near the bottom of the conference standings. The success of last season brought their average number of wins per season above three, and puts them ahead of the other two programs that joined in 2005. We will see if that can continue.
8. New Mexico State
In the past five years, NMSU have won five more games than the other Aggies, and that is good enough to avoid last place. Woot, Woot! In this case, being a steady program is not a good thing. Duane Walker is a good coach, and he will last here until his program improves.
9. Utah State
By the end of the 2008 season, the USU Aggies were as close to being demoted to the FCS as any program in the entire FBS. Perhaps no other program in the United States has any more reason to be excited about a four-win program than they do in Logan. Gary Anderson has even had some moderate recruiting success in getting Jordan HS QB Alex Hart to commit before Colorado could. Perhaps there is reason for hope in Logan. The program is rising because you can only go up from where they have been.
Prior decades football team of the decade:
1990's--BYU (Now in the MWC)
1980's--BYU (Now in the MWC)
1970's--Arizona State (Now in the PAC-10)
1960's--Wyoming (Now in the MWC)
Play of the Decade
We can not even pretend that any event from the WAC in the past ten years matches this one.
Big Sky Conference
1. Montana--10 outright or shared conference championships, 10 NCAA playoff appearances, 5 FCS championship game appearances and 1 NCAA championship. It was a decade of dominance by the Grizzlies. And Montana has dominated the conference after Nevada, Idaho and Boise State took their programs to the higher division, current conference championship streak is 12 with 14 out of the last 15. Three head coaches hired by floundering FBS football programs in the decade, but the magic remained in Missoula. Perhaps Bobby Hauck will actually succeed where Joe Glenn and Mick Dennehy did not.
2. Montana State--3 Conference co-championships and 3 NCAA playoff appearances. A Stadium expansion is underway. If they can't get 25,000 fans at games in Bozeman, at least closing off the ends of the stadium will help with the nasty and cold Gallatin Valley winds. The decade had an ominous beginning in Bozeman with a winless season in 2000. By 2002, the Boze-cats won their first of three conference championships and have been consistent winners afterwards.
3. Eastern Washington--2 Conference co-championships and 4 NCAA playoff appearances. Perhaps the most consistent program outside of Missoula in the Big Sky conference with only one sub-.500 season the entire decade. Too bad that Paul Wulff has not been able to take that level of consistency with him to Pullman.
4. Weber State--1 Conference co-championship and 2 NCAA playoff appearances. Program rising, but may have peaked in 2008. The first half of the decade had a couple of promising seasons, but no playoffs. Then came the disastrous 1-10 season in 2004. This brought Ron McBride back to coaching in 2005 and he put the Cats in the playoffs in 2008 and 2009.
5. Northern Arizona--2 NCAA playoff appearances mid-decade marked ten years with modest success. With rumors that the only football in Flagstaff after the 2009 season would be the Arizona Cardinals training camp, the Lumberjacks have found a way to put it behind them and win with some very exciting football that brough back memories of the Big Sky Conference of the 80s. Jerome Souers is the dean of coaches in the Big Sky conference.
6. Portland State--1 NCAA playoff appearance. New head coach, Nigel Burton, will kick off the new decade trying to succeed where former NFL head coach Gerry Glanville could not. Maybe the run and shoot will be gone from Portland as well. When Tim Walsh was the head coach, the explosive offense could consistently score more points than the defense would allow. Once Glanville took over, the defense went south and winning games was hard to come by. You don't win a lot of games when 60+ points is not good enough. This is why PSU hired a defensive-minded coach.
7. Idaho State--1 conference co-championship but did not appear in the playoffs in the last decade, even in the championship season. That championship in 2001 was shared with Eastern Washington and Montana who did go to the playoffs that year. At the beginning of the decade, the Bengals were winning just like they were in the 1970s. Near the end of the decade, they forgot how and couldn't even win games that were gifted to them.
8. Sacramento State--Did not win the conference or make the NCAA playoffs in the decade. At this level of football, there are no beauty-contest bowls. They dream of bigger things in Sacramento, like a move up to the Bowl Subdivision, but have to figure out how to succeed at this level first.
9. Northern Colorado--Joined the conference in 2006 to replace CSU-Northridge after that school dropped football. 2009 was the first time they won more than one conference game. The program was a consistent playoff program at Divsion II, but have not found that kind of success, yet, in the FCS.
Prior Decades Team of the Decade:
1990s--Montana
1980s--Idaho (Now in the WAC)
1970s--Boise State (Now in the WAC)
1960s--Montana State
Fun Video Link because it is really difficult to find good Big Sky video. If anyone has a link to the Tim Toone put return in the snow against Northern Arizona, let me know. Also, video from the 73-68 game in Portland would be nice as well. Or Montana's comeback against South Dakota State in the playoffs would be great as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment