Weekly Gridiron Notes

Seven of eight teams in action this week.

Utah's Alex Smith; the Utes are No. 10 in this week's coahes poll.
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Oct. 11, 2004

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Week 7 Preview
Three league games and one non-conference contest are on tap as seven of the eight MWC teams will be in action in Week Seven. Upstart UNLV, winners of its last two games, hosts New Mexico Saturday on ESPN+Plus. The Lobos look to break a two-game losing skid. Colorado State travels to San Diego State for an ABC telecast Saturday afternoon. Both teams hope to rebound after dropping their respective league openers. Wyoming will try to extend its win streak to four games as it faces BYU in Provo.

In the lone non-conference match-up of the week, #10 Utah hosts Atlantic Coast Conference foe North Carolina in the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the football field.

Week 6 Wrap
UNLV won for the second straight time in Provo, 24-20, Friday night. Wyoming captured its first win in an MWC opener since 1999 with a 20-10 victory over San Diego State. Air Force held off a second-half comeback by New Mexico and won 28-23. The Falcons led 21-0 at the half, but the Lobos got back in the game in part to two blocked punts for touchdowns.

Let's Talk About Rankings
Utah climbed to #10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and remained #11 in this week's AP Poll. The Utes' ranking is the highest for a Mountain West team since Dec. 2, 2001 when BYU was 8th in the Coaches Poll. Earlier that season, the Cougars had the MWC's highest ranking ever at 7th in the Nov. 25 Coaches Poll. Teams from the Mountain West Conference are 14-13 all-time when taking a national Top 25 ranking into a non-conference game. Conversely, MWC teams are 7-31 vs. ranked non-conference opponents.

Inside the Numbers

90% - Utah head coach Urban Meyer's winning percentage against automatic qualifying BCS opponents. In nine career games, Meyer is 9-1 against BCS teams. The win over Texas A&M in the season opener avenged his only loss to a BCS school. Meyer is 4-1 against the BCS as Utah's head coach.

67 - The number of pass attempts by BYU QB John Beck against UNLV last Friday. The 67 passes are new BYU and Mountain West Conference records. The previous MWC record was 60 by San Diego State's Adam Hall in 2002, while Jim McMahon held the previous BYU mark with 65 against Colorado State in 1981. Beck also set a LaVell Edwards Stadium record, previously held by Kevin Feterik (59 vs. Washington, 1999).

14 - The current number of undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA in 2004. Utah is the highest-ranked of the five non-automatic qualifying BCS teams without a loss (Boise State, Louisville, Navy, Southern Miss.).

13 - The total number of pass breakups by New Mexico CB Brandon Payne. He leads both the Mountain West and NCAA in pass breakups this season. He is one deflection shy of Eric Jack's single-season school record of 14 set in 1993.

9 - Utah's current win streak that ranks third nationally (Boise State-16, Southern California-14). The Utes won their final four games in 2003 and are 5-0 this season. The Utes' last loss was Oct. 25, 2003 against New Mexico, 47-35.

8 - The Utes' consecutive road or neutral site win streak that started on Sept. 27, 2003 at Colorado State.

3 - The number of times the Cowboy defense has shutout an opponent in a half this season. Wyoming shutout Appalachian State in the first half, while holding both Louisiana-Monroe and San Diego State scoreless in the second half.

2 - The number of punts New Mexico blocked and returned for touchdowns at Air Force Saturday. Redshirt freshmen Cody Kase and Martelius Epps both blocked punts that were returned for touchdowns (by true freshman Tyson Ditmore and junior Joe Selander, respectively) by the Lobos. It was the fourth time in the past 12 games New Mexico has scored a TD off a blocked punt. The Lobos had similar plays last year in wins at San Diego State and Utah. The last three blocks have all been recorded by freshmen (Jonathan Harrell vs. Utah).

2 - Colorado State wide receiver David Anderson's national ranking in receiving yards per game (133.00). The MWC is one of three conferences (Big Ten, Pac 10) with at least two players ranked in the top 10. BYU's Todd Watkins is ninth with 109.17 yards per game.

O - The amount of points Wyoming's defense has allowed in the third quarter this season.

Wins Against Automatic Qualifying BCS Conferences
With five wins vs. automatic qualifying BCS conference teams, the MWC is tied for fifth among the 11 Divsion I-A leagues in non-conference wins against BCS opponents.

Big Ten 7
Conference USA 7
ACC 6
Big XII 6
MWC 5
Big East 5
Pac-10 4
MAC 3
WAC 3
SEC 2
Sun Belt 1

Home and Road Record Comparisons
Five of eight MWC teams have posted perfect home records, but no MWC team has gone unbeaten at home in league play since New Mexico accomplished the feat in 2002. Colorado State is the only MWC team to win four conference games at home in a season (2000). The Rams lead the MWC with identical .722 win percentages at home (13-5) and on the road (13-5) in league play. Four of eight MWC teams have posted perfect road records since 2001, with Utah holding the longest road win streak in MWC history with its current six straight victories (BYU won five in a row from 2000-2001 and Colorado State won five straight from 2001-03).

BYU's Matt Payne is Mountain West's All-Time Field Goal Leader, CSU's Babcock Close Behind
BYU senior Matt Payne is the MWC's all-time leader in field goals with 49 in his career. Colorado State's Jeff Babcock is currently second on the list with 44.

UNLV's Robinson to Retire at the End of Season
UNLV football head coach John Robinson announced Sept. 26 that he will retire at the end of the 2004 season. Robinson, who is the most successful bowl-game coach in college football history with a winning percentage of .889 (8-1), currently sits as the 18th-winningest active coach in Division I-A at .641 (130-72-4). Robinson had another year remaining on his contract but cited family health issues, along with the Rebels' unexpected 0-4 start to the season, as reasons for his decision.