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Coaches Testify in Defense of Mountain West
By Clay Latimer, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Nov. 12, 1999
John Robinson knew strange things can -- and often do -- happen when Western Athletic Conference teams play football. But Nevada-Las Vegas' new coach wasn't prepared for the strangest discovery of all. Defense counts. In the wacky old WAC, point orgies and fuse-blown scoreboards were as common as clumsy cornerbacks. But the pointlessness of averaging four touchdowns a game -- but seven losses a year -- has created a new conservative era. In the first year of the Mountain West Conference -- composed of eight former WAC teams -- stopping an opponent has been more important than scoring on one. "I look around this league and say, 'Wow,"' said Robinson, whose Rebels play at Air Force on Saturday (noon, no TV). "Power ... defense has dominated in this conference." Brigham Young's 69-year-old LaVell Edwards has seen many trends come and go during his long run, but few have been as impressive as the latest. "Whether or not we're as good offensively as a league, I don't know," he said. "But I know this: We're considerably better defensively. No question. The league is so much better defensively than it's ever been." The numbers say so. In the latest NCAA Division I-A statistics, which includes 114 teams: * Three MWC teams rank among the nation's top 20 in total defense (BYU, seventh, San Diego State, 15th, Air Force, 20th). * Three rank among the top 30 in scoring defense (Air Force, 11th, Utah, 22nd, BYU, 27th). * Three rank among the top 30 in rushing defense (BYU, 13th, San Diego State, 18th, Air Force, 30th). Why the dramatic turnaround? "Everyone started looking at who was winning -- BYU, CSU," San Diego State coach Ted Tollner said. "They had excellent defenses. The ones who weren't winning were saying, 'Hey, we've got to shore up our defenses.' So the emphasis has gone dramatically to defense." When Ron McBride became Utah's coach in 1990, he moved his best athletes to defense and de-emphasized offense. At the time, it was his only hope. Jim Fassel -- his predecessor -- moved Utah's best defensive players to offense and paid for it with mounting losses. During Fassel's reign (1985-89), the Utes never ranked higher than 95th in the nation in total defense. In 1988 his quarterback, Scott Mitchell, set a major college record for total offense by one player in one game -- 625 yards. The Utes scored 49 points but lost 56-49 to Air Force, tying an NCAA record for most points scored in a game by a losing team. "You win with defense," said McBride, who has restored a winning tradition in Salt Lake City. Sonny Lubick followed McBride's successful blueprint at Colorado State. As Miami's defensive coordinator (1988-92), he knew all about the WAC's penchant for wild shootouts. How could he not? During a 1988 game between Wyoming and Air Force, the Cowboys took a 17-10 halftime lead, only to see the Falcons score 28 points in the third quarter to move ahead 38-17. But Wyoming outscored Air Force 31-7 in the fourth quarter to win 48-45. Word on that game quickly spread -- and redoubled Lubick's passion for old-fashioned X's and O's in Fort Collins. "We really wanted to have (defense) as the strength of our team, feeling that it would be a way for us to get to the top," he said. "Knowing in those days there were games of 45-44 and 44-42, I didn't know if we'd be good enough defensively to hold some of those people down." Defense enabled CSU to win three WAC titles and vault into the Top 25 national rankings. But every team plays tough "D" in the MWC, Lubick said. "It seems like our forte. Every team I look at on tape I say, 'Holy cow.' It's top to bottom. It's not just one or two players. It's going to be tough to pick an all-conference (defensive) team," he said. San Diego State set a standard for slack defense for years. But Tollner moved his studs to defense and his duds to the sideline and recruited the West Coast's best. Last year the Aztecs beat Fresno State 10-0 -- their first shutout since 1984. During a three-game stretch that included the Fresno game, the Aztecs didn't allow an offensive touchdown by BYU, and San Jose State didn't score until the final 13 seconds. "There's no question in my mind that there are more quality players," Tollner said. "The schemes have always been sound, in my opinion. They're just executed with better players now. "But there's still a gap as far as public perception. The only way you change that perception is when you play outside your conference. BYU and Air Force (beat) Washington, and Washington's going to the Rose Bowl. But those kind of things have to happen more than just occasionally." The league took a step backward last Saturday night in Salt Lake City when Wyoming beat Utah 43-29. McBride saw the Cowboys score 23 points in the fourth quarter, and he's still reeling.
"That's the first time it's happend since 1993," he said. "We were soft and vulnerable. It pains me to say that."
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