MWC Weekly Gridiron Release

Utah can win the MWC title outright with a victory this weekend at BYU.

Utah/BYU will be the "Mountain West Game of the Week" on ESPN+Plus.
Football Home HEADLINES Three MWC Football Student-Athletes Named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans Mountain West Conference Football Press Release Week No. 13 Mountain West Conference Reprimands BYU Assistant Football Coach and Student-Athlete RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college football action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

Nov. 17, 2003

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Week 13 is the last full slate of action in the Mountain West, as six of the eight teams conclude their regular-seasons this weekend. Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and Utah finish their regular-seasons on Saturday.

ALL-CONFERENCE

The 2003 MWC all-conference team will be announced on Wednesday, December 3. Again this season, the all-conference team will be selected based on a combined vote of the eight head coaches and a media panel.

ATTENDANCE

For the second consecutive year, the Mountain West will set a single-season attendance record. Last year, 1,544,786 attended MWC home games. With five game left on the 2003 slate, 1,540,706 fans have attended MWC stadiums this season. Currently, MWC teams are averaging 35,016 per home game, which would surpass the average attendace record of 34,635 set in 1999.

STANDINGS

Utah (5-1) can claim its first outright MWC title by winning its final game. The Utes head into the weekend assured of no worse than a first place tie in the MWC. New Mexico (4-2) is one game back and can finish no worse than alone in second place with a victory in its last contest. Air Force, Colorado State, BYU and Wyoming all need victories in their final games to finish in third place, or a possible second place tie if Wyoming beats New Mexico.

BOWL PICTURE

The Mountain West has bowl arrangements to send three teams into the post season in 2003. Six of the eight teams in the MWC can post bowl qualifying records. Following is a look at the conference's bowl picture:

BYU (4-7) - Can not qualify.

PARITY

Of the 23 conference games played in 2003, 12 have been decided by seven or less points, with Air Force scoring on the game's last play for a 14-point victory at BYU. To date, 63 of the 135 conference games played in the history of the Mountain West have been decided by eight points or less. In the five-year history of the MWC, the home team has gone 69-66 in conference games.

BCS WINS

With six wins vs. BCS conference teams, the MWC is tied for eighth among the 11 Divsion I-A conferences in non-conference wins against BCS opponents.

Big Ten, 15
Conference USA, 11
Pacific 10, 8
ACC, 7
Bix 12, 7
MAC, 7
SEC, 7
MWC, 6
Big East, 6
WAC, 3
Sun Belt 1

OUT OF CONFERENCE

Teams from the MWC have combined to post a 17-16 mark vs. non-conference Division I-A foes, which includes a 6-12 record against teams from BCS leagues. Twelve of the 18 games vs. BCS opponents have been played on the road, where the MWC has gone 3-9, while going 3-2 in its five home games and 0-1 at neutral sites. The MWC has gone 2-3 vs. non-conference opponents ranked in the Top 25.