The Aggies (3-0, 5-4) are the only Big West Conference team without a league loss, and their final two games are at home. It's way too early to get excited about Las Vegas Bowl V, but the Aggies can, at least, start counting their lucky stars.
"We're thankful to be in the position we are in right now," says coach John L. Smith, "and we control our own destiny - as does, kinda, Nevada and North Texas. They only have one loss also. So we've just got to go to the field and play," says Smith. He's also thankful to get Idaho (a 35-28 USU win Saturday) out of the way. A week earlier, Idaho upset defending-champ Nevada.North Texas (1-1, 3-5) is at Romney Stadium Saturday at noon. Nevada (2-1, 5-3) is at USU Nov. 9 at noon. Idaho (1-1, 3-4) is still in the hunt, and a four-way 3-2 tie is still possible.
The league crowns co-champs, but the bowl bid is up to tiebreakers that obviously start at head-to-head results (currently: USU beat Idaho, Idaho beat Nevada, Nevada beat North Texas).
The Ags almost need to end the BWC unbeaten to assure themselves of the Dec. 19 bowl. If they lose to North Texas but beat Nevada, and North Texas also beats Boise and Idaho, the Eagles would go to Vegas. If the Ags beat North Texas but lose to Nevada, the Wolf Pack holds the edge in tiebreakers.
The tiebreaker system is complex, but basically, if head-to-head competition can't determine a bowl team, the next criteria is results against the league's next-highest finishing teams.
If BWC results produce no advantage, it goes to nonleague results, with wins over Division I-A teams counting highest (Nevada has two I-A nonleague wins, Kent and UNLV; USU has one, Utah; North Texas, one, Northern Illinois; Idaho has none). Losses to lower-classification teams (i.e. Idaho's loss to I-AA St. Mary's) count minus-two points. And then, there's the coin toss.
(In 1993, USU was the worst bet of four bowl contenders in a 10-team league. The only way it could bowl was if Nevada lost its finale at winless Arkansas State and USU won at contending New Mexico State. ASU won, USU found out at halftime and rallied to beat NMSU, went to LVBII and won. Nevada again ends with Arkansas State, but it isn't a BWC game and won't matter in Division I-A wins because nobody can match the Wolf Pack's current two.)
TIDBITS: True freshman Demario Brown had his second straight start and second straight three-TD/100+-yard day Saturday. Now he's got his second straight Big West offensive player of the week title. Brown was 27-for-131 . . . WR Nakia Jenkins is up to fourth/NCAA (first/BWC) in receiving yards (124.1 ypg) and fifth/NCAA (second/BWC) in catches (7.4 cpg) after Saturday's 10-159 day . . . Wilson went from 12th to 11th/NCAA in scoring (9.33 ppg, second/BWC) . . . CB Dwayne Nelson remains BWC co-leader in interceptions (0.4 ipg).