Utah's No. 14 ranking in both major polls is the highest a Mountain West Conference team has been rated during September in the history of the league. But it's still not as high as the Utes should be ranked — if you believe at least one computer.
The Matthews/Scripps Howard computer rankings this week lists the Utes as No. 5 in the nation. The only teams ahead of the Utes, according to Matthews/Scripps Howard, are Miami, USC, Purdue and Texas.
While Utah is getting plenty of respect in that computer ranking, the rest of the MWC doesn't get much respect — especially BYU.
New Mexico is the second highest rated MWC team at 56th, followed by Air Force (64th), Colorado State (69th), San Diego State (77th), Wyoming (85th) and UNLV (89th).
What about the Cougars? According to the Matthews/Scripps Howard computer, BYU is the worst team in the Mountain West and is just 104th in the nation.
By the way, Utah State is ranked 106th.
At 0-3, Colorado State is looking for answers and keeps ending up at the beginning: The Rams have been outscored 35-3 in the first quarter of losses to Colorado, Southern California and Minnesota — and 69-17 in the first half.
"It's like teams come out and punch us right in the mouth on the opening drive, and we don't recover until the middle of the second quarter," CSU quarterback Justin Holland said Tuesday.
CSU coach Sonny Lubick certainly has noticed the trend.
"I really think we need to change our pre-game routine," he said. "This last game (vs. Minnesota) we warmed up too early and then we sat in the locker room too long waiting to be called out for the opening kickoff. We just seem a little sluggish."
The Rams will be looking for a better start Saturday when they are host to Division I-AA Montana State.
Coach Fisher DeBerry is hoping the synergy between Air Force's option running attack and its burgeoning passing game can lead the Falcons to a win this Saturday when it faces Utah.
"The better we can throw the ball, the better we can run the football," DeBerry said Tuesday.
In last weekend's Air Force Mountain West Conference opener, freshman quarterback Shaun Carney completed 12-of-14 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Falcons (2-1, 1-0 MWC) to a 27-10 win at UNLV. He was named the Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week in just his third collegiate start.
"When we are throwing the ball well, it just opens everything else up," Carney said. "Everything we were doing just helped every other aspect."
With defensive pressure taken off the line of scrimmage, Air Force's rushing game gained 290 yards against UNLV, and helped the Falcons control the ball for more than two-thirds of the game. But DeBerry knows that using the running and passing games will be an even taller order to fill against Utah (3-0, 0-0 MWC), which leads the conference in scoring offense and defense and total offense and defense.
"I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses (in Utah)," he said. "I think this Utah team might be the best team I've seen in the state of Utah since 1984 when BYU won the national championship. I know we're going to have to play extremely well, and be a much improved team against Utah."
New Mexico has seen vast improvement during the Rocky Long era, but not in terms of non-conference road wins. The Lobos are just 1-13 on the road in non-league games outside of Albuquerque, with the lone victory in 2000 since Long arrived in 1998. They will try to make that 2-13 this weekend when they play at New Mexico State in Las Cruces . . . San Diego State struggled a year ago in the "red zone," scoring just 16 touchdowns in 40 trips inside their opponent's 20-yard line. It's been a different story so far this year, however. The Aztecs are a perfect 6-for-6 in the red zone this year with five touchdowns. . . . Wyoming has a home game this week, but will still have its work cut out for it against and SEC opponent. The Cowboys will host Ole Miss.