BYU putting MWC foes on notice

Just some names on a sheet of paper announcing an all-conference college football team. Just an unspoken message for eight Mountain West programs:

Brigham Young might not have completely lapped the field, but it just made the final turn and is sprinting directly up your collective backs.

Either get better or get run over.

It seems that small crack in the window of opportunity for Mountain West teams intent on making BYU pay for past supremacy has been slammed shut. The Cougars stumbled through nonwinning seasons from 2002 to 2005, which in Provo is more astonishing than any report of violent crime.

Some drought. BYU is 21-4 since and has gone 16-0 in conference play the last two years. It is here this week to play in a third straight Las Vegas Bowl when it meets UCLA on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. It is here for what amounts to the Cougars’ next home game.

Nine players from BYU made first- or second-team all-conference. Seven are nonseniors. There are sophomores at quarterback, wide receiver, defensive line and tight end, two juniors on the offensive front and the MWC Freshman of the Year at running back.

In other words, painful as this is for the rest of the conference to fathom, get used to the idea of seeing the Cougars here this time of year.

BYU once dominated the Western Athletic Conference to a point of reaching 10 Holiday Bowls over a 14-year period, and nothing today suggests such an extended stretch of consistency can’t repeat itself if the Mountain West continues to send its champion to Las Vegas each December.

But that’s the thing about BYU, the part that separates it from most all others in the conference, just one more fact that grinds on league programs not capable of producing near the same level of success: While a team such as UNLV dreams of that glorious moment when a third win is finally earned in a given season, BYU envisions standing alone at the top.

Not just of the Mountain West.

Of everything and everyone.

"Our goal is to win the national championship," said third-year coach Bronco Mendenhall. "When BYU won it in 1984, it had won nine consecutive conference championships. I don’t think it will take nine straight again. I do think it will take similar seasons as we have had now with back-to-back titles, that championships and bowl trips can pave the way for an undefeated season and giving us that opportunity to play for it all. All the last two years have done is rekindle that flame and desire to get there.

"The way the (Bowl Championship Series) is structured now and coming from the conference we do, we understand we can’t lose one game in a season to have a chance. We have the model and system in place and excellent players. I think we have established ourselves as a team to watch."

BYU is the rival of all conference teams for one reason. It wins a lot, which extracts a level of jealousy from opposing conference fans that is as absurd as it is pathetic. A record five league teams will play in bowls this year and yet no conference side has discovered a way to beat the Cougars in two years. In a time when parity defines college football (how many teams lost when ranked No. 2 nationally this season?), that kind of steady success is notable.

But while there is no better fit for local bowl officials than BYU (UNLV couldn’t sell out either of its Las Vegas Bowl appearances while the Cougars have done so long before accepting the invite), you won’t find a soul wearing blue and white here this week who doesn’t believe their program is again on the verge of playing for a much greater prize.

"The foundation has been laid," senior wide receiver Matt Allen said. "We expect excellence. That’s always the mind-set. We hear it from (Mendenhall) every day. Make this your best practice ever. Make the next game your best ever. He reminds us of those things over and over.

"I also hope it wouldn’t take winning nine straight conference titles to get a chance at playing for the BCS championship. But if it means winning every game in a single season — the program is such that it could do it."

Until then, eight Mountain West teams should consider themselves silently warned: Get better or get run over.

Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.