5 Burning Questions: Mountain West Edition

1)   Can Utah stay at the top after losing most of the key players from last year’s undefeated team? They can at least stay near the top. Kyle Whittingham planned ahead with 24 redshirt freshman on the team and two players returning from mission trips. Still, a mid-major doesn’t simply reload after losing their starting QB, their entire WR corps, an NFL DE, the best kicker in the game, and both starting CB’s. A lot will depend on how the QB situation shakes out. Redshirt freshman DeVonte Christopher will push junior Corbin Louks for time under center. It helps that the Utes OL is tops among mid-majors and TCU and BYU both have issues to address as well. Expect Utah to rely on the running game and a solid if not spectacular front seven to keep them in games.

2)   In what game will a MWC team upset a BCS school forcing the nation to take notice? There are a lot of options. The conference’s coaches have taken a page out of Gonzaga hoops coach Mark Few’s playbook and loaded the non-conference schedules with power conference opponents. It’s asking a bit much to expect BYU to hang with Oklahoma, but we could see the Cougars taking out Florida State. Utah will be favored over Louisville so that game wouldn’t be an upset. The same goes for TCU at Virginia week one. Watch out for Air Force at Minnesota on Sept. 19. Our long shot would be San Diego State over UCLA on Sept. 5 if the Bruins get caught looking ahead to their matchup at Tennessee.

3)   Which of the 3 teams at the top will take the biggest step back? We just mentioned the holes that Utah must fill. TCU returns only 4 players on defense. BYU has lost both of QB Max Hall’s favorite targets and brings back only 1 starter on the OL. We think that Utah will take the biggest step back. It won’t be a huge one, but 3 or 4 losses could easily be in the cards for Whittingham’s team.

4)   How will BYU replace Austin Collie and Michael Reed? The short answer is that you don’t replace players of that ilk, especially Collie. McKay Jacobson returns from his mission trip, which helps, but expect Mendenhall’s team to rely more on RB Harvey Unga if an OL with four new starters can gel. That seems like a lot to ask, but OC Rob Anae is one of the top rising stars in college football and tends to have little trouble answering these questions.

5)   Which team stuck in the pack will take the biggest step forward? UNLV is poised for a breakthrough year. The Rebs will have enough offense to keep them in most games. If the defense can stop anyone, look out. This could be the year that QB Omar Clayton becomes a known commodity. After the Rebels look for Air Force to win 8 or 9 game and upset someone that they have no business even competing against.