We need to win by how much?

This is the question if BYU, TCU, or Utah want to keep moving up the polls in the coming weeks.  The conference has solid teams, but the voters in the all important coaches (SID, secretary, or closest relative) poll may not recognize the quality of opponents in the Mountain West.

A small reason that BYU shot up the polls last week was that they beat UCLA, who people who vote know the Bruin brand.  The 59-0 score definitely helped as well, but a 31-14 win over Wyoming does not sound as impressive as a larger margin of victory.

Part of the reason that Utah kept in the starters late into their 58-10 victory over Utah State, was to keep margin of victory impressive.  A late seven or ten point spurt by the opposing team against some backups can make a game look closer then it really is.

The rest of the way these three MWC teams need to win convincingly so the voters can take notice of a lopsided score, and that is the down side of playing in this league, because most do not watch the games or do not know how good teams are if they are not ranked.