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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

BYU May Be Favored, But Utah's the Pick

By Greg Archuleta
Of the Journal
       LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Bronco Mendenhall, you're welcome.
    The fourth-year Brigham Young football coach learned Monday during the first day of the Mountain West Conference media meetings that said media selected his Cougars to finish atop the league standings in its preseason poll.
    BYU, the two-time defending MWC champion, received 29 of the 34 first-place votes to outpace runner-up Utah.
    The Utes landed the other five votes. New Mexico was picked fourth for the second straight year and third time in five years.
    The Journal (yours truly) was one of five media outlets to put Utah atop the poll, and therein lies Mendenhall's debt of gratitude.
    I'm shooting for an imperfect 10. As the MWC celebrates its 10-year anniversary, I have yet to correctly predict the conference champion in any preseason poll, and I've voted in all of 'em.
    As you begin to wonder how I could be qualified to report about anything remotely related to MWC football with that track record, let me defend my choice by saying that the Utes —who finished 9-4 in 2007 — have more returning starters than the Cougars, the Cougars only have three starters back on defense and Utah has been one play (2006) and one minute (2007) away from beating BYU the last two seasons.
    "BYU certainly deserves to be the favorite in the conference," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham says. "To me that's a no-brainer. (Getting five votes) speaks to the respect level for our returning players, but it's insignificant on the grand scheme of things."
    My thought process in determining the preseason all-conference team is much more in line with the rest of my media brethren. I had two Lobos on my All-MWC ballot — running back Rodney Ferguson and defensive back DeAndre Wright.
    Both were the only two UNM representatives on the list.
    Few other surprises came out from Monday's releases. BYU quarterback Max Hall was pegged as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year, TCU linebacker Jason Phillips locked up preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors.
    TCU defensive end Braylon Broughton earning preseason Freshman of the Year honors was one surprise, although the choice I had — along with KRQE's Van Tate — of UNM offensive tackle Byron Bell never was going to get that honor because of the position he plays.
    A few more surprises Monday:
    For the first time, Lobo head coach Rocky Long didn't even respond when I asked how he felt about his team being picked fourth. He always said preseason polls were meaningless, but at least he answered the question. Monday, he just gave me a look and smiled, as if to say, "Next question."
    Long also made a rare prediction that Lobo middle linebacker Zach Arnett will lead the conference this season in tackles if he plays heavy minutes on defense.
    He revealed as well that when junior quarterback Donovan Porterie came to UNM, Long thought he would be the first quarterback to lead the Lobos to their first conference championship since 1964 before he graduated.
    "He's got two more years," Long quipped.
    San Diego State coach Chuck Long announced the Aztecs will begin their fall camp among the Marines at Camp Pendleton, located between Oceanside and San Clemente, Calif., for three days to show their support for the troops.
    Some might suggest my vote for Utah simply is showing my support for Mendenhall, whom I got to know during his five years as defensive coordinator at UNM (1998-2002) — perhaps subconsciously, I'm trying not to jinx Mendenhall.
    Hey, I didn't put seven other teams atop my list, either, including UNM.
    You're welcome, Rocky Long.