This season is almost halfway over (goes too fast) and now it is time to see who earned what awards at the half way point. The season has been quite interesting with this being Utah's and BYU's last season in the Mountain West, and then BYU struggling this year. Utah is much better then people expected, and TCU has an outside shot of being in the national title picture.
Air Force is ranked for the first time in a long time, and if not for two admitted blown calls the Mountain West would have four teams ranked and three undefeated teams in San Diego State.
Here are the awards that are given out with all of the nominees., and after the jump will be the winners.
1. Offensive player of the year
Jordan Wynn, QB, Utah
Ed Wesley, RB, TCU
Tim Jefferson, QB, Air Force
Ronnie Hillman, RB, San Diego State
2. Defensive player of the year
Tank Carder, LB, TCU
Will Chandler, DB, UNLV
Wayne Daniels, DB, TCU
3. Special teams player of the year
Shaky Smithson, PR/KR, Utah
Jonathan Warzeka, PR/KR, Air Force
Austin McCoy, P, Wyoming
4. Newcomer of the year
Ronnie Hillman, RB, SDSU
Pete Thomas, QB, Colorado State
Brian Blechen, DB, Utah
5. Who will win the league
Air Force
TCU
Utah
6. Surprise team of the year
BYU
Utah
San Diego State
Now time for the winners
1. Offensive player of the year
Tim Jefferson, QB, Air Force - Without him Air Force does not have a 5-1 record.
2. Defensive player of the year
Wayne Daniels, LB, TCU & Will Chandler, DB, UNLV - Daniels has 5.5 sacks while Chandler leads the nation in take aways with five; four are picks with one being returned for a touchdown.
3. Special teams player of the year
Shaky Smithson, KR/PR, Utah - He averages 24.64 yards per return. He averages over 100 yards in the return game per game.
4. Newcomer of the year
Ronnie Hillman, RB, SDSU - The Aztecs finally have a running game to go with the passing attack.
5. Who will win the league
TCU- Hard to argue with this choice, but lets hope Utah and TCU will be undefeated when they face off.
6. Surprise team of the year
BYU - The consensus was that non one thought that BYU would be that bad this year.