The national polls came out yester and the Mountain West got some play with BYU at 17, then Utah just on the outside at 28 and TCU received some votes. So, the leauge is getting respect on the national scene and these pre season rankings are huge if any team in a non-BCS league wants to get into a big money game.
Listening to the national sports shows on ESPN and Fox, one would assume that most of the talk about a team getting into the BCS from a non auto league would be Fresno or BYU, but for some reason Utah was getting a lot of respect. Part of it could be that they are playing Michigan week one and the Wolverines have a whole new system starting with their coach going down to them losing nearly all of their offense, and they are ranked.
What cracks me up is listening to callers calling into ESPN Radio and Fox Sports radio who are trying argue, weakly I might add, about how MIchigan is getting no respect for beating Florida in their bowl game last year and wonder how Florida is ranked so much higher. When writing here most everyone knows I over value the Utes a little since I went there, but I try to be reasonable unlike those fans who actually tried to debate that Michigan should be in the top 12 for preseason!!
Both shows I listened to were talking about how if Utah wins that it would not be an upset at all, and about how Utah is loaded on offense with Brian Johnson and Brent Casteel and other playmakers who were injured last year. It is pretty good to hear that the Mountain West is getting some nantional love and not just what team will make the BCS but also how other teams will fare in the league.