So, you think you know all there is to know about your favorite school and its programs? And as a true Mountain West Conference fan, you even think you have a good handle on the other teams in the league? Maybe you do and maybe you don't. Why don't we put your knowledge to the test. In fact, lets made it easy with a simple true or false knowledge test that any college student should be able to pass about his or her alma mater. Part I of the test is below and contains 10 subjects with 4 questions each. That's 40 true or false questions. Part II of the test will be posted next weekend.
Now about the test: There are no set number of true or false answers for each subject and any one or even all four questions asked may be either true or false. Also, there is no grade on how many you get correct. You can be either very smart or very ignorant---or somewhere in between---so you grade yourself. To make it easy to fudge, the answers are at the end of the test.
So here we go.
Which of the following statements are true or false about the Mountain West Conference:
1. Air Force Academy:
A. The Air Force Academy was established during the World War II to train pilots to fly B-25 bombers.
B. The Falcons official kickname is really the "Fighting Falcons."
C. All cadets are required to participate in either intercollegiate or intramural athletics such as football and track.
D. Tom Cruise was an Air Force Academy cadet in 1983-1984. He later made a movie called "Top Gun" in 1986.
2. University of Utah
A. The Wasatch Cup is the trophy given for the annual Holy War rivalry game between the Utah Utes and BYU Cougars.
B. Before 1972, the University of Utah used the "Redskins" nickname interchangeably with the "Utes" nickname. By 1996 a symbol of a Red Tailed Hawk named "Swoop" was introduced as the new mascot of the University of Utah because of the relationship with the local Ute Indians. "Swoop" as is also the name of the Philadelphia Eagles mascot, the Emory University mascot, Eastern Washington University mascot, and the mascot at Miami University.
C. The first time the Brigham Young Academy and the University of Utah met for a sporting event was at a baseball game in 1896. The scoreless match ended with a bench-clearing, fist-swinging, bruising brawl among the fans of both teams---and their rivalry was born.
D. Among their more famous alumni are Bob Bennett, Karl Rove, and serial killer Ted Bundy.
3. University of New Mexico:
A. The University of New Mexico was established when New Mexico was still a territory.
B. UNM was the location of a scandal dubbed "Lobogate" after a group of student basketball athletes built a still in the basement of the chemestry lab and attempted to spike the opposing teams gatoraid during the first round of the 1978 NIT championships.
C. Lobo Day is a celebration for the former players of the New Mexico football program.
D. The University of New Mexico Lobos had the first woman football player to score points in a NCAA Division I-A game.
4. San Diego State University:
A. SDSU has been snubbed repeatedly in seeking recognition as a "research university."
B. The first major sport on campus was rowing, but it initially had no coaches or tournaments. The school soon after added croquet as a major competitive sport.
C. Before he became an actor or attended Berkley, Gregory Peck was a member of the SDSU Track Team.
D. The school's early football program was so desperate for players that faculty had to be used to fill the roster.
5. Universtiy of Wyoming:
A. Besides former VP Dick Cheney, UW's alma matar also consists of Ken Sailor, a UW basketball player who invented the jump shot.
B. UW colors of brown and gold date back to 1895, and were adopted from a flower native of Southeastern Wyoming---the Brown-Eyed Susan.
C. The annual Wyoming-Colorado State football game known as the "Border War" has evolved into one of the most bitterly contested rivalries in college football, and dates from 1899.
D. The Border War winner is awared a bronzed cowboy boot called the Bronze Boot trophy and is one of the most famous trophies in college football.
6. University of Nevada, Las Vegas:
A.The UNLV men's basketball team is referred to as the Runnin' Rebels and has always been spelled without the "g." The men's baseball team was at one time referred to as the Hustlin' Rebels and the women's softball and basket balls teams are called the Lady Rebels. In 1971, the university put the name up to a vote to rename the Rebels and considered were the Big Horn Rams, Nuggets, A-Bombs, and the Sand Burners.
B. Former basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian liked the glitzy entertainment of Las Vegas so much he often used "The Rat Pack" down on the strip to recruit his athletes.
C. UNLV was once an extension of the University of Nevada-Reno. It was so humble in the beginning that its first classes were given in the dressing rooms of the Las Vegas High School's auditorium.
D. The annual rivalry game between UNLV and the University of Nevada-Reno is known as the Battle for the Freemont Cannon.
7. Colorado State University
A. Before it was Colorado State University, it was known as Colorado A&M.
B. The CSU mascot is a Big Horn Sheep named "Cam the Ram."
C. CSU football is played on Sonny Lubick field, named their head coach who from 1992-2007 took the Rams to nine bowl appearances, six conference titles, while leading the team to an overall record of 108-74 and to a consistant top 25 finish from 1994-2002. And then fired.
D. Besides the annual Border War with Wyoming, CSU has two other vivalries: the Rocky Mountain Showdown with Colorado that dates to 1893; and the Ram-Falcon game with Air Force played since 1980.
8. Texas Christian University
A. The Battle for the Iron Skillet is the name of the rivalry between TCU and the Southern Methodist Mustangs. The two teams have played all but six years since their first meeting in 1915. The winner is given an iron skillet that is a relic of an original 1915 chuckwagon tailgate party.
B. TCU's original school name was the Male and Female Seminary of Fort Worth, and dates from 1869. The school's original mission was to provide an education to soldiers whose lives had been uprooted due to the Civil War. The nearby saloons, dance halls, bawdry houses and gunfights of Fort Worth, Texas proved too much and it was moved out of town 40 miles to a stagestop known as Thorp Spring. Then in 1895, the school was moved to Waco, Texas.
C. The TCU mascot, the "horned frog" is not a true frog at all, but a species of toad, popularly called a "horned toad" or "horny toad" due to its spiked appearance.
D. TCU has Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs for two different service branches: the Air Force ROTC known as the "Flying Frogs" and the Army ROTC known as the "Horned Frog Batallion".
9. Brigham Young University:
A. The BYU Honor Code was not created until about 1940, and was used mainly for cases of cheating and academic dishonesty. In 2007, however, BYU got so worried about homosexual behavior and other sexual influences on its student population that it blocked not only pornsites but even blocked the popular site, Youtube.
B. The school's first football team won the regional championship in 1896, but they did not have "Cosmo the Cougar" as their mascot until 1953.
C. Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students are members of the LDS (Mormon) Church and the other 2% are out-of-state football players and other students.
D. BYU has been rated the "#1 stone cold sober school" in the nation for several years running, an honor which the late LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley used to comment on with pride. In 2010 "#1 stone cold sober school" rating marked the 12th year in a row that BYU had earned that rating.
10. Mountain West Conference:
A. The Bowl Challenge Cup was created in 2002 by ESPN and given to the conference that had the best college football bowl record among all Division Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The MWC has won it four times, more than any other, including the past two years. Last season the MWC finished 4-1 in bowl games, the best record out of all conferences.
B The MWC men's basketball tournament is held annually to determine the men's basketball champion from the Mountain West Conference. BYU has the distinction of winning most of those basketball championships, thanks in part to BYU guard Jimmer Fredette.
C. The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest," and reflects the desire that the conference should always strive to be above other conferences in both winning and good sportsmanship.
D. Another less well known "Mountain West Athletic Conference" existed from 1982–1988. It sponsored championships for women’s sports before it was absorbed by the Big Sky Conference in 1988.
Put your answers in the comment section and look for the answers to be posted tomorrow.