Cowboys don't feel like MWC's fifth-best
Joe Glenn wasn't looking for a recount.
If the media has proven anything over the last few years it's that they don't have any idea what to make of Wyoming.
The Cowboys have been way overrated -- picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference in 2005, they limped their way to last -- and underrated, turning the tables last year and moving up six slots from where they were tabbed at the league's Media Days.
Maybe as a safeguard, the media split the difference this year, placing UW right in the middle of the pack of the nine-team league -- preventing Glenn from ticking off another six-pack of "told-you-so's" at the end of the season.
"I wish we could move up six spots again this year," Glenn said earlier this week in Las Vegas. "Then we'd finish in first, plus one."
The math isn't all that important, but Glenn, tight end Wade Betschart and cornerback Michael Medina all echoed the same sentiment while representing the Cowboys last week in Las Vegas -- they don't look like a fifth-place team.
"Look where they picked us last year," Medina said. "We've got a lot of people coming back, we've got a lot of knowledge, and even the young guys are ready to step up.
"Guys like (safety) Quincy Rogers, he has already got several starts under his belt so he's not necessarily a rookie. He knows what he's doing."
Medina didn't sound as convinced that the same could be said of the media, taking issue with the polls and later wondering where all the Cowboys were on the preseason all-conference list.
Betschart was the lone UW representative on offense, and linebacker Ward Dobbs and cornerback Julius Stinson earned the only other nods for the Cowboys.
"Three is better than none," Medina said. "But I look at our team, and our running backs are going to be some of the best in the conference. Karsten (Sween) is going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the conference. Michael Ford, even Greg Bolling, who's going to be a stud, they're both going to be up there with the receivers.
"On the defensive side of the ball, we always play smash-mouth football. It's just like your friend who's always ready for a fight, you just tell him when and where and they'll show up."
That would be Sept. 1 at War Memorial Stadium when Virginia comes calling -- the first of four nonconference tests leading into the Cowboys' first shot at breaking down the preseason polls again.
"We're going to get right into it after (the nonconference schedule) and the bye, and that game against TCU is going to determine a lot in the conference right there," he said.
BECK BACKING: The experience is long gone.
But BYU isn't saying that all the talent went with its long-time quarterback John Beck to the NFL.
The defending league champs picked sophomore Max Hall, a transfer from Arizona State, to succeed the second-most successful passer in school history this spring. If they're going to go back-to-back, the onus will likely be on Hall to make a smooth transition from the scout squad to the first-team for the pass-happy Cougars.
"Our passing game depends quite a bit on timing, and we feel like having a lot of experienced receivers coming back will really help Max out in his role as quarterback," BYU senior receiver Matt Allen said. "A lot of our chemistry with John Beck came through practice and timing routes and getting on the same page between receivers and the quarterback.
"That's what we've been working on this summer with Max, and we've made a ton of progress in that area."
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said Hall was running away with the job late in the spring even before his main competition, junior college transfer Cade Cooper, suffered a season-ending injury to his foot.
"Max did a fantastic job in the spring, as did Cade, and it was great competition," Mendenhall said. "But Max created a little separation during the last week of practice.
"Max brings a competitive spirit, kind of a fiery demeanor, and a lot of confidence."
Just not much experience.
BITING THE BULLETS: Rocky Long doesn't have the answer, and there might not be an easy one.
But the New Mexico coach is pretty sure that making his quarterbacks face "live bullets" in practice isn't the cure for the Lobos' durability problems under center.
Long has had to use three quarterbacks in each of the last two seasons due to injuries, but he said it could easily be more if he makes them targets in practice -- a method sometimes used by coaches to instill toughness in signal-callers.
"I'm not going to make them live in practice, because they might get hurt there," he said. "They just don't know when to get rid of the ball, and they don't know when to throw it out of bounds, so they take hits that they shouldn't."
Those responsibilities -- and avoiding those hits and staying in the lineup -- fall to sophomore Donovan Porterie this season. Porterie took the reins midway through last season and was largely effective, leading a modest three-game winning streak and finishing his freshman campaign 71-for-133 for 967 yards and six touchdowns.
"They either have to get the ball gone and on time so they don't get hit, or the offensive line has to do a better job and protect them longer," Long said. "I think that comes with experience, and Donovan will be much better at getting rid of the ball."
PLUG AND PLAY: TCU has been in this seemingly precarious situation before.
And it always seems to work out just fine for Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson.
There was the emergence of Tye Gunn in 2002. And the surprise contributions of Jeff Ballard in 2004.
The Horned Frogs must now replace Ballard at the helm, something Patterson was in no hurry to do in the spring with sophomore Marcus Jackson and freshman Andy Dalton battling for the job.
Both are qualified for the position, which entails little more than being a caretaker for an offense anchored around the conference's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in Aaron Brown.
"I think that the quarterback position is important, but I think the quality of the offensive line (is even more important)," Patterson said. "We've been in this position before, and I have a lot of confidence."
"Probably the guy that'll be the one to start will be the guy who it's not necessarily what he can do, but when he steps in the huddle the rest of the offense plays better around him. Chemistry's a big deal to me. We won't ask our quarterbacks to go out and win the game like some offenses. Our whole thing is about managing the game and getting the ball in the hands of the people that are supposed to have it."
If Patterson gets that, like usual, it'll all work out just fine.
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