Conference +/-

[NorthShoreCoug]

Update:

BYU, UNLV +2
UNM +1
CSU, SDSU, Utah 0
TCU -1
AFA, Wyo -2

BYU still has 6 road games remaining, including UNLV and UNM.
UNLV only has 4 road games left, with SDSU and Utah their two toughest.
UNM has 5 road games remaining, with both BYU and UNLV on the horizon.
CSU has 5 (UNLV, SDSU)
SDSU has 5 (UNM, BYU)
Utah has 6 (BYU, SDSU)

BYU is looking great, but there's lots of ball left to play, so I'm reluctant to get too overconfident. It looks like UNLV has the most favorable schedule remaining, so things might tighten up yet.

[NorthShoreCoug]

I'd evaluate conference standings in this manner:

Generally, the conference champion should win their home games, plus the road games against the lower half of the league. The championship is won by those who do this best, plus win a few road games against the upper half of the league. So I score a +1 for winning against the upper half, -1 for losing home games or on the road against the bottom of the league.

I define the upper half as BYU, UNM, UNLV, and SDSU. The lower half is AFA, TCU, and UNLV. Utah and CSU are kind of in the middle, but I'm going to place Utah in the upper half and CSU in the lower half.

(through last night's games)
BYU +1 (road win at SDSU)
UNLV 0 (road win at UNM, home loss to Utah)
UNM -1 (home loss to UNLV)
CSU -1 (home loss to UNLV)
SDSU -1 (home loss to BYU, road win at Utah, road loss at Wyo)
Utah -1 (home loss to SDSU, road win at UNLV, road loss at Wyo)
TCU -2
Wyo -3
Air Force -4

The standings change a bit depending on where you put CSU and Utah - are these expected road wins by the better teams, or not - but generally, BYU and UNLV look to be slightly ahead at the moment.

[TheBYUGuy]

I didn't realize until yesterday that BYU has in imbalanced conference schedule. In the first half, they played 5 home and 3 away, which will reverse in the second half of the season.

At a second glance, the schedule does look pretty balanced because 2 of the 3 tough road games happened in the first half of the season. The only tough road game left is this Saturday at UNLV. Regardless of what happens this weekend, I expect BYU to basically coast through the rest of the regular season after that.

[SteelBlue]

Regardless of what happens this weekend, I expect BYU to basically coast through the rest of the regular season after that.

I think Utah is going to be a tough one.

[Art Vandelay]

I think Utah is going to be a tough one.

I think it depends if Boylen can get them on a mini win streak as he has in previous years. If they are still playing .500 ball I would expect the young team and somewhat fickle fans to be ready to just have the season over with.

[TheBYUGuy]

I think Utah is going to be a tough one.

Maybe I should have said there are 3.5 tough road games. SDSU, UNM, and UNLV are legitimately tough places for BYU to win. Utah is a step below those three but tougher than the rest of the MWC.

[NorthShoreCoug]

I didn't realize until yesterday that BYU has in imbalanced conference schedule. In the first half, they played 5 home and 3 away, which will reverse in the second half of the season.

At a second glance, the schedule does look pretty balanced because 2 of the 3 tough road games happened in the first half of the season. The only tough road game left is this Saturday at UNLV. Regardless of what happens this weekend, I expect BYU to basically coast through the rest of the regular season after that.

Although they'll be favored in all three, the home games against UNM and SDSU, and the road game in SLC, could easily be upsets if the team isn't on their game.