Call it chest-thumping Tuesday.
After an opening weekend that saw Colorado State embarrass 14th-ranked Colorado, 41-14, Utah upset host Washington State, Wyoming hang with defending national champ Tennessee before losing starting quarterback Jay Stoner, and UNLV, San Diego State and Air Force also scoring convincing victories, coaches of the new Mountain West Conference had reason to be a little cocky during their weekly media conference call.
"There were a whole lot of positives," Utah coach Ron McBride said. "Everybody played some pretty good games. It's just like we thought it would be. It's going to be a tough conference with some very good teams."
The only losers were Wyoming, which lost to No. 3 Tennessee in Knoxville, 42-17, as expected, and New Mexico, which lost to rival UTEP, 13-10. BYU opens its season on Thursday night on ESPN against Washington in Provo.
McBride's Utes, led by running back Mike Anderson (108 yards, two touchdowns) and sophomore quarterback Darnell Arceneaux (22 of 36 passes, 249 yards, one touchdown), handed Washington State a 27-7 loss in Pullman, the Cougars first defeat in a home opener since 1990.
But the game that got everybody's attention nationally was Colorado State's stunningly one-sided victory over Colorado at Mile High Stadium which spoiled Gary Barnett's coaching debut with the Buffs.
"Obviously, the Colorado State thing is something that woke up the nation (about the Mountain West Conference)," McBride said. "To be able to go out and beat Colorado like that in a traditional game was really something."
"That was very impressive," BYU coach LaVell Edwards added.
Rams' coach Sonny Lubick, whose squad moved into the Associated Press poll at No. 24 this week thanks to the win, seemed to still have a hard time believing how well things went for his squad.
"It was just kind of a complete domination by Colorado State which kind of surprised me a little bit," Lubick said. "But it was just one game for us. We've got to come back down to earth now."
Especially since the Rams, who host Nevada-Reno on Saturday, were picked to just finish sixth in the Mountain West Conference in one preseason poll.
"I think we're a pretty good football team," Lubick said. "I think we'll only improve. We only have eight seniors on the squad. If we continue to improve, we could be a pretty good football team by the end of the year."
* STONER OK: Wyoming coach Dana Dimel breathed a deep sigh of relief on Monday when a bone scan of starting quarterback Jay Stoner's leg came back negative.
Stoner was injured in the first half of the Cowboys' 42-17 loss at Tennessee. The Cowboys led the Vols, 10-7, at the time of the injury.
"We were worried that he might have broken his AC joint," Dimel said. "X-rays at halftime were inconclusive. But Jay had a bone scan on Monday and it came back negative."
Dimel said he was not sure if Stoner would play this weekend in the Cowboys' home opener against Weber State.
"It's just a bruise at this point," he said. "He could play this weekend if he has to."
* FISHER THE PROGNOSTICATOR: Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry was ridiculed by ESPN's Chris Fowler last week when he went out on a very big limb and predicted that Colorado State would upset Colorado and Wyoming would stun defending national champion Tennessee.
He got the Colorado State upset right and was looking pretty good with Wyoming, too, until Stoner was injured.
"I'm 1-for-2," DeBerry said. "I had CSU over Colorado. But I don't think anybody is going to hire me in Las Vegas."
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