Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The decade's most dominant programs

Last in this series about the most dominant teams from 2000 to 2009 are the top ten. There is a qualitative difference in this group, compared to the others in the posts below. Here, bad years are those during which a team falls out of the top 40 in the Dominance Ranking-- and for the Texas, Boise, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech, "bad" means below the top 20 (there are only three such years between them!).

Of these ten programs, only Boise State, Virginia Tech, and Georgia lack a first-place finish in the Dominance Ranking any year this decade, and only Georgia lacks also a runner-up finish (its highest finish was sixth, in 2002).

1. Texas- 7.50
2. Boise State- 9.90
3. Oklahoma- 10.20
4. Virginia Tech- 10.70
5. Florida- 14.90
6. USC- 17.80
7. Ohio State- 20.40
8. TCU- 21.90
9. LSU- 22.00
10. Georgia- 24.60

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Decade's Pretty-Dang-Dominants

Here is a list of stout programs, when measured in a wide scale. Some of them are coasting on laurels earned during President Bush's first term (Miami, Florida State, Nebraska, Michigan), while others have felt their oats recently (Clemson, Alabama, West Virginia). The mid-decade strongmen were Texas Tech, Auburn, and Louisville.

Very remarkably, two of the teams on this part of the Dominance Ranking have not played D-1A football for all of the decade. South Florida and Connecticut have eight and nine years of top-level experience to their names, respectively, and only three years ranked lower than 40th between them.

11., Miami (FL), 25.70
12., Utah, 26.60
13., Boston College, 28.60
14., Clemson, 30.10
15., Florida St., 30.40
16., Texas Tech, 31.00
17., Michigan, 32.50
18., West Virginia, 33.20
19., Alabama, 33.60
20., Auburn, 34.40

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

2009 Attendance relative to enrollment

Developing the Wimple's notion that college football attendance figures ought to be filtered through the lens of enrollment size, here're 2009's attendance ranks, as percentages of each school's enrollment.

A few notes:

(1) Those schools that averaged 100% of capacity are listed below, and fit into a blessed and separate category, perhaps called Those Who May Charge More For Football Tickets.

(2) Of the eight D-1A schools with enrollments smaller than 10k (Tulsa, Navy, Army, Air Force, Rice, Wake Forest, La.-Monroe, and TCU) only Rice and La-Monroe failed to make the top eight in these attendance rankings. Rice is 32nd, and La-Monroe is all the way down at 61st. So having a small enrollment doesn't guarantee a high ranking; outdrawing one's enrollment by three or four times does.

Here're the top 10. (11 through 120 are after the jump)
[school, percentage of enrollment at an average home game]
1. Air Force 792.36%
2. Navy 721.09%
3. Notre Dame 688.61%
4. Army 623.96%
5. Tulsa 540.26%
6. Wake Forest 465.46%
7. TCU 439.13%
8. Clemson 388.35%
9. LSU 368.12%
10. Tennessee 366.03%

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Decade's Decently Dominant

Here's the all-decade teams, rated 31-65 in the Dominance Ranking.

(rank, team, average Dominance Rank, 2000-2009)
31. Southern Miss. 40.20
32. Northern Ill. 40.60
33. Georgia Tech 41.10
34. California 41.60
35. Wisconsin 42.40
36. Fresno St. 44.10
37. Kansas St. 44.30
38. Cincinnati 44.80
39. Arkansas 45.40
40. Air Force 45.80
41. Brigham Young 46.20
42. Purdue 47.60
43. Missouri 47.70
44. Bowling Green 50.20
45. Toledo 50.50
46. Arizona St. 51.70
46. Minnesota 51.70
48. Maryland 52.10
49. South Carolina 52.70
50. Hawaii 53.10
51. Oklahoma St. 53.30
52. Notre Dame 53.50
53. North Carolina St. 54.00
54. Troy 54.38
55. Navy 54.40
56. Michigan St. 55.30
57. Mississippi 55.90
58. Texas A&M 57.90
59. UCLA 58.00
60. Virginia 58.30
61. Middle Tenn. 59.70
62. Rutgers 61.00
63. Tulsa 61.60
64. Memphis 61.80
65. UCF 62.50

Among these middle-of-the-packers, one can find teams that have managed to string together several really great seasons in a row, like BYU's last four years, Cincinnati's last threeand Kansas State's early decade seasons. However, in each of those team's cases-- and with all of the teams shown here-- there are some real duds in the mix, too. BYU in 2001-2003 was just awful, ranking as low as 91st (2002). Kansas State and Cincinnati have lower lows than BYUs (94th, 107th, respectively).

So it goes for most of the list: for these teams, the good years were the exception, even if there were a few of them. Bowling Green had four top-20 finishes to start the decade, fell below 100 in '06, and has yet to climb above 65th since. Maryland finished in the top 10 three years running to start the decade, but ranked 109th last year, and is itching to get rid of its coach. Rutgers, Ole Miss, Memphis, Minnesota, Fresno State, and Cal all have similar, if less stark, runs.

Friday, May 14, 2010

The decade's once-in-a-while dominants

Here're the occasionally-dominant teams of the last decade: those averaging 66th through 95th in the Dominance Ranking.

(average ranking, all-decade-rank, team)
62.80, 66, Marshall
62.80, 66, Miami (OH)
63.70, 68, Wake Forest
64.60, 69, New Mexico
65.20, 70, Washington St.
65.30, 71, Western Michigan
65.40, 72, East Carolina
65.60, 73, Kansas
67.10, 74, Nevada
69.30, 75, Colorado St.
69.60, 76, Houston
70.90, 77, Arizona
71.70, 78, Kentucky
73.00, 79, Ohio
73.20, 80, Central Mich.
73.20, 80, Colorado
73.70, 82, North Carolina
74.20, 83, UAB
74.70, 84, Northwestern
74.70, 84, Washington
75.60, 86, Illinois
76.20, 87, UTEP
76.70, 88, Louisiana Tech
77.60, 89, Iowa St.
78.60, 90, Akron
79.00, 91, Stanford
80.40, 92, Ball St.
81.90, 93, Syracuse
82.10, 94, Vanderbilt
84.75, 95, Florida Atlantic

Among these usually-yawning football has-beens' decade, one can find a smattering of genuinely good years: Central Michigan's break-through season last year, and Kansas's two years before it are probably best among them. (The Jayhawks finished the year ranked #1 in dominance, the first team in this decade survey with that on its resume.) But even these teams' occasionally stellar years fall on an otherwise-very-drab backdrop. The good years are the exception, not the rule.

For example, Miami of Ohio went 8-4 in 2004, tallying a #6 dominance ranking that season. The rest of the decade? Miamo (OH) averages just over a 69th rank, with 113th and 114th ranks in '08 and '09 nearly expunging the memory of its heyday earlier in the decade.

The same dreary story holds true for Kansas and Central Michigan, and every other team in this quartile of the all-decade list. Each team listed above has at least one triple-digit rank in the decade; most have more. In fact, the average best rank for these low-achievers is 27th-- not even in the top 25.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Decade's Least Dominant Teams

The Wimple has been chewing on the Dominance Ranking numbers the last few days, and unveils below the least dominant teams, statistically speaking, form 2000 through 2009. The Dominance Ranking, in case you missed it, is the sum of a team's national rank in scoring offense and scoring defense. The Wimple averaged all of the D-1A teams' Dominance Ranking for the last decade; here are the bottom 25:

(rank, ten-year average, team)
96., 85.0, Kent St.
97., 85.3, Rice
98., 85.8, Miss. St.
99., 85.9, San Jose St.
100., 86.8, UNLV
101., 87.0, North Texas
102., 88.2, Tulane
103., 88.3, Wyoming
104., 90.2, Arkansas St.
105., 90.5, Temple
106., 90.7, Indiana
107., 91.8, San Diego St.
108., 92.1, New Mexico St.
109., 93.5, SMU
110., 93.7, La.-Lafayette
111., 93.8, Buffalo
112., 96.0, La.-Monroe
113., 96.9, Utah St.
114., 98.7, Idaho
115., 100.2, Eastern Mich.
116., 100.3, Army
117., 103.3, Duke
118., 103.4, Baylor
119., 105.5, Florida Int'l*
120., 113.0, Western Kentucky.*

Among these bottom-dwellers, there have been a few bright spots, now and then, chief among them Temple's bowl run last year. Buffalo wasn't bad in '08, and Mississippi State and UNLV were likewise OK in 2000, as was Tulane in '02 and Kent State in '04. But otherwise, the aughts were hopeless and hapless for these 25 teams.

Interestingly, there are teams from every conference (even from the "mighty" SEC) in this ignominous list except the Pac-10 or Big East. Sadly for the Sun Belt conference, all but one of its members turn up in this post. There's a reason y'all always get mentioned, if at all, last.

*less than 10-year average, because these teams haven't played D-1A football fully ten years.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

2008 Final Dominance Ranking

Spreadsheets and Blogger don't get along easily, so if we find a better way to post this, we'll fix this and the '09 ranking post below. Meanwhile, here's the 2008 final Dominance Rankings.

1 Florida
2 Alabama
3 Virginia Tech
4 Boise St.
4 Southern California
6 Boston College
7 Penn St.
8 TCU
9 Texas
10 Cincinnati
11 Ball St.
12 Utah
13 East Carolina
14 Iowa
15 Ohio St.
16 Mississippi
17 Florida St.
17 California
19 Arizona
20 Oklahoma
20 Rutgers
22 Troy
23 Clemson
24 BYU
25 South Fla.
(#26 through 120 in the comment below.)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

TCU spring report

TCU held spring drills from a position it hadn’t since early 2006: front runner. The Frogs are commentators’ unanimous choice to win the Mountain West– with the more insightful conference watchers hedging their bets slightly because of the roady to Salt Lake City in November. Do these expectations align well with the Horned Frogs’ lineup on the field? Very much so. And TCU’s strength stems first from its experiences and depth along both lines.

The Frogs return four starts to the offensive line. Marcus Cannon moves to LT, Kyle Dooley, Jake Kirkpatrick, and Josh Vernon (pushed hard by Blaize Foltz) return at LG, C, and RG, respectively. (those four shown left, next to the only departed starter, big #70, Marshall Newhouse.) Filling Cannon’s shoes at RT will be Jeff Olson and/or Zach Roth, with James Dunbar backing up whoever fails to win that starting nod. Barring injury or academic issue, that will be the Frogs’ only question on offense going into fall practice.

Masticate on that a minute; TCU has 10 of 11 starting spots on offense well decided, going into fall drills. And this is a year after the Frogs broke nearly every school offensive record. Yes, TCU ought to field a frightening offense in 2010.

What do the other positions on offense look like?

Dalton leads the pack, for the fourth year running. His backup is the winner of the ongoing competition between Yogi Gallegos (right) and Casey Pachall. Pachall’s got the arm and speed and hype; but Gallegos has proven spunky, has a semester’s on Pachall with the playbook, and simply won’t cede the fight for backup snaps.

Dalton has an embarrassment of riches around him. On the ground, he’ll be handing off to returners Matthew Tucker and Ed Wesley (left), and new faces Waymon James and Andre Dean. (Dwight Smith’s injury takes him out of the rotation until further notice.) No team in the conference (country?) will have fresher runningbacks late in the game than TCU. Look for Wesley to line up in the slot, filling the Ryan Christian role to overflowing. Tucker and Dean run through blockers; Wesley and James run around them. Formation-wise, the Frogs are tooling more with the pistol. They’ve used it before, but it has appeared more often this spring. All the better, thinks the Wimple, to give more touches to the Gang of Four at tailback.

In the air, Dalton and the offensive coordinators have to figure out how to get a new WR into the rotation, joining Antoine Hicks and Curtis Clay outside, Jimmy Young and Jeremy Kerley inside, and Bart Johnson, Jonathan Jones, and Skye Dawson behind them. The new face? Redshirt freshman Josh Boyce, who lit up the defense all spring. In other news, Young’s move inside was an eye-opener this spring; he welcomed the move, because it shows the NFL another side of his talent. Add TEs Evan Frosch, Logan Brock, and Corey Fuller, and the real mystery this year on offense is how the heck Dalton & Co. will spread the ball to so many playmakers.

On defense, TCU looks on paper like it may lose some of its punch. However, it looked that way coming into 2009, and the Frogs rose up to clinch a second consecutive national top ranking for defense. So: count the Frogs out of contention for the top spot at your peril.

Along the line, just like their offensive compadres across the trench, rising seniors abound. Clarence Leatch, Kelly Griffin, Cory Grant, and Wayne Daniels will be an all-senior line. (Grant, Griffin, and Daniels are suffocating some poor UNLV Rebel, left.) Likely no single one of them will match new Indianapolis Colt Jerry Hughes’s production, the four of them will make the conference’s most formidable defensive front. Again. (Junior Ross Forrest or redshirt freshman Stansley Maponga may start ahead of Leatch. This is one of the defensive questions that is yet unsettled going into fall.)

Behind Griffin and Grant are three young tackles who have risen to battle for the #2 spots, in a yet-unsettled order: junior Jeremy Coleman, sophomore D. J. Yendrey, and early-enrolled true freshman David Johnson.

The second would-be difficult departure for TCU is Daryl Washington’s, at linebacker. Tanner Brock (#35, left) is tasked with replacing the athlete (now an Arizona Cardinal). Kenny Cain is pushing for that job as well, but to date it appears to be Brock’s to lose. Brock joins returning standout Tank Carder in the youngest linebacking corps at TCU in several years.

The final holes to fill this offseason at TCU are in the secondary. Four year starting corners Rafael Priest and Nick Sanders were ably backed up last year by Greg McCoy and Jason Teague, who may outperform their elders this season. McCoy (right) had a monstrous spring, snagging passes right and left. Both McCoy and Teague started at least once last season. The only questions at corner were their backups; Malcolm Williams has moved over to be one of them, and done very well.

At safety, the master communicator and least-trumpeted star of the show, Tejay Johnson, returns, grooming a protégé in Jurrell Thompson, who impressed this spring. Ibiloye, Luttrell, and Jones all will see a lot of PT in 2010, but exactly which of them, with Thompson, will start and which will backup remains uncertain.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

NEW MEXICO spring report

New Mexico went into spring drills with a mission to find a way to stop the bleeding. And, perhaps to the mild surprise of MWC fans everywhere, it may have found it. It starts on the defense, which was utterly hapless in 2009, ranking in the triple digits for total defense, scoring defense, and pass efficiency defense– despite the nation’s leading tackler prowling the middle of the field. It may be fair to ask how this unit could not improve.

The improvement begins up front, where highly touted transfer tackle Reggie Ellis (right), who followed Coach Locksley from Illinois to Albuquerque enters the gameday lineup, next to all-MWC end Jonathan Rainey and (probably) true freshman Calvin Smith, perhaps the conference’s biggest recruiting coup of the 2010 class. The other end, Jaymar Latchison, returns as well. Look for the Lobos to feature a dramatically upgraded pass rush.

Which dramatic upgrade will take loads of pressure off the linebackers, led by Carmen Messina (left), who was perhaps the team’s lone really bright spot in 2009. Messina tallied 163 tackles last year, half of them solo. Messina is the only returning starting LB for the Lobos; Joe Stoner played his way into a starting slot this spring, while the third spot remains open.

The Lobos’ strength on the line also will help their secondary, which has nowhere to go but up, compared to last year. And up they’ll go, with Bubba Forrest at full health (he didn’t practice this spring), and a raft of new athletes to up the competitiveness of the group. A. J. Butler, and Carmeiris Stewart (formerly at RB and WR), and several incoming freshmen can’t help but improve the performance of the defense’s third level.

Also working to help the defense will be a much-improved (compared to its near-useless 2009 incarnation) offense. New Mexico tallied triple-digit national ranks in rushing, scoring, and total offense last season. On this side of the trench, there’s nowhere to go but up, as well. Unlike the defense, however, the growth on offense is generated behind the line. Quarterback B. R. Holbrook (right) all but seized the starting role. Coach Locksley appeared unwilling to name Holbrook the starter only because he’d promised signees Tarean Austin and (all-name candidate) Stump Godfrey a fair chance at it. Neither Austin nor Godfrey enrolled early, however, and they’re clearly going to start well behind Holbrook come August. Brad Gruner and Tate Smith both were injured by the end of spring, leaving Holbrook most of the first-team snaps. Holbrook shone under center, and appears poised to lead a dramatically more effective passing attack. One of Holbrook’s better targets, Michael Scarlett, went down in the spring game, and his injury and status remain undisclosed. But TE Lucas Reed and WRs Myles Daugherty and Chris Hernandez will haul in the passes.

Lobo watchers have more reason to be excited about their team’s improvement on the ground. Demond Dennis and Kasey Carrier (left)made waves this spring, breaking long runs behind the stout line play of tackle Byron Bell. Dennis moved passed Wright into the #2 spot on the chart. LT Bell is the new leader of the line, which replaces three seniors on the right, including all-MWC and NFL-draftee center Erik Cook. Their replacements all saw significant playing time in ‘09, and showed well in the spring.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

WYOMING spring report

Wyoming's spring drills concluded a couple weeks ago, featuring a new sight in the thawing Laramie snow: smiles from Coach Christensen. The contrast with last year's spring couldn't be starker. "It was a real good day... We did a good job throwing the ball down the field... I like the way the defense is playing... I think they're doing a trememdous job of working extremely hard... and playing physical," reported the coach after the first scrimmage. After the second scrimmage, the coach said his team was playing "like a real football team out there."

Austyn Carta-Samuels's (right) completion percentage hit 70 percent in one scrimmage; Dax Crum's hit 60 percent. The young replacements on the offensive line (which lost three seniors) appear to have the potential to outperform the '09 line. Josh Leonard, a true sophemore now taking the first-team snaps at right tackle, has impressed the coaches. Clayton Kirven will start at left tackle. Freshmen Thomas Vonashek, Skyler Hinton, and junior Nick Puetz seem to be high on the depth chart for the line.

That new line will be blocking for Alvester Alexander (left)again, who proved the most durable of the team's runningbacks in the spring. True freshman Nehemie Kankolongo early enrolled, but quickly had a spring-ending injury; Darius Terry also didn't make it to the final scrimmage. Both are expected back in the fall, but neither is expected to oust Alexander from the top spot.

At the all-important receiver position, returners Zach Bolger, (right) David Leonard, and Chris McNiell have raised their game, giving JUCO transfers Mazi Ogbonna and DeJay Lester more competition for starting snaps than they may have counted on. This warms 'Poke watchers hearts, and not just because the returning three accounted for more than half of the Cowboys' receptions and yards. Dave Christensen's pass-happy spread requires sure-handed receivers, and in 2009, the Cowboys appeared to have only one or two of those-- Leonard and Bolger.

Josh Biezuns and Gabe Knapton have thrived as converted defensive ends; they tallied tackles like candy on halloween in the team scrimmages. Their switched positions (each from linebacker) are part of Wyoming's move from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3, which the coaches say uses easier schemes, and will allow the Cowboys to keep their best defensive athletes on the field more. The starting line (probably Biezuns, Stover, Purcell, Knapton, though Stover and Purcell both didn't practice this spring, while rehabbing injuries) must replace one of the MWC's great defensive lines, which was an all-senior, all-multi-year starting group.

With Biezuns and Knapton (left) moved, exactly who'll join Ghalai Muhammed in the linebacking corps this fall is more fluid. Devyn Harris is probably one of the other starters. Wyoming's secondary will be one of the conference's best. If they go largely injury-free, corners (and brothers) Marcell and Tashaun Gipson, and safeties Shamiel Gary likely will join safety Chris Prosinski on the all-MWC list in 2010.

Monday, May 3, 2010

How to play be a 1st round NFL pick

TCU's 2010 schedule, analyzed

While not the gold-plated gift-wrapped schedule given the Horned Frogs in 2009, TCU does have a favorable schedule in 2010. (See it in the table on the sidebar.)

The Frogs stick to the tried-and-true formula for non-conference games: one cartel semi-heavy-weight, one Big12 team, SMU, and one creampuff. The semi-heavy-weight cartel team is the opener, at JerryWorld, in Oregon State. The location takes a lot of the punch out of this matchup; the crowd, jet-lag, and general comfort level will be thoroughly friendly for the Frogs.

The creampuff is largely an unknown 2A team; these games are unfair, and good for little more than injuries and concession sales. The Wimple wishes TCU would add North Texas instead of a 2A team. The level of competition would hardly be different, and an all-1A schedule appeals to the computers. Oh well.

Baylor is the Big12 team on the schedule, for the third time in four years. The Bears come to Fort Worth again, and likely will leave just as shut-out as last time. Yes, Robert Griffin is a dynamic quarterback. No, he hasn’t played a defense like TCU’s before, and yes, doofus Baylor fans will supply all the bulletin board material needed to motivate the Frogs. This will be fun.

Finally SMU. This year– the first year in memory– the Mustangs don’t double the “creampuff” category. In fact, the Frogs may face a decent test in their Friday night roady to Dallas to face the Mustangs. The spread still probably will be in the double digits: perhaps half of last season’s ridiculous 40-point bet. But SMU showed a new and encouraging intensity in last year’s tilt, and have added confidence and a little success to their mojo since then. The Wimple doesn’t see SMU pulling off a 2005-esque upset this year, but he is glad the 2011 game is in Fort Worth.

Conference play– and the Frogs’ first foray outside the Metroplex this season– begins in Fort Collins at week 5. Colorado State won’t be a gimme at Sonny Lubick stadium this season. If the Frogs take bad injury luck north again, like they did in 2008, this could be uncomfortably close. Next come three MWC top-halfers to Fort Worth. Wyoming brings their now-confident spread to ACS first, followed by BYU’s not-so-new quarterback, and then Air Force’s triple option. TCU cashes in a lot of schedule grace with these three coming at or after the halfway-point in the season, and all at home.

By this point the Frogs probably will be 8-0, having played without a bye, and almost a month at home. The next two roadtrips will be a challenge. First it’s a late game in Las Vegas, which TCU will win handily. UNLV may be playing harder in 2010, but it will be in the midst of a thorough identity change, and out for the count before halftime. The team will return to Fort Worth sometime in the wee hours of Sunday, with the season’s toughest game looming. Week 10 (November 6, again) features the Frogs’ return to Salt Lake City to face the Utes. This year the game starts at 1:30 in the afternoon, and TCU (hopefully) will have the senior quarterback. Again the possibility of a BCS berth (or something larger) may hang on the outcome of this match. It may be the biggest Mountain West game of the year, or longer.

The Frogs host San Diego State in week 11, and then enjoy their only bye of the year, before finishing against a much improved New Mexico in Albuquerque.

TCU ought to be favored in every game this year, except maybe the grudge match in Salt Lake City. TCU hasn’t won in Rice-Eccles at least since its entry into the Mountain West. This will be TCU’s first day game there since then, and if injuries don’t significantly alter the two-deep beforehand, TCU will have the more experienced team at nearly every position.

So the schedule doesn’t hinder the Frogs; given TCU’s unprecedented pre-season poll position (#6 in ESPN’s post-spring lineup), any ceiling on the 2010 Frogs will be self-imposed. If the Horned Frogs show 2009-like intensity consistently in 2010, the purple-clad Fort Worth crew may force a rewrite of the BCS rules come bowl season.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

'09 final Dominance Ranking

In a sense, there is only one statistic that matters: wins and losses. But the Wimple proposed, in December, an interesting proxy for that stat-- the sum of a team's national scoring offense and scoring defense ranks-- called the Dominance Ranking. Here is the final 2009 top 25, ranked by dominance:
rank, team (scoring defense, scoring offense, sum)
1. TCU (6, 5, 11)
2. Florida (4, 10, 14)
3. Boise St. (14, 1, 15)
3. Texas (12, 3, 15)
5. Alabama (2, 22, 24)
6. Central Mich. (17, 13, 30)
7. Virginia Tech (9, 24, 33)
8. Oklahoma (7, 29, 36)
9. BYU (29, 11, 40)
9. Pittsburgh (19, 21, 40)
11. Air Force (10, 36, 46)
12. Cincinnati (44, 4, 48)
12. Texas Tech (41, 7, 48)
14. Clemson (25, 28, 53)
15. Mississippi (15, 39, 54)
15. Ohio St. (5, 49, 54)
17. Penn St. (3, 52, 55)
18. Utah (23, 34, 57)
19. Wisconsin (33, 25, 58)
20. Oregon (51, 8, 59)
21. Arkansas (58, 9, 67)
22. Miami (37, 31, 68)
22. Rutgers (16, 52, 68)
24. Georgia Tech (56, 15, 71)
25. Middle Tenn. (49, 23, 72)
26. Connecticut (48, 27, 75)
26. Navy (18, 57, 75)
28. Nebraska (1, 75, 76)
29. Temple (39, 39, 78)
30. Stanford (69, 11, 80)
30. Southern Miss. (62, 18, 80)
32. Tennessee (38, 43, 81)
33. Oregon St. (57, 26, 83)
33. South Fla. (19, 64, 83)
35. Northern Ill. (30, 54, 84)
(36-120 in the comment below)

Three things jump out from this list: (1) the only losses among the top five teams came to each other; (2) Central Michigan may have been greatly underrated; and (3) the Mountain West has four of the top 17-- the best showing of any conference.

Look for periodic rankings by dominance in 2010.

NFL drafts 13 MWC players

13 players from the MWC were selected in the '10 NFL draft, including six from Utah, setting a MWC team record.
Utah: Koa Misi (2nd, Miami), Zane Beadles (2nd, Denver), Robert Johnson (5th, Tennessee), David Reed (5th, Baltimore), Stephenson Sylvester (5th, Pittsburgh), and R.J. Stanford (7th, Carolina).
TCU: Jerry Hughes (1st, Indianapolis), Daryl Washington (2nd, Arizona) and Marshall Newhouse (5th, Green Bay).
BYU: Dennis Pitta (4th, Baltimore).
Colorado State: Shelley Smith (6th, Houston).
New Mexico: Erik Cook (7th, Washington).
UNLV: Joe Hawley (7th, Atlanta).

NFL teams drafted 16 MWC players in '09, seven '08, nine in '07, twelve in '06, 17 in '05, eight in '04.

COLORADO STATE spring report

The Rams had many weeks to stew in the stink created by the nine-game losing streak they endured to finish 2009. It'll be up to a slew of new offensive starters to reverse the luck over Fort Collins in 2010.

Up front, CSU graduated four linemen, and put all four into NFL camps. Only tackles Paul Madsen, Mark Starr, and guard Jake Gdowski started any games last year, and one backup, Ryan Griffith, played in a few games at the other tackle spot. So the guns up front will be young and inexperienced. Tyler McDermott (Jr., 6-2, 274) (right) appears to be the coaches' first choice at center, though he flubbed too many snaps during the spring to nail down the first spot on the 2-deep. Weston Richburg (Fr., 6-4, 278) is pressing.

Finding the starting five up front may be the Rams' biggest issue this fall, however, because the other big offensive questions appear to have been settled, more or less, in the spring. For the first time in Steve Fairchild's tenure, it appears he has more than one year's signal-called lined up under center. Early-enrolled true freshman Pete Thomas (left) wound up taking the first-team snaps for most of the last practices in April, ahead of redshirted freshman Nico Ranieri. Both of the freshmen showed well enough that Coach Fairchild didn't let disgruntled and disparaging remarks make it to the press this spring, like he has his first two years. The two young QBs have enconsed themselved deeply enough atop the depth chart that senior Jon Eastman transferred to a 2A school, and T.J. Borcky resumed play at WR.

Speaking of wide receivers, the Rams must replace the most prolific duo at that position that they've had in a long time. The lineup to replace Rashaun Greer and Dion Morton (who took with them 41% of the team's '09 catches and 48% of its receiving yards) appears to be T.J. Borcky (jr., 6-4, 204), Lou Greenwood (soph., 6-0, 183), Marquise Law (soph., 6-4, 193), Byron Steele (soph., 6-3, 207), Jyrone Hickman (sr., 6-3, 199) and Tyson Liggett (sr., 5-9, 186). Those five make a talented group, but like so much of the 2010 offense, untested.

There's genuine reason for optimism for the Rams on the ground: returners Leonard Mason and John Mosure have not kept ahead of freshman Chris Nwoke and transfer Raymond Carter (right) at runningback. There's suddenly tremendous depth in the backfield in Fort Collins; if the young line ahead of it can exceed last year's push, the Rams may feature a balanced attack, and return to their '08 form.

On defense there is less turmoil with the depthchart. DEs Zach Tiedgen and Cory Macon didn't practice, but expect to start in the fall. Their absence gave converted lineman Adam Seymore and Broderick Sargent a spring to take their first college snaps up front. Look for Wyittier, Miller, and Macon to start this fall, with Nuku Latu advancing to the top spot at DT to replace James Morehead.

At linebacker, Ram fans can't wait to see Ricky Brewer back from a one year suspension. He showed well this spring, while youngster Mychal Sisson played about half of the spring before his scheduled shoulder surgery. The two should anchor the defense in 2010. Davis Burl played well in Sisson's absence.

In the secondary, Ivory Herd (left) hopes to follow Elijah-Blu Smith's path to being a fixture in the Rams' defense. Herd started in injured Klay Kubiak's place for about half of 2009; Smith was thrown into the mix in 2008 because of injuries, as well.