Who's tops in the WAC so far?

By Eddie Hughes

Halfway through the Western Athletic Conference season, we still don’t know a whole lot about the conference race.

The biggest news out of the WAC has been that Rice, Tulsa and Southern Methodist are out as of Jul. 1, 2005 and New Mexico State and Utah State are in.

That doesn’t help us in the least bit when trying to figure out who will win the WAC, who will trek to the three conference bowl games or who might end up in the national top 25.

But I’ll tell you this:

Boise State

The Broncos are atop the WAC standings at 7-1 (4-0 WAC). But are they any good? Their most quality victory was by six points at Louisiana Tech. Boise State lost to the best team it has played so far—Oregon State. The real test for the Broncos comes in their next three road games—at Brigham Young, at Fresno State and at Hawaii. Tally my prediction that they lose two of those games.

Fresno State

The Bulldogs might be the toughest team to figure out. They have the most talent on paper, but are 4-4 on the year and barely squeaked out a win against Rice Saturday. Granted, the Bulldogs have played the most daring schedule, but the offense looked feeble in the first half of the season.

Hawaii

It was the Warriors lucky year. They drew home dates against both Fresno State and Boise State. Hawaii cruised past the Bulldogs and close the season against the Broncos. But Hawaii better watch out for the road trip to Nevada. The Warriors are one of the worst road teams in the league, and a stunning loss to Tulsa means Hawaii still has plenty of work to do to win the WAC.

Louisiana Tech

A big non-conference win against Michigan State is the highlight of these Bulldogs’ season. A bowl game is all but eliminated from consideration now that Tech has lost to Fresno State, Boise State and Hawaii.

Nevada

The Wolf Pack was unscathed in the conference until losing to Tech Saturday. Not good news for Nevada, considering games against the big three—Fresno State, Boise State and Hawaii—still remain.

Rice

Holding onto an eight-point lead Saturday against Fresno State would have made the Owls season. But they let the Bulldogs come back and paid for it. The Owls might be Tulsa or SMU, but they shouldn’t expect to be included in the championship race this season.

San Jose State

Three WAC losses before playing Fresno State and Hawaii and what do you get? Nothing. Definitely not bowl aspirations.

SMU

When your team is 0-8 (0-5) it doesn’t deserve much newspaper space. So I’ll just say quickly that the Mustangs should start forgetting about this season before it’s even over.

Tulsa

We’ll go ahead and call Tulsa the surprise team of the year. Not because the Golden Hurricane (4-4, 2-2) is a good team, but just because it has won four games this season. It surprises me. I didn’t think Tulsa would have more than one win to this point and certainly not a win at Hawaii.

UTEP

We won’t know much about Texas-El Paso until we see what they do against Tulsa, Rice and San Jose State. But I feel it’s safe to say the Miners (2-6, 1-2) won’t win the WAC or go to a bowl game.