<p>For the first time in the Mountain West Conferences 10-year history, three of its teams are ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.</p>
<p>While much has been made of the rankings and Bowl Championship Series-busting potential of No. 11 BYU, No. 17 Utah and No. 24 TCU all of which are 4-0 the strength of the conference goes beyond the top three.</p>
<p>Air Force, which returned only eight starters from last year, is 3-1 for the second consecutive season. Colorado State is 2-1, with its only loss to unbeaten Colorado. And, perhaps most notably, UNLV is 3-1. The Rebels, whose only loss came to Utah, already have exceeded their victory totals from each of the past four seasons.</p>
<p>I expect to win, so Im not surprised, UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. Im one of those that I cant coach unless I expect to win every game. I think people on the outside are surprised, but Im not.</p>
<p>UNLV upset then-No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 13 and then defeated Iowa State last Saturday.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, those guys have made a dramatic improvement down in Las Vegas, Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said.</p>
<p>Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said the league is as strong top-to-bottom as it ever has been.</p>
<p>A non-BCS team in the national championship?</p>
<p>September 24, 2008 1:52 PM</p>
<p>Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson</p>
<p>Could either Utah or Boise State be playing in the BCS national championship?</p>
<p>If the season ended to today, yes.</p>
<p>According to an article in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times, two of the six computers used in the Bowl Championship Series standings formula that helps determine the participants in the national title game have both Utah and Boise State at or near the top of their computer-generated rankings.</p>
<p>Wes Colley, who operates one of the six computers, has Utah as the nation's top team.</p>
<p>Kenneth Massey, who operates another BCS computer, has USC and Utah at the top of his rankings with Boise State and Wisconsin rounding out the top 4. Massey states on his Web site that his ratings are based on win-loss outcomes relative to schedule difficulty and that margin of victory is not used.</p>
<p>This is fun to think about, but probably not too realistic. However, it does show the kind of street credit the non-BCS schools are gathering this season and it should be interesting to see where everyone falls when the first BCS pool is officially released on Oct. 19.</p>
<p>OVERVIEW: For the first half of the season, the Mountain West has proven that it is the best non-BCS conference in the country. Currently, it has more bowl-eligible teams than any other BCS conference. It has more ranked teams, more undefeated teams and more teams above .500 than any of its non-BCS brethren. The Mountain West has set itself up for its first BCS bowl berth since 2004 and a possible national championship should BYU have a perfect season and voters see fit to reward it.</p>