For the greater part of last season, it was expected the Rebels would make the NCAA Tournament.  After wins over Arizona and Louisville, and an early victory over improved New Mexico, it was looking good entering the meat of conference play.

Things went south, however, on the first road trip of the season, as the Rebels were unable to dispatch two teams which were considered the bottom of the conference; TCU and Colorado State.

UNLV's loss to Colorado State was especially disappointing.  After last year's MWC tournament game between TCU and UNLV, few were surprised at the improvement the Frogs made, and to lose on the road to a up and coming team, while unexpected, was not astounding.  But Colorado State floundered in mediocrity ever since current 76er Jason Smith left the school after the Rams nearly beat Duke in the NCAA's.  In 2007, the Rams became the first team in MWC history to go winless in conference play. The team's four MWC victories last season is the grand total for head coach Tim Miles.

Facing UNLV, Colorado State was on a losing streak of 21 games against the MWC (including the MWC Tourney).  There was no reason for Rebel fans to feel threatened by the Rams.  But apparently the players felt the same way, and didn't focus in that game.  What should have been an easy victory turned into one of the greatest disappointments in Running Rebel history, as the Rams held off the late charge to win by two.

Flash forward to this season.  The Rams are still no where near the top of the conference.  They will struggle to improve on last season.  But if they need any extra motivation, all they need to do is pop in the tape of last year's game against UNLV to prove to themselves they can compete against the premier teams in the conference.

Colorado State Rams

2008-2009 Record: 9-22 (4-13 MWC)
Last Tournament Appearance: 2003
Returning Starters: Andre McFarland (6-6 Jr.), Andy Ogide (6-9 Jr.), Jesse Carr (6-2 So.)
Head Coach: Tim Miles 228-179 overall (16-47 CSU)
Notable Non-conference Games: 11/15 @ Oregon, 12/22 @ UCLA
Preseason MWC Ranking: 8th
2009 v. UNLV: 1-1 (@CSU 69-71, @ Las Vegas 89-70)

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The BCS will never be without controversy.  It is the nature of a system that chooses two participants out of 120 to represent the best of college football.  There will rarely go a season where the BCS will not have to answer questions why one team is in while another is out.

But we are stuck with this system for now, so we must make the best of it until it changes.

But if you are hoping for change sooner rather than later, this season might just be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.  Today, seven teams remain undefeated with three to five games remaining.  Two are Florida and Alabama, who seemingly are predestined to meet at the SEC Championship in Atlanta undefeated.  That leaves five teams vying for the spot that will grant them a chance at raising the crystal trophy in Pasadena.

BCS proponents are finding every good luck charm they can in hopes the mess will sort itself out.  But besides the two SEC schools, no other conference is represented more than once.  The chances of one or more of these teams losing shouldn't happen, as they will all be favored in their remaining matchups.

Following is the profile of each team and what the BCS can expect if they make it to the championship game.  To add a little flavor, the teams will be listed like racehorses with the odds of them finishing ahead of the field listed.

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Let's be honest with ourselves; there is no team on the face of the earth Rebel fans would rather watch drown in a pool of their own bodily fluids than the BYU Cougars.  Ever since the punch, UNLV's hatred for their foes up north has simmered.  Not helping things was the 2008 conference championship and bantamweight contender Sarah Cummard, their fans and coaches constantly whining about Las Vegas hosting the MWC tournament, and the inability of the Cougars to back up their talk in the NCAA Tournament.

We can go on about how much we hate BYU, but if it weren't for the Cougars, the MWC race would be a whole lot less interesting.  Good rivals make for good races, and the race between BYU and UNLV is as heated as ever.  While most fans get up for the big non-conference games, the BYU game annually draws one of the largest crowds of the season (last season's sellout was the largest crowd since UNLV hosted Georgetown in 1993).  It's nice they return the favor, as UNLV gets similar treatment up in Provo.

The media expects these two teams (along with San Diego State) to be the class of the Mountain West once again.  Circle Feb. 6th on your calendar, as the Cougars come to town that weekend.

BYU Cougars

2008-2009 Record: 25-8 (12-4, T-1st MWC)
2009 NCAA Tournament: Lost 1st Round, Texas A&M 79-66
Returning Starters: Jimmer Fredette (6-2, Jr.), Jonathan Tavernari (6-6, Sr.), Chris Miles (6-11, Sr.), Jackson Emery (6-3, Jr.)
Head Coach: Dave Rose, 4th year (97-34)
Notable Non-Conference Games: @ Utah State 12/2, vs. Arizona State 12/8, @ Arizona 12/28
Preseason MWC Ranking: 1st
2009 vs UNLV: 0-2 (@ Provo UNLV 76 BYU 70, @ Las Vegas UNLV 75 BYU 74)

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New Year's Day, 2009.  The Rebels, coming home from an impressive (and astonishing) victory over the University of Louisville, come home to find themselves mentioned constantly as favorites for the MWC crown, and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.

March 13th, 2009.  The Rebels find themselves eliminated in the first round of the MWC tournament after finishing the conference season in 5th place.  In a few days, they find out they will not return to the tournament, and will lose in the first round of the NIT to Kentucky.

What happened during those three months?  Any team across the country can tell you, what you do in your preseason doesn't matter once the conference season begins.  UNLV was banking on victories over Arizona and Louisville to carry them, but the teams that face the Rebels twice a year, and knew their weaknesses, were able to exploit and dismantle UNLV.

While a full UNLV preview is in the works, to get a full understanding of what is in the cards for the Rebels one must also know who the Rebels will be facing.  Therefore, the Towel will be taking a look at the MWC team by team to clear up what should be a challenging schedule for Lon Kruger's kids.

To do this, I will be borrowing a cool style to analyze each team from Slam! Magazine, where they project the ceiling and basement for each team, leading up to the Rebel's home opener against Pittsburgh State on November 14th.  Today, get ready to get your Section Eight discharge!

Air Force Falcons

2008-2009 Record:10-21 (0-16 MWC), finished 9th
Last Tournament Appearance: 2006
Returning Starters: Evan Washington (6-4 Jr.), Mike McLain (6-8 Sr.)
Head Coach: Jeff Reynolds, 3rd season (107-69, 26-55 @ AFA)
Notable Non-Conference Games: 12/12 @ Washington State
Preseason MWC Ranking: 9th
Vs. UNLV: W@ Air Force (59-38), W@ Las Vegas (46-43)

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If there is one fault no one can deny UNLV football coach Mike Sanford has, it dcertainly is his unwaivering optimism in his team and chances to win.  Crushing defeat after crushing defeat, he still can't help but utter the following words, "I'll never play a game which I do not feel we have a cance of winning" (Or something along those lines).

This confidence hasn't changed, even today as the team prepares to face #6 TCU.  The gap in talent between the two schools would give most head coaches reservations about going into such a matchup.  For example, Jerry Hughes, TCU's All-American candidate at defensive end, has nine of the 26 total sacks the Horned Frogs have so far.  UNLV has 12 sacks the entire season as a team.  TCU has the conference's most efficient QB in Andy Dalton, who to date has 11 TD compared to only three interceptions.  UNLV QB Omar Clayton didn't turn the ball over against New Mexico this last week, his first game this season, out of seven played, he hasn't thrown an interception.

The two teams are obviously heading in different directions, so why is Sanford still so positive about his chances?  Here at the Towel, we struggled with this question, and, after minutes of research, found what we were looking for!

Coach Sanford's keys to victory!

All along, Rebel fans were fooled by the comidical character that is Sanford.  We thought he did everything on the fly, like the fake field goal attempt against Utah, or the delay of game penalty against Wyoming this season.  But we were wrong!  This was all part of a masterplan to get TCU to think we are a worse team than we really are!

Think about it:  UNLV has defeated every other team in conference play, except for the Frogs (The lone victory against TCU came before they joined the MWC).  This can get a bit tiresome.  But the Frogs always bring a talented team that dominates the Rebels.  The key to getting a victory over the Frogs is to get TCU to overlook us!  It worked against Arizona State last season, why wouldn't it work again?

First, you must set the trap.  The key to this was to make the Rebels seem as hapless and innocent as possible.  This was easily accomplished by allowing then 0-3 Nevada score 63 points against our defense, then stepping aside while BYU pounded us with 59 the following week.  Mix in a questionable defeat at the hands of rebuilding Wyoming and trick plays gone awry against Utah, and the beginning was set.  It would have been even more convincing if we lost to New Mexico, but there is still team pride to consider.  That's why we let the Lobos get as close as a Touchdown in the fourth quarter before we focused on beating them.

Now that we seem to be incapable of playing competitive football, now we must begin to attack the Frogs.  But your normal X's and O's will not work.  You need to get them to look past UNLV, remember?  Therefore, what we need is a distraction.  We need to keep the Frogs focused on their nationally covered game at BYU where they embarassed the Cougars.  Keep them wondering if they really could be this year's BCS buster.  The matchup against Utah still a couple weeks away?  There is no time like the present to begin avenging last season's loss.

While this may be enough against other teams, the Frogs have shown to be very focused, so it may be necessary to go farther down the list:  voodoo.  Dallas is only 520 miles from New Orleans.  It isn't uncommon to visit Marie Laveau's grave and ask for favors.  This may be what Sanford needs to beat the Frogs and keep his job.  It is common practice to visit the grave and ask for favors.  According to Wikipedia, her grave is visited more than Elvis'.  Just don't forget to leave an offering while there.

Ms. Laveau may be our only hope to defeat the Frogs this weekend.

Short of practicing voodoo, there really isn't any practical way the Rebels can prepare to face the Frogs.  The line has been set at 34.  A more realistic approach for the Rebels to take is to look for a moral victory and just cover the spread.

Today is the one year anneversary of the Bloguin Network.  For all the help and support they have given to this particular blog, I just wanted to send out a thank you.

Three months ago, when this blog launched, Bloguin took a big risk bringing in an unproven writer looking for a chance to publish some of his opinions over the World Wide Web.  That these opinions had to do with UNLV sports or whatever topic seemed important wasn't what made their decision.  Why they decided to make the risk I don't know for sure, but I will always be grateful for the opportunity.

As a little way to repay the network, check out their new annual blog awards.  Everyone can check out the different blogs associated with the network and see what other work is out there.  Follow this link to check out the nominees for the awards.

Most UNLV fans may believe Head Coach Mike Sanford should have been fired already.  Some were even hoping for a loss this weekend to expedite the process.

However, after holding off New Mexico 34-17 Saturday, Sanford gets another week without losing his head.

Did Sanford save his job?  No.  There is still four games to play, with only one really daunting game ahead (next week against TCU).  If the team doesn't hang their head after what should be a solid beating next week, they have a chance against an overrated Colorado State team and a home game against a schizophrenic San Diego State.  Air Force is solid, but is better at finding ways to lose close games than winning them.

But as this team has shown, there really are no gimmies this season.  The possibility of going 3-1 is there, but the reality of it actually happening is daunting.  How many people really have faith UNLV will be able to pull this off?  Last season they were able to regroup after another horrid October, only to fall the last week of the season to the Aztecs.  The November portion of the schedule is certainly less imposing than this last month.  Only TCU has a winning record (Air Force is .500) of UNLV's remaining opponents.

I doubt it will happen though.  This team hasn't shown the makeup to win important games.  So far this season, they tripped up against Wyoming and fell flat on their face against their rival up north.  Each of these games was winnable but the team seemed to quit after suffering difficulties early in the game.  At best, this team should win the two remaining home games on the schedule.

Should the Rebels pull off the miraculous and become bowl eligible, yes, Sanford deserves to keep his job.  To get this underachieving, uninspired team to play to the level they are capable and fans have hoped they would accomplish deserves another chance, even if he was only able to inspire this level of play for 1/3 of the season.  A bowl game will help heal several of the wounds fans hold against Sanford.

Congratuations to the Rebels for Saturday's victory.  Now let's see if we can get this to last for more than one week.

Shown on "Sunday NFL Countdown" during the Mayne Event segment, this video shows off the dancing skills of Rebels Ryan Wolfe and B.J. Bell.  If only their performance on the field was half as good.....

My first UNLV jersey was bought the season after the Las Vegas Bowl appearance.  It was a high quality jersey, and I still have it today.  As is common with NCAA jerseys, there is no name on the back, but every jersey sold was with the most marketable player at the time.  At the time, Quarterback Jason Thomas, being the most popular player at the time, soon saw his number 2 jersey throughout the stadium.

Two seasons later, while I was wearing the jersey to the latest disappointment, a fan asked me why I was wearing the number 2.  I told him it was for Jason Thomas.  His reply, "I wouldn't be caught dead in that jersey."

Pretty soon, we will be hearing the same about current Rebel Quarterback Omar Clayton.  What number does he wear?  The number 2.

For those uninitiated in Rebel history, you need to know about the rise and fall of Jason Thomas.  As a sophomore under coach John Robinson, Thomas led the Rebels to their first bowl game since the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl.  Thomas quickly gained natonal media coverage and was even considered to be the most important recruit UNLV ever landed (he transferred from USC after his freshman season).  Quickly, he became the poster boy for the MWC, getting mentioned on several prominent preseason award lists, including the Heisman Trophy.

But just as quick as his rise at UNLV, the wheels fell off the Thomas' bandwagon.  Starting with the off-season shoulder surgery, his already poor mechanics (he constantly threw the ball while fading backwards) grew even worse.  Soon, the fans already forgot the victory over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl, but were still optimistic the team could turn it around.  After all, the previous season we went bowling!

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Apparently, the search for a new coach is ended before it even began!  Today on "Sunday NFL Countdown" on ESPN, Justin Timberlake, in town for his PGA golf tournament which helps support the Shriner's Hospitals, takes over for Sanford and teaches a few moves to Ryan Wolfe and B.J. Bell.  The segment will air in the second half of the two hour show.  The spot is produced by former UNLV quarterback Kenny Mayne (Wonder if he even knows the state the football program is in or if Bristol has the entire west coast blocked off except for the PAC-10).

We will post the video if it becomes available online.  But for now, tune to ESPN between 9 and 10 pm to catch the one positive glimpse the football team can give us.