2006 MWest Surprises, Disappointments & MVPs

2006 Mountain West Surprises, Disappointments, Bests & MVPs

CFN 2006 All-Mountain West Team and Top 30 Players
 
Coach of the Year – Bronco Mendenhall, BYU
He restored the glory at BYU leading the program to a brilliant, championship season. The team maintained an even keel throughout the year on both sides of the ball keeping the team playing at a high level all season long.

Worst Coaching Job of the Year – Sonny Lubick, Colorado State
Let's give UNLV's Mike Sanford a pass for one more season. Colorado State started out 4-1 and finished with seven straight losses finishing 1-7 in Mountain West play. With star RB Kyle Bell getting hurt before the season began, the Rams never found a running game becoming way too reliant on Caleb Hanie and the passing attack. The offense completely went into the tank over the second half of the year.

Best Performance of the Season - On November 18th, TCU QB Jeff Ballard completed 20 of 23 passes for 288 yards and five touchdowns and ran eight times for 30 yards and a score in the 52-0 win over San Diego State. Utah CB Eric Weddle ran 12 times for 73 yards and two touchdowns and made eight tackles in the 17-14 win over Air Force. BYU QB John Beck threw for 464 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions on 28-of-42 passing and added another score and seven yards on five carries in the 42-17 win over New Mexico.

Top Freshman – UNLV WR Ryan Wolfe
The bright spot in the dismal season, Wolfe was the steady, main man for the attack all year long starting out with a 160-yard day against Idaho State and finishing the year leading the Mountain West with 911 yards.

Most Disappointing Player – San Diego State RB Lynell Hamilton
To be fair, Hamilton deserves to be hard luck player more than the most disappointing. This was supposed to be the year he put it all together with all his old injuries healed and a new offense to get excited about. With as much talent as any player in the league, he had a hard time getting going even though he got the ball in his hands early and often. He got hurt after the third game and never was right the rest of the way only getting seven carries thanks to a hurt knee.

Biggest Surprise – BYU
The Cougars were supposed to be good, but no one expected them to steamroll their way through the Mountain West. Part of it was because they were great, but the great year was partly due to ...

Biggest Disappointment - ... the league, for the most part
After a great 2005, the hope was for the Mountain West to take another step forward and be seen as close to worthy of the BCS leagues. It didn't happen. BYU was great, and TCU won ten games including a dominant victory over Texas Tech, but the rest of the league was nothing special. San Diego State and UNLV didn't exactly turn things around, while Colorado State crashed and burned.

Best Game of the Conference USA Season 
BYU 33 ... Utah 31
Down 31-27 with three seconds to play on the Utah 11, BYU's John Beck dropped back, roamed around, roamed around some more, waited, waited, and waited, and finally found Jonny Harline in the end zone for his third touchdown catch of the game in one of the most thrilling finishes in the history of the rivalry. The two passing games went up and down the field with Utah overcoming an early 14-0 deficit with 24 straight points on two Brett Ratliff touchdown passes and a Eric Weddle 18-yard scoring play to Brent Casteel. The Cougars bounced back as Beck connected with Harline for a four-yard score early in the fourth and with Daniel Coats for a two-yard touchdown with 3:23 to play to take a 27-24 lead, but Utah bounced back as Ratliff connected with Brent Casteel for a 19-yard touchdown with 1:19 to play. Beck took the team 75 yards in ten plays for the win.
Second Best Game – New Mexico 39 ... UNLV 36 OT, Oct. 14
Third Best Game – New Mexico 34 ... Utah 31, Oct. 21

Worst Game of the Conference USA Season 
TCU 52 ... San Diego State 0
TCU obliterated San Diego State on five Jeff Ballard touchdown passes and a four-yard scoring run with Donald Massey scoring three times from 18, five, and 33 yards out as the offense rolled up 624 yards. The Aztecs gained just 87 yards, got six first downs and converted just one of 13 third down chances. Shae Reagan caught a 44-yard touchdown pass and Joseph Turner ran for a 24-yard score.

Team MVPs 
Air Force – QB Shaun Carney, LB Drew Fowler
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 4-8, final regular season record: 4-8

BYU – QB John Beck, LB Cameron Jensen
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 8-4, final regular season record: 10-2

Colorado State – QB Caleb Hanie, LB Klint Kubiak
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 5-7, final regular season record: 4-8
 
New Mexico – RB Rodney Ferguson, S Quincy Black
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 6-6, final regular season record: 6-6

San Diego State – RB Atiyyah Henderson, DE Antwan Applewhite
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 4-8, final regular season record: 3-9

TCU – QB Jeff Ballard, DE Tommy Blake
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 9-3, final regular season record: 10-2

UNLV – WR Ryan Wolfe, CB Eric Wright
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 3-9, final regular season record: 2-10
 
Utah – QB Brett Ratliff, CB Eric Weddle
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 11-1, final regular season record: 7-5

Wyoming – QB Karsten Sween, S John Wendling
CFN Preview 2006 predicted record: 3-9, final regular season record: 6-6

CFN 2006 All-Mountain West Team and Top 30 Players