...I find myself blaming our slow descent into suckiness on the football team's need to go independent. We played much harder and tougher on both ends of the court from week to week when we were in the MWC than we do now in the WCC. We have no real natural rivalries to pique the interest/motivation level of the team other than Gonzaga and as a result we often play down to the level of the team we're playing while they approach us with a target on our back.

That wasn't the case in the MWC. We went to places like Wyoming, CSU, Utah, etc knowing that we owned them and expected to win and would find that extra gear, deep down and find a determination to come from behind. It's alot like how Utah football approaches BYU. They just always seem to pull it out in the end.

We don't really have that anymore in basketball. Teams decide they want the game more than us and we just decide, "darn. okay" and roll over.