In football, Boise State was coming off one of the great games in history, the see-it-to-believe-it 2007 Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma to cap an unbeaten season. Running back Ian Johnson was coming back from that team, and the league was stumping for Heisman votes for him and Hawaii's Colt Brennan.

Then, as it often happens among the upstarts, reality bit. Brennan indeed finished third in the Heisman race, and Hawaii had an undefeated regular season.

But in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, he looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. Hawaii was exposed badly, and the coach, June Jones, shortly left for Southern Methodist in a sequence Warriors administrators viewed as so badly bungled they immediately fired their athletic director, Herman Frazier.

Meanwhile, two other WAC bowl teams fainted on stage as well, Boise State losing to double-digit underdog East Carolina and Nevada getting shut out for the first time in 329 games against New Mexico. Fresno State was the league's lone pick-me-up, beating favored Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.

Now basketball is offering no respite.

"It is what it is," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said philosophically earlier this week, poring over RPI conference rankings.

Those show the WAC at an unsightly No. 17 nationally, behind leagues like the Sun Belt and Southern. It's a decidedly uncomfortable spot for a league that has fairly regularly been a two-bid visitor to the NCAA tournament.

Not going to happen this year, barring something bizarre. Utah State (15-6) leads the league, but it just got pummeled by 30 at New Mexico State. Boise State (15-5) has the WAC's best record, while the conference's bell-cow, Nevada, is experiencing a down year at 12-7.

The Wolf Pack, like Fresno State, is dealing with a surprise early entry to last June's NBA draft. Guard Ramon Sessions came out of Nevada, as did Fresno's 6-foot-8 forward Dominic McGuire, who was third in blocked shots in the country.

Meanwhile, guard Lyndale Burleson, brother of Seahawks receiver Nate Burleson, was academically ineligible until late December for Nevada. Garfield grad Marcelus Kemp leads the team in scoring at 18.9.

The Wolfpack is a respectable No. 81 in the RPI numbers, but in too many other precincts, the WAC is wilting. Five teams are sub-190, lowlighted by Idaho at 319 and Louisiana Tech at 326.