"I'm telling you," said Tomey. "If you want a conference for great coaches, look at the WAC. I mean, LaVell Edwards and Ted Tollner and Sonny Lubick and Fisher DeBerry and John Robinson. Holy mackerel! The WAC has some of the best. You're talking about experience there. The WAC is as good as anyone for coaching."

Which would make sense.

If any of these men coached in the WAC.

The definition of identity: The state or fact of being a specific person or thing.

The definition of an identity crisis: The Mountain West Conference.

No, coaches from America's newest Division I league aren't holding their collective breaths. They are, instead, blue in the face from speaking about the one hill their teams must climb if this conference has any chance at joining the nation's elite at the summit of college football. It is not a new concept. Been there, heard that time and again.

"Our biggest priority now is establishing a brand identity," said conference commissioner Craig Thompson.

Do not ask what the eight teams (Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming) have done lately.

Ask instead who they have beat.

"I remember recruits asking me all these questions about our new league when it was announced we were leaving the WAC," said SDSU's Tollner. "Parents and kids talk academics, but they're really concerned about how much we're going to be on television and what bowl opportunities we have.

"Well, a lot of that is going to depend on who we beat out of conference. We have to form an identity by proving we belong with the top leagues. The only way to do that is by scheduling those teams and winning our share."

History, at this point, isn't on the league's side. Of the eight, only BYU and Air Force have consistently proven capable at lining up and smacking Top 25 teams. But if the MWC is to distinguish itself, if this inaugural season is going to be deemed a success nationally, the non-league wins must come.

		Wouldn't it have been great if these schools had kept the WAC name? This is the real WAC and a good, competitive conference. One story that leaps to mind revolves around LaVell Edwards. Will it be his last year, and if it is, will BYU send him out in positive fashion? I like BYU primarily because the Cougars are different than what they used to be. Their strength is on defense, with Rob Morris at linebacker. BYU will be fine defensively, but the Cougars' offense has some growing to do. Kevin Feterik is a fine quarterback, but there's so much pressure on him to live up to the Steve Young model. They lost Ronney Jenkins, who transferred to Northern Arizona, so their running game no longer has the home-run hitter. My pick, however, to win the conference is an upset: Air Force. Even though they won the WAC last year, the Falcons don't seem to get much respect. But I like their option and coach Fisher DeBerry. I think they are strong enough defensively. There will be a pretty good battle for the title, with San Diego State and Colorado State in the hunt as well. I think people are down on Colorado State because the Rams had an opportunity last year to make an real impression on the national scene, and they didn't get it done. This year, I think they'll have a chip on their shoulder, and Sonny Lubick will have them focused.

It is a group of eight that defined the best WAC football offered and yet, really, what was that? BYU owns the league's only national championship, when a large asterisk was placed next to the Cougars after they beat Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl.

There was Marshall Faulk's failed bid at the 1992 Heisman Trophy, when a lack of national credibility in the league had more to do with the SDSU running back finishing second than anything Miami's Gino Torretta did on the field.

Exciting games have defined the schools, if you go for outcomes like 52-52. They lit up scoreboards from Provo to Laramie, from San Diego to Albuquerque.

The high-scoring affairs made for some great television and welcome drama at the end of a very long Saturday, but the league in many eyes was thought more gimmick than genuine. It is now the hope of these eight schools to change that.

"It used to be, the halves of college football got all the glory and the have-nots were doomed," said UNLV's Robinson, who knew a lot more about the former when coaching USC. "That's not the case any more. And this conference is going to be a lot different from the old WAC."

It already is. Give the MWC this: The pregame show has been flashy. The wrapping paper is all glitter. If you're going to re-package an old product, this is the correct way. There is a seven-year, $48 million television deal with ESPN. There are bowl commitments with the Liberty and Las Vegas games.

New name, new logo, new commissioner, new agenda, new attitude, new bylaws, new enthusiasm.

New results?

Perhaps. Used to be, these eight played defense as well as Boris Yeltsin handles his cabinet. That's no longer the case. Colorado State went to three Holiday Bowls in four years because it recruited fast, physical players who smacked people.

BYU ... no, this is not a misprint ... won with defense more than its passing game last year and is favored to do so again. SDSU, the Andrew Carnegie of the eight when it came to surrendering points while in the WAC, could field its best defense in 22 years this season.

But does any of that give Wyoming a chance to upset Tennessee or SDSU a legitimate shot at beating USC or BYU better odds at surviving Washington and Virginia?

"Our team has had a first-hand look at what a weak national perception can do to a program," said Wyoming coach Dana Dimel. "We finished 10-2 in 1996 and didn't go to a bowl. Our program is just now starting to get over that.

"Those are very hard scars to overcome. I've been on the other side when I was an assistant at Kansas State. To be any good in the eyes of the nation, we have to beat people from higher conferences."

It sounds so simple, and then you consider a stat like this: SDSU (which this year plays at Illinois, USC and Kansas) last won a non-conference road game in 1981.

You can't even make up stuff like that.

Ed Graney is a college football writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.