It all seemed so easy for Louisiana Tech last year. The Bulldogs joined a new conference, quarterback Luke McCown passed at will and Tech wrestled the league title away from early season favorite and media darling Fresno State.

They were picked to finish second this year. They had bigger plans.

Things didn't quite work out for Tech, which finished the season 4-8 and was left trying -- and failing -- to play spoiler.

"My trophy isn't even dusty yet,'' said Tech coach Jack Bicknell III.

"Things kind of fell our way last year,'' McCown said. "This year it's been a different story."

Different for Tech. Not so different for the other favorites.

Save for Tech's fall -- and Hawaii's rise -- the WAC race went pretty much according to form. Preseason choice Boise State produced the nation's top scoring offense and became the 11th WAC team all-time to go through league play unbeaten. Hawaii, picked fourth in the preseason poll, also used a productive passing attack and finished second.

Fresno State had to break in a new quarterback, Paul Pinegar, who replaced projected starter Jeff Grady, and come on strong at the end of the year, setting the Bulldogs up as a likely 2003 preseason favorite.

Several other teams had chances to make a run at the title, or at least qualify for bowl games, only to stumble. San Jose State and Nevada went into their final games needing a win to be bowl eligible but couldn't pull it off.

At the bottom of the spectrum, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa -- which held the nation's longest losing streak (reaching 17 games) for eight weeks -- did what they've been doing: Make everybody else look good.

MVP: The WAC built its reputation by scoring, which Brock Forsey setting a conference single-season record -- and third NCAA D-IA all-time -- for touchdowns scored (29) is pretty impressive. That he did it rushing the ball is incredible. The senior tailback and nation's leading scorer (13.6) points a game ran for 1,533 yards and helped hold the Broncos' high-scoring offense together when starting quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie went down with a broken ankle.

Coach of the Year: Dan Hawkins made $150,000 this year, a bargain by any standard. This year his Broncos swept to the WAC title, becoming the first team to go unbeaten in WAC play since BYU in 1996, and became one of the few success stories among teams who've recently made the jump from I-AA, earning their first-ever I-A national ranking. Now comes the bittersweet part for the Broncos. Though Hawkins has professed his love for staying in Boise, he's become a hot coaching commodity. He'll get a raise from BSU -- likely doubling his salary -- but the Bronco faithful need to be concerned that that may not be enough.

Newcomer of the Year: It's not hard to be lost in the shadow of the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, but last year a freshman named Paul Pinegar quietly redshirted and learned the ropes behind David Carr. This year the redshirt freshman from Woodland, Calif., started 11 of 13 games for the Bulldogs and threw for 2,741 yards and 20 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. His passing yardage and touchdown totals lead all freshman quarterbacks and he and Bernard Berrian, who redshirted this season because of a knee sprain, should form one of the nation's top passing connections next fall.

Biggest Surprise: A year ago Chance Kretschmer was a redshirt freshman walk-on who took over the starting halfback job for Nevada. He surprised most everyone by leading the nation in rushing, with 1,732 yards. On his first carry of the second game, he tore his ACL. Suddenly another redshirt freshman, Matt Milton, was the Wolf Pack's starting tailback. The 6-foot, 211-pounder didn't lead the nation in rushing, but he went over 1,000 yards (1,108) and will give the Wolf Pack two accomplished sophomores to build their offense around in 2003.

Biggest Disappointment: Louisiana Tech quarterback Luke McCown was supposed to be the next great throwing sensation in the pass-happy WAC. In his first two seasons he threw for 6,209 yards and 50 touchdowns and was voted the conference's preseason offensive player of the year. But inexperience at receiver and his own inconsistencies dogged him this season. Though he threw for 3,539 yards this season he had as many interceptions as touchdowns (19) and the defending conference champions finished 4-8 and tied for sixth place.

Boise State
Preseason WAC favorite Broncos were the highest scoring team in the nation (46.58) made more impressive because only four of their 74 touchdowns were scored by special teams and defense. Broncos had one-sided loss to SEC West Division co-champion Arkansas early but ran roughshod through WAC behind running of Brock Forsey. Special kudos go to B.J. Rhode, who stepped in when starting quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie broke his ankle and led BSU to five wins.

MVP: Running back Brock Forsey (see WAC MVP).
Biggest Disappointment: What if you have a great team and nobody noticed? Then you must play at Boise State, which merely led the nation in scoring, became the first team to go through the WAC unbeaten in six year and yet couldn't get any better bowl bid that the stay-at-home spot in the Humanitarian Bowl.

Did You Know: The Broncos were the 11th team to win the WAC without a loss and boasted the highest average winning margin of those teams (37.25 points a game).

Fresno State
Bulldogs had the nation's longest regular season schedule (Aug. 23-Dec. 5) and it sometimes felt longer. Typically tough non-conference schedule (losses to Wisconsin, Oregon and Oregon State) had the Bulldogs playing catchup this season, but they finished strongly behind redshirt freshman quarterback Paul Pinegar. Will face Georgia Tech in the Silicon Valley Bowl.

MVP: Junior running back Rodney Davis had 1,592 all-purpose yards, tops among WAC players who didn't return kicks. With Bernard Berrian out for the year with a knee sprain and quarterback Paul Pinegar learning on the job, Davis' contributions were key. Biggest Disappointment: The season started too early for the Bulldogs, who won their last four games and seven of their last nine -- the losses were to WAC powers Boise State and Hawaii -- to reach a bowl game after a 1-3 start. Enough young players are in place -- redshirt freshmen Pinegar and receiver Jermaine Jamison, for starters -- that the Bulldogs shouldn't have that problem next season.

Did You Know: Fresno's berth in the Silicon Valley bowl against Georgia Tech means the Bulldogs are going to their fourth-straight bowl, a school record.

Hawaii
Though battered by injuries, particularly at receiver, the Warriors were clearly the second best team in the league. They shook off their reputation that they just play well at home, taking tough wins at Fresno State and Rice.

MVP: Timmy Chang. The gutsy sophomore quarterback led the WAC in passing (4,350 yards) and total offense (4,347) and his team rallied around him, evidenced by the postgame brawl in the win over Cincinnati in early December after his teammates though their leader had been injured by a cheap shot.

Biggest Disappointment: Three turnovers and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown helped Boise State win the game that decided the WAC title, a 58-31 Bronco win on Oct. 5 in Boise. That loss cost the Warriors the WAC title.

Did You Know: The Warriors know how to spread the ball around in their run-and-shoot offense. Six different Hawaii players had 100-yard receiving games in 2002.

Louisiana Tech
An early season comeback win at Oklahoma State made it look like the defending WAC champs were back. Although the Tech offense again piled up big numbers, the Bulldogs couldn't seem to stop anybody. A 45-13 whipping by Fresno in the season finale on ESPN, Tech's first-ever national television game, showed the season couldn't have ended quickly enough.

MVP: Luke McCown got the web site and Heisman hype. All running back Joe Smith did is produce. The senior, nicknamed "Komodo Joe" because of fondness for Komodo Dragons, didn't get a big dose of carries but he made good with what he got. His 5.8 yard average was tops among WAC backs with at least 100 carries and his 16 rushing touchdowns was second only to Brock Forsey's 23.

Biggest Disappointment: See WAC's Best

Did You Know: Smith was truly the Bulldog's rushing workhorse. Tech was the only team in the WAC whose No. 2 rusher had fewer than 100 yards on the season.

Nevada
The Wolf Pack beat BYU early and hung in with Colorado State, spawning hopes Nevada might break out of the WAC pack and make a run at the title. That didn't happen. A late season dip in the running game made the offense one dimensional, making the goal of having to sweep Fresno State and Boise State to become bowl eligible impossible.

MVP: Senior receiver Nate Burleson set school records for catches in a season with 138, coming four short of the NCAA Division I-A record set by Houston's Manny Hazard in 1989. His 19 catches against UTEP are a school record. When halfback Chance Kretschmer was lost for the season, Burleson picked up the slack.

Biggest Disappointment: Kretschmer led the nation in rushing last year as a redshirt freshman but the former walk-on went down on the Wolf Pack's first play against BYU when he was hit out of bounds by two Cougars. He's expected to be rehabbed and ready to play next season.

Did You Know: The Wolf Pack hasn't been shut out in 268 games, the longest such streak in the WAC.

Rice
Typical Owls team ran the ball well and threw opportunistically, though not particularly well. Got strong play from two-headed quarterback (Kyle Herm and Greg Henderson). Rebuilding a defense that was tough against the run will be major job in offseason. Owls will get help from the schedule -- they won't have to play Boise next two years.

MVP: Defensive end Brandon Green ended his Rice career as the school's all-time leading sack leader. The senior had 13 tackles for loss, and five forced fumbles and even had a defensive lineman's dream, scoring on a 13-yard interception return against Louisiana Tech.

Biggest Disappointment: The Owls gave away early season games to Houston and Michigan State through costly turnovers, special teams mistakes and missed opportunities and started out 0-4. The Owls never really recovered.

Did You Know: Owls' coach Ken Hatfield is the fifth winningest active coach in I-A football, with a 159-115-4 overall record.

San Jose State
SJSU nearly qualified for a bowl game despite not being able to run the ball or stop much of anything else. The Spartan defense allowed 493.38 yards a game and the only way they stopped teams was by interceptions and fumbles. The Spartans had 38 takeaways, second most in the nation and safety Gerald Jones had eight interceptions.

MVP: Charles Pauley averaged 31.55 yards on kickoff returns -- second best in the nation -- two of which he returned for touchdowns. His is a finalist for the Mosi Tatupu Award, given to the nation's top special teams player. The senior wide receiver was also the Spartan's only first-team All-WAC pick, with 60 catches for 804 yards and four touchdowns. Biggest Disappointment: The Spartans drew 41,438 fans to Spartan Stadium this season. Total. Fifty-one of the 117 D-IA teams averaged more fans per game. No wonder SJSU played only four home games this season.

Did You Know: SJSU is the only WAC team other than Hawaii that didn't have a running back game at least 100 yards rushing in a game this year. Lamar Ferguson has 92 and Lance Martin 91 against Nevada.

SMU
First-year coach Phil Bennett's team was one-dimensional at the start of the year, with running back Keylon Kincade the only dependable weapon the Mustangs had. His 327 carries were tops in the nation. Scoring was problem for SMU, which averaged only 17.2 points a game, last in WAC.

MVP: Keylon Kincade was the reliable running threat, but the Mustangs' offense didn't take off until redshirt freshman Richard Bartel became the starting quarterback. Before Bartel the Ponies averaged 11.9 points and 123.4 yards passing a game and were only 13 of 25 scoring in the Red Zone. With him as a starter they averaged 25 points and 239.5 yards passing and were 13 of 15 in the Red Zone.

Biggest Disappointment: Looking for the go-ahead score against Texas Tech in the second game of the season, quarterback Tate Wallis was stuffed on fourth-and-goal at the Red Raider 1-yard-line. Tech came back to drive 99 yards for a touchdown and what could have been a huge momentum building win turned out to be a 24-14 loss.

Did You Know: If the Ponies stayed close in 2002 they won. They were 3-0 in games decided by seven or fewer points.

Tulsa
Golden Hurricane hung tough in the first half with Oklahoma, but got blown out in the second. Beat UTEP 20-0 to end the nation's longest losing streak. Season could have been even worse if they didn't lead the WAC in turnover margin (+ .55), Hurricane only lose a few seniors, so outlook is brighter in 2003.

MVP: Senior nose guard Sam Rayburn led the WAC in tackles for loss with 16.5 and was the only Hurricane named first-team all-league. His 39.5 career tackles for loss was .5 short of Don Blackmon's school record of 40 (1976-80).

Biggest Disappointment: After guiding the Golden Hurricane to a 5-7 mark in his first season in 2000, the most wins in eight years, Keith Burns managed only two wins in his last 23 games. Though the Hurricane is young -- 15 of the 22 players on the Tulsa offensive two-deep chart were freshmen or sophomores -- Burns won't be around to watch them develop. He resigned on Dec. 2.

Did You Know: Sophomore quarterback Tyler Gooch was rumored to be considering a transfer in light of Burns' resignation but has told school officials he will stay. Gooch threw 16 touchdown passes last year, most by a Tulsa quarterback since Gus Frerotte had 21 in 1993.

UTEP
Some of the most one-sided football in the nation was played by the Miners, who were 110th in scoring offense and 116th in scoring defense. First-year defensive coordinator Troy Reffett didn't make much of an impact on a defense that allowed 440.2 yards and 42.6 points a game. For the 16th straight year the Miners finished their season with a loss.

MVP: He played safety on a defense that gave offenses lots of chances, so it's no wonder that D.J. Walker managed to lead the league in tackles (116). The senior from Midland, Tex., also had seven tackles for loss, a sack and four interceptions.

Biggest Disappointment: None of the Miners' quarterbacks could stay healthy. UTEP was down to its fourth-string quarterback by late in the season. It wasn't just the quarterbacks who were banged up. UTEP went into the game short-handed at quarterback and down two of its top defensive linemen and then proceeded to lose all four members of its secondary, both starting receivers and its halfback and fullback for at least some time with injuries.

Did You Know: Even with the injuries at quarterback the Miners were able to redshirt freshman Jordan Palmer, younger brother of Southern California quarterback and top Heisman candidate Carson Palmer.

Mark Wangrin covers college football for the San Antonio News-Express.