It was a terrific opening weekend for the upper echelon teams in the Mountain West Conference, with TCU, BYU and Utah posting big wins in their marquee games against opponents from the automatic qualifying conferences. New Mexico -- not so much.

We will know much, much more after Monday night, but here is what we learned through the games so far:

Don’t sleep on TCU. The Horned Frogs are happy to have everybody talking about Boise State and the national championship race. TCU has largely been left out of that discussion. But a 30-21 win against Oregon State on Saturday night should serve as a reminder that TCU has an experienced, talented squad returning and could be legitimate national championship contenders.

Andy Dalton needs to cut down on the interceptions, but if the option works as well as it did against the Beavers, then TCU should win all its games this year. TCU rolled up 278 yards rushing. The defense limited Jacquizz Rodgers to 75 yards on the ground, a very good sign for a unit missing four starters from last season. One area that needs to be shored up -- cornerback. Greg McCoy was often a target for Ryan Katz.

BYU made two quarterbacks work, for now. It may be unorthodox in Provo, but BYU made its two-quarterback system work in the opener against Washington. Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps rotated series and both finished with 131 yards each. Nelson threw two touchdown passes and had 45 yards rushing. He had 17 pass attempts to 23 for Heaps. The offense did sputter on two drives in the fourth quarter with a chance to put the game away, but the defense stepped up with Washington mounting a late drive, batting down Jake Locker’s pass with 1:55 to win.

Could New Mexico be the worst team in FBS? It was the most lopsided game of the weekend, a 72-0 drubbing at the hands of Oregon. What is staggering is that every FCS team playing against a top-division opponent came closer than the Lobos did to the Ducks. New Mexico had eight first downs, 107 yards of total offense and five turnovers. It trailed 59-0 at halftime and gave up 720 yards. Embattled coach Mike Locksley, who went 1-11 in his debut season, is going to need to find some answers fast to keep his team from sliding.

Fresno State could be a dark horse. The Bulldogs had an impressive 28-14 win over Cincinnati late Saturday night behind Ryan Colburn, who tied a career-high with four touchdown passes. Coach Pat Hill expected improvement out of Colburn, but he had to have been pleased with the way his defense played. Going into the game, he worried about the way his team would be able to handle the spread because it has struggled against that offense in the past. Fresno State held the Bearcats and Zach Collaros in check, holding him to 219 yards passing and just 9.1 yards per completion. Robbie Rouse didn’t do much in his debut, with 40 yards on 20 carries.

Middle Tennessee could be fine without Dwight Dasher. The Blue Raiders lost to Minnesota 24-17 on Thursday night, but it wasn’t a blowout without its top playmaker, ineligible for taking a $1,500 loan. Middle Tennessee had the lead at one point in the game, and the play of new quarterback Logan Kilgore was encouraging. He went 13-of-18 for 172 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Without Dasher, Phillip Tanner stepped up with eight carries for 75 yards and a touchdown. Of the five Sun Belt teams playing AQ opponents, Middle Tennessee played the closest game.