Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback Cody Fajardo rushes for yardage against Air Force last Saturday. The Wolf Pack went on to win 45-42. (Tom Smedes photo/Special to the RGJ)
Week six is upon us in the Mountain West and that means it’s prediction time! I considered taking a bye this week since about half of the Mountain West appears to be taking one, but I’m more hardcore than that. If I was a division one athlete my rally call right here would be RISE AND GRIND, TWEEPS! Or something else that’s stupidly cliché. My predictions last week were on the money except Wyoming, they screwed me over royally, but I still went 7-1. My score predictions weren’t bad, except Fresno’s male cheerleading squad made things kind of uncomfortable in the 2nd half last week against Hawaii’s Rainbow Warriors. Let’s see how this week shapes up..
BYU heads out on the road to take on Utah State. These two teams don’t particularly care for each other. BYU views Utah State as little brother, and Utah State just wants to be noticed in a state with Utah and BYU. Charles F Keeton is probably the 2nd best player in the state of Utah behind BYUs Kyle Van Noy. The last two seasons the Aggies have lost by a combined 6 points to the Cougars. Utah State rolled BYU in 2010. I’d say this year these two teams are pretty evenly matched. I’m going to give Utah State the W and a 3 point win.
Nevada and San Diego State get a primetime Friday night matchup on the mothership to showcase their talents. However, I’m guessing when ESPN booked this game they were thinking they were going to get San Diego State, not an FCS world beater. I bet in the preseason this game looked pretty good. However, San Diego State has seen not so great performance from their quarterback position, Adam Muema has been hurt, and now Jake Fely is gone for the season. For the Wolf Pack (two words), Cody Fajardo returned from a knee injury in a big way last week by dominating Air Force, but then again, who hasn’t. Nevada’s on the road for this game, but I can’t see that slowing them down.. Wolf Pack by 10.
The game that is, but almost wasn’t. Let me get off tangent here.. when the US government starts interfering with college football that’s when I get pretty angry about things. This is absolutely ridiculous that a government shutdown nearly prevented three military academy teams from playing because of their petty bickering. /rant
Now, the game that is, then was, then wasn’t, but now is! If you’ve followed the @NavalAcademy Twitter account this week it was a roller coaster for the poor guy manning that account. A pre-emptive announcement of “game on!” didn’t do that fella any favors then his commander took a hold of the boat and steered us all right. United Airlines was gracious enough to offer their airline service to the Falcons to get to Maryland for the game, unknown if the Falcons took them up on the offer. When academy teams play anything can happen regardless of the quality of the squad. The games are always highly contested, full of pageantry, and everything college football should be.. except blocks below the knees. I have a hard time seeing the Falcons winning this coming off back to back brutal losses, the chaos of this week, and playing with their third string QB. Just can’t see the Commander in Chief trophy being in Colorado Springs this year. Navy by 20.
Fresno State and their superhuman quarterback Derek Carr are headed north to play in the world famous Kibbie Dome! I would like to say some nice things here about how competitive this game is going to be, and how the Vandals are going to give the Bulldogs fits, and … well, actually, Fresno laid a pretty big egg defensively last week and Idaho’s new quarterback Chad Chalich, a freshman, hasn’t been half bad. Too bad the rest of the Vandals are bad. Chalich is the Vandals’ top passer and rusher. The Vandals are also on a one game winning streak. However, it’s Derek Carr, it’s Fresno State, and it’s going to get out of hand. Fresno by 30.
This is the nation’s pillow fight of the week .. the 1-3 New Mexico Lobos hosting the 0-5 New Mexico State Aggies. Bob Davie is undergoing a roster transformation at UNM due to the previous coach who left him with a box of kittens and a used refrigerator box for a roster. The box of kittens are a 3-point favorite over New Mexico State. Kasey Carrier is going to have a hay day in this game, I’m guessing he’ll go for about 200 yards and the Lobos will win this one by 14.
Wrapping up week 6 is San Jose State making a trip across the mighty Pacific to face Hawaii. I have no idea what to expect out of this game. Hawaii scored a ton of points in a hurry against Fresno State last week, but New Mexico’s bag of kittens were out of the field for Fresno in the last 20 minutes of the game. On the other hand, San Jose State still has David Fales. Who’s going to win this one? Well, for starters, those of you who like watching football until 1AM. Secondly, San Jose State, but only by 6. Hawaii’s a tough place to play and SJSU just isn’t a good team this year.
That’s it for my picks this week. Hopefully Idaho only suffers minor casualties against Fresno and hopefully the Lobos and Aggies don’t knock each other senseless with those feather head rests! Also, beat BYU!