We’re now two weeks into the Mountain West football season and most Mountain West teams had pretty good weeks. A couple of other Mountain West teams did not have good weeks. Wyoming hung with Nebraska for three quarters in Lincoln until a 28 point outburst from the Huskers ended the game for the Cowboys. Nevada was held to ten points against Notre Dame. USC took Utah State to the woodshed in Los Angeles one week after Alabama had taken the Trojans to the same woodshed. New Mexico lost a bit of a head scratcher to their in-state rival New Mexico State.
On the other hand Boise State scored a nice win over Washington State on the Blue. San Diego State also picked up a nice win over Cal at home. Hawaii escaped with a five point win against FCS Tennessee-Martin on the island for their first win. Fresno State hammered their FCS opponent, Sacramento State 31-3 in their home opener. Colorado State managed to recover from their shellacking against Colorado and take down Texas-San Antonio 23-14.
Somehow, and I don’t know how this is possible, but Ikaika Woolsey from Hawaii managed to complete nine passes, four of those completions were touchdowns. Has that ever been done in college football before? Donnell Pumphrey had another ridiculous game, this time rushing for 281 yards and three touchdowns against California. San Jose State piled on 66 points on Portland State, a pretty good FCS team. I thought of all the games an FCS team was going to win against a Mountain West team that one was going to be it. In the process of this victory the Spartans racked up 409 yards rushing and six touchdowns.
Scores
Wyoming 17
Nebraska 52
Nevada 10
Notre Dame 39
Georgia State 14
Air Force 48
Utah State 7
USC 45
Texas-San Antonio 14
Colorado State 23
Portland State 35
San Jose State 66
New Mexico 31
New Mexico State 32
UNLV 21
UCLA 42
Sacramento State 3
Fresno State 31
Washington State 28
Boise State 31
California 40
San Diego State 45
Tennessee-Martin 36
Hawaii 41
Player of the Week
Donnell Pumphrey, San Diego State. What a performance by the senior running back for the Aztecs. Pumphrey ran for 281 yards on 29 carries. He scored three touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 29 yards in an Aztec win over California.
Mountain West MVP Candidates
Donnell Pumphrey, San Diego State, 29 carries, 281 yards and three touchdowns.
Brett Rypien, Boise State, 19/35, 299 yards passing, one touchdown, three touchdowns.
Thomas Sperbeck, Boise State, seven receptions, 133 yards, one touchdown.
Brian Hill, Wyoming, 17 carries, 49 yards and one touchdown.
Devante Mays, Utah State, eight carries, 24 yards.
Mountain West Power Rankings
1. Boise State
2. San Diego State
3. Air Force
4. New Mexico
5. Fresno State
6. San Jose State
7. Colorado State
8. Nevada
9. Utah State
10. Wyoming
11. UNLV
12. Hawaii
Looking Ahead to Week 3
Tough week for the Mountain West. New Mexico goes cross-country to take on Rutgers. Fresno takes a long trip to Toledo. UNLV takes a long trip to Central Michigan. San Diego State takes a long trip to Northern Illinois. Hawaii takes a long trip to Arizona. Utah will go on the road to take on San Jose State. Nevada will get Buffalo at home. I can see a couple of Mountain West teams getting boat raced this week. Hawaii… poor Hawaii. I wouldn’t be surprised if San Diego State lost to Northern Illinois. Toledo could do a number on Fresno State as well. Wyoming and Colorado State will host FCS teams. Lots of road games for Mountain West teams, it’s going to be a tough week.
Final Thoughts and Hot Takes
– The truck that is Boise State continues to keep rolling. Impressive win over Washington State on Saturday night, but they came awfully close to giving that game up at the end. Washington State is quite a puzzler this year, now 0-2 on the season.
– Wyoming played pretty well against Nebraska for three quarters but the wheels kind of came off there at the end. The Cowboys gave up 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and the game looked a lot more lopsided than the game actually was. Five Josh Allen interceptions in the fourth quarter hurts.
– Donnell Pumphrey is the MVP of the league right now and it’s not even close.
– The power rankings in this column this week did some heavy fluctuation, I would expect more of that next week. Maybe they’ll balance out a little more as the season goes on. Right now it may go wire to wire with Boise at the top and Hawaii at the bottom.
– San Diego State’s game against 0-2 Northern Illinois is going to be tougher than it appears on paper. Kenny Golladay, the outstanding wide receiver from Northern Illinois is going to be a handful. Not an easy game for the Aztecs.