Josh Allen, Brian Hill

The current week of the Mountain West has now concluded and another week of football is in the books. What a stinker of a week for the Mountain West. Some ugly losses for Mountain West teams this week. Wyoming laid a pretty big egg on the road against MAC opponent Eastern Michigan. The Cowboys gave up a late fourth quarter lead to the Eagles and eventually lost. The game was followed by a protest by students on the field after the game. Purdue took care of Nevada, despite the fact that the Boilermakers turned the ball over four times.

Iowa State, who’s been beaten pretty badly this season, more than took care of Iowa State. Fresno State gave up a 31 point lead to Tulsa. Minnesota won a tight one over Colorado State. Almost as inexplicable as Wyoming losing to Eastern Michigan, UNLV lost at home to Idaho. The game was going back and forth in the fourth quarter but eventually Idaho won it in overtime. The only bright spot was Boise State defeating Oregon State on the road.

What else can you say about that week? These were all games the Mountain West needs to win, and win regularly, if they want to be taken seriously in post season conversations. The American Athletic Conference is heads above the Mountain West in the national picture right now. Weeks like this only further the divide between the two conferences. Wyoming has to beat a team like Eastern Michigan. San Jose State has to take care of Iowa State. Fresno State can’t give up a 31 point lead at home, and UNLV can’t lose at home to Idaho, a game that UNLV trailed most of. Boise State had a nice win on the road. Purdue and Nevada, eh, can’t be too upset about that, but I think Nevada would like to have that one back. Colorado State and Minnesota were pretty evenly matched teams as well.

Air Force is looking like they will be a tough out this season. They will have a tough test at home this weekend against Navy, who has dominated the Commander-in-Chief trophy series lately. Now that Keenan Reynolds has graduated perhaps this will be a good time for the Falcons to get that trophy back to the Academy. It’s too early to overlook Army, they are now sitting at 3-1 on the season. They suffered their first loss of the year this past weekend in overtime against Buffalo. Could this be the most competitive year in the CiC series in the last few years?

Scores

Wyoming 24
Eastern Michigan 27

Nevada 14
Purdue 24

San Jose State 10
Iowa State 44

Colorado State 24
Minnesota 31

Boise State 38
Oregon State 24

Tulsa 48
Fresno State 41

Idaho 33
UNLV 30

Air Force 27
Utah State 20

Player of the Week

Jeremy McNichols, Boise State. The junior running back for the Broncos rushed for 208 yards and three touchdowns as the Broncos won on the road at Oregon State.

Mountain West MVP Candidates

Brett Rypien, QB, Boise State. 19/36, 215 yards and 1 touchdown.
Thomas Sperbeck, WR, Boise State. 6 catches, 104 yards.
Brian Hill, RB, Wyoming. 22 carries, 82 yards, and 1 touchdown.
Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State. Idle.
James Butler, RB, Nevada. 14 carries, 38 yards.

Mountain West Power Rankings

1. Boise State
2. San Diego State
3. Air Force
4. Colorado State
5. Nevada
6. Utah State
7. Wyoming
8. New Mexico
9. San Jose State
10. Fresno State
11. Hawaii
12. UNLV

Looking Ahead to Week 5

It’s Border War week for Wyoming and Colorado State in Fort Collins (ESPNU). Navy and Air Force will also resume their rivalry this week in Colorado Springs (CBSSN). San Jose State will take on New Mexico. San Diego State will go to Alabama to take on South Alabama (ESPN Networks). Utah State will go to Boise State (ESPN2). Fresno State will go to UNLV (CBSSN). Nevada will head to Paradise to take on the Rainbow Warriors.

Final Thoughts and Hot Takes

– What a God awful week for the Mountain West. Unacceptable for just about every team involved.

– San Diego State and Boise State are climbing in the polls, the Aztecs at 19, Boise State at 24. Both of these teams are good teams, however, the rest of the conference needs to step it up bring up the league profile.

– I hate to declare that players in the Mountain West championship game, but it sure looks like Boise and San Diego State are going to be those two teams. I don’t see much left in the path of Boise except BYU and Air Force. As for SDSU, Utah State and Nevada may provide tough outs.

– Tony Sanchez dropped a game that we may look back in two to three years for now and say, “You know.. that might have been the beginning of the end.”  It’s still very early in his career,  but man, you can’t be losing to Idaho at home.

– Fresno State was up 31-0 on Tulsa at home. The score was 31-0 with 10:16 left in the second quarter. Tulsa then went on a 48-10 run to end the game. Tim DeRuyter’s seat is now sitting in the middle of a volcano. He might survive the rest of the season, but it’s not going to be anything more than that.

– Pat Hill sure was a lot of fun when he was around.

– Two coaches have already been relieved of their duties after the fourth week of the season, Les Miles and Ron Turner were both fired following Saturday’s games. Wouldn’t surprise me if DeRuyter is the next coach to fall.

– Amazing about Les Miles being fired at LSU.. ten win seasons in Baton Rouge are not good enough. 95% of college football teams would kill for that kind of success. Those same teams would kill to see the talent that LSU gets, and ships to the NFL every year. College football has become as bad as the NFL when it comes to, “What have you done for me today?”