Mountain West football has a new king at the top of the hill and it’s not Boise State. The Broncos met their match on Saturday night against San Diego State. Meanwhile Fresno State and Utah State took both of their opponents to the wood shed over the weekend. The current division leaders are Fresno State, Hawaii, and Utah State. Hawaii defeated Wyoming in the final minutes on Saturday night to keep their conference record intact.

San Diego State brought was playing their first conference game of the season on Saturday night at Boise State. These two have had their share of great games over the last few years, and this one was no doubt another one. Probably a lot lower scoring than they typically are, however. Boise State’s Alexander Mattison was their bright spot on the night, rushing for two touchdowns, including the last score of the game. However, Jordan Byrd put the game out of reach with a 72 yard run in the fourth quarter that put the Aztecs up 19-7. Brett Rypien, uncharacteristically, tossed two interceptions and no touchdowns for the Broncos.

Fresno State played their first conference game of the season on the road at Nevada on Saturday. Fresno State got on the board first with a Ronnie Rivers touchdown catch from Marcus McMaryion. Rivers would catch another score in the third quarter to put the Dogs up 14-3. At this point you have to think the game was probably pretty well in hand, especially with Ty Gangi out for the Wolf Pack.

Onto the rest..

Scores

Utah State 45
BYU 20

Navy 7
Air Force 35

San Diego State 19
Boise State 13

New Mexico 50
UNLV 14

Fresno State 21
Nevada 3

Colorado State 42
San Jose State 30

Wyoming 13
Hawaii 17

Mountain West Player of the Week

This week’s Mountain West player of the week is New Mexico quarterback Sheriron Jones. Jones was 13/20 for 250 yards and four touchdowns, as well as rushing for 72 yards on nine carries in the Lobos win vs UNLV on Saturday.

Mountain West MVP Candidates

Brett Rypien, QB, Boise State – 21/41 for 170 yards and 2 INT
Cole McDonald, QB, Hawaii – Did not play
Armani Rogers, QB, UNLV – Did not play
Juwan Washington, RB, San Diego State – Did not play
Ty Gangi, QB, Nevada – Did not play
Jordan Love, QB, Utah State – 18/28, 165 yards and 4 TD, 1 rushing TD
Marcus McMaryion, QB, Fresno State – 20/28 for 241 yards and 2 TD

Mountain West Power Rankings

Fresno State
Hawaii
Boise State
Utah State
San Diego State
Air Force
New Mexico
Nevada
Colorado State
UNLV
Wyoming
San Jose State

The Quad Shot

San Jose State nearly did the unthinkable this past weekend and just about came back and beat Colorado State on Saturday night. The Spartans erased a 28 point deficit and scored 30 unanswered in the third quarter of their game to take a 30-28 lead going into the fourth quarter. However, in true SJSU fashion it unraveled in a hurry and they ended up losing 42-30. What an effort for 15 minutes though.

Games that kickoff at 10pm are super annoying. Wyoming fans stayed up late to catch their Cowboys lay an egg in the final minute at Hawaii. When you’re watching football on your tablet or phone at 1am and your team gives up a ridiculous touchdown pass to lose the game.. man. Feel free to point out my hypocrisy, I’m sure I have a few tweets out there proclaiming my love for #Pac12AfterDark or even watching Robert Kekaula whisper into our ears during boring late night Hawaii games.

I thought for sure Boise State was going to run every Mountain West team out of the stadium this year, and boy were we all wrong! Their longtime nemesis San Diego State showed up at the grocery store stadium and gave the Broncos a dose of humility. Even doing it without their top back Juwan Washington. The Aztecs largely held Brett Rypien in check for most of the game. However, he’s still at the top of the MVP candidates list.

Utah State beating BYU on the road this week was one of the more gratifying things I’ve watched on TV lately. Something about BYU getting handily beat by their in-state nemesis brings a smile to my face. For most of you reading this, I’m guessing you had the same reaction as I did. Read something kind of interesting this morning from Dan Wolken about BYU basically scheduling all of these high profile opponents, winning some, losing some, then by the time they start playing teams more of their caliber they’re beat to hell and their season goes down the tubes. Sorry, not sorry.