The Mountain West took a big hit this weekend with Boise State dropping a game to BYU. This has a large effect on the conference as the top group of five team gets a spot in the New Years Day bowl game. This has a large impact on conference profile as well as conference bowl payout. Before this weekend the Broncos were in the drivers seat for that spot. As of now that spot is in huge jeopardy with the Broncos loss and SMU just keeps on winning. Would be a game if the American Athletic Conference got that spot again, as last year Central Florida made an appearance in that game.

In other Mountain West games this weekend Fresno State beat UNLV. The Bulldogs took control early in the second quarter and didn’t look back as they took the Rebels to the woodshed. Fresno State got six rushing touchdowns on the day to propel them to another W in the column. Wyoming hosted New Mexico for homecoming this weekend. The Cowboys ran for 259 yards on 55 carries and beat the Lobos. Wyoming moves to 5-2 on the season.

Boise State found themselves in a tussle with a two win BYU team. The fight was on for the duration of the game but a 21 point third quarter got the Cougars up big. The Broncos were without starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier, who is still injured. The Broncos attempted to make it interesting late in the game, getting within three with about three minutes left but the Broncos couldn’t force BYU into a last minute punt and BYU took the win. San Diego State kept on winning, beating San Jose State on the road. Juwan Washington carried for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Utah State and Nevada locked horns in Logan. Jordan Love turned in an uneven performance, completing less than 50% of his passes, but still got enough done to get the Aggies a win. Gerold Bright rushed for 126 yards and two scores to help the Aggie effort. In the night cap Air Force went to Honolulu to take on Hawaii. It was all Falcons all night. Air Force piled up the rushing yards and there was nothing Hawaii could do to stop it. The Warriors threw for 404 yards but couldn’t get the ball into the endzone to match the Falcons for scores.

Coming this weekend Nevada at Wyoming, San Jose State taking on Army, Hawaii hitting the mainland to take on New Mexico. Colorado State will take on Fresno State. Utah State heads to Air Force. In the night cap San Diego State will head to Vegas to take on the Rebels.

Scores

UNLV 27
Fresno State 56

New Mexico 10
Wyoming 23

Boise State 25
BYU 28

San Diego State 27
San Jose State 17

Nevada 10
Utah State 36

Air Force 56
Hawaii 26

Mountain West Player of the Week

This week’s Mountain West Player of the week is Air Force’s Mike Schmidt. Schmidt was 5/6 for 147 yards passing and one touchdown, while also rushing for 120 yards and three touchdowns as the Falcons walloped Hawaii out on the islands 56-26.

Mountain West MVP Candidates

Hank Bachmeier, QB, Boise State
Jordan Love, QB, Utah State
Cole McDonald, QB, Hawaii
Cedrick Byrd, WR, Hawaii
Marvin Kinsey, RB, Colorado State

Mountain West Power Rankings

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

The Quad Shot

Boise State losing to BYU is almost inexplicable. The fourteenth ranked team in the country shouldn’t be losing to BYU, and not even a good BYU team. This did a lot of harm to the conference this weekend and unless my miracle happens the Mountain West will not be represented as the group of five team on New Years Day. SMU seems to be in the driver’s seat for that spot at the moment, and Appalachian State is also in striking distance to land it as well.

I was surprised to see Air Force just up and man handle Hawaii the way that they did. I thought the Warriors would be a better team at home, but starting to think their early season success might have been a bit misleading. In their three losses they’ve given up 59, 56 and 52 points. Two of those were on the road, one at home. Air Force on the other hand ran for all of the yards, 353 of them to be exact.

Wyoming is now 5-2 on the college football season and has yet to throw for over 200 yards in a single game. Their closest is 193 yards against Tulsa. It’s amazing that this team is winning so many games and being almost completely one dimensional. On the season Sean Chambers has 757 yards passing and 547 yards rushing, 14 total touchdowns. It’ll be interesting to see if this is sustainable for the rest of the season, but for now it’s working. The meat grinder part of the schedule is coming up for Wyoming with Nevada, Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State and Air Force left. The Pokes could win three of those, they could win one of those. Really hard to tell right now. Every week seems to be a wait and see.

San Diego State is largely in the same boat. They’re not a real pretty team, but they’re winning a lot of football games. Having a great defense, much like Wyoming, must be enough to keep the wins coming in. To start the season the Aztecs beat FCS Weber State 6-0. They have only have one win against a team with a winning record, Wyoming. Their next test will be in three weeks against Nevada, then Fresno State right after that. They’ll finish with games against Hawaii and BYU. At that point they very well could only have one or two losses under their belt. Winning ugly is still winning.