SLC Tribune article on the MWC this week via DCs Twitter:
http://www.sltrib.com/collegesports/ci_13509244
Don't look now, but the candidate most capable of crowding into the Mountain West Conference's football elite might just be the Wyoming Cowboys.
Under new coach Dave Christensen, and with a true freshman at quarterback, the 3-2 Cowboys have quietly inched up the conference standings, and should take another leap on Saturday because they host winless New Mexico (0-5) at War Memorial Stadium.
Austyn Carta-Samuels, the freshman QB from San Jose, Calif., guided the Cowboys to a 30-28 come-from-behind win over Florida Atlantic last week with a 12-play, 91-yard game-winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
"He has done a tremendous job of leading this football team, particularly our offense, the last two weeks," Christensen said. "He has brought us from behind probably six or seven times.....For a true freshman to do those things, it is pretty amazing."
The MWC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Carta-Samuels is 53-for-75 for 457 yards since being named Wyoming's starting quarterback.
Aztecs eye BYU
After beating New Mexico State 34-17 to improve to 2-3, the San Diego State Aztecs have a bye this weekend, which means they have two weeks to prepare for their Oct. 17 showdown with BYU.
But new coach Brady Hoke insists his team won't spend all that time getting ready for the Cougars.
"No. 1, we are going to play a tremendous football team in two weeks, but we have to get our
football team squared away," he said. "We struggled a little bit again offensively. We finally got to run the ball a little bit better, but we have a lot of work to do on our part."
AFA in awe
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun is 1-1 against TCU in his tenure at the academy, and the Falcons play host to the Frogs on Saturday in perhaps the league's first big matchup of the season. A few days of studying film has convinced Calhoun that TCU is phenomenal on defense.
TCU defensive end "Jerry Hughes is as first round as first round gets," Calhoun said. ".....Last year, they were hands down the No. 1 defense in the country, and this year they are going to be right there again."
TCU coach Gary Patterson said he is still waiting for his offense to rise to the level of his defense.
"We feel good that we are 4-0 and we still haven't played our best football yet," he said.
Sanford on the hot seat
After his team gave up 773 yards in a 63-28 loss to Nevada on Saturday, UNLV coach Mike Sanford finds himself squarely on the hot seat in Las Vegas. The Rebels are 13-39 under Sanford, and play host to No. 18 BYU on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal , even school president Neal Smatresk is worried about the program.
"We are concerned for our student-athletes, we are concerned for our fans, and we'll be keeping an eye on the situation on a game-to-game basis to see how things go. We're going to be watching," Smatresk told the newspaper.
And it doesn't get any easier. After hosting BYU, the Rebels (2-3) will play host to Utah.
Sanford called the game against BYU "huge" and said it is a "great opportunity" to get his program back on track after it started the season 2-1.
Briefly
Colorado State is one of only five teams in the country that has not lost a fumble this season. The others are Cincinnati, Nebraska, Oregon State and the Rams' opponent last Saturday, Idaho.....Air Force, which hosts No. 10 TCU on Saturday, has lost 11 straight games to ranked teams.
http://www.sltrib.com/collegesports/ci_13509244
Don't look now, but the candidate most capable of crowding into the Mountain West Conference's football elite might just be the Wyoming Cowboys.
Under new coach Dave Christensen, and with a true freshman at quarterback, the 3-2 Cowboys have quietly inched up the conference standings, and should take another leap on Saturday because they host winless New Mexico (0-5) at War Memorial Stadium.
Austyn Carta-Samuels, the freshman QB from San Jose, Calif., guided the Cowboys to a 30-28 come-from-behind win over Florida Atlantic last week with a 12-play, 91-yard game-winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
"He has done a tremendous job of leading this football team, particularly our offense, the last two weeks," Christensen said. "He has brought us from behind probably six or seven times.....For a true freshman to do those things, it is pretty amazing."
The MWC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Carta-Samuels is 53-for-75 for 457 yards since being named Wyoming's starting quarterback.
Aztecs eye BYU
After beating New Mexico State 34-17 to improve to 2-3, the San Diego State Aztecs have a bye this weekend, which means they have two weeks to prepare for their Oct. 17 showdown with BYU.
But new coach Brady Hoke insists his team won't spend all that time getting ready for the Cougars.
"No. 1, we are going to play a tremendous football team in two weeks, but we have to get our
football team squared away," he said. "We struggled a little bit again offensively. We finally got to run the ball a little bit better, but we have a lot of work to do on our part."
AFA in awe
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun is 1-1 against TCU in his tenure at the academy, and the Falcons play host to the Frogs on Saturday in perhaps the league's first big matchup of the season. A few days of studying film has convinced Calhoun that TCU is phenomenal on defense.
TCU defensive end "Jerry Hughes is as first round as first round gets," Calhoun said. ".....Last year, they were hands down the No. 1 defense in the country, and this year they are going to be right there again."
TCU coach Gary Patterson said he is still waiting for his offense to rise to the level of his defense.
"We feel good that we are 4-0 and we still haven't played our best football yet," he said.
Sanford on the hot seat
After his team gave up 773 yards in a 63-28 loss to Nevada on Saturday, UNLV coach Mike Sanford finds himself squarely on the hot seat in Las Vegas. The Rebels are 13-39 under Sanford, and play host to No. 18 BYU on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal , even school president Neal Smatresk is worried about the program.
"We are concerned for our student-athletes, we are concerned for our fans, and we'll be keeping an eye on the situation on a game-to-game basis to see how things go. We're going to be watching," Smatresk told the newspaper.
And it doesn't get any easier. After hosting BYU, the Rebels (2-3) will play host to Utah.
Sanford called the game against BYU "huge" and said it is a "great opportunity" to get his program back on track after it started the season 2-1.
Briefly
Colorado State is one of only five teams in the country that has not lost a fumble this season. The others are Cincinnati, Nebraska, Oregon State and the Rams' opponent last Saturday, Idaho.....Air Force, which hosts No. 10 TCU on Saturday, has lost 11 straight games to ranked teams.
