The Mountain West Week 2 Recap

[MrTitleist]

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This week's review of the 2nd week of the Mountain West season. It wasn't pretty, but better than last week! Thoughts?

 

[J-Rod]

That Cal Poly game completely exposed Fresno's extreme lack of depth EVERYWHERE. God help that team if Lord Derek Carr gets hurt. They *should" pulverize Colorado....but like you stated, we'll find out if Fresno is legit this weekend. If they are who they think they are, they'll beat down this team they beat 69-14 last year. But still, the -10 line for this game suggests Vegas isn't chugging that Bulldog kool-aid....more like sipping now.

 

[BeaverPoke]

I say CU beats Fresno in a very sloppy game.
Fresno can pass and that is it.
They can not run the ball AT ALL.
CU can pass, and Fresno can not stop the pass.
I think CU wins by 3-5 points.

People are going to find out very quickly that Fresno is way too 1 dimensional.
They only had 160 rush yards on Cal Poly on 40 carries, and I believe most of those carries were after they went up 41-3 in the 3rd and were just trying to run the clock out.
Yes Carr is a baller, but man they can't run. Put 2 in the box, have 9 defend the pass, literally.
And against teams like Wyo where we have Pelutasi and Yarbrough who can drop into coverage and defend the pass pretty well, that should take away the majority of their screen passes and passes into the flats.

Fresno is seriously un-impressive in their first two games.

 

[fromolwyoming]

I say CU beats Fresno in a very sloppy game.
Fresno can pass and that is it.
They can not run the ball AT ALL.
CU can pass, and Fresno can not stop the pass.
I think CU wins by 3-5 points.

People are going to find out very quickly that Fresno is way too 1 dimensional.
They only had 160 rush yards on Cal Poly on 40 carries, and I believe most of those carries were after they went up 41-3 in the 3rd and were just trying to run the clock out.
Yes Carr is a baller, but man they can't run. Put 2 in the box, have 9 defend the pass, literally.
And against teams like Wyo where we have Pelutasi and Yarbrough who can drop into coverage and defend the pass pretty well, that should take away the majority of their screen passes and passes into the flats.

Fresno is seriously un-impressive in their first two games.

I think people are over estimating a bad CU team. While Fresno has pretty much no depth, their starters are plenty good enough to stomp a FCS opponent. CU barely managed to eek out a win against their FCS opponent after being behind most of the game.

 

[YankPoke]

I do not think that CU will win this game, however I have been thoroughly unimpressed with Fresno so far. I think that Fresno will lose at least 2 conference games and probably more.

 

[stymeman]

CU really hasn't played anyone yet, I still think Fresno hasn't either, but I think they'll get it done this weekend(FSU), but I really think we can beat them this year with getting pressure on Carr, unlike that game I attended last year in Fresno

 

[J-Rod]

Yeah, Fresno should beat this Buffs team convincingly....but this Dogs team is a superstar QB, good WRs corps, and average or bad everywhere else. Their secondary is garbage, especially at corner.

 

[stymeman]

Yeah, Fresno should beat this Buffs team convincingly....but this Dogs team is a superstar QB, good WRs corps, and average or bad everywhere else. Their secondary is garbage, especially at corner.

Was watching the crew on ESPN U giving the Dawgs lots of love on highlights and yes Fresno has the athletes this year, gonna be tough but on a cold Nov 9 afternoon in Laramie I think we'll get em....

 

[BeaverPoke]

I don't really think CU is all that good, I'm not over estimating them, and don't think that anyone is under estimating them, but I think that people are too in love with Fresno and are going to be surprised at how bad they are.
Could be wrong, but I think they are going to lose some games they shouldn't. Including this Saturday.
Fresno can not run at all. If Carr throws even 2 picks, Fresno could be totally screwed.

 

[Fullback41]

USU has looked really good 2 weeks in a row. The Aggies and Pokes have been the 2 most impressive teams so far this season.

 

[fromolwyoming]

USU has looked really good 2 weeks in a row. The Aggies and Pokes have been the 2 most impressive teams so far this season.

Meanwhile BSU gets rolled by Washington (who is one of the most inconsistent teams, year in and year out) and then takes out their frustrations on poor Tennessee-Martin.

Fresno has a dangerous passing game, a struggling run game, and about no defense to speak of what so ever.

SDSU got ran over by a FCS school. Can't really fault them for getting slaughtered by OSU, but the FCS game was, well, horrible.

Air Force lost a shit load of starters to graduation, and then lost their starting QB in game one for the season. Took care of Colgate, but USU ran all over them.

UNLV, well, they were never good in football, so why start now?

UNM, has Casey Karrier, who is a beast, but not much else.

Hawaii has a pretty good defense, but their offense looks worse then ours ever did under Joe Glenn.

SJSU blanked a FCS team, and their lines got dominated by Stanford, but didn't do horribly. Hard to really guage them now.

UNR got bulldozed by UCLA but did alright in their last game. Probably will be murdered by FSU. And defense has not improved.

Sheep, well, 0-2. First loss was against the fluffs, and it only looked as close as it was because the fluffs suck on special team's coverage. And yet the fluffs were nearly upended by a FCS school. The sheep fought hard against Tulsa, but they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by allowing a few big plays at the end.

USU has a good defense and a offense that, like us, lives and dies by their starting QB, who is good. If not for cramps against Utah, a very good chance they are 2-0.

Finally us. Our offense has taken a BIG step forward from last year, like actually being able to run the ball. The o-line is actually good (though some adjustments need to be made as Idaho kept beating our OTs with their pass rush), Wick and Miller make a dangerous tandem on any down, the recievers are better and deeper than ever, and Smith of course is set to break multiple records. Our defense has become MUCH more physical, were against Nebraska's big o-line, they gave as good as they got. Against Idaho, the 1st team shut them down all game. Depth may be a concern on defense though, but the 1st team will be the most physical we've had in quite a while. And they wrap up on defense too! Last 4 years, they would miss the tackle because they didn't wrap up. Now they wrap up and actually get the stops!

 

[J-Rod]

^^^Definitely a ton on unanswered questions about MWC teams. These next few weeks will be telling. You can't draw too many conclusions about the top teams.....its too early. Some of the bad teams you can.....but overall....jury is still out on the MWC teams.