The WAC is the only non-BCS conference that isn’t jumping headlong into conference play, with only one conference game, and it’s next Wednesday, so we’ll preview it more then. So instead of covering every game like we will in conference play, a few highlights from the WAC weekend ahead:
Tonight: Missouri at Nevada, 9 PM, ESPN: Nevada has had a brutal schedule coming out of the gate, and this game is no respite. This is their first home game of the year, so they’ll be looking to get some momentum going before they start conference play in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, Missouri appears unlikely to cooperate, having raced to a 3-0 start beginning with their well publicized beating of Illinois back in week 1. Nevada will have to come out with execution we haven’t seen from them yet to stay competitive in this one.
Saturday: Fresno State at Cincinnati, 12 PM: From my Pub Writer Roundtable remarks on this game: “I love Fresno State this year, I really do. I watched them lose to Wisconsin and Boise, both games I thought they could have won (despite the scoreboard total last week). Meanwhile, someone on Twitter this past week floated the question, “who exactly is going to beat Cincinatti this year?” (Wish I knew who it was, sorry). There might not be an answer to that question. For the third straight week, Fresno’s defense is going to be put to a difficult test. I’ll be rooting for them yet again, but unless they lose the turnover bug and really lock down, I suspect Cincy will run them out in the fourth quarter.” But I’ll be watching, if only on espn360.
Boise State at Bowling Green, 7 PM: Boise should have no trouble handling BGSU, who’s coming off a loss to Marshall last week. Bowling Green does have some talent, so if Boise overlooks them too much, we could see a closer game, but that would surprise me.
New Mexico State at New Mexico, 10 PM: Both teams are struggling this year, but hopefully a rivalry game will bring out the best and set at least one of the teams on the right path. And yes, I’m probably going to copy and paste this line into the other conference preview too.
We’ll bring a more complete preview of Hawaii at Louisiana Tech next week.
I’ve got to say that Bowling Green could surprise Boise State at home. This is the biggest game at BGSU in a while and they’ll be hungry. What really helps Boise (IMHO) isn’t even its talent, it’s that the Broncos have been in this situation many times.