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We’re flipping things around this week, since Conference USA has two games tomorrow night, we’ll get them tomorrow and give you the WAC preview in this space, since all their games are conveniently set for Saturday.
12:00 PM, CBS College- Hawaii at Army: Hawaii’s offense showed a lot against USC- they can rack up the yards and score points. But their defense looked pretty bad- was that a good offense, or are they in trouble? Army won a tough game over an Eastern Michigan team they probably should have handled with a bit less difficulty. Line: Army by 3. Hawaii is taking the longest trip of any team this season, for a game that kicks off at 6 AM Honolulu time. I’m sure they’re taking steps to alter their schedule ahead of time, but that still makes things difficult. I think Army’s defense is good enough to slow down the Warriors, but it will be close. Army 32-28.
12:00 PM, ESPN- San Jose State at #11 Wisconsin: San Jose comes off a tough game against the #1 team in the country and gets rewarded with a trip to see the #11 team. The goal at this point is to improve if you can, and keep guys healthy before WAC play starts in October.
12:30 PM, Idaho at #7 Nebraska: Read Post
The Mountain West might have had the best weekend of the five Fringe conferences (although the WAC has a claim too), picking up two wins against ranked BCS conference teams. On the flip side, they have New Mexico.
Colorado 24, Colorado State 3- Not the way CSU wanted to begin a season that needs a turnaround. The Rams got behind early and never made a game of it (Prediction: CSU to keep it closer. 0-1). Next Week: Colorado State at Nevada
Air Force 65, Northwestern State 21- I don’t like to see FCS teams scoring 21 in the first half- that’s bad, even if your team is ahead. Air Force put the clamps on in the second half, but they’re going to need a complete game to compete this week. Next Week: BYU at Air Force
Oregon 72, New Mexico 0- Oregon could have easily gone over 100 but put the brakes on after halftime. Can Locksley survive the season? Will he punch someone after another losing streak to start a season? (Prediction: Oregon State by plenty. 1-1) Next Week: Texas Tech at New Mexico
BYU 23, Washington 17- Here the news gets better for the MWC. Washington led into the fourth quarter, but 10 unanswered points from the Cougars put them ahead. BYU’s dual-quarterback system seems to be working (Prediction: Washington to win outright. 1-2). Next Week: BYU at Air Force
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Finally we come to the end of a stacked list of weekend previews. Whether intentionally or because of crappy tv deals, 8 of the 9 MWC teams play on Saturday (Utah was last night, obviously). We have a mix of games where MWC teams should dominate, competitive games, and at least one that probably will not [...]
The Mountain West Conference has been rocked by realignment in the last six months, both coming and going. Boise State joined up and, for a brief moment, it seemed like a BCS autobid might be in the cards. Then Utah bowed out, heading to join the Pac-Whatever with Colorado. Now, being formally announced as I write this, BYU has made it official that they will be independent next year. We know that Fresno State & Nevada are coming along shortly as well, but they certainly aren’t BYU & Utah. The MWC is now at a somewhat clunky 10 teams, so the question is whether or not they’ll move to find two more or adopt a nine game schedule.
For 2010, however, everybody’s still hunting for the last MWC championship in the BYU/Utah Era. TCU has the target on its back, after sweeping the league last year and earning an invite to the Fiesta Bowl. They’re stacked again this year and the consensus league favorite. Highly rated Utah will be challenger #1, and all eyes will be on their stadium when TCU visits on November 6. BYU can never be counted out, but a rebuilding process looks to have them a step below the top two this year. Air Force has lost a lot of players, but the skill guys are back and they’re looking to supplant BYU in the top echelon.
Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
San Diego State rumbled through 2009 at 4-8, a big improvement over the 2-10 campaign from a season before. 7 points over two games meant the difference in being 6-6 and looking for a bowl game, and the Aztecs are looking to make that leap forward this year.
Junior QB Ryan Lindley is back after a 3000 yard season in 2009, and he is joined by starters returning at RB, two WRs, and six more offensive spots. Eight starters return on defense, making SDSU the most experienced team in the Mountain West.
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The 2008 Season was a difficult one to top for the Mountain West, but they are poised to do so as the bowl season arrives. TCU has climbed to never-before-seen heights for a non-BCS school in the modern era, while Utah and BYU have once again put together very good seasons. Wyoming and UNLV made modest turnarounds, and even teams that struggled can find a highlight or two from the season to try and build on.
So here, in reverse order of my final regular season power ranking, is a look at the 2009 Mountain West season.
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We conclude our look at the college football’s penultimate weekend with the MWC (it only took me 12 weeks to figure out that putting up WAC/MWC posts while they were still sleeping was a dumb idea). TCU has completed its march to the BCS, with enough ground over Boise State to know they have the automatic bid for well placed non-BCS teams sealed. The Holy War went to overtime, and the Border War ended with a bowl bid for the winner.
The MWC is the only non-BCS league that is actually finished for the regular season. They’re also the only league in America to have their league table sort out perfectly- every team beat each team below them on the standings (except CSU, who beat nobody), and every team lost to each team above them (except unbeaten TCU, obviously). Read Post
The MWC jumps into conference play this weekend with some really big games, and the non-conference games see MWC teams facing some big names from back east. Let’s look at the final conference of the week before we settle in for a big weekend of games:
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