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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 WAC had an outstanding weekend, which is good considering they’ve had a few rough weeks leading up to kickoff. Capped off by Boise State’s win last night, all but one team was competitive against good competition, and nobody was threatened by a FCS team. To recap the Saturday games:
Oklahoma 31, Utah State 24- Utah State rallied back from a 21-0 second quarter deficit to keep the Sooners on their toes. They arrived at the final score with 2:31 to go, but weren’t able to add on from there. Still, the Utah State passing attack looks like the real deal (Prediction: Oklahoma by a ton. 0-1). Next Week: Idaho State at Utah State
Alabama 48, San Jose State 3- This was never going to be anything else. We knew SJSU was in a tough spot, new coach and all, so this is nothing to be surprised or concerned with (Prediction: Alabama would cover 38. 1-1). Next Week: San Jose State at Wisconsin
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The weekend is light for the WAC, with three teams playing last night, one off, and the last playing on Monday. Pity our friends in New Mexico who have to sit this week out.
7:00 PM- Utah State at #8 Oklahoma: Fitting, perhaps, that we move from Sun Belt blowouts on to this game. I think Utah State should be an improved team this year, but kicking it off at Oklahoma is not a great way to get the ball rolling. Line: Oklahoma by 33. Last year Oklahoma posted wins of 64, 45, and 55 points when the opportunities presented themselves, so 33 is certainly within range. Let’s say 48-7.
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For all we know, this could be the last Western Athletic Conference preview ever. Probably not, but they’re on very shaky ground right now. As it stands, they plan to keep Fresno State and Nevada around through the 2011 season, meaning that next year they should operate as an 8 team conference with Boise’s departure to the Mountain West happening next summer.
Once Fresno & Nevada are gone, the WAC is down to six. Louisiana Tech is supposedly investigating/evaluating/begging a spot in C-USA or the Sun Belt, which would put them a lot closer to their competition, Utah State apparently wants into the MWC, and Hawaii has rumbled about going independent. The transition time from FCS up to FBS is at least two years, so even if they protect the six they have and add two or three from below, 2012 could be a limbo year. The NCAA may grant a waiver and allow them to compete with just six during this process, but there’s a lot still up in the air.
BYU’s decision on their independence is due tomorrow, which could have a lot to do with the WAC’s future stability.
But enough about all that, we have 2010 to think about. Obviously storyline 1A is Boise State. #5 in the Coaches Poll (the one that matters for the BCS), one of the dominant national preseason stories has been whether they can, or should, get a spot in the title game if they run the table. While the question of ‘should’ can be endlessly debated, our coverage at the site will mostly focus on the ‘can,’ assuming they beat Virginia Tech. But not now, this is a conference preview.
If we acknowledge that Boise State should be favored to win the WAC comfortably, the real race is for second in the league. Nevada lines up as the favorite for that role, as well as the WAC team with the best chance to disrupt Boise’s unbeaten streak. Fresno State and Idaho should figure into the race for second as well.
Football on the Fringe Season Previews were ranked, then delivered in random order.
The San Jose State Spartans won only 2 games in 2009, a season that would see long time coach Dick Tomey announce his retirement. Opening losses to USC and Utah set a tone that would be difficult to turn around, and the Spartans finished tied for last in the league with just one 1-A victory.
2010 offers at least a chance for improvement. 7 offensive starters return, including the QB and RB, as do six defensive players from the starting lineup. New coach Mike MacIntyre was able to retain the defensive coordinator and other members of the staff, so SJSU may have a less tumultuous re-engineering than some of the other schools with coaching changeover.
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While most of the drama has subsided in the WAC, there’s still that chance of an upset of Boise State is spending too much time worrying about bowl selections, and one game that nobody is going to watch will have huge ramifications on many teams nationwide.
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A quick look at coaching statuses around the non-BCS Universe. At the moment, we’re at six openings, with Marshall’s coach resigning yesterday and Akron sneaking one past me over the holiday weekend. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that the axes are falling fast and furious at the big schools, which usually sets off a chain reaction [...]
The WAC’s big showdown came on Friday night, but Saturday wasn’t without it’s surprises too. The league now just needs one more upset to get another team into the bowl picture, while the middle three or four teams in the league are proving to be more even than once thought.
With fairly light schedules consisting of mostly conference games, I’m going to consolidate the wrapups for a couple weeks at least. The main reason is that starting tomorrow, I’m launching Mid-Season Report Cards for every single non-BCS conference teams, which should be fun. We also have a very busy week of night games, so there’s a lot to look forward to all week long.
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Well, that was a disastrous day for 2-0 non-BCS teams. BYU, Utah, SMU, Hawaii, and Tulsa all axed from the undefeated list. If you missed it last night, Hawaii went down to UNLV on a last minute touchdown, 32-31. Other late games saw Louisiana Monroe fall to Arizona State 38-14 while San Jose State got beat by Stanford 42-17.
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