9:00 PM Friday, ESPN2- #4 Boise State at Idaho: The Kibbie Dome will be loud and generally unpleasant for the Broncos tonight, but unfortunately for Vandal fans, I suspect [...]]]> Boise State plays the first of three straight Friday games tonight, with three other conference tilts tomorrow including a big one featuring two of the league’s top teams.

9:00 PM Friday, ESPN2- #4 Boise State at Idaho: The Kibbie Dome will be loud and generally unpleasant for the Broncos tonight, but unfortunately for Vandal fans, I suspect that Boise State is going to do unspeakable things to the porous Idaho defense.  Line: Boise State by 35. Hawaii “held” the Broncos to 42 last week, the lowest score BSU has put up against a non-BCS team.  They’ll probably get back on the high side of 50 tonight.  Broncos 55, Vandals 14.

6:00 PM Saturday- Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State: With Nevada ahead, 3-6 Louisiana Tech’s bowl hopes are dim, but they’re more than NMSU has, for whatever that’s worth.  The Bulldogs should have the better team and keep hopes for a 6-6 year alive.  Line: Louisiana Tech by 15.5.  This one is going to be ugly no matter how you slice it, but that’s more points than I’m willing to take on a 3-6 team.  La Tech 28-14.

8:00 PM- Utah State at San Jose State: Like La Tech, Utah State could still technically become bowl eligible.  But they still have Boise on the slate, so let’s be serious. Utah State hasn’t won consecutive games since 2007, they should break the streak against a bad SJSU team. Line: Utah State by 3.5.  I’ll take that.  Aggies win it 24-17.

10:30 PM, ESPN- #21 Nevada at Fresno State: Finally, another decent game…and it’s on at 10:30 at night.  The good news is that on ESPN, they’ll get a decent lead-in and a little promotion throughout the evening.  Nevada has the horses to win this one, but Fresno has been quietly racking up wins against bad teams and should be ready for a challenge.  Line: Nevada by 8.5.  I expected this to be higher so I could say it was too high..but this seems about right.  I’ll say Nevada wins it 37-28.

Pick Summary:
Boise State -35 at Idaho
New Mexico State +15.5 vs. Louisiana Tech
Utah State -3.5 at San Jose State
Nevada -8.5 at Fresno State

Utah State 27, New Mexico State 22- The battle of the Aggies goes to the northern ones, as NMSU isn’t able to hold a 4th quarter lead to find it’s [...]]]> The big time matchup that we were supposed to have turned into another Boise rout, while the rest of the WAC is starting to sort itself out.

Utah State 27, New Mexico State 22- The battle of the Aggies goes to the northern ones, as NMSU isn’t able to hold a 4th quarter lead to find it’s second win in a row.  Next Week: Utah State at San Diego State, Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

Boise State 42, Hawaii 7- The Bronco defense absolutely shut down the usually high flying Warrior offense, while the offense ran roughshod.  Nevada is the only team left on the schedule that could reasonably challenge Boise at this point. Next Week: Boise State at Idaho (Friday), Hawaii idle.

Fresno State 40, Louisiana Tech 34- Fresno opened up a back & forth game in the fourth quarter with three straight scores, then survived a rally from the other Bulldogs to become bowl eligible.  Next Week: Nevada at Fresno State, Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

Nevada 63, Idaho 17- Idaho’s defensive struggles haunted them as Nevada racked up 844 yards of offense in the blowout.  Idaho will probably have to win out, including a date with Fresno State, to get bowl eligible after the Boise State game.  Next Week: Nevada at Fresno State, Boise State at Idaho (Friday)

WAC Standings

Conference Championship Picture

Forget, for a moment, that Boise State is straight up murdering everybody.  There.  In that case, the conference is still wide open, as Boise has two of the league’s best still to come.  However, only Boise State actually controls it’s own destiny at this point.  Fresno State and Nevada both need Hawaii to lose one more, even if either of them beats Boise State.  Hawaii needs Boise to lose twice to win the league outright.  If Fresno or Nevada do beat Boise State and win out, then Hawaii wins out, then we have a 3 way tie at 8-1.  The WAC would declare them all co-champions and be done with it.

Week 10 Power Rankings

These are pretty close to the standings, obviously.  Nevada gets back ahead of Hawaii, despite the head to head, based on Hawaii’s implosion on the blue turf.

1. Boise State
2. Nevada
3. Hawaii
4. Fresno State
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Idaho
7. Utah State
8. New Mexico State
9. San Jose State

2:00 PM, The Mtn- San Diego State at Wyoming: The season comes down to this for the Cowboys- find a way to beat SDSU, and they could conceivably win out and find a bowl home at 6-6.  Meanwhile, [...]]]> This is a quieter week in the western leagues, matchup-wise, before the fireworks start next week (TCU-Utah, Hawaii-Boise).

Mountain West

2:00 PM, The Mtn- San Diego State at Wyoming: The season comes down to this for the Cowboys- find a way to beat SDSU, and they could conceivably win out and find a bowl home at 6-6.  Meanwhile, the Aztecs are on the brink of bowl eligibility themselves, but they would rather get that 6th win before facing TCU and Utah.  Line: San Diego State by 10.  Wyoming’s record belies stats that suggest that they’re really a pretty good team, and maybe they finally prove that today.  Not sure they can win, but it’ll be closer than the 10.  SDSU escapes, 31-28.

6:00 PM, The Mtn- New Mexico at Colorado State: The 117th offense in the country heads north to face the 111th, but this isn’t even the worst matchup of the day.  CSU will be looking for some revenge, as they were New Mexico’s only win last year. Line: Colorado State by 16.  Let me just put this out there- if you’re wagering on this game, you have a problem.  CSU by 10, tops, 20-10.

7:30 PM, CBS College- #8 Utah at Air Force: Air Force has trailed off after a great start got them ranked, but they have TCU and Utah in back-to-back weeks, which would be tough for anyone.  Line: Utah by 7.  This should be a good game for a while, but I think Utah will pull away sooner or later.  38-14.

11:00 PM, CBS College- #4 TCU at UNLV: Your insomniac special for the week, but it may not help- TCU should pound the Rebels.  Line: TCU by 35.  I’m going to say that the odd time (10 PM TCU time) and a non-motivating opponent keep this one a little closer, TCU still runs away with it, 35-7.

WAC

4:00 PM- San Jose State at New Mexico State: Ladies and gentlemen, this might be the most unwatchable football game of the year.  The nation’s worst scoring offense (10 points per game) goes to face the second-worst (12 ppg).  You don’t get matchups like this every day.  Line: San Jose State by 3.  Going entirely based on that one statistic, I’m going to take NMSU in the upset, 13-10.

10:30 PM, ESPNU- Utah State at Nevada: Nevada has to wait all day after a 2 week gap since they last played, losing at Hawaii.  Utah State has been woeful since beating BYU, and this is a tough place to try to turn that tide. Line: Nevada by 26.  For my money, Nevada’s defense isn’t good enough to promise an almost four touchdown win.  31-10 for the Pack.

11:30 PM- Idaho at Hawaii: Hawaii is proving to be a tough place to play for WAC teams, especially ones as defensibly questionable as Idaho has been.  An upset is possible, but it might be a long night for the Vandals. Line: Hawaii by 15.  Idaho has surprised me several times this year, but usually by losing.  Hawaii will run away with this one, 42-21.

Pick Summary:
Wyoming +10 vs. San Diego State
New Mexico +16 at Colorado State
Utah -7 at Air Force
UNLV +35 vs. TCU
New Mexico State +3 vs. San Jose State
Utah State +26 at Nevada
Hawaii -15 vs. Idaho

Louisiana Tech 48, Idaho 35- The Bulldogs surge continues, knocking off two would-be upstarts in back to back weeks.  La Tech trailed briefly in the second quarter, but dominated [...]]]> A late night upset rattles the standings in the WAC, while Boise continues its dominance, currently holding a combined score of 107-0 in two WAC games so far.

Louisiana Tech 48, Idaho 35- The Bulldogs surge continues, knocking off two would-be upstarts in back to back weeks.  La Tech trailed briefly in the second quarter, but dominated the second half to notch their second league win. Next Week: New Mexico State at Idaho, Louisiana Tech at Boise State (Tuesday 10/26)

Boise State 48, San Jose State 0- Boise State put up 41 in the first half, the other 7 early in the third quarter, and shut it down from there.  Next Week: Fresno State at San Jose State, Louisiana Tech at Boise State (Tuesday 10/26)

Fresno State 33, New Mexico State 10- The Aggies’ only touchdown came in the fourth, long after the game was out of reached.  New Mexico State just seems overmatched in the WAC so far.  Next Week: Fresno State at San Jose State, New Mexico State at Idaho

Hawaii 27, Nevada 21- Hawaii’s defense came to life this week, shutting out the Wolf Pack and giving the offense time to build a lead good enough to hold on when Nevada got things going.  Hawaii hasn’t lost since week 3.  Next Week: Nevada at Utah State, Hawaii is idle.

The picks were 2-2, as I thought Idaho could get the job done in Ruston and that Nevada would play better on the island.  Oh well.

WAC Standings

WAC Championship Race

The WAC race is wide-open, if we pretend we think anybody can beat Boise State.  I will add Hawaii to the list of teams that could give the Broncos a hard time, along with Nevada.  If they were to win out, Nevada, Fresno State and Louisiana Tech both need 2 losses from Hawaii.  Idaho needs just one more loss from La Tech to get back ahead if they start winning. The three at the bottom need more help.

Week 7 Power Rankings

Hawaii has climbed to the number two spot after an impressive run the last four weeks.  Sorting through those one loss teams isn’t so easy.

1. Boise State
2. Hawaii
3. Nevada
4. Fresno State
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Idaho
7. Utah State
8. New Mexico State
9. San Jose State

4:00 PM- Idaho at Louisiana Tech: La Tech showed it’s first signs of life last week when they knocked off Utah State, while Idaho comes in off a bye week, beating Western Michigan handily two weeks ago.  Line: Idaho by 1.  The Vandals [...]]]> The WAC is into full-blown league play, which means only four games this weekend.

4:00 PM- Idaho at Louisiana Tech: La Tech showed it’s first signs of life last week when they knocked off Utah State, while Idaho comes in off a bye week, beating Western Michigan handily two weeks ago.  Line: Idaho by 1.  The Vandals played well on their last long road trip, and I look for a repeat performance today.  Idaho wins this one 31-20.

8:00 PM- #3 Boise State at San Jose State: Another round of “how many will Boise score?”  They’ve comfortably sailed past whatever line Vegas puts up in the last few weeks.  Line: Boise by 40.  They’re taking on one of the worst teams in the WAC, although SJSU did slow down Nevada a little last week.  Either way, Boise should win by a ton.  55-10.

10:30 PM, ESPNU- New Mexico State at Fresno State: Your ESPNU dud of the week.  And ESPNU puts on a lot of duds.  New Mexico State will be coming in off a win over rival New Mexico, but I don’t think they’re on their way to a win this time.  Line: Fresno State by 30.  I could see this being a little closer than that.  Fresno State wins 35-14.

11:30 PM- #19 Nevada at Hawaii: This is a fascinating matchup- Nevada’s near unstoppable run game versus Hawaii’s near unstoppable passing game.  I think Nevada has the better defense, which should be the advantage today.  Line: Nevada by 6.5.  I think it will be close to this number, but I’ll take Nevada to win it by a touchdown, 42-35.

Pick Summary:
Idaho -1 at Louisiana Tech
Boise State -40 at San Jose State
NM State +30 at Fresno State
Nevada -6.5 at Hawaii

Record: 4-2, 2-0 WAC Highlights: Tough road wins at Army and Fresno State, leading the country in passing offense, 11th [...]]]> Five teams have reached the halfway point of the last WAC season as we know it- Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, San Jose State, and Utah State.  The rest reach the midpoint on Saturday, for a nice, normal split.

Hawaii

Record: 4-2, 2-0 WAC
Highlights: Tough road wins at Army and Fresno State, leading the country in passing offense, 11th nationally in scoring offense.
Weak Points: Bad loss at Colorado, running game is 117th, defense is below average, kick returns are terrible.
Grade: A. Hawaii has looked very strong against decent WAC teams, and hasn’t lost a non-BCS game yet.  Not sure if they can compete with Nevada and Boise, but we’re about to find out.
Remaining Games: Nevada, at Utah State, Idaho, at Boise State, San Jose State, at New Mexico State, UNLV
Best Case: 6-1 and the Hawaii Bowl (if they’re eligible, that’s where they go). I don’t think they win out, but they could potentially steal one from the WAC leaders.
Worst Case: 4-3.  Losses to Boise & Nevada and a surprise from one of the other five.
Prediction: 5-2.  I think they’ll take a loss this weekend, and in Boise, but nobody else on their schedule is playing as well as the Warriors.  9-4 on the season and comfortably playing in their home bowl game.

Louisiana Tech

Record: 2-4, 1-1 WAC
Highlights: Surprise win over Utah State, #4 rushing offense in the WAC.
Weak Points: Nearly everything, statistically.  Only one win over FCS teams.
Grade: D. Tough season under a new coach, but the Utah State win could turn things around.
Remaining Games: Idaho, at Boise State, Fresno State, at New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Nevada
Best Case: 4-2 with losses to just the Big Two in the league, drawing other strong teams Idaho and Fresno State at home.  6-6 and hoping for a bowl bid.
Worst Case: 1-5.  Even if the wheels come off, they’ll surely win at least one between NM State and SJSU.
Prediction: 2-4 for a 4-8 season.  They certainly could get one more win than that one, but the Bulldogs appear to be about the 6th or 7th best team in the league.

Nevada

Record: 6-0, 1-0 WAC
Highlights: Friday night win over Cal, road wins over BYU & UNLV.  #2 offense in the country (best in the WAC),#3 nationally in punting.
Weak Points: Defense has given up a lot of points to a few weak teams, kick returns unspectacular.
Grade: A. Besides a lack of near-shutouts, nothing to complain about from the Wolf Pack. They’ve trampled all opposition so far and are moving up inside the top 25.
Remaining Games: at Hawaii, Utah State, at Idaho, at Fresno State, New Mexico State, Boise State, at Louisiana Tech
Best Case: 7-0 for a 13-0 season that might be on the edge of a BCS bid.
Worst Case: 5-2, 11-2 on the season and still on the Humanitarian Bowl
Prediction: 6-1 and in the H-Bowl.  I think Nevada can outrun Hawaii, but Boise State’s defense is on another level right now.

San Jose State

Record: 1-5, 0-1 WAC
Highlights: Top punt return numbers in the WAC, 9th nationally.  Only lost to one FCS team.
Weak Points: Loss to FCS UC Davis, rated 7th or worse in conference for all the major stat categories.
Grade: F. If not for the FCS loss, this would probably be a D, since their other four games have been against teams currently ranked 8, 16, 10, and 21. They get #3 this week.
Remaining Games: Boise State, Fresno State, at New Mexico State, Utah State, at Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, at Idaho
Best Case: 3-4.  If the Spartans really turn things around, they have a couple winnable home games and could beat NM State on the road.
Worst Case: 0-7, which remains a possibility, but we can’t say for sure since SJSU hasn’t played an unranked FBS team.
Prediction: 1-6 for a 2-11 season.  Tough sledding for the Spartans this year, but they should find a way to win one somewhere, although they may not be favored in any.

Utah State

Record: 2-4, 0-2 WAC
Highlights: Beating BYU on a national Friday night game, #3 rushing offense in the WAC
Weak Points: Neither offense nor defense rated well, never seem to use momentum off wins or close games.
Grade: D. Every time the Aggies show signs of life (losing to Oklahoma by 7, beating BYU) they tend to lay an egg the shortly thereafter (lost to Fresno by 20 after a FCS win, lost to La Tech badly last week).
Remaining Games: Hawaii, at Nevada, New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Idaho, at Boise State
Best Case: 3-3, beating the other cellar dwellers and upsetting one of the other four.
Worst Case: 0-6. This shouldn’t happen, but if they don’t improve on their two field goal outing in Ruston, they’re in trouble.
Prediction: 2-4.  Hard to see this team upsetting any of the top teams in the WAC, based on what we’ve seen so far.  But they beat BYU, so the season still has to been seen as a good one, right?

Louisiana Tech 24, Utah State 6- The Bulldogs’ offense came alive Saturday, while the Aggies never got anything going, and couldn’t capitalize on any momentum from their [...]]]> Not a bad weekend for the WAC- they win both out of conference games and lock up the season-long win over the Mountain West, 7-4 with one more to go.

Louisiana Tech 24, Utah State 6- The Bulldogs’ offense came alive Saturday, while the Aggies never got anything going, and couldn’t capitalize on any momentum from their win over BYU last week.  Both teams are now 2-4 with a long road back to bowl eligibility. Next Week: Idaho at Louisiana Tech, Utah State is idle.

New Mexico State 16, New Mexico 14- This bunch of Aggies got the job done with a late field goal after trailing for most of the game in a matchup that was just as ugly as we all expected. Next Week: New Mexico State at Fresno State

Boise State 57, Toledo 14- Toledo at least made the Broncos work for their 57 points, but it would have been tough to come up with a much better result over on the blue turf. Next Week: Boise State at San Jose State

Hawaii 49, Fresno State 27- Hawaii’s offense is starting to steamroll the opposition, and the Warriors are off to a 2-0 start in the league.  Meanwhile Fresno falls to 1-1 and loses important ground in the league race.  Next Week: New Mexico State at Fresno State, Nevada at Hawaii

Nevada 35, San Jose State 13- The Nevada offense didn’t run quite as wild this week, but the Spartans’ lack of offense kept them from making a game of it.  Next Week: Nevada at Hawaii, Boise State at San Jose State

My Picks: 1-4.  Only thing I had right was Hawaii as a big underdog to Fresno State.  Ouch.

WAC Standings

Week 7 Power Rankings

Hawaii continues its impressive rise, setting up a very interesting game next week as Nevada heads out for their toughest game until Boise State.

1. Boise State
2. Nevada
3. Hawaii
4. Fresno State
5. Idaho
6. Louisiana Tech
7. Utah State
8. New Mexico State
9. San Jose State

4:00 PM- Utah State at Louisiana Tech: Utah State will be looking to build off their win over BYU, while Louisiana Tech hasn’t found the answers on offense yet, [...]]]> The WAC sees 3 conference games this weekend, a rivalry game that might decide who’s the worst team in America, and a somewhat unusual pairing over in Boise.

4:00 PM- Utah State at Louisiana Tech: Utah State will be looking to build off their win over BYU, while Louisiana Tech hasn’t found the answers on offense yet, and is still hunting for a win over a FBS team.  Line: Louisiana Tech by 1 (!).  They’re clearly seeing something I’m not out there, as it seems like the Aggies are a much better team at this point.  I think they win this one comfortably, 31-20.

8:00 PM- New Mexico at New Mexico State: A combined 0-9, the eyes of the country will be on this one, primarily for comedy reasons.  Line: New Mexico State by 2.5. That should be about right- NMSU should pick up their second straight win over the Lobos, but it won’t be pretty.  17-10.

8:00, WAC Sports Net- Toledo at #4 Boise State: This game will be much tougher for BSU than NM State was last week.  Toledo can put up some points and has a decent non-BCS level defense too.  They’re not likely to be in the hunt for an upset by the 4th quarter, but Boise can’t sleep on the Rockets either.  Line: Boise by 39.  I hate these lines for Boise- that’s an absurd number of points to demand they win by, but if they don’t, they’ll fall further in the polls.  I think it’s too much this week, Broncos win 50-20.

10:00 PM- Hawaii at Fresno State: This will be an important test for Fresno- the Hawaii offense will stretch their defense and may require Fresno to post 35+ again to win this one.  Line: Fresno by 11.  Too much for my taste, I see this one going to the Bulldogs but 42-35.

10:30 PM, ESPNU- San Jose State at Nevada: Here we have an elite team facing off against a very bad Spartan bunch.  Nevada should be able to name their score, although they’ve allowed bad teams to score a handful against them so far this year too.  Line: Nevada by 39.  Interestingly, same line as Boise State.  That’s a ton of points, but I think the Wolf Pack might cover it.  I could see this one going 56-10.

Pick Summary:
Utah State +1 at Louisiana Tech
New Mexico State -3 vs. New Mexico
Toledo +39 at Boise State
Hawaii +11 at Fresno State
Nevada -39 vs. San Jose State