Week two was full of close calls in what was a nearly catastrophic week for the Mountain West. One of the top teams in the conference nearly fell apart late, while two others needed some fortunate calls late in the game to hold on. What was almost disastrous turned out to be a solid week for the conference. Let’s take a look at how each team performed in this week’s edition of “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.”
The Good
Boise State
It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. The Broncos came out early and set the tone
against an inferior Eastern Washington squad. They had a dominant first drive of the game where it only took three running plays to score a touchdown. Quarterback Maddux Madsen was also more efficient throwing for more than 300 yards, and we may have seen the emergence of Boise State’s next great receiver, Chris Marshall, who had over 130 yards receiving on only four catches. I still have worries on the defensive side of the ball; the Broncos struggled to secure the edges in the run game and defensive backs were still struggling on deep passes. The Broncos have plenty to clean up. The bye week should be helpful.
Fresno State
The Bulldogs may have been lucky to win this one, but it was a win on the road against a future conference foe. I’m not sure I have ever seen a worst special teams performance than what I saw from Oregon State. There were four botched snaps from the long snapper and those plays alone were enough to cost the Beavers the victory. The Bulldogs continued to show growth on the ground; their rushing attack was solid and quarterback EJ Warner made the plays he needed to. A favorable schedule is starting to make this look like it can be a bounce back year for Fresno State.
Wyoming
After winning an offensive struggle against Akron the week before, the Cowboy offense made strides in their 31-7 win over Northern Iowa. Before leaving with an injury, starting quarterback Kaden Anderson was sharp, completing 17 of 23 passes while adding two touchdowns. The rushing attack was also effective, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. The Cowboys will face their stiffest test of the year this weekend as they host Utah in a battle of undefeated squads.
UNLV
It was a tale of two halves for the Rebels. They completely dominated the Bruins in the first half, jumping out to a 23-0 lead and looking like a force on both sides of the ball. In the second half, the Rebels struggled to stop the Bruins and committed a number of costly penalties. With under two minutes left, the Bruins were marching down the field with a chance to tie the game, but a tipped ball led to an Aamaris Brown interception that secured the victory for UNLV. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea had another solid performance, amassing 262 total yards and three touchdowns in the victory.
Hawaii
The Rainbow Warriors may have been without starting quarterback Micah Alejado, but it didn’t matter in their convincing 37-20 win over Sam Houston. Backup quarterback Luke Weaver was sharp in relief of Alejado, completing 27 of 43 passing attempts for 294 yards and three touchdowns. The Rainbow Warrior defense was stout, limiting Sam Houston to under 250 yards and holding their rushing attack to only 2.9 yards per carry. This weekend, Hawaii has a tuneup game against Portland State before kicking off conference play.
The Bad
San Jose State
The Spartans are going to look back at this game and wish they had a do-over. This had the chance to be a competitive game, but early turnovers were too much to overcome. Four early turnovers by the offense put the Spartan defense in a tough spot and allowed the Longhorns to build an early lead on their way to a 38-7 blowout. This feels like a team that hasn’t quite found its identity yet; they better figure it out soon if they want to compete for a Mountain West Championship.
Utah State
This is a tough one to gauge. The Aggies did enough to prevent the game from being a complete embarrassment. However, there are some glaring weaknesses in the trenches that worry me about Utah State. Through two games, Bryson Barnes has taken an absolute beating. Including sacks, Barnes carried the ball 16 times for -4 yards, was sacked six times, and hit numerous more. If Barnes is going to make it through the season, the offensive line will need to improve in pass protection and Barnes is going to need to be smarter with the football. There were some positives. The Aggies seem to have a potential star running back in Miles Davis and a solid wide receiver in Brady Boyd. The potential is there; the Aggies have shown me enough to have me believe that they will be a bowl team this fall, but it starts this weekend. They need to get the win over Air Force to start the conference season strong.
New Mexico
The Lobos got their first win of the Jason Eck era and they established the fact that they have a star running back in Montana State transfer Scottre Humphrey. But putting away Idaho State was a struggle for the Lobos. Idaho State was shuffling between their third and fourth string running back and the Lobos struggled to slow them down as the Bengals passed for 265 yards. It was a bit of a disappointment after a solid performance against Michigan the week prior. This is a big two week stretch for Jason Eck’s squad with two games where they need to make a statement. UCLA and New Mexico State are both winnable games for the Lobos before they enter the grind of the Mountain West schedule.
The Ugly
Nevada
This was a really concerning performance for the Wolf Pack, even though they managed to walk away with the victory. Boneheaded plays by Sacramento State had more to do with the outcome of the game than anything. There was an unnecessary Nevada interception that was returned for a touchdown when the Hornets could have and should have run out the clock. Sacramento State followed it up by marching down the field and then having two touchdowns called back on holding penalties before missing a field goal that would have sent the game into overtime. This was a worrisome performance by Nevada. Jeff Choate and his staff have a lot to work on this week.
Colorado State
Similar to the Wolf Pack, the Rams were fortunate to walk away with a win over an FCS team. The 21-17 Colorado State win was full of controversy after the refs overturned a late Northern Colorado touchdown that would have won the game. From all of the video evidence I’ve seen, it looked like a good catch and there wasn’t nearly enough evidence to overturn the call. Regardless of the outcome, this was a concerning performance by the Rams. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi had a rough day, completing only 13 of 25 passes for 132 yards and an interception. The Rams struggled to take care of the ball, finishing the game with five turnovers.
San Diego State
This loss was a microcosm of what the Sean Lewis era has been in San Diego. A coach that is supposedly an offensive genius struggles to put points on the board. The 36-13 loss to Washington State was an example of everything going wrong for the Aztecs. The San Diego State defense gave up 36 points and over 400 yards to a Washington State squad that managed only 13 points against Idaho the week before. The offense was a complete mess with Jayden Denegal completing only 15 of 30 pass attempts for 133 yards, and it wasn’t much better on the ground where the Aztecs only averaged 2.7 yards per rush. If this team doesn’t clean things up soon, they may be looking for a new head coach before they enter the PAC 12.
How did you feel about your team’s performance this week? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
