Boise State's road to the Mountain West championship game looks like this: Beat everyone. "Everyone" includes Nevada this week, Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, and New Mexico - all of whom the Broncos will be favored to beat. It's nice controlling your own destiny and having Colorado State on the schedule. (Ditto for Wyoming - both the destiny part and the Colorado State part.)
Recap: UNLV has won four in a row. Yes, that UNLV.
Remembering last week
Recap: Boise State's 11-point win was the biggest blowout of the weekend, as every other MW conference game was decided by one score. Parity or Craig Thompson conspiracy to boost TV ratings? Is Norm Chow on the take?
Weekly Awards
Team of the Week
San Diego State started the season 0-3 with two okay losses (Ohio State and Oregon State) and one very bad loss (directional Illinois), but they've rebounded nicely and are now 3-3 and the current favorite for Fresno Trap Game of the Year. Last week, the Aztecs got past Air Force 27-20 on Friday night football, and now they have a full 15 days to prepare for a visit from the conference-leading Bulldogs who must play hot-hot-hot UNLV this week. (Actual UNLV temperature may be cooler than it appears.)
Player of Last Week (PLOW)
(note: I am bad at acronyms.)
The official player of the week award went to San Jose State quarterback David Fales, but we all know the winner should have been Shane Williams-Rhodes. There is a pervasive pattern of heightism at the Mountain West football offices, and it must be stopped.
This Week's Game of the Week of the Century
UNLV @ Fresno State
There are only four games total to choose among in Mountain West play, so take "Game of the Week" with a grain of salt. The Runnin' Rebs are riding a four-game winning streak, but lest I remind you that win No. 4 was by two points over winless Hawaii. Coincidentally, Fresno gave up 34 unanswered points to Hawaii. Is Hawaii secretly the best team in the conference? You heard it here first, unless it isn't true, in which case you heard it on Bleacher Report.
The other games of the week
Battle for the Bronze Boot: Colorado State @ Wyoming
Battle for All the Kenos: Nevada @ Boise State
Battle for Footbaw: Utah State @ New Mexico
What the Gamecube says
At the request of nobody, I will be simulating the 2013 college football season using the best technology I have available: NCAA 08, the one with Zabransky on the cover. Expect to get some tasty nuggets of wisdom from this exercise.
I loaned the game to a friend and spent the week playing Mario Tennis (since I know you'll ask, yes, people other than me still own Gamecubes). Sorry, no lofty nuggets of wisdom this week, unless you consider Wario vs. Peach a metaphor for Boise State vs. Nevada, in which case, Peach better watch out.
Oxymoronic Mountain West Power Poll
- Fresno State
- Boise State
- Utah State
- Wyoming
- San Diego State
- Nevada
- San Jose State
- UNLV
- New Mexico
- Colorado State
- Hawaii
- Air Force
Hot Rankings
1. Hot dog
2. Hot Wheels
3. Hot tubs
4. Red Hots
5. Hot Potato
6. Hotseat
7. Hot Shots Part Deux
8. Hot or not
Lot Rankings
1. Ronnie
25. Abraham's cousin
Scott Rankings
1. Scotty from Star Trek
2. Tom Scott
3. Scott Bakula
4. Scott Baio
Scot Rankings
1. William Wallace
2. Sean Connery
3. Scotty from Star Trek
4. Andy Murray
Squat Rankings
1. Normal squat
4,000. Wall sits