I am five days and a dollar short in recapping the Boise State - Fresno State game, but too bad I'm sharing a nugget anyway. In losing, Boise State looked like a better team than I thought they were. The Broncos lost by a single point in a perfect storm scenario, losing the turnover battle, fumbling in the red zone, failing on fourth down, and making enough mistakes to lose by at least 20 points. Based on their first three weeks of football, Boise State could have lost that game by 20 without all the extra help. That they controlled their own destiny on the final drive of the game - not to mention the way they played throughout, despite scrimmage coverage for chunks of the game - spoke volumes to me about this team's potential. As such, I bumped them up a spot in the conference rankings. Homers gonna homer.
Here are the actual MW standings. The biased power poll comes later.
Recap: Two teams in Boise State's conference have a better overall record than the Broncos, and 2-2 is a win-loss record the Broncos share with ... UNLV?!
Remembering last week
Recap: Keeping with the Mountain West's theme of 2013, no one beat any opponents outside of the conference or FCS.
Weekly Awards
Team of the Week
The Colorado State Rams, sad sack of the Mountain West, were going to get their lunch handed to them by No. 1 Alabama; it was just a matter of how much lunch. Turns out, not a whole lot!
The Rams trailed only 17-6 going into the fourth quarter in Tuscaloosa, which is a feat that many SEC teams cannot accomplish let alone 40-point underdogs. Colorado State ended up losing by 25, but their spirited play for a cupcake had Alabama players saying backhanded things like this afterward:
"I felt like as a whole, we didn't really execute to our full abilities," Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley said. "That's not an SEC opponent that we just played and the win really wasn't what it should have been. So I felt like we kind of got away with a win. We didn't dominate that win."
Way to lose in an undominating fashion, CSU!
Player of Last Week (PLOW)
(note: I am bad at acronyms.)
Derek Carr had 400 yards and four touchdowns in a big win over somebody, and that's all I know.
This Week's Game of the Week of the Century
Utah State @ San Jose State
This week's ESPN Friday night game will be a showcase of Mountain West darkhorse contenders and former WAC powerhouses (powerhouses for one season at least). Winner gets a congratulatory email from Karl Benson.
The other games of the week
Impending blowout: Fresno State @ Hawaii
Craig Thompson appointment television: Air Force @ Nevada
Game of winlessness: San Diego State @ New Mexico State
Misc. games:
- UNLV @ New Mexico
- Boise State vs. Southern Miss
- Wyoming @ Texas State
- Colorado State vs. UTEP
Punter of the week
San Jose State's Harrison Waid got himself ejected for fighting Minnesota players, both the saddest and awesomest special teams news of the week.
History tells us he might have anger control problems.
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.
Might want to keep an eye on Utah quarterback Brian Johnson this season. Through four weeks, he has 1,200 yards passing and 300 rushing. He's also a white guy.
Oxymoronic Mountain West Power Poll
- Fresno State
- Utah State
- Wyoming
- Boise State
- San Jose State
- Nevada
- San Diego State
- UNLV
- New Mexico
- Colorado State
- Air Force
- Hawaii
Punter Rankings
1. Ray Guy
2. Shane Lechler
3. Jeff Feagles
4. Reggie Roby
5. Mortified Michigan punter
Hunter Rankings
1. Big Buck Hunter
2. Hunter S. Thompson
3. Davy Crockett
15. Abraham Lincoln, vampire hunter
Grunter Rankings
1. Martina Hingis
Bunter Rankings
1. Ichiro
2. Juan Pierre
3. Omar Vizquel
4. John Smoltz