Around the MWC

The Mountain West Conference is shaping up to be a dogfight for

the rest of the year, thanks in part to New Mexico’s 47-35 victory

over previously conference unbeaten Utah. The MWC now has four

teams with one conference loss, with two of those four teams facing

off this weekend.

BYU steps out of conference play this week with a game at home

against a tough Boise State team, and San Diego State gets the week

off.

San Diego State (4-5, 1-3 in the MWC)

With the bye week upon them, the Aztecs must concern themselves

with the task of becoming bowl eligible. Since two of their four

wins were against Division 1-AA teams, the Aztecs must win the rest

of their games this season. In those games SDSU will face UNLV, CSU

and Air force.

BYU (4-5, 3-3) vs. Boise State (7-1)

Thursday, Oct. 30 at LaVell Edwards Stadium

5:30 p.m. on ESPN

Thursday’s match-up is the first ever between these two teams.

The Cougars snapped a two game losing streak last week with an

overtime victory over conference foe UNLV.

Starting quarterback Matt Berry, in just his second start since

an early-season hand injury sidelined him for four games, completed

31 of 44 passes with two interceptions for 274 yards. He threw for

two scores and ran for another.

Unfortunately for BYU, Berry will not be the best quarterback on

the field this week. Boise State’s star signal caller Ryan

Dinwiddie has thrown for over 2,600 yards this season and 18

touchdowns. Last week in only a half of action, he completed 17 of

28 passes for 350 yards and five touchdowns in the Broncos 77-14

victory over San Jose State.

Utah (6-2, 3-1) at Air Force (6-2, 3-1)

Saturday, Nov. 1 at Falcon Stadium

11:00 a.m. ESPN2

With last week’s loss, Utah has to fight for the conference

title, and that fight begins this weekend with an Air Force team

that also only has one loss in conference.

Air Force has beaten Utah in the last three meetings between the

two teams including last year’s victory when the Falcons scored 24

unanswered points in the second half, capping the victory with a

20-yard touchdown pass from Chance Harridge to Don Clark with 17

seconds remaining in the game.

The Utes might be without star tailback Brandon Warfield who

injured his knee last week.

UNLV (4-4, 0-3) at New Mexico (5-3, 2-1)

Saturday, Nov. 1 at University Stadium

6:00 p.m.

New Mexico has reasserted themselves into the MWC picture with

last week’s impressive 47-35 win over Utah. The Rebels, the only

team in the league without a conference victory, were nipped by BYU

in overtime last week 27-20.

The Lobos ran for 407 yards last week, but are up against a UNLV

defense that has only allowed three teams to rush for more than 100

yards.

Last year the Lobos beat the Rebels 25-16 behind a defense that

scored 10 of the team’s 25 points.

Colorado State (5-3, 2-1) at Wyoming (3-4, 1-2)

Saturday, Nov. 1 at War Memorial Stadium

1:00 p.m. ESPN+Plus

The “Border War” is the longest running rivalry for both schools

as Colorado State and Wyoming meet for the 95th time. These schools

have squared off every year but six since 1899, making it the

oldest interstate rivalry west of the Mississippi.

Wyoming gave up 218 yards on the ground to SDSU’s freshman

running back Lynell Hamilton in last week’s 25-20 loss to the

Aztecs. The Cowboys will test the revamped CSU secondary this

weekend and will look to record-breaking quarterback Casey Bramlet

to get the job done. Bramlet sits atop the Cowboy passing chart

with 8,682 career passing yards, and has flourished under first

year head coach Joe Glenn.

CSU has won four straight over the Cowboys, including last

year’s 44-36 victory in Fort Collins.