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.
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