San Jose State Spartan quarterback David Fales is on a rush and stopped by Wyoming linebacker Luke Wacha on Saturday. San Jose State went on to win 51-44. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Week 9 of the Mountain West had some pretty entertaining games to watch this week.. action started about 6pm on Thursday night and ended about 2am Sunday morning. This is why we love college football. The folks in Provo were doin’ some party rock after their first victory over Boise State and the folks who stayed up for an all-nighter to watch Hawaii and Colorado State got to see the Robert Kekaula that you used to know.
Yeah, I know the folks in Provo do not party rock, that just happens to be the song I’m listening to and felt the need to work that into the blog. Every day I’m shuff-a-lin’!
Our week got started with Boise State making the trip to Utah to take on BYU, a team they had dominated in the recent years. The Cougars are having a decently successful season. As you remember, the Cougars used to be a part of the Mountain West until they defected to be independent. We didn’t want them anyways, amirite? The Broncos were outmatched in this one from the start. Boise State was without starting quarterback Joe Southwick who broke his ankle last week. Cougar quarterback Taysom Hill imposed his will on the Bronco defense throwing for 339 yards and three scores, and rushing for 69 more and a score. Cougar running back Jamaal Williams rushed for another 107 yards for the Cougars. Boise State got a decent performance from backup quarterback Grant Hedrick, but he was largely ineffective for the Broncos. He didn’t look real comfortable against the Cougar defense. Last year the Broncos took advantage of four BYU turnovers to defeat them.. this year the Broncos got a taste of their own medicine as they coughed it up four times and Cougars punished them. Boise State didn’t suffer in their chase for the Mountain West Mountain title game berth, as this was a non-conference game. The Broncos will head to Fort Collins next week to take on Colorado State.
In case you guys are wondering, I’m going to theme each paragraph with whatever song I’m listening to at the moment. If I hear any grief about song selection I will hunt you down and break you.
Notre Dame rolled into Colorado Springs to take on the Air Force Falcons and they “Danced like Jagger” all over the Academy’s field on Saturday. The Falcons got the scoring started with a touchdown from Colton Huntsman rush, but that’s the last time Air Force would ever be close in this one. Notre Dame imposed their will the rest of the game and hammered the Falcons 41-10. The score was probably a little closer than I would have guessed it would be, as the Falcons are bad, but their offense certainly has a way of negating a lot of should be blowouts. Tommy Rees did some un-Tommy Rees like things only missing on five passes and throwing five touchdowns for the Irish. The Falcons managed to rush for 290 yards on the Irish, who I’m sure are feeling every yard of that today. Third (or fourth, dunno how many at this point) string quarterback Nate Romine had a decent day throwing for 37 yards and rushing for 76 more. About all you can ask for from a QB buried on the depth chart to start the season. The Falcons will play in the Mountain West pillow fight of the week as they play the next leg of the Commander-in-Chief series vs Army.
As a partial (as opposed to impartial) writer of this blog, watching the Wyoming football team this season has made me “Scream and Shout” a lot of obscenities at my TV.. if I had a baby seal I’d probably club it. The Cowboys raced out to a 16-0 lead on the Spartans and it looked like this game was going to get out of hand in a hurry. However, there’s this dude named David Fales who has a chip on his shoulder against the Cowboys who decided to go total beast mode in the third quarter and abuse the Cowboy secondary. Fales showed all of the Root Sports viewers why he’s one of the elite quarterbacks in the Mountain West by throwing for 482 yards and five scores. That’s eye-popping and probably going to win him offensive player of the week. Brett Smith had a fine day for the Cowboys as well, going 22-34 for 267 yards and three scores. The Cowboys were mostly fueled by the rushing attack of Shaun Wick who tore off 234 yards and a score for the Pokes. This one was a wild finish capped off with a David Fales touchdown with :08 left to seal it 51-44. The Cowboys will have a bye, San Jose State will travel to UNLV.
“I’m Britney, bitch” is one lyric that I will never understand. Oooooo-weeee-ooooo-we-o-we-o.
The UNLV Rebels certainly did “Feel This Moment” as they took something back that they have not had in quite a long time. That’s the Fremont Cannon. College football’s heaviest traveling trophy. This game was surprisingly competitive, I thought for sure Nevada would win this one going away at home, but Caleb Herring continued playing out of his mind. The most stunning part of this game? UNLV is now one game from being bowl eligible. Seriously, I’m not kidding. Caleb Herring saved UNLVs season and Bobby Hauck’s job. Herring posted up another 335 yard game with three scores, while Tim Cornett did Tim Cornett things and rushed for 122 yards and score. On the other side of the ball Cody Fajardo turned in another good performance for the Wolf Pack (two words) by going for 357 yards and two scores. These teams were nearly even in total yardage, but in the end Nevada couldn’t capitalize when it needed to. Nevada was also 2-15 on third down, that doesn’t win a lot of games either. UNLV will host San Jose State next, Nevada will be at Fresno State.
YouTube creepin’ can produce some unwanted music results, as I just had to listen to Pitbull. Guh..
San Diego State hosted Fresno State and caused quite a “Bangarang” against the Bulldogs Saturday night. The Bulldogs got way more fight from the Aztecs than they would have liked. It appeared that pre-season this was going to be a pretty close game, then San Diego State got housed by Eastern Illinois, had quarterback trouble, Adam Muema was injured and it looked like a couple weeks ago this would be a blowout. Who’d have thought that Quinn Kaehler would have done just enough to keep the Bulldog defense honest enough for them to not load up the box and stuff Muema all night. Instead, Kaehler played well and Muema went for 111 yards and two scores. On the other side of the ball Derek Carr looked frazzled at times but kept his composure long enough to throw for 298 and two scores. The Bulldog defense really let them down giving the Aztecs two scores with <9:00 left to force this game to overtime. Once in overtime the Bulldogs took the ball and scored with little difficulty. San Diego State was forced to four down territory and the game ended with a swatted pass. Very entertaining game to watch, and both teams earned a fatty paycheck from the Mountain West since it was on ESPN2. Fresno will host Nevada next, San Diego State will host New Mexico.
I had to go to Urban Dictionary to look up to see if I used “bangarang” correctly in the sentence. Still not even sure I used it right.
In the nightcap, and if you stayed up 10pm, you got to watch the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and the Colorado State Rams on Oceanic TV, the same TV station that brought you the crash of Flight 815 and stranded Jake, Kate, Locke, and Sawyer on an island for a few years. You also got to see and hear the serene voice the Robert Kekaula that you used to know. This game was far more interesting than it should have been, but it seems like when you head to the islands teams tend to struggle just a bit. Hawaii again used a pair of quarterbacks in this one. Sean Schroeder played the majority of the snaps with Taylor Graham coming in for relief (and promptly threw in INT on his first pass attempt). The Rams had a sizeable lead heading into the 4th quarter after a Kabri Bibbs touchdown making it 35-17, however, Hawaii wasn’t done playing football. Schroeder rushed for a 2 yard touchdown and then threw for a two point conversion to get the score within 10. With 2:54 left the ‘Bows connected on a short field goal, and the game ended on a failed hail mary attempt. Kabri Bibbs turned in another solid performance for the Rams going for 137 and three scores. Garrett Grayson played well enough, throwing for 177 and a score. Warrior receiver Chris Gant caught 159 yards worth of passes and a score, plus a two point conversion. Colorado State will be at Boise State, Hawaii will be at Utah State.
Gotye is such a sissy.
Now it’s time to hear my “Roar” as I finish this blog off. Six games on tap for the Mountain West next weekend. None of them are particularly juicy. One intriguing game is San Jose State and UNLV. The Rebels sure look tough to beat, and after watching San Jose State last weekend that team is ready to score a lot of points. UNLV will be looking to get bowl eligible while SJSU looks to take one step closer. I’m having a hard time predicting a winner in this one, but I think SJSU probably win, that offense looked really good.
Fresno State looks like an awfully shaky team, not one that I think will finish the season undefeated. They’ve had a few close calls this year, and this game against San Diego State nearly got out of hand. Nevada could upset them, but dunno if their defense can stop Derek (not David) Carr. SDSU proved if you can get in his face he starts missing. Boise will face a recently tough Colorado State, but should take care of the Rams at home. Utah State should make quick work of Hawaii. Air Force and Army.. good grief, this will not be a good football game. I think the Falcons take it at home though. San Diego State and New Mexico should be interesting, but I like the Aztecs at home, their showing vs Fresno was encouraging for them.