Offensive Player of the Midseason
– John Beck, QB
BYU
Defensive Player of the Midseason – Eric Weddle, CB Utah
Ten best Mountain West players in the first half of the
season
1. John Beck, QB BYU
2. Eric Weddle, CB Utah
3. John Wendling, S Wyoming
4. Eric Wright, CB UNLV
5. Curtis Brown, RB BYU
6. Shaun Carney, QB Air Force
7. Drew Fowler, LB Air Force
8. Beau Bell, LB UNLV
9. Tommy Blake, DE TCU
10. Quincy Black, LB New Mexico
Biggest
Surprise
– Air Force
Thanks to great play from the lines, surprisingly solid defense,
and a good season from QB Shaun Carney, the Falcons are in the
thick of the Mountain West race. Tennessee might have letdown a
bit after opening the year with a big win over Cal, but that
still doesn’t diminish Air Force’s performance in a 31-30 loss
in Knoxville.
Biggest
Disappointment –
TCU
The disappointment is made bigger by the near-perfect
performance in a 12-3 win over Texas Tech earlier in the year.
After blowing the BCS shot with a home loss to BYU, the Horned
Frogs got rolled over at Utah to get knocked out of the Mountain
West race.
The Mountain
West Champion will be ...
BYU
This is a coldly efficient team that got over early season
disappointments at Arizona and Boston College to roll through a
tough road trip to TCU and a layup against San Diego State. The
defense is solid, the offense is more balanced than the stats
might indicate, and QB John Beck is playing lights out. .Games
at Air Force and Colorado State won’t be walks in the park, but
the Cougars should get through unscathed until the season-ending
battle at Utah.
Best Game of
the First Half
Boston College 30 ... BYU 23 2OT, Sept.
16
At both teams missed field goals in the
first overtime, Matt Ryan connected with Tony Gonzalez for a
25-yard touchdown and a BC lead in the second overtime, and then
the defense came to the rescue as Jamie Silva made a diving
interception, which took several minutes to be reviewed, to
finally stop the BYU offense. The Cougars rolled up 554 yards of
total offense with John Beck running for a score, throwing for
another, and bombing away leading the attack to 554 yards. But
drive after drive ended up in field goal attempts with Jared
McLaughlin hitting three, but missing enough to keep the Eagles
in the game. BC turned it over four times, but got two short
Brian Toal touchdowns and an 18-yard scoring grab from Gonzales
to keep pace.
Second Best Game –
Syracuse 40 ... Wyoming 34 2OT, Sept. 30
Third Best Game – Tennessee 31
... Air Force 30, Sept. 9
Worst Game of
the First Half
Utah 48 ... Utah State 0, Sept. 16
Utah outgained Utah State 401 yards to
98 with Brett Ratliff throwing three touchdowns passes including
two to Derrek Richards. The Utes got up 24-0 starting off with a
21-yard Eric Shyne interception return for a score less than two
minutes into the game. Steven Sylvester later added a 45-yard
pick six for the Utes late in the third quarter. Louis Sakoda
hit field goals from 39 and 27 yards out.
Coach of the Midseason
–
Sonny Lubick, Colorado State
Colorado State had a miserable run defense last season, but now
it’s a tougher, harder nosed D that was 13th in the
nation against the run before the Thursday night game against
Air Force. There might not have been a more vital injury loss
this year than CSU losing RB Kyle Bell just before the start of
the year, but the Rams have found a way to go 4-2.
Player who'll step up in the second half
–
Karsten Sween, QB Wyoming
Is the lefty the face of Wyoming football for the next four
years? The former California high school superstar has a
next-level arm and great skills, but now he needs time and
experience. He took over for Jacob Doss and threw for 405 yards
and four touchdowns in his first two games, and he’ll bomb away
more over the second half of the year.
Best performance so far -
Utah S Eric
Weddle made four tackles, three interceptions, returned two for
touchdowns, and ran three times for 11 yards and a score in the
38-7 win over San Diego State.
Top Freshman – Karsten Sween, QB Wyoming
He’s only seen time in two games, but he was impressive
completing 38 of 59 passes for 4-5 yards and four scores with
three interceptions against Syracuse and New Mexico.
Coach who needs to have a big second half – UNLV’s Mike
Sanford
After coming six points away from going 0-11 last year,
Sanford’s team appeared to be ready for a big turnaround thanks
to several transfers including a big upgrade at quarterback
thanks to former USC Trojan Rocky Hinds. Not quite. Despite a
close call at Iowa State, nothing much has gone right since the
opening game blowout of D-IAA Idaho State.
Player who needs to have a big second half – Utah QB
Brett Ratliff
Things were so bad after Ratliff completed five of 21 passes for
30 yards and three interceptions the blowout loss to Boise State
that there was talk of bringing injured QB Brian Johnson back
early to give it a go. Ratliff quickly righted the ship with a
good game against TCU, and now he has to shine over the second
half of the season to get the offense back at a Utah-like level
and be in range for the Mountain West title going into the
season-ender against BYU.
Best remaining conference game – BYU at Utah, Nov. 25
How much would Utah love to ruin BYU’s Mountain west title dream
with a win? Several other team should be in the mix up until the
end, but this bitter rivalry will determine the title one way or
another.
Team Mid-Season MVPs & Predictions
Air Force – QB Shaun Carney
predicted wins: Colorado State, at San Diego State, at
Army, Utah, at UNLV
predicted losses: BYU, Notre Dame, at TCU
predicted record: 7-5
BYU – QB John Beck
predicted wins: UNLV, at Air Force, at Colorado State,
Wyoming, New Mexico, at Utah
predicted losses: None
predicted record: 10-2
Colorado State – QB Caleb Hanie
predicted wins: New Mexico, TCU, at San Diego State
predicted losses: at Air Force, at Wyoming, BYU, at Utah
predicted record: 7-5
New Mexico – LB Quincy Black
predicted wins: at UNLV, San Diego State
predicted losses: Utah, at Colorado State, TCU, at BYU
predicted record: 4-8
San Diego State – DB Donny Baker
predicted wins: Cal Poly, UNLV
predicted losses: Air Force, at Wyoming, at TCU, at New
Mexico, Colorado State
predicted record: 2-10
TCU – DE Tommy Blake
predicted wins: at Army, Wyoming, at UNLV, at New Mexico,
San Diego State
predicted losses: at Colorado State, Air Force
predicted record: 8-4
UNLV – CB Eric Wright
predicted wins: None
predicted losses: New Mexico, at BYU, at Utah, TCU, at
San Diego State, Wyoming, Air Force
predicted record: 0-12
Utah – CB Eric Weddle
predicted wins: at New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State, at
Air Force
predicted losses: at Wyoming, BYU
predicted record: 8-4
Wyoming – S John Wendling
predicted wins: Utah, Colorado State, San Diego State, at
UNLV
predicted losses: at TCU, at BYU
predicted record: 6-6
|