Mountain West Conference Roundup - Week 5

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Oct 1, 2007


Mountain West conference roundup, standings, player and game of the week

Click on each team for game recaps, thoughts, schedules and more and scroll down for the games, results, players of the week and the conference roundup.

Air Force | BYU | Colorado State | New Mexico | San Diego State
TCU | UNLV | Utah | Wyoming

Mountain West Game of the Week
BYU 31 ... New Mexico 24
Max Hall threw two touchdown passes, highlighted by a 59-yard play to Austin Collie in the third, but it took a ten-point fourth quarter to put the Lobos away. Rodney Ferguson did what he could to carry New Mexico, scoring on a second quarter one-yard run, and in the third quarter, on a five-yard run, and then two minutes later, he took a pass 71 yards for a score. Hall connected with Dennis Pitta for a 14-yard score, and Mitch Payne hit a 22-yard field goal, while the Lobos were only able to crank out a 43-yard John Sullivan field goal in the fourth. BYU LB Bryan Kehl opened the scoring with a 36-yard interception return in the first two minutes.


Mountain West Player of the Week
BYU LB Bryan Kehl made nine tackles and returned an interception for a touchdown in the 31-24 win over New Mexico.

Conference Roundup

Air Force … Air Force is going to be kicking itself for a long, long time after the loss to Navy. It had several shots to put up big points on the board, and didn't take advantage of the opportunities. All it needed to do was come up with a big stop in the fourth quarter, but it couldn't do it and kept seeing its drives stall. On the plus side, Shaun Carney threw as well as he ever has.
BYU … BYU can take a deep breath after the tough road win over New Mexico. Max Hal threw for 251 yards, but he didn't play well, missing too many passes, and there wasn't enough of a running game to take the heat off. The defense generated tremendous pressure and forced five turnovers to make all the difference. Now the team gets a week off to rest before an apparent easy stretch against UNLV, Eastern Washington, San Diego State and Colorado State. 7-2 is a must going into the TCU showdown.
Colorado State … Where's the offensive identity? With Kyle Bell limited to just seven carries for nine yards against TCU, there wasn't anything coming from the ground game. That meant it was up to Caleb Hanie to take over, and while he has the potential to bomb away for big yards, that wasn't going to happen against the TCU D. He was sacked four times and threw three interceptions. He won't have to be amazing for the Rams to beat San Diego State next week, but he'll need help from the running backs. The schedule quickly gets tougher, so any win right now is a must.
New Mexico… The run defense did a nice job against BYU, and the secondary kept Max Hall from getting into a groove, but five turnovers ruined any hope of coming up with a win and making a statement in the Mountain West race. With four road games in the next six, this was a win the Lobos desperately needed to have, and while it played well, and Rodney Ferguson was tremendous, the mistakes proved too costly.
San Diego State … Cincinnati is dominating everyone right now, but to get blasted so badly at home isn't a good sign. Kevin O'Connell did a great job with the passing game, but the defense didn't help out the cause. There needs to be more help from the running backs, and O'Connell can't be asked to carry the entire offense by himself. After struggling so far against the decent teams on the schedule, now the Aztecs get a proper test at Colorado State. If they get blown out in Fort Collins, then there will truly be a reason to worry about the progress under Chuck Long.
TCU … With Andy Dalton hurt with a knee injury, it's Marcus Jackson's show now, but he has something Dalton didn't; a healthy Aaron Brown. With Brown's running, along with the nasty defense, Jackson doesn't have to take too many chances. Even if he isn't always efficient, as long as he keeps the chains moving with his legs as well as his arm, TCU will be fine. However, more UNLV might have lost to Nevada, but it was another good step for the program that's been looking for a big turnaround. Now the team is at least competitive, which is a far cry from where it's been the past few seasons. Frank Summers appears to be the every game answer at running back, and while Travis Dixon is going to be erratic, he appears to be on the verge of making the offense explosive. This was a good game; UNLV simply got beaten by a decent team.
Utah  … Brian Johnson might not have been back to being Brian Johnson, but he was certainly a lot better against Utah State than Tommy Grady has been over the last few weeks. However, considering Johnson is back, and with the way Darrell Mack ran, it should've been a much easier win. Steve Tate and the defense did a fantastic job of bottling up the Aggies until late, but still the Ute offense has to prove it can explode very soon. Against Louisville this week, it'll need to be far, far better.
Wyoming … Didn’t Play This Week

  Conference Overall Home Away
  W L PF PA W L PF PA STR W L W L
BYU 2 0 62 30 3 2 146 119 W2 2 0 1 2
Air Force 2 1 46 60 3 2 100 94 L2 2 0 1 2
TCU 1 1 41 32 3 2 102 73 W2 3 0 0 2
UNLV 1 0 27 0 2 3 97 112 L1 1 2 1 1
Wyoming 0 0 0 0 3 1 103 78 W1 2 0 1 1
New Mexico 0 1 24 31 3 2 161 102 L1 2 1 1 1
Utah 0 2 12 47 2 3 97 95 W1 2 1 0 2
San Diego State 0 0 0 0 1 3 105 148 L1 1 1 0 2
Colorado State 0 1 12 24 0 4 95 127 L4 0 1 0 3
Saturday, September 29
1:00 PM at Navy 31 ... Air Force 20
CFN Prediction: Air Force 31-23   Navy -3
3:00 PM at Utah 34 ... Utah State 18
CFN Prediction: Utah 37-14   Utah -20
4:05 PM at Nevada 27 ... UNLV 20
CFN Prediction: Nevada 23-17   Nev. -3.5
7:00 PM at TCU 24 ... Colorado State 12
CFN Prediction:
TCU 24-10   TCU -11
8:30 PM BYU 31 ... at New Mexico 24
CFN Prediction: BYU 28-23   BYU -5.5
10:00 PM Cincinnati 52 ... at San Diego State 23
CFN Prediction: Cinn. 34-17   UC -14

Past Mountain West Games of the Week
Sept. 1 -
Colorado 31 ... Colorado State 28 OT
Sept. 8 -
New Mexico 44 ... New Mexico State 34
Sept. 15 - Tulsa 55 ... BYU 47
Sept. 22 - Wyoming 34 ... at Ohio 33
Sept. 29 - BYU 31 ... at New Mexico 24

Past Mountain West Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Wyoming RB Devin Moore
Sept. 8 - New Mexico QB Donovan Porterie
Sept. 15 - New Mexico WR Marcus Smith
Sept. 22 - UNLV RB Frank Summers
Sept. 29 -
BYU LB Bryan Kehl

  

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