After an inexcusable post-loss hiatus we are back with the low intensity recap of Mountain West football scores for laypersons. Now even lazier, what with these dumb teams playing against one another! Onward with the intra-conference sporting results:
Wyoming 35, Air Force 26
WYO Cowboys get a nice win in Laramie against the winged arm of the world’s most powerful military. SDSU doesn’t play Air Force this year but does play at Wyoming in mid-November, so beat the rush and start worrying about that game now.
Hawai’i 34, SJST 17
The Cal State San José football program is a sack of flaming garbage. The University of Hawai’i Rainbows, conversely, have won three of their last four and for the moment lead the West division with a 2-0 conference record, so we should probably start mildly sweating their early November visit to Qualcomm Stadium. Not our upcoming visitor Spartans though; these men are cowards.
Nevada-Reno 27, Fresno State 22
Fresno has regressed into a burning trash pile in their own right, falling to 1-5 after dropping this one in the alleged “Biggest Little City in the World.” The Aztecs play at Fresno this coming Friday night for the stinky Old Oil Can of methamphetamine extraction. No worries.
Colorado State 31, Utah State 24
The Aggies were up 24-10 at halftime but managed to snatch loss from the jaws of victory against the host Rams. Funny story about the Rolling Stones playing CSU’s Moby Gym in 1969:
Actually the tour had begun the day before, on Friday, November 7th, a full day ahead of the publicized date, when the Stones flew to Colorado to perform a “break-in” concert at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, about sixty miles from Denver. This performance had been advertised by its Denver promoter for at least three weeks, but outside Colorado no one seemed to know of it; the Stones had asked that details of the concert go untold, in case something went wrong.
The Stones played, essentially, the same set they would play the next four days of the tour. Only the audience response differed. In Colorado, Jagger said a day later, “They just sat there. They were, I think” – leaning forward, whispering confidentially – “too stoned to move.”
The more things change…
San Diego State 26, UNLV 7
Took a while to shake off the hangover from their shocking loss at Mobile, but the Aztecs pulled themselves together in the 2nd half and rolled to a workmanlike W at home against the overmatched Rebs (see our recap). The defense ruthlessly smothered UNLV and the offense was … adequate. Mr. Chapman: one ball on the hand bad, two hands on the ball good.
Boise State 49, New Mexico 21 (Friday)
Here now is the good team in the conference. Boise stole our No. 19 ranking and national hype normally reserved for them anyway. The Broncos led 42-7 at halftime and were never tested in Albuquerque.
Other notable results:
Navy 46, Houston 40
The Cougars would go and lose a game right after SDSU had fallen off the map with their first loss. It’s hard not to pine for an alternate reality in which the Aztecs took care of business in Mobile and are on an inexorable march to a New Year’s Six bowl. This loss would have opened a big wide door for such an absinthe fever dream. And yet, here in the land of the real, IF:
– Houston loses another game OR Navy wins out
– Western Michigan loses a game
– SDSU wins out and beats Boise in the MW Championship
… then the Aztecs could, theoretically, still be the highest-ranked Group of Five team and get a program-altering NY6 bowl bid.
Oregon State 47, California 44 (OT)
Time to stop hoping for quality-win improvement from Cal.
BYU 31, Michigan State 14
Indie BYU is 3-3, are the Aztecs’ biggest rival, we never play them anymore, they’ll be in a Power Five conference soon, life is unfair and nothing matters. Honor code.
NEXT WEEK in the Mountain West:
SDSU takes a quick trip to the San Joaquin Valley while the other teams keep beating each others’ heads in. Games:
San Diego State at Fresno State (Friday) – Traditionally a tough game for the Aztecs, but the Bulldogs are really bad this year so let’s not worry it might be a trap game or anything. 7 p.m. Pacific on CBS Sports Network. First of three straight Friday games for SDSU.
Air Force at New Mexico – Dystopian future battle or unwatchable conference game? The latter.
Colorado State at Boise State – It’s “good” if the Broncos keep winning, which they are likely to do against CSU on the Xtreme Glacier Freeze turf.
Nevada at San Jose State – There are presumably living, breathing people who will voluntarily watch this football game.
UNLV at Hawai’i – Resurgent Rainbows welcome the hapless Rebs to Aloha Stadium.
Utah State and Wyoming are off this week with their book learnin’ and whatnot.
KABEER THIRTY 