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Week 6 Mountain West Football Overreactions
Things are getting crazy
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What to believe or not to believe
Week 6 of Mountain West play is in the books and there are some results that are both telling of who a team is at this point but there is also plenty to overreact about.
There were multiple conference games and some things went as planned like San Diego State easily topping New Mexico, and Nevada just crushing New Mexico State during its tour of the Mountain West.
However, there are other things that occurred that are putting some items into focus, especially if you look down the road a bit.
San Jose State was a one-hit-wonder in 2020
One has to wonder if head coach Brett Brennan thinks about that Arizona job he was in consideration for based on how the Spartans season has gone. Then he snaps out of it and realizes Arizona is 0-5 and not a good job.
However, looking back at how the Spartans went undefeated last year, put up a lot of points, and had a good defense en route to winning the Mountain West title; one has to wonder what happened.
https://twitter.com/SanJoseStateFB/status/1447010038787104771
The Spartans offense is a mess and a lot has to do with starting quarterback Nick Starkel out with a left-arm injury, so San Jose State has had to rely on a bevy of backups, including Nick Nash this past week. The Spartans are sitting at 3-3 on the year so all is not lost and the drop off is not a cliff or are they returning to years where they were the laughing stock of the Mountain West.
Having injuries to their starting quarterback and also the losses of Bailey Gaither and Tre Walker may have been too much to overcome. There are just two quality receivers on this team in Isaiah Hamilton and tight end Derrick Desse. The rest are just OK with Charles Ross showing some potential with 13 catches on the year but nearly half of his yardage came on one deep play.
The demise of Boise State was over-exaggerated, maybe
Boise State did defeat and upset then-No. 10 BYU in Provo over the weekend, but that does not mean all things were solved in the win. The Broncos did look better running the game and especially so with Oregon transfer Cyrus Habibi-Likio doing well on the ground with 75 yards and a score.
The rushing game wasn’t elite by any means but it is an improvement, even if slight at 3.1 yards per rush (including sack yards) as a team and the team gave the ball to multiple non-running backs to get the ground game going.
The rushing attack was effective enough to keep BYU honest with the defense they were running, so they couldn’t just focus on one area. The passing game with Hank Bachmeier had a not-so-great afternoon with his worst performance of the year. However, a bit of that is skewed with the Broncos getting the ball deep into BYU territory with a few turnovers they created.
Is Boise State back to being the favorite to win the Mountain Division, probably not as that is probably Air Force at the moment, but they also are not taking a nose dive — per Boise State standards — en route to a potential 8-4 season.
This game could be the start to having them back on track with a ground game that might have gotten a nudge to improve next week and the rest of the way.
They will be in the running for a division title until they are not.
Don’t buy Colorado State stock
Colorado State has surely turned things around after its two very bad losses to South Dakota State and Vanderbilt. Since then, the Rams defense has turned into the unit most everyone thought it would be which is one of the best in the Mountain West, especially up front.
They hung in with a potential playoff team in Iowa, beat Toledo, and now San Jose State. A good showing for sure in those games which is why they are currently in first-place and we made a little joke about it on Twitter.
With every joke there usually is some truth in it.
https://twitter.com/MWCwire/status/1447239878572339204
The truth being that while the Rams are playing better — despite missing wide receiver Dante Wright and running back David Bailey to an injury — and they are getting better each week but so does the schedule.
The games left are not easy and very few could be considered as a guaranteed win.
Below is the rest of their schedule with ESPN’s Football Power Index predicting the games.
@ New Mexico — Rams favored at 80.2%
@ Utah State — Aggies favored at 56%
vs. Boise State — Broncos favored at 75.7%
@ Wyoming — Cowboys favored at 66.9%
vs. Air Force — Falcons favored at 53.7%
@ Hawaii — Warriors favored at 56%
vs. Nevada — Wolf Pack favored at 57.9%
There are some close ones that could be wins for Colorado State in the second half but they are favored in just one of those games. While things are looking good for Colorado State, just be cautious the rest of their way about them getting to a bowl game, let alone contend for the Mountain West division title.
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