State your case: Will Utah State make the inaugural Mountain West Championship?
YES
by Jeff Dahdah
For Utah State to make the inaugural Mountain West Championship game, two things need to happen: They need to win out, and Boise State has to lose again.
Now, I think USU will win out; the Aggies will face a pair of tests the last two weeks of the season against a decent Wyoming team and an underrated Colorado State team. The advantage for the Aggies there is that both of those games are at home, and they have two more games to work out their kinks and get back into a groove.
Boise State will not win out. The Broncos just lost quarterback Joe Southwick to an injury, and they did not do so well in their first game without him, a 17-point loss to BYU. The Broncos now limp into Fort Collins to take on Colorado State this weekend.
For those of you who don’t think that sounds daunting, remember the Rams gave Alabama a game, going into the fourth quarter in Tuscaloosa down only 11.
However, Boise State’s biggest chance to lose lies at the end of November in San Diego. The Aztecs are better than their record indicates. Oregon State needed two touchdowns in the last three minutes to sneak out with a win against them and Fresno State needed overtime to beat them. The Aztecs are poised for a big win against a stumbling Boise State team. When the Broncos go down, the Aggies will play for the championship.
– dahdahjm@gmail.com
Twitter: @dahdahusu
NO
by Tavin Stucki
Fans who have seen every football game and analyzed every newspaper article about the USU football team will tell you that the Aggies are not only going to play in the inaugural Mountain West Conference championship game, but they’re going to win.
People who actually know will tell you otherwise.
Boise State currently sits atop the conference with one loss, the same as Utah State.
It is extremely likely the Aggies will go undefeated in the remaining games against Hawaii, UNLV, Wyoming and Colorado State, even with Chuckie Keeton’s season-ending injury. USU will rely on the run game and dominate these MWC bottom-dwellers to finish the season with one conference loss.
But that’s the problem: USU has already lost the most important game in the league – Boise State.
Since the Broncos have the tiebreaker, it’s out of our hands.
Boise State would have to lose one of their games against Colorado State, Wyoming or New Mexico (unlikely), or San Diego State on the road (only a little less unlikely).
Boise State isn’t the dominant BCS-busting team it once was, but they’re still very good. Quarterback Joe Southwick is injured, but he doesn’t have a monopoly on the talent in Ada County. Even with him out, I don’t see Boise State losing to those cupcake teams.
There’s just too much that needs to go right for USU to win the conference during the first year in.
– tstuckinews@gmail.com
Twitter: @StuckiAggies