Adam’s WAC football power poll: Final

By ADAM NETTINA

If you had told me at the start of the football season that the WAC would end in a three-way tie for first place, I’d probably have given you one of those “whatcha smokin’?” looks. But sure enough, at the end of the regular college football season, the country’s most set-in-stone conference has seen the walls of the usual storyline crumble. It wasn’t just Boise State’s loss to Nevada two weeks ago, but also Hawaii’s surprise season that really made the final WAC standings memorable. And the crazy part of it all? The conference will look completely different after next season, as Fresno State and Nevada will join the Broncos in departing for the Mountain West, while Texas State and University of Texas-San Antonio (which has never even played a football game) will join the conference. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves; here’s my final WAC power poll for the season:

1) Boise State (11-1, 7-1): The Broncos finish their decade of WAC dominance with a 40-0 record in Bronco stadium, which included last Saturday’s 50-14 drubbing of Utah State. But for as good as Boise State has been in the WAC, and for as good as they’ve been this year, this team will never overcome the stigma of missing out on a possible national title berth by losing to Nevada in overtime. Chris Petersen’s team won’t get the chance to show the nation just how good they are, and will play a good, but not great, Utah team in the Las Vegas Bowl.

2) Nevada (12-1, 7-1): Consider the Wolf Pack ranked 1B behind Boise, because even while Chris Ault’s team beat the Broncos, the Wolf Pack still lost to Hawaii earlier in the season, and because of that loss will have to share the WAC title. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick solidified his legacy in the team’s most recent win (a 35-17 victory of Louisiana Tech on the road) by becoming just the third quarterback in NCAA history to rush for more than 4,000 career yards. A match-up with defensive minded Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl should make for an intriguing game.

3) Hawaii (10-3, 7-1): Very few people expected Hawaii to roll to a winning season this year, and even fewer could have foreseen the Warriors winning 10 games and a share of the title. The team has been locked into their hometown Hawaii bowl since October, and just learned they’ll play Tulsa (9-3) during the Christmas Eve game. If you like offense this is the bowl for you; Hawaii averages 487.8 yards a game while Tulsa averages 503.5.

4) Fresno State (8-4, 5-3): Bulldog headman Pat Hill has long had a reputation as a gambler, and he lived up to his reputation by going for it on a fourth-and-one deep in his own territory against Illinois on Friday night. Luckily for him, the Bulldogs converted, preserving a two-point lead that proved to be the difference in a respectable 25-23 win. While Fresno proved that they’re still not up to the level of Boise State or Nevada, it was another solid campaign for the team, which will play in the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl against MAC runner-up Northern Illinois.

5) Louisiana Tech (5-7, 4-4): All told, year one under Sonny Dykes could have gone a lot worse for the fans in Ruston, who’ll take a 4-4 conference finish after their team dropped four of the first five games of the season. For what it’s worth, each of the Bulldogs’ seven losses came to a bowl-bound team. Still, one can’t help but wonder if the year would have been remarkably better had quarterback Ross Jenkins started each and every game.

6) Idaho (6-7, 3-5): Robb Akey pulled the biggest surprise in the WAC by getting the Vandals to a bowl game last year, but came up just a little shy of getting his team back to the postseason this year. Idaho was probably never as good as their six wins indicated, and needed overtime on Saturday to get past a feisty San Jose State team. It’ll be tough for the Vandals to build on recent success next year when the team has to break in a new quarterback.

7) Utah State (4-8, 2-6): Year two of the Gary Andersen era will always be remembered by those around the country for the win over BYU, but to those in Logan, 2010 was a frustrating season which saw the Aggies’ high hopes dashed by injuries and missed opportunities. While the team will face uncertainty in replacing quarterback Diondre Borel this offseason, you can bet the Aggie offense will get a big boost in 2011 with the return of Robert Turbin, Stanley Morrison and Michael Smith. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that the defense can come through after an up-and-down year.

8) San Jose State (1-12, 0-8): The Spartans may not have won a game against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent this year, but give the team credit. Four of the team’s last five losses have come by a touchdown or less, with three of those games (New Mexico State, Utah State, and Idaho) coming down to the last play. The good news for the Spartans is that they’ve finally seemed to find an offensive rhythm heading into next year, but the bad news is they will lose quarterback Jordan Le Secla, who’s come on strong down the stretch.

9) New Mexico State (1-7, 2-10): The Aggies may have won two games this season and beaten San Jose State, but the team got weaker as the year went on, and showed comparatively little fight down the stretch. With the third-worst offense and fifth-worst defense in the country, there’s little to build off of for next year as head coach DeWayne Walker enters a pivotal year three.

Got beef with my picks? Think I missed the mark? We want to hear from you. Drop me a line at adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu.