Breaking down the WAC football lineups

Western Athletic Conference play is getting pretty well underway this week, so we at the Statesman wanted to put our predictions in print before we were right. We have a pretty good record so far. Just saying.

Utah State at BYU

It doesn’t take a genius to know the sports staff at a school newspaper is going to pick the hometown team. We don’t even need to go into how much we can’t stand BYU, zoobs or Riley Nelson.
   
But seriously, this one is going to come down to the wire. It may even come down to a field goal as time expires, Holy War style.
   
Both defenses are pretty legit, but neither has faced a decent offense all season. Definitely take the under if you’re putting money on this one.

New Mexico State at Idaho

This one is a battle of those left behind, as both will be competing independent of a football conference next year. This game may even be the start of a rivalry, because these two teams will likely face each other twice a year in the foreseeable future.
   
We’ll take New Mexico State over Idaho in a pillow fight. This one will probably be a high scoring game, because whenever a pass is completed, it’ll likely end up in six points whether it’s the offense or defense.

UNLV at Louisiana Tech

Let’s put it this way, if USU had gone undefeated this season, the marquee win wouldn’t have been Utah, BYU or even Wisconsin. La. Tech is the best team in the WAC thus far and will be the best team Utah State faces all year.
   
And just look at what the Aggies did to UNLV. The Bulldogs will likely make them look even worse.

Texas State at New Mexico

We would like to pick Texas State and be WAC homers here, but it’s just not going to happen. Neither team is very good, but Texas State is still more like a “meh” FCS team.
   
New Mexico is pretty bad too, but the Lobos are actually winning some games this season. That alone is enough to motivate a historically terrible football team. OK, OK, they beat Southern University and NMSU.

Whatever, we’re still picking the Lobos.

USC at Utah

Here’s your bonus game for the week, but it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
   
USC will roll in this one. All you closet Ute fans in Logan will probably whine at us that USC is upset-prone, which is fair. But seriously bro, we’ve got two words for you – and they aren’t “upset alert.”
   
Matt
Barkley.
   
Not even the supposedly dominant Utah defense will shut this guy down.

Have you got beef with our picks? Let us know online at usustatesman.com.