OPINON: Breaking down the WAC
College football is well underway, but the Western Athletic Conference opener is fast approaching and the Aggies have a legitimate shot to win the title in their final WAC season.
Here are The Utah Statesman’s previews for this week’s conference matchups, plus a couple extra games we find relevant.
Wyoming at Idaho
This is a toilet bowl if we’ve ever seen one.
Both teams are 0-3 and have faced their share of Football Championship Series teams.
Wyoming starting quarterback Brett Smith was injured and did not play last week and junior Colby Kirkegaard has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns.
Idaho has been outscored 104-30. Senior running back Ryan Bass has 34 carries this season and averages 2.5 yards per carry. Not what you want from your feature back.
Wyoming wins in a pillow fight.
San Jose State at San Diego State
So if the Spartans lost to No. 21 Stanford by a field goal and Stanford upset No. 2 USC, does that mean San Jose State is one of the 10 best teams in the country? Probably not, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill SJSU team.
We’ll pick the Spartans in an upset.
New Mexico at New Mexico State
We would watch this game if was happening during basketball season, but unfortunately it’s not and will probably be a competitive suck-fest.
We’ll pick New Mexico State because the game is in Las Cruces, N.M., and we like the Aggies, even if it’s the wrong kind.
Utah State at Colorado State
This game used to be a huge rivalry back in the day. Even if this game was played before the Andersen era, USU would probably walk away with a loss.
Somehow last season the Rams beat the Aggies in double overtime only to lose each of their next eight games on the schedule.
Given the way the two teams have played this season, we are picking the Aggies in a steamroll.
Louisiana Tech at Illinois
The Fighting Illini lost the last six games of the 2011 regular season but finished 7-6 after beating UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Louisiana Tech is better than people think. Wide receiver Quinton Patton was voted the preseason WAC Offensive Player of the Year and has scored on roughly 20 percent of the catches he has made this season. OK, so that’s only two out of 11, but still.
We’ll pick La. Tech because of Illinois’ glaring 45-14 loss at Arizona State.
Stephen F. Austin at Texas State
The Lumberjacks are 1-2, including a 52-0 shellacking
from SMU and a 43-35 loss on the road to Montana State.
Texas State isn’t much better with their lone win coming against Houston.
We’ll take Texas State because we’re WAC homers.
Northwestern Oklahoma State at UTSA
Wait who?
Nevermind, we’re just picking UTSA.
BYU at No. 24 Boise State
OK, OK, it’s no secret how much this staff hates BYU, but let’s give the Cougars some credit. I mean, they beat Weber State. You know, that purple team in Ogden, Utah, that the Aggies beat 57-17 last season?
Oh yeah. They also lost to Utah last weekend. Three times.
Alright, BYU has a pretty good defense. That doesn’t mean it can stop the Bronco scoring machine on the Smurf turf.
We’re picking Boise State. We wouldn’t be true Aggies if we didn’t.
Utah at Arizona State
We’re going to give Utah huge props for beating BYU three times last week. If they’re going to beat the Sun Devils, the Utes will have to play a lot better than they did in Romney Stadium, or Rice-Eccles for that matter.
Utah needs to prove it is a team worthy of the preseason prediction of finishing second in the Pac-12 South.
We’ll pick the Utes, but only if their fans stop being Salt Lake zoobs when they rush the field.
Think you can pick better than the Statesman sports staff? Comment online at usustatesman.com.