Monday Morning Madness

Some thoughts on a Monday...

Saturday sure was fun, wasn't it? Granted, Colorado State is bad - if their game against the University of New Mexico on October 30th isn't the "Pillow Fight of the Week", I'd be highly surprised - but it was still nice to see our team dominate a non-conference opponent. Will it carry over against Cal? I have no idea, but I sure hope so.

So much for the national championship. Thanks to Virginia Tech's epic fail against James Madison, Boise State might be looking forward to conference play so they can improve their strength-of-schedule.

San Jose State looked almost frisky against Wisconsin. Granted, all of San Jose States's points came against Wisconsin's second string, but it was definitely a more solid performance than most Spartan paycheck collection games. Whether this game was a sign that Wisconsin really isn't that good or that San Jose State isn't that bad, I don't know, but it's definitely a situation worth keeping an eye on.

Hawaii can play on the road. Granted, it was against Army, but a win is a win. Their offense is still frighteningly pass-happy (only 10 yards rushing, which played significantly in their 22:01 time of possession - of course, Army's rush-first offense certainly didn't help) and they nearly blew the game in the second half, but they still got the job done. Hawaii clearly won't be quite as mediocre as they were last season; then again, having a healthy, experienced quarterback for a change certainly helps.

Nebraska embarrassed another WAC foe. This time it was Idaho's turn. Don't read too much into Idaho's performance here - Nebraska's defense is the real deal. If you had a bunch of 300 pound defensive linemen coming your way, you'd throw the ball to the other team five times, too.

Louisiana Tech's game wasn't that close. It's not very often that one can say a 48-16 drubbing wasn't as close as the score would indicate, but it's absolutely true. When your opponent fumbles five times and you block a field goal in the first half, and all you can muster is ten points, that's a sign of a serious talent mismatch on both sides of the ball. Bear in mind that Louisiana Tech has a new coaching staff that's working on installing a new system in Ruston, so this is definitely going to be a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs. Don't be surprised if they're just above New Mexico State at the end of the year.

Speaking of New Mexico State, they still have no defense. They actually showed a little offensive vitality in their loss against San Diego State, though, which is certainly an improvement over last year. It's a little difficult to judge how bad of a loss this was - though San Diego State has perennially been a bottom-feeder in the MWC, they're pretty excited about their freshman quarterback this year.

Utah State showed how to rebound after a tough loss against an upper-level opponent. Unlike Virginia Tech, Utah State actually beat their FCS opponent, drubbing Idaho State to the tune of 38-17. After the Aggies' near-upset of the initially indifferent Sooners, it would've been natural for Utah State to suffer an emotional letdown against an otherwise inferior team. Luckily, they were able to accomplish what "superior" competition couldn't, thus preserving their ability to provide strength-of-schedule points for Boise State later in the year.

Meanwhile, in the Mountain West, Utah proved that UNLV's special teams are the wrong kind of special, Air Force proved that, if you want the game more than BYU, you might be able to gimmick your way to victory, New Mexico continues its ongoing attempts to distance itself from its rival in all the wrong ways in the "Worst Football Program in New Mexico" race, and Wyoming is still Wyoming.

On an entirely unrelated note, I discovered the hard way this morning that ESPN 630 is no longer ESPN 630 - instead, they moved ESPN Radio to FM 94.5 and AM 1450, with 630 receiving 1450's old Fox Sports lineup. The good news is that, if you're in the right reception areas, 94.5 really does offer a superior listening experience. The bad news, of course, is that FM doesn't travel particularly well in our mountainous corner of the world, so overall coverage outside of town isn't quite what it used to be.