Big Sky Conference
Road Trip of the Week
Weber State (4-3) at Northern Colorado (2-5)
If you are traveling from Ogden to Greeley, you COULD take the obvious route on I-80 through Wyoming. But only if you are in a hurry. I am not a fan of that route, especially from Rock Springs to Laramie. 75 mph is not fast enough through that area. But once you get to Laramie, it gets a lot more interesting. Rather than take I-80 east from Laramie, take US 287 south. Not quite as fast, but much more scenic. Rather than a long, straight dive after the Ames rest area, it is a canyonous, sinuous, sensuous mountain road. That drops you off near Fort Collins, which is just a can-see west of Greeley.
Here are some images:
http://www.bio.sdsu.edu/pub/burns/Laramie3.jpg
http://www.coloradodirectory.com/fortcollins/horsetooth-rock.gif
http://www.units-of-measure.com/files/images/fort_collins.jpg
http://www.go-colorado.com/CO/images/detail/Greeley-intro.jpg
The game:
Northern Colorado is one of those spooky teams you can not judge by their 2-5 record. Last year, they visited Ogden and it was supposed to be a cake walk, but was not. The Bears and Wildcats both have some near wins. The Bears beat San Diego. Held the explosive Eastern Washington team to just 16 points. While Weber also has a great defense and an explosive offense. Both teams will have to play mistake free ball. Weber State does not want to be caught looking ahead to next week's showdown in Missoula. Northern Colorado has to realized that Weber tends to score points in bunches. If that happens again, NCU does not have the offense to catch up.
Weber State 32 NCU 7
UC Davis (3-3) at Portland State (2-5)
There seems to be a weekly game featuring a team from the GWC and the BSC. The California Aggies are having a what seems to be an under-par 3-3 season but have lost two games to bowl-bound FBS teams. They played Boise State in Boise very well. PSU seems to still have not recovered from the near win against Weber State several weeks ago. Surely, Jerry Glanville must be feeling the heat to get his team to produce some wins.
UCD 32 PSU 16
Montana State (4-2) at Eastern Washington (4-3)
Suddenly, the EWUs are on a loosing streak, but the worst of it may behind them. Cody Kempt will be making his second start for the Bobcats, after getting off to a good start last week. MSU could use the same template that Weber State used a couple of weeks ago to beat the Eagles. Play a clean game, control the clock and force the Eagles into passing situations. My hunch is, however, that Taiwan Jones will have another big game.
EWU 28 MSU 17
Montana (6-0) at Sacramento State (2-4)
You know, they do not play football games on paper. But the Hornets have given up 38 or more points in all of their losses. And the bad news is that the Montana has another explosive recieve/special teams player in Marc Mariani who had a major role in the Grizzlies wild win against EWU last week. I'm sure he studied films on what Tim Toone did last week.
Montana 49 CSU-Sac 13
Idaho State (0-7) at Northern Arizona (4-2)
The good news for the Bengals is that the last three teams to visit Flagstaff were able to get the Lumberjacks in a shootout. The bad news is that NAU won two of those three games. This does not seem like a good place for Idaho State's first win of the season.
NAU 27 ISU 15
WAC Preview
Louisiana Tech (3-3) at Utah State (1-5)
You are not going to find a better ball control, running team than the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Diondre Borel and Robert Turbin will spend a lot of time on the sidelines this week. This will look a lot like the Bulldogs effort against NMSU last week.
LaTech 38 USU 16
Idaho (6-1) at Nevada (3-3)
Idaho has been looking good all season and might be the easy team to pick. This will be a closer game than that. The Wolfpack has turned around their season. Idaho will have to bring their A game to Reno to win. I am confident, however, that Robb Akey will have his team well-motivated, like he has all season, but I expect a shootout.
Idaho 45 Nevada 42
Fresno State (3-3) at New Mexico State (3-4)
Yea, the records are identical. But this is a mis-match. Ryan Matthews is even getting some Heisman Trophy consideration...yea, not often that a 3-3 team gets some love like that. Like last week, NSMU is just too one dimensional to hang with a team that has a powerful running game. Matthews is explosive and NSMU may get a few more chances to score this week.
FSU 38 NSMU 16
Boise State (6-0) at Hawaii (2-4)
There is magic on the islands. The Warriors have made life miserable for many with legitimate dreams of grander things. Trouble is brewing as the Broncos have struggled the past few weeks. They will here but they will also win.
BSU 32 Hawaii 27
Mountain West
UNLV (2-4) at New Mexico (0-6)
I begin with the pillow fight of the week. UNLV going for their first road win of the season while the Lobos...with Mike Locksley suspended. Both head coaches are in the hot seat and a win will not help either.
UNLV 28 New Mexico 20
San Diego State (2-4) at Colorado State (3-4)
The Rams have to be shaking their head about the person who put together the scheduling this year. Who put a trip to Moscow in the midst of taking on the big 3. Actually, a year ago this must have looked like a good idea. But with the toughest part of their schedule behind them, the Rams are probably looking forward to winning the rest of their games and getting some good momentum going for them. That is until they studied tapes of Ryan Lindley and what he did to the BYU secondary last week.
CSU 32 SDSU 27
Air Force (4-3) at Utah (5-1)
Outside of BYU, Air Force is arguably the Utes biggest rival. Even though the Utes have won the lions share of games, lately, this game is always an exciting one and bound to have an exciting finish. The running defense for Utah will need to have a big game. Utah has shown that they are volnerable to a mobile quarterback.
Utah 27 Air Force 24
TCU (6-0) at BYU (6-1)
The shoe is not exactly on the other foot. BYU can not afford to spend the entire season preparing for TCU like the Horned Frogs did last year. BYU's defense is volnerable to speed, but the Cougars can counter that by controlling the ball on offense. This means liberal use of Unga and Pitta. TCU has enough weapons of their own to win...and they are a heck of a lot better than Boise State.
TCU 31 BYU 27
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