Getting Ready for the Big Games.

Time to get ready for some big games...

First, even though they lost to Northern Arizona, Southern Utah was still awarded with an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs.  On Saturday afternoon, SUU will travel to Huntsville, Texas to take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats of the Southland Conference.  The winner of this game will get to take on McNeese State, who is the #6 seed.  Hopefully, the Thunderbirds and their awesome defense will be ready for the Bearkats.  Hopefully, the put aside the bad memories from the 4th quarter of the home finale against Northern Arizona.

Utah State was ready defensively for Kapri Bibbs of Colorado State who has been steamrolling through the rest of the Mountain West Conference.  If Utah State beats Wyoming next week, they earn the right to travel to Fresno and try to stop the Bulldogs from their BCS destiny this season.  The Cowboys should be plenty motivated, a win against the Aggies make Wyoming bowl eligible.

BYU was not ready for Notre Dame.  I still though the Cougars were going to win in South Bend even though they ONLY scored 49 in the first half against Idaho State.  That was going to be the topic of this blog last week, but it's hard to justify the criticism of a team that scored 49 in one half.  However, if they had scored on every first half drive, they would have put up 77 on the Bengals by halftime.  They should have.  You can tell how ready a team is for the big games by how well they prepare for the little teams.  But three drives ended in turnovers, and one drive ended in a punt.  BYU, however should have little trouble with Nevada who just hasn't been Nevada this season.

Finally, congratulation to RSL for making the the MLS Cup Final.  If Utah State can make a game of it in Fresno, some sports fans in the Beehive State will have a difficult choice of viewing on December 7th.

The Season is over for Weber State, they finished 2-11.  I have a full review of WSU's season here.

One more week for the Utes.  The good news, the coaches can spend time recruiting instead of preparing for a bowl.

Players of the Week.

Notre Dame 23 BYU 13

BYU POW: LB Craig Bills
4th quarter interception gave BYU a chance to win.

Washington State 49 Utah 37

Utah POW: WR Dres Anderson

Utah State 13 Colorado State 0

USU POW: LB Zach Vigil
1st quarter interception set the tone for the game.

Northern Arizona 20 Southern Utah 10

SUU POW: WR Levi Te'o

Weber State 36 Idaho State 7

WSU POW: RB Josh Booker

By Conference

FBS Independents

Navy QB Keenan Reynolds

PAC-12

Washington State QB Connor Halliday

MW

San Jose State QB David Fales

Big Sky

Eastern Washington QB Vernon Adams

Games of the Week

FBS Independent and MW

Navy 58 San Jose State 52

Pac-12

Arizona State 38 UCLA 33

Big Sky

Eastern Washington 42 Portland State 41

Power Rankings

FBS Independents

1. Notre Dame (Pinstripe Bowl)
2. BYU (Fight Hunger Bowl*)
3. Navy (Armed Forces Bowl*)
4. Old Dominion
5. Army
6. New Mexico State
7. Idaho

PAC-12

1. Stanford (Rose Bowl)
2. Arizona State (Alamo Bowl)
3. USC (Holiday Bowl)
4. Oregon (Sun Bowl)
5. Arizona (Las Vegas Bowl)
6. UCLA (Fight Hunger Bowl)
7. Oregon State (New Mexico Bowl)
8. Washington (Poinsettia Bowl)
9. Washington State
10. Utah
11. Colorado
12. California

MW

1. Fresno State (Fiesta Bowl)
2. Utah State (Las Vegas Bowl)
3. San Diego State (Poinsettia Bowl)
4. Boise State (Hawaii Bowl)
5. Colorado State (Armed Forces Bowl)
6. San Jose State (New Mexico Bowl)
7. UNLV (Famous Potato Bowl)]
8. Wyoming
9. Nevada
10. Air Force
11. New Mexico
12. Hawaii

Big Sky
(Regular Season Has Ended)

In Post Season:
#3 Seed--Eastern Washington, awaits the winner of Northern Arizona/South Dakota State
#8 Seed--Montana, awaits the winner of Bethune-Cookman/Coastal Carolina
Northern Arizona hosts South Dakota State, the winner will visit Eastern Washington
Southern Utah visits Sam Houston State, the winner will visit McNeese State

Remainder of power rankings
5. Montana State
6. Cal Poly
7. UC Davis
8. Portland State
9. Sacramento State
10. North Dakota
11. Northern Colorado
12. Weber State
13. Idaho State

Projected Finishes

BYU
Current Record: 7-4
Projected Win: Nevada
Projected Loss: UCLA (Fight Hunger Bowl)
Projected Finish: 8-5

Utah
Current Record 4-7
Projected Win: Colorado
Projected Finish: 5-7

Utah State
Current Record 7-4
Projected Win: Wyoming
Projected Losses: Fresno State (MWC Championship), Arizona (Las Vegas Bowl)
Project Finish: 8-6

Southern Utah:
Current Record: 7-5
Projected Loss: Sam Houston State
Projected Finish: 7-6