Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Labor Day Weekend '14 Preview

Weber State at Arizona State
Idaho State at Utah

My feelings are the same for both these games are the same.  When a good FCS team plays an average Mountain West team, the FCS team has succeeded if the other team is still playing starters in the 2nd half.  But these games feature 2 lower-tier Big Sky schools against 2 PAC-12 teams.  If the PAC-12 stars are still wearing helmets in the 2nd quarter, it's a big time moral victory.

My prediction
Arizona State 70 Weber State 3
Utah 49 Idaho State 0

BYU at Connecticut

The Huskies are a big unknown.  BYU often has trouble opening on the road against a team they 'should' beat.  Nothing is a given, however, and that includes the Cougars in game 1.  They could go back east and come home with an easy victory.  They could be looking ahead to next week's match-up against Texas.  It's hard to guess.  But my gut feeling is that this will be a closer than they want it to be win for the Cougars.


BYU 28 UConn 17

Southern Utah at Nevada

For now, the Wolfpack have their best days behind them.  They have some good weapons, but no consistency.  SUU is not favored in this one, and they are debuting a new offense and a new quarterback.  But it could be close.

Nevada 35 SUU 21

Utah State at Tennessee

There are many predicting the Aggies to win this one.  Remember that this is still SEC country and that a big crowd will be pulling for the Volunteers.  USU will need to score early and often to get the crowd out of the game.  A couple of Tennessee turnovers might be nice.

Tennessee 24 Utah State 21