My 3 Bold Predictions for the MWC
During the Chris Petersen era the Mountain West became the Boise State show. Recently the playing field has leveled a bit, but yet again Boise State has found a way to be the favorite in the MWC. Like all Group of 5 conferences the MWC will have it’s fair share of fun, wacky games that will get lost in the weekend shuffle unless you watched it. Don’t glaze over those MWC games on CBSSN because when you do you’ll regret missing late night showdown when Boise State loses as a 31 point favorite to New Mexico. Yeah those games happen and yeah you’ll want to see them live. Now let’s get to the predictions.
Boise State will lead the nation in scoring
When you first look at Boise your thinking, “Wow, this team has most of it’s starters back from the 11th ranked scoring offense last year.” Then you look at their schedule and realize, “Man the best defense they play was 46th in scoring defense last year.” Then you connect the dots and see everything before your eyes… BOISE STATE IS GOING TO SCORE ALOT OF POINTS THIS SEASON. Bryan Harsin has steadily implemented his high powered offense at Boise State and I think we are going to see the scoreboard change quite often for them during each game. Also, their defense doesn’t look too hot so I’m thinking they are going to drop a couple of notches, which will culminate in what should be some very fun shootouts (hint hint Washington State @ Boise on September 10). In all seriousness keep your eye out for Brett Rypien (nephew of former Redskins QB Mark Rypien) who just threw for 3,300 yards as a freshman, oh and Jeremy McNichols who just ran for 20 TDs as a sophomore. Soooo yeah Boise State is going to be fun (again) to watch this year.
San Diego State will finish the regular season undefeated
San Diego State? Undefeated?? Lo and behold the San Diego State Aztecs are good at football and yes their coach’s name is Rocky. In case you didn’t know San Diego State finished last season on a 10 game winning streak including a MWC Championship win over Air Force and a 42–7 thrashing of Tommy T’s Cincinnati squad in the Hawaii Bowl. This defense is nasty and they have the best running back you’ve never heard of. On top of those positives they face a very easy schedule. Their toughest out of conference games are at home game against Cal (week 2) and on the road against Northern Illinois (week 3). Beyond those two out of conference matchups they’ll play @ Utah State and @ Nevada. Those are literally their 4 toughest games. As long as they can settle in their new starter at QB this San Diego State team will have a great chance to run the table during the regular season (only to be heartbroken by Boise State in the MWC Championship game). And speaking of settling in that new QB, I think handing the ball off to RB, Donnel Pumphrey, should help ease his nerves. I mean the guy only ran for 1653 yards and 17 TDs last season. Alot of D and a whole lotta Donnel will definitely be in store for what could be a historic season for the Aztecs.
UNLV will be the Mountain West’s breakout team
Every year each conference has a team or two that surprise and a team or two that disappoint. This year for the MWC I see UNLV turning some heads. After having some slight expectations as the Tony Sanchez reign began, the Rebels only finished 3–9. They fell short of those expectations, but I think they were just a year too early. UNLV returns most of their offense and their defense should only improve from last year. The main thing they seemed to be missing was a leader at QB. With the addition of Johnny Stanton, I think you will know start to see them win some of those close games they lost last year (lost 4 games by one possession or less). Stanton, the former Nebraska QB, transfers in after playing at Junior College last year where he raked in 3,000+ passing yards, 700+ rushing yards and was responsible for 37 total TDs. That’s the kind of QB the Rebels are looking for and I can predict them getting 6 or 7 wins this season.
That’s all for my MWC coverage. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my first prediction preview as college football season will kickoff Friday night @ 9 CST on ESPN (Cal vs Hawaii in Sydney, Australia!!!!) Thanks for reading!
