Mountain West Review Week 1

Final Scores
Utah 27, Pittsburgh 24 (OT)
Air Force 65, Northwestern State 21
Colorado 24, Colorado State 3
Oregon 72, New Mexico 0
BYU 23, Washington 17
TCU 30, Oregon State 21
San Diego State 47, Nicholls State 0
Wyoming 28, Southern Utah 20
Wisconsin 41, UNLV 21

Taught a Master's Class

Utah Runnin' Utes
The Utes want a shot at the BCS in what should be their final year of Mountain West play. They started off on the right foot. This was one hell of a challenge that was brought before them, and they passed it. They held Dion Lewis to 75 yards rushing and picked off Tino Sunseri in OT to preserve get the win. Utah is in very good shape now.

Air Force Falcons
The Falcons definately struggled a little bit early, but the destroyed the Demons the rest of the way. This is what you should do against a 1-AA program that didn't win a game in 2009. The Falcons racked up 616 yards of total offense, which shows that Air Force is coming to play in 2010.

BYU Cougars
If Washington was going to take a win in Provo, this was supposed to be the time to do it. BYU was supposed to be down and inexperienced, but Bronco Mendenhall did an amazing coaching job, as always, and his team was more than ready. They harrassed Jake Locker all day long, and ended up shutting out the Huskies in the second half. Huge win for the Cougars.

TCU Horned Frogs
TCU showed America that they are ready to repeat their journey from a season ago, and this group is just as good, if not better in many ways. Andy Dalton has to fix his turnover issues, but that should not be a major fix. Oregon State played tight, but TCU handled the Rodgers brothers with no major extra effort involved.

San Diego State Aztecs
Again, this is how you handle crappy 1-AA teams. It took SDSU a quarter to get moving, but once they did, they never stopped. This is going to be a season that has the Aztecs on the rise in the Mountain West. The tools are all there, and they flashed them nicely this week.

Didn't Learn Much
Nobody in this group

Failing Grade

Colorado State Rams
The Pete Thomas era at QB didn't start with a bang. Thomas threw 3 picks, and the CSU offense never got off of the ground. It's going to be a long haul in Fort Collins.

New Mexico Lobos
Beat the rush and call for the firing of Mike Locksley now. It's been a while since a guy was so mismatched as a coach at a D1 school , but this is a clear case. Oregon ran out to a 59-0 lead without their expected starting QB and RB. Imagine if Masoli and James both actually had played for Oregon...you thought that a 72-0 loss was bad...

Wyoming Cowboys
Another case where a winner gets a failing grade. The Cowboys were debuting a renovated stadium and brand new luxury suites, and this is the show you put on? A 28-20 meager win over a barely passable 1-AA Southern Utah club? Wow.

UNLV Rebels
I'll revert to calling them the Runnin' Rebels when the offense learns how to run. The defense played a solid game, especially in the first half, and the offense never got to Sam Boyd Stadium. One must go from calling their offense the spread to the spread thin.

Week 2 Schedule
BYU (1-0) at Air Force (1-0)
UNLV (0-1) at Utah (1-0)
Tennessee Tech (0-1) at TCU (1-0)
Wyoming (1-0) at Texas (1-0)
San Diego State (1-0) at New Mexico State (0-0)
Texas Tech (1-0) at New Mexico (0-1)
Colorado State (0-1) at Nevada (1-0)