Week 4 PASS/FAIL Report: Mountain West

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

PASS: Boise State, New Mexico, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose State

Boise State has been a positive consistent in what has been a very bad beginning of 2015 for the MWC, and beating Virginia on the road 56-14 has just carried that torch further. The Broncos, despite falling to BYU, still look like they could be a force for that NY6 birth.

Bob Davie got a much needed conference road win this week, as New Mexico rode in and took care of Wyoming 38-28. The Lobos could ride this win for momentum moving forward in a year that must see six wins for Davie’s job security.

Nevada took a nice long ride and stole a 24-21 win for Buffalo. Again, this was a much needed shot in the arm not just for the program, but also for the league.

UNLV even added to the joy this week, as they took apart Idaho State 80-8. Once the gates opened, the Rebels just kept on punching, taking out all of their frustrations from a brutal start to their season on the hapless FCS Bengals.

San Jose State also enjoyed a nice change of pace, beating Fresno State in their MWC opener. The Spartans are trying for a resurgence under Ron Caragher, and so far, they haven’t looked half bad at times.

FAIL: Wyoming, Hawaii, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State

Wyoming fell to New Mexico at home 38-28, but even worse, Wyoming can officially be called the worst program in FBS football right now, according to our Quality Win Index, which measures not only quality wins on the season, but quality losses as well. The Cowboys haven’t won at all, and the quality of their losses has been rock bottom in FBS football.

Hawaii is not only 0-2 against the Big 10, they didn’t score a single point in those losses this season. That doesn’t bode well for job security for Norm Chow, and makes Hawaii a huge target for big offensive teams in the league.

San Diego State looked ahead last week in their shocking home loss to South Alabama, and it failed to help in their 37-21 road loss to Penn State this week. The Aztecs are plummeting, and they’re lucky to be in a weak and watered down MWC West.

Colorado State is getting by in their wins, but that’s really it. There has been no show of power with this edition, and I know that they are rebuilding in certain areas, but they should be better than a 33-31 win over UTSA.

Fresno State was the darling of the west a few short years ago, and now they are the in a nightmare scenario that doesn’t seem to end. The Bulldogs only win was against Abilene Christian, and in their other dates, they have looked completely lost and outclassed.