Monday, September 22, 2008

WAC Players of the Week announced

From WACSports.com:

The WAC has announced this week's conference players of the week.

Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, New Mexico State free safety Derrick Richardson and Louisiana Tech linebacker Kiamni Washington were named the Western Athletic Conference offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week, respectively.

Moore, a freshman from Prosser, Wash. (Prosser HS), completed 25-of-37 passes for 386 yards and three touchdowns in Boise State’s 37-32 win at Oregon on Saturday. Moore completed passes to 11 different receivers and touchdown passes of nine, three and 73 yards to three different players. He hit Vinny Perretta on a 73-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter. The win was the first for Boise State against an automatic qualifying BCS team on the road.

Richardson, a senior from Chandler, Ariz. (Chandler HS), recorded a career-high 21 tackles in New Mexico State’s 34-33 win at UTEP. It was the Aggies’ first win in the Sun Bowl since 1994. The 21 tackles are an NCAA-high this year. Richardson also recovered a fumble midway through the first quarter.

Washington, a sophomore from Gibson, La. (HL Bourgeois), made two huge special teams plays in Louisiana Tech’s 41-26 win over Southeastern Louisiana. With the Bulldogs leading 21-20, Washington blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt that was picked up and return 50 yards for a touchdown. In the third quarter, he forced a fumble on a kickoff return that was recovered by Tech. Two plays later, the Bulldogs scored a touchdown to go up, 38-23. Washington also added four tackles on kickoff coverage.

Week 4 Wrap-ups

Strong 5-2 weekend for the WAC, including close road wins for New Mexico State and Fresno.

Here is how it all went down:

Boise State 37, # 17 Oregon 32

In Eugene, the Broncos(3-0) looked very strong in their first road win at a BCS conference school in team history. The Broncos are now 1-13 all time on the road against the 'big boys.' The Broncos upset the Ducks behind a strong performance from redshirt freshman Quarterback, Kellen Moore, who threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns in his first college road game. Moore's only mistake came in the 3rd quarter when the ball was intercepted after being tipped by Moore's intended receiver. The Duck's capitalized on the short field with a touchdown. Showing his veins of ice and the poise of a seasoned veteran, Moore threw a strike to wideout Vinny Perretta, who was lined up against a linebacker, for a 76 yard touchdown. The Broncos defense also played well and showed their physicality throughout. The Duck's managed 267 yards on the ground, which sounds more impressive than it really is as they averaged only 4.4 yards per carry.

The Ducks had to depend mostly on the run game as their top two quarterbacks were out with injuries. 3rd stringer Jeremiah Masoli, a junior college transfer, left the game in the first half with a concussion, which left the offense in the hands of true freshman Chris Harper and their used-to-be-redshirt freshman, who had to burn the title when he appeared in the 4th quarter and managed to rack up 210 passing yards, all of the Ducks passing, in the final 15 minutes.

The win propelled the Broncos into the top 25, appearing at #20 in the AP and #19 in the Coaches poll. The Broncos are off this Saturday and will open WAC play against Louisiana Tech on October 1st.

Utah State 42, Idaho 17

In Logan, freshman Robert Turbin rushed for 123 yards, 106 in the second half, as the Aggies rolled the Vandals inside Romney Stadium. Utah State ended the game with 580 yards of total offense and the 42 points are the most scored by the Aggies under coach Brent Guy, and the most since they gained 684 against Weber State in 2001. Aggie sophomore Quarterback Diondre' Borel finished the game with 93 rushing yards and was 12-21 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns.

Idaho scored on its first possession of the game and led 17-14 late in the third quarter following a 43-yard field goal from Tino Amancio. USU then exploded for 28 points in the final 15:34 of the game to record its largest margin of victory since it defeated Arkansas State, 49-0, on Oct. 25, 2003 in Logan.

The Aggies follow up a bye this week with a much tougher test against BYU at home. The Cougars are rolling after their second consecutive shutout. Idaho will play Saturday at San Diego State.

Louisiana Tech 41, Southeastern Louisiana 26

In Ruston, 2 big special teams please aided the Bulldogs in their defeat of the Lions of Southeastern Louisiana. The Bulldogs scored twice on special teams in the second quarter including a 57 yard punt return by Phillip Livas and Weldon Brown's 50 yard return of a blocked field goal attempt to put La Tech up 28-23 at the half. Tech running back, Daniel Porter, led the team with 97 rushing yards on 19 carries and 53 receiving yards in two catches.

Senior Quin Harris led Tech with 12 tackles and one fumble recovery, while Antonio Baker recorded his third straight double digit tackle performance with 11 along with one forced fumble. Kiamni Washington also had a big game defensively with a forced fumble and the blocked field goal.

The Bulldogs will take extra time to prepare for their October 1st match up on the Blue Turf at Boise State which will air on ESPN.

# 25 Fresno State 55, Toledo 54 (2OT)

In Toledo, Ohio, Nico Herron knocked down Aaron Opelt's 2-point conversion pass and No. 25 Fresno State held on to beat Toledo 55-54 in two overtimes on Saturday night. Senior Quarterback, Tom Brandstater, had a phenomenal day going 22-28 with 4 touchdowns in what Bulldog coach Pat Hill called the biggest win in his 143 games coaching at Fresno. Ryan Mathews had 87 yards on 18 carries while Anthony Harding had 86 yards on nine carries and a 31 yard touchdown run. Seyi Ajirotutu had 80 yards receiving on four receptions while Marlon Moore had 79 yards on five receptions including a 38-yard touchdown reception from Brandstater.

Toledo coach Tom Amstutz decided to go for the win after the Rockets scored on Opelt's 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Allen on fourth down but the conversion failed.

The Bulldogs play a struggling UCLA team at the Rose Bowl this Saturday.

Stanford 23, San Jose State 10

In Stanford, the Spartans allowed 23 unanswered points after jumping to a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. Junior Kyle Reed, in his third career start at quarterback for the Spartans, was efficient at 23-of-26 for 165 yards passing, including completions on his first 15 attempts in the first half, but was behind a struggling offensive line who allowed eight sacks on the night. Senior running back, Yonas Davis, ran the ball 11 times for 66 yards to become only the 4th Spartans runner to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards.

The Spartans will travel to the islands, Saturday, for a show down with the Warriors who had a bye week.

New Mexico State 34, UTEP 33

In El Paso, the Aggies took their first win in the Sun Bowl since 1994. Junior wide receiver Marcus Anderson performed very well in his first rivalry game with three touchdown receptions. Senior Chris Williams caught seven passes to lead all receivers with 119 yards while senior quarterback Chase Holbrook threw for 329 yards and five touchdowns.

Derrick Richardson was the glue in the NMSU defense. The senior from Arizona recorded a career-high 21 tackles in New Mexico State’s 34-33 win at UTEP. The 21 tackles are an NCAA-high this year. Richardson also recovered a fumble midway through the first quarter.

The Aggies play host to in-state rivals, New Mexico on Saturday.

Friday, September 19, 2008

First post on the website and week 4 football preview

The inaugural post on the new WAC blog. Here is to much success!


Week 4 brings many exciting match ups to the wac.

Bye Week: Nevada, Hawaii

Headlining the show is Boise State @ #17 Oregon, 1:30 PM Mountain Time

The Broncos(2-0, 0-0 WAC) head in to hostile Autzen Stadium to take on the Oregon Ducks(3-0, 1-0 Pac 10). The Broncos are coming off a strong defensive performance in a 20-7 win against Bowling Green. After rallying around QB Kellen Moore for 20 points in the first half, the Broncos stalled for the final 30 minutes, never reaching the end zone. Moore, who had never played in front of a crowd larger than 5,000 before the Broncos' opener vs Idaho State, has a lot to prove in Eugene and it will take much more offensive production Saturday against a far better, faster and underrated Oregon defense.


Oregon is coming off a less than impressive 2OT win against Purdue. The Boilermakers gave Oregon plenty of chances, and the Ducks capitalized. An injury to QB Justin Roper suffered in the first overtime means the Ducks will be down to QBs Jerimiah Masoli and true Freshman Chris Harper, both of whom are expected to see significant time, and will rely heavily on running backs Jerimiah Johnson and LaGarrette Blount. Blount finished the Purdue game with 132 yards rushing.

Final: Oregon 31, Boise State 27


Idaho @ Utah State, 2:00 PM Mountain Time

The Vandals(1-2, 0-0) head down to Romney Stadium in Logan to take on an Aggie team who have suffered some tough losses early on this season. The Vandals are led on offense by Sophomore QB Nathan Enderle, who has thrown for 552 yards and 5 touchdowns in 3 games this season, and RB Deonte' Jackson who is averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Idaho comes into the game averaging 346 yards of offense which is good for 85th in the country.


The Aggies(0-3, 0-0) are looking to get the first win in 2008. The Aggies are using two QBs this year. Sophomore Diondre' Borel is the teams leading passer (299 yards, 3 passing TDs) and rusher (124 yards, 0 rushing TDs). Senior Sean Sezter has completed 56.8% of his passes for 211 yards and 1 touchdown. Utah State is ranked 115th in total offense averaging 261.3 yards.

Final: Idaho 35, Utah State 24


Southeastern Louisiana @ Louisiana Tech, 5:00 PM Mountain Time

The Southeastern Louisiana Lions(2-1, 0-0 Southland) head down to Ruston to take on their in-state foe Bulldogs(1-1, 0-0 WAC). The Lions are coming off a 1 point win over South Dakota. They are led offensively by QB Brian Babin who has completed 39 passes for 473 yards and 5 TDs.

The Lions will be a little over matched by their Div. I opponent. The Bulldogs defeated Mississippi State in their season opener, 22-14. MSU went on to beat the Lions in week 2. LA Tech will have to stay focused and try not to overlook the Lions as they prepare for Boise State. The Bulldogs were shut out by Kansas in their second game and will try to rebound and gain some momentum before heading to Boise October 1.

Final: Louisiana Tech 34, Southeastern Louisiana 17


# 25 Fresno State @ Toledo, 6:15 Mountain Time on ESPNU

The other Bulldogs will try to prove this weekend that they deserve to be in the top 25 after a tough loss to then #10 Wisconsin. The Bulldogs had opportunities to beat a very good Badger team but three missed field goals kept them from winning one of the biggest home games in school history. It won't necessarily be easy against Toledo (1-1), especially in the Rockets' home opener. Toledo is 35-6 at the Glass Bowl since coach Tom Amstutz took over in 2001, including three wins in as many tries against ranked teams. Bulldog QB Tom Brandstater will try to get his team back on track and will rely on help from RB Ryan Matthews to find the end zone.

Toledo will try to ride the legs of RB DaJuane Collins who has run for 222 yards on 29 attempts in 2 games this season. The Rockets are averaging 28.5 points a game to Fresno's 17, but have yet to face a team of the Bulldog's caliber. The Rocket's lone loss came to Arizona in the opening weekend where they managed only 16 points against the Wildcats in Tucson.

Final: Fresno State 42, Toledo 24


San Jose State @ Stanford, 7:00 PM Mountain Time

The Spartans(2-1, 0-0) make the short trip to Stanford to take on the Cardinal(1-2, 1-1 Pac 10) and SJSU will try to improve to 3-1 for the second time in three seasons. The Dick Tomey led Spartans are coming off an impressive 35-10 win over San Diego State. Junior QB Kyle Reed has completed 76.1% of his passes for almost 500 yards and 2 TDs. He has been complimented by Senior RB Yonus Davis who has rushed for 227 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries in 2008.

The Cardinal have dropped 2 games since their opening weekend win over Pac 10 foe Oregon State, and are looking to improve to .500 on Saturday. Stanford is ranked 116 nationally in total offense and would like to use this game to improve on that aspect for their 9/27 trip to Seattle to face the Huskies.

Final: San Jose State 28, Stanford 12


New Mexico State @ UTEP, 7:05 Mountain Time

The Aggies(0-1, 0-0) suffered a 38-7 loss to Nebraska last week in their only game this season. The stat sheet has these two teams evenly matched in what should be a game with little offensive scoring as the Aggies and Miners are ranked 120th and 111th respectively in average points per game. That might be skewed for NMSU as they have only played one game and it was against a BCS conference team.

The Miners(0-2, 0-0 C-USA) had a tough 42-13 loss to Big 12 powerhouse Texas. UTEP opened the season with a loss at Buffalo and are looking for their first win of the season.

Final: UTEP 17, New Mexico State 14