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