Best In The West: Week One

Best in the West is The Aggship's weekly Mountain West football round-up.

South Florida 34, Boise State 7

Boise State is coming off one of the best seasons in school history. Its offseason was a smashing success too, as the Broncos saw star running back Ashton Jeanty drafted sixth overall by the Las Vegas Raiders. It was quite the accomplishment for Boise State, but it came at a clear cost. Jeanty’s absence was on full display in a week one loss to South Florida, as the Broncos gave their worst offensive performance in years.

They managed only seven points in the outing, their lowest since they nabbed the same figure against Washington in the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl. Boise State’s floundering offense was paired with a disappointing defensive effort, allowing 34 points – the most since last year's 37-34 loss to seventh-ranked Oregon, and the most to an unranked opponent since last year’s season opener, a 56-45 win over Georgia Southern. All of this culminated in a disastrous 34-7 loss to South Florida that gave the Broncos an 0-1 record for the first time since 2013, and knocked them out of the AP top 25 for the first time since week four of last year. It was Boise State’s first loss to an unranked opponent since the 2023 LA Bowl against UCLA.

As far as Boise State's standards go, it was a bloodbath. The Broncos fumbled away their first possession, but still managed to get on the board first when Maddux Madsen completed a six-yard touchdown pass to Chris Marshall late in the first quarter. Both the offense and defense went missing after the opening frame, and USF added 10, 14 and 10 points in the following three periods.

Madsen connected on 25 of 46 passes for 225 yards and kept the ball out of harm’s way. On the ground, it was a committee of ball carriers, none of whom were particularly successful. Sire Gaines led the way with 44 yards on nine attempts. Madsen and Malik Sherrod each had 11 carries; Madsen picked up 31 yards, and Sherrod accounted for 27. 

Boise State has plenty of time to figure it out, and USF could turn out to be a solid team and an acceptable loss, projected as one of the top teams in the AAC. But, for the moment, the Broncos are out of character and will need to find some answers before taking the field next against Eastern Washington.

UNLV 38, Idaho State 31

UNLV 38, Sam Houston 21

Dan Mullen’s UNLV Rebels have taken a strange route to arrive at 2-0. First, in week zero, they struggled mightily at home with an FCS opponent. Then, they refused to put away a new-look Sam Houston team. 

In week zero, Idaho State blanked the Rebels in the first quarter and jumped out to a 10-point lead. UNLV fought back with two touchdowns, but another Bengal touchdown sent UNLV into the locker room facing a 17-14 point deficit. Even as the Rebels came out in the second half more prepared, they just couldn’t seem to shake their guests. They scored a touchdown on their first drive and a field goal on their second, but Idaho State found the end zone again to stay within 10, then scored once more to take a 31-24 lead early in the fourth quarter. UNLV had to score two final-frame touchdowns just to escape with a one-score victory.

A week later, UNLV came into its game much more prepared, but found ways to struggle down the stretch. With UNLV making the first move, the Rebels and Bearkats swapped touchdowns to the tune of a 14-7 game after the first frame. The Rebels added 10 points, a field goal and a pick six, in the second quarter and took a 24-7 lead into the half. For good measure, they added a touchdown in the third quarter to take a 31-7 lead, but they couldn’t quite close the door. 

The Bearkats cut the Rebel lead from 24 to 18 early in the fourth quarter when Landan Brown broke free for a 53-yard touchdown rush. The Bearkats failed to convert a two-point try, which they made up for later after Mabrey Mettauer’s 59-yard touchdown pass to Tim Burns Jr. with 5:01 to play. But, the Rebels split the two Bearkats touchdowns with one of their own to keep Sam Houston at bay and secure a 38-21 victory.

There is some good news for Mullen's squad beyond the somewhat shaky 2-0 start: Through two games, quarterback Anthony Colandrea is 34-of-44 passing for 444 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He’s taken four sacks and rushed for 23 yards and a touchdown.

Against Idaho State, tailback Jai’Den Thomas and his 10 carries helped get the Rebels through the game. He picked up 147 yards and three touchdowns, while Jaden Bradley contributed with six catches and 131 yards. This past weekend, Thomas had nine carries for 65 yards and a score, and Bradley had six catches for 125 yards and a touchdown. It hasn’t been pretty, but 2-0 is 2-0, and there are plenty of bright spots with this Rebel team heading into a home bout with UCLA on Sept. 6.

Kansas 31, Fresno State 7

Fresno State 42, Georgia Southern 14

In week zero, Kansas easily topped Fresno State, 31-7. The Bulldog offense, led by senior Rice transfer E.J. Warner, punched in a touchdown early but struggled to do much else. Warner ended the night with 179 yards in the air, two interceptions, a fumble and minus-23 rushing yards. Elijah Gilliam accounted for the Fresno State score on one of his two touches, and ended the night with three yards. The defense allowed three touchdowns in the air and another on the ground, with a field goal for good measure.

After that disappointing showing on the road, the Bulldogs came home and rode a second-half rally to bounce back and earn the first win of the Matt Entz era. Though it jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, Fresno State gave up back-to-back touchdowns to Georgia Southern and ended up trailing 14-13 at the half.

Out of the break, the defense was up first. It gave up one 12-yard pass and a three-yard rush, then nothing else. The Eagles punted it away, and the Bulldog offense was up. Fresno State marched down the field and retook the lead. From then on, it was all Bulldogs. They shut out Georgia Southern, giving up only 57 yards in the latter half. They also scored on every possession save for their last, when they broke out the victory formation to end the game.

Outside of two more interceptions, Warner was solid and connected on 20 of his 27 attempts for 176 yards. He had five targets with multiple receptions and seven with double-digit yards. While he’s proven that he can generate plenty of yardage, he has yet to throw a touchdown pass and is up to four interceptions on the season.

Bryson Donelson and Rayshon Luke dominated on the ground, combining for over 250 yards with four touchdowns. Donelson took the lion’s share of the yardage while Luke took care of most of the scoring duties, and four Bulldogs (Donelson, Luke, Gilliam and Warner) broke off runs of at least 25 yards. Donelson handled 23 carries and picked up 167 yards and a score. He also had four receptions for 25 yards, but lost a fumble. Luke accounted for 96 yards and three scores on 10 carries.

At 1-1, the Bulldogs are set for a future Pac-12 bout at Reser Stadium, where Oregon State is looking to bounce back from a 34-15 loss to Cal. 

Hawaii 23, Stanford 20

Arizona 40, Hawaii 6

The Rainbow Warriors started the season by taking rightful ownership of week zero with a dramatic win over the visiting Stanford Cardinal. Hawaii looked doomed from the start, and may have been had it not been for a last-second field goal from Kansei Matsuzawa and some late-game heroics from redshirt freshman passer Micah Alejado.

Stanford hit a field goal on its first possession, and Hawaii fumbled in its end zone in response. Midway through the first quarter, the Rainbow Warriors trailed 10-0 after playing just a single down of offense. The teams swapped punts before they started to rally. They scored a touchdown, and Stanford missed a field goal, but Hawaii couldn’t respond further and turned the ball over on downs. Stanford lined up another field goal, connecting this time to claim a brief 13-7 lead. Capped off by a 19-yard touchdown toss from Alejado to Jackson Harris, the Rainbow Warriors gave themselves a 14-13 edge that took them into the half.

Hawaii added a field goal to its lead in the third quarter, but a Stanford touchdown flipped the advantage again. An interception by Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen set Hawaii up to kick a field goal, and a Stanford three-and-out gave Hawaii the ball back with the game tied at 20 and overtime looming. Alejado engineered a nine-play, 52-yard drive, and Matsuzawa connected on a 38-yarder as time expired to give Hawaii the win. 

The theatrics of week zero have, unfortunately, been the highlight of the year for the Rainbow Warriors thus far. Hawaii fought early on in its week one trip to Arizona. It trailed 7-3 after the first quarter and 17-6 at the half, but Arizona was too much in the second half, and the Wildcats collected 23 unanswered points to hand Hawaii a convincing 40-6 loss.

Still, Alajedo continued to show a lot of promise and had 157 passing yards before exiting the game in the third quarter with a leg injury. In reserve was Luke Weaver, who was 8-of-16 passing for 66 yards with two picks. The Rainbow Warriors relied heavily on senior running back Landon Sims to try to get the Timmy Chang offense rolling. He had nine carries for 41 yards and three receptions for 48 yards. He was the yards leader in both categories.

With Alejado's status up in the air, Hawaii is slated to host Sam Houston late on Saturday night this weekend.

Central Michigan 16, San Jose State 14

Week one threatened to shake up the entire power dynamic in the Mountain West, and not in San Jose State’s favor. Ken Niumatalolo’s Spartans came into the season with high expectations, looking to land right behind the common-sense favorites, the Boise State Broncos.

But, like Boise State missing Ashton Jeanty, the Spartans were missing receiving triple-crown winner Nick Nash. They're also without high-ranking offensive coach Kevin McGiven, who took the offensive coordinator job at Utah State this past offseason. Although he had served as their offensive coordinator before, he was most recently the passing game coordinator.

The personnel turnover on the offensive side of the ball was on display this past weekend, as the season-opening loss was San Jose State's second-lowest scoring performance in the Niumatalolo era, and its worst outing at home since Nov. 25, 2021. Interestingly, the passing game wasn’t the most glaring issue. Walker Eget had no problem moving the ball in the air; in fact, he collected three field lengths worth of yardage and two scores. But, he threw two picks, and the Spartans only picked up 75 yards on the ground (where they were outgained 247 to 75), which hampered the offensive attack.

Danny Scudero and Leland Smith each caught a touchdown pass. Scudero had nine total receptions for 189 yards, while Smith caught two passes for 50 yards. On the ground, Floyd Chalk IV was the primary means of attack with 11 rushes for 44 yards. It doesn’t get any easier for San Jose State this week, as it ships off to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns.

San Diego State 42, Stony Brook 0

San Diego State looked very complete in its rout of Stony Brook. The Aztecs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions before punting for the only time in the first half. After that, they hit two field goals to take a comfortable 20-0 lead into the break. SDSU somehow dominated the second half even more convincingly, adding another 22 points on its way to a 42-0 shutout, the program's first since a 6-0 season-opening victory over Weber State in 2019.

San Diego State’s suffocating defense didn’t give the Seawolves much of anything. They picked up only 95 yards of total offense, 46 in the air and 49 on the ground. San Diego State was one touchdown away from scoring more points than Stony Brook had passing yards. The Seawolves only picked up six first downs, and were 2-15 on third-down tries. Stony Brook played a pretty clean game, too, credited with only four penalties for 28 yards. The domination was all at the hands of the Aztecs.

San Diego State took advantage of the opportunity and played a nearly flawless game. The Aztecs didn’t have a single turnover, picked up 24 first downs, were 9-19 on third downs, and were 3-4 on fourth downs. They had 464 yards of total offense with 236 in the air and 228 on the ground.

Quarterback Jayden Denegal was 13-of-25 passing for 207 yards and a touchdown with another 15 yards on the ground. No. 2 QB Bert Emanuel Jr. came in and went 3-for-4 passing for 29 yards, plus four carries for 23 yards. Tailback Lucky Sutton took 23 carries for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Christian Washington had seven carries and picked up 38 yards and a touchdown, and Byron Caldwell Jr. also had seven carries for 28 yards. Only one Aztec touchdown came through the air, a 25-yarder from Denegal to Jacob Bostick, who ended up with three catches and 53 yards. San Diego State is in action next at Washington State on Saturday evening.

Washington 38, Colorado State 21

Though it ended in the same result as the Mountain West's other run-ins with power conference opponents, Colorado State put up a respectable fight against Washington in Husky Stadium before falling by three scores, 38-21.

For the better part of three quarters, the Rams played their hosts to a stalemate. Washington struck first on a six-play, 59-yard touchdown march, answered immediately by a nine-play, 75-yard march from Colorado State, capped by a two-yard scoring rush from Tahj Bullock. The Huskies struck next, reclaiming a seven-point edge early in the second quarter, but CSU enjoyed the last laugh of the first half, surging to knot the game at 14 with a well-executed two-minute drill that ended in a 15-yard Jalen Dupree touchdown scamper to set the halftime score.

The third frame started similarly, with a Washington touchdown matched quickly by Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi's 27-yard strike to Jaxxon Warren, but the Huskies punched right back on their ensuing possession and finally managed to break serve. Just three plays into Colorado State's second drive of the half, Fowler-Nicolosi launched an interception, which Washington turned into a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. CSU's last two possessions of the contest ended with turnovers on downs and Washington padded out its lead with one more score before closing the evening in victory formation.

That 38-21 final score was ultimately friendlier to Colorado State than the overall team stats. Jay Norvell's group was nearly doubled up on yardage, 509 to 264, and struggled consistently on third downs both offensively (3 of 13) and defensively (8 of 14). This upcoming weekend should provide a chance for the Rams to get into the win column, with Northern Colorado coming to town for a 5 p.m. kickoff.

Michigan 34, New Mexico 17

The Lobos, led by first-year coach Jason Eck, were fearless in their debut. They ventured into Michigan’s Big House and turned quite a few heads in their 17-point loss. 

The 14th-ranked Wolverines flexed their muscles early and spotted themselves 17 points, but the Lobos took the blows in stride and stepped up to deliver a few of their own. First, an Eck special: Running back D.J. McKinney fielded the snap between quarterback Jack Layne’s legs and found tight end Dorian Thomas all alone in the end zone. Then, the Lobos added a field goal to make it a one-score game, 17-10.

Michigan added a touchdown to its lead before the half ended, and a field goal when the second half started, but New Mexico cut the deficit to 10 when Layne hit Thomas for his second touchdown of the night. The Wolverines controlled the game down the stretch and added another score before time was out, but New Mexico fought hard and made Michigan’s job much harder.

Eck's group has a far more reasonable task on deck this weekend, with Idaho State coming to town on Saturday afternoon.

Wyoming 10, Akron 0

It’s early – very early – but there could be some signs of Wyoming’s defense being back to form. And if it is, the Cowboys have one more week to enjoy it before the schedule gets much, much tougher. The Cowboys host Northern Iowa before back-to-back Big 12 games against Utah and Colorado.

Wyoming is the proud owner of the Mountain West's first defensive shutout of the season (San Diego State’s came a few hours later). The Cowboys recorded an interception, three sacks, held Akron to a 3-of-15 performance on third downs and allowed just 89 yards on the ground.

The offense, however, left a bit to be desired. Kaden Anderson was 19-of-36 passing with 260 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His favorite target was Chris Durr Jr., who fielded eight passes for 190 yards and a touchdown. Jackson Holman and John Michael Gyllenborg each caught three balls for 35 yards and 19 yards, respectively.

On the ground, Sam Scott took 29 carries for 132 yards, and Anderson added 20 yards on four carries. It really wasn’t a bad showing from the offense apart from one glaring stat, scoring just 10 points. The Cowboys only managed a field goal in the second quarter and a touchdown in the fourth, winning by about as slim a margin as they could in a shutout. On five scoring opportunities (trips inside the opponent's 40-yard line), Wyoming averaged just two points per trip.

Penn State 46, Nevada 11

It’s difficult to glean much of anything from this loss for Nevada. It’s an almost brand-new roster for head coach Jeff Choate, and the Wolf Pack did exactly what they were expected to do against a top five team, losing by 35 in a game that was never really competitive.

If Nevada wanted to find a bright spot from the outing, it would likely have to focus on effort – the Wolf Pack played until the end, if nothing else. Eight of Nevada’s 11 points came in the fourth quarter. Sure, it was long after the Nittany Lions took their foot off the gas, but Nevada could have done the same thing. Instead of rolling over, the Pack punched in a late touchdown and converted on the two-point try.

Quarterback AJ Bianco looked nice in relief of starter Chubba Purdy, albeit with a small sample size. He was 4-of-6 passing for 28 yards with a touchdown and no picks. He also added a 12-yard run. Purdy, meanwhile, completed 7 of 15 passes for 97 yards with one interception while rushing 14 times for a team-high 55 yards.

Defensively, the Wolf Pack didn’t give Penn State much trouble, but they did come up with a few good plays. The Pack had a sack and six tackles for loss. On that side of the ball, they were led by a host of players: Murvin Kenion III had eight solo tackles, a team high. Stone Combs also had eight total tackles, three of which were solo. Dylan Labarbera had seven tackles and two TFL, and Nelson Ropati had three tackles and a sack.

Like New Mexico, Nevada has a much more reasonable test coming up this week. The Wolf Pack are set to host the 0-1 Sacramento State Hornets, who are coming off a 20-3 loss to South Dakota State and led by a familiar face in first-year head coach Brennan Marion, formerly of UNLV.