Best In The West: Week Five

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

Hawaii 44, Air Force 35

For the third straight game, Air Force found itself locked in a high-scoring duel, and for the third straight game, Air Force ended up on the wrong side, falling to 0-3 in league play with a 44-35 loss to Hawaii.

In his second game back from injury, Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado had a career night and put together his best game of the season. He posted 457 yards in the air, completing 35 of 47 passes, and threw three touchdowns without any interceptions. He added six yards on the ground and stayed out of trouble in the backfield, taking just one sack after suffering four in each of his three games so far.

Wideout Jackson Harris was the most effective of Alejado’s weapons and had seven receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Cam Barfield had three catches on three targets and 64 yards, plus five carries for 22 yards and a score. Pofele Ashlock had four receptions worth 52 yards, and Brandon White had seven for 50 yards plus a touchdown. Landon Sims, known for his proficiency running the ball, also snagged two catches for 37 yards. He had plenty more opportunities on the ground, where he took 13 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Elsewhere for the Rainbow Warriors, defensive back Matagi Thompson grabbed a pick, and kicker Kensei Matsusawa stayed perfect on field goal attempts, knocking through tries from 25, 31 and 39 yards. He's now 16 for 16 on the year. Notably, Hawaii beat Air Force at its own game, dominating the time of possession battle 37 minutes to 22. Hawaii is now 4-2 (1-1) and will host Utah State on the island on Oct. 11 as both teams return from bye weeks.

Under center, Alejado held the edge against Liam Szarka, but the Academy’s signal caller did enough to keep the Falcons competitive for four quarters. He connected on 10 of his 12 attempts for 278 yards and three touchdowns, though he lost an interception and took two sacks. On the ground, Szarka added 139 yards on 17 carries.

A pair of receivers posted over a hundred yards and a score with Cade Harris recording 116 yards and Quin Smith picking up 110, each on three receptions. Kade Frew added to the offense with three carries, 28 yards and a touchdown. The Falcons get a break from Mountain West play this week but have to face a rock solid, currently unbeaten Navy squad in Annapolis. The Midshipmen halted what had been a four-game Air Force winning streak in the series last year, throttling the Falcons in Colorado Springs by four scores, 34-7.

Boise State 47, Appalachian State 14

Boise State took care of business against the Mountaineers of Appalachian State, notching its third victory in a row. Since their starting line slip up against South Florida, the Broncos have been surging. They've scored 47 or more points in three straight contests now and have only allowed more than 14 points once in that span.

Spencer Danielson's group gave themselves a 21-point head start before App State got on the board with a touchdown, and they took a 24-7 lead into the half. App State scored another touchdown in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 10, but Boise State matched it with a field goal and a touchdown. In the fourth frame, Boise State locked down the game and outscored the Mountaineers 14-0 to set the final margin at an overwhelmingly comfortable 33 points, 47-14.

Maddux Madsen threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns on the night. He was off target a few times, completing 25 of 37 passes, but was nearly flawless in the pocket, taking just one sack and avoiding any picks. Boise State’s aerial attack was more potent than its rushing attack, but Sire Gaines, Dylan Riley and Malik Sherrod didn’t leave much to be desired. Gaines added 69 yards on 12 carries, Riley had 46 yards on 16 carries and Sherrod added 49 yards on nine attempts.

While the offense was humming along, the defense was also operating at a high level. A’Marion McCoy, Boen Phelps and Sherrod Smith each grabbed an interception, and Mana Tuioti scooped up a fumble forced by DE Malakai Williams. Madsen’s arm alone outpaced App State’s total yardage of 184, with only 65 of those Mountaineer yards coming through the air. He connected most with Latrell Caples (five receptions, 84 yards, two TDs), but also showed a nice rapport with Quinton Brown (one reception, 29 yards, one TD), Ben Ford (three receptions, 45 yards, one TD), Matt Lauter (three receptions, 45 yards), Chris Marshall (three receptions, 52 yards), Sherrod (three receptions, 21 yards), and Matt Wagner (three receptions, 29 yards).

Things are certainly coming together for Boise State, now 3-1 (1-0) on the season. The Broncos will need all that momentum as they head to South Bend, where the 21st-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be waiting this weekend. It will be Boise State’s final non-conference game.

San Diego State 6, Northern Illinois 3

In a low-scoring bout that would have made Rocky Long and Brady Hoke proud, San Diego State put together another stout defensive performance and another victory, 6-3, over Northern Illinois. This is the third game of the campaign in which the Aztecs kept their opponent out of the end zone – two of which were shutouts, and all three in winning efforts.

SDSU held the Huskies to just 57 passing yards and 10 first downs, and impressively, the Aztecs didn’t rely on big defensive plays. They forced just one turnover, an interception in the third quarter, along with a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter. They committed two turnovers offensively, and lost the ball on downs in the opening period.

The Huskies scored a field goal on their first drive before the scoring drought set in for the rest of the game. The ensuing back-to-back three-and-outs, the first worth six yards and the next worth negative six yards, were more accurate representations of the Northern Illinois offense.

San Diego State also scored a field goal on its first drive of the night, which didn't come to an end until the first play of the second quarter. After the teams traded seven-plus-minute field goal drives, the game stayed tied at three until the waning moments of the fourth quarter, when San Diego State hit another field goal as time expired.

Jayden Denegal threw 20 passes and completed 13 for 110 yards. He tossed two interceptions and took a sack. He also ran for 19 yards on nine attempts. Most of San Diego State’s yardage came on the ground. Lucky Sutton ran the ball 17 times for 88 yards and Christian Washington had 22 yards on 12 carries. The scoring, however, came only from Gabriel Plascencia, who booted the two field goals.

The Aztecs come home to start conference play next as they host the reeling Colorado State Rams on Friday, Oct. 3.

New Mexico 38, New Mexico State 20

Led by quarterback Jack Layne, New Mexico won the Rio Grande Rivalry, one of the most passionate rivalries in the West. Despite UNM holding a comfortable all-time edge, it has been more competitive recently with the teams holding an even 4-4 record in the past eight contests coming into the game.

The Aggies got off to a hot start, scoring first and weathering New Mexico’s retaliation to take a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter and a 17-14 lead by the half. The Lobos put together a big second half, though, starting with a 10-0 third quarter to take the lead. In the final stanza, New Mexico State added a field goal, its only points of the half, and the Lobos responded with another 14 points to take a 38-20 victory, winning the matchup for the second year in a row.

Layne was electric in the Lobo victory. He was 23-of-30 passing for 303 yards and four touchdowns through the air. He ran three times for another 13 yards and didn’t step out of line, avoiding any picks or sacks. He spread the love with each of his four scoring passes ending in the hands of different receivers: Keagan Johnson, who totaled 117 yards on five receptions; Shawn Miller, who had 80 yards on four receptions; Dorian Thomas, who had 79 yards on six receptions; and Cade Keith, who had 24 yards on a pair of catches.

New Mexico will be playing on short rest this week as it travels to take on a 1-3 San Jose State team that seems to be in reach of answers on Friday, Oct. 3.

Stanford 30, San Jose State 29

San Jose State lost a heartbreaker to its fellow Bay Area native, falling to 1-3 on the season and wrapping up a brutal non-conference showing. Save for a few minutes at the beginning and the end of the game, San Jose State held the lead for nearly the whole game.

The Spartans fell behind early on a first-drive touchdown from Stanford, but immediately began to chip away at the lead. They hit a field goal on their opening drive, then forced a fumble to set up a 24-yard touchdown drive to overtake the Cardinal.

They led by as many as 12 points, 26-14, and held an eight-point lead until the six-minute mark in the fourth quarter. Then, with 5:59 remaining, a Stanford field goal sailed through the uprights to put the Cardinal within striking distance, and with just 23 seconds left, Stanford struck again. Sedrick Irvin punched in a one-yard touchdown to cap off an 80-yard drive and take a one-point lead.

San Jose State's pass-heavy offense, led by quarterback Walker Eget and receiver Danny Scudero, continued to put up major yardage. Eget threw 58 passes, connecting on 36, for 473 yards and three touchdowns. Scudero was on the receiving end of 11 of those throws and two of those touchdowns, and he ended the night with 135 yards. Kyri Shoels had 10 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown, while Leland Smith (six receptions, 101 yards) and tight end Jackson Canaan (five receptions, 79 yards) featured heavily as well. Eget and Scudero now top the conference leaderboards in passing (1,187) and receiving yards (514), respectively.

The Spartans will play host to New Mexico later this week, looking to get back on track as they begin league competition.

Washington State 20, Colorado State 3

Colorado State’s free fall paused only for a bye week and picked right back up again as the Rams fell to Washington State in Fort Collins, 20-3.

Jay Norvell's team won the coin toss and elected to receive. The good times kept rolling for the Rams as they took a 3-0 lead with a long field goal on their first drive. After that, things fell apart.

The Cougars scored a touchdown on their opening drive, took a 10-3 lead by the end of the quarter, and a 20-3 lead by halftime. Colorado State didn’t score again, instead opting to lose a fumble, commit three turnovers on downs, miss two field goals (one blocked), and punt twice.

Quarterback Jackson Brousseau got the nod and took his first career start. He was 19-of-28 passing for 188 yards, a season high for the Rams, but he also took four sacks, while backup QB Tahj Bullock lost 10 yards on four carries. Jalen Dupree led the CSU ground game with 13 carries for 68 yards. Amazingly, the Rams managed three total points on five scoring opportunities (trips inside the Wazzu 40-yard line).

This week, Colorado State heads to California to square off with the 3-1 San Diego State Aztecs – the final Mountain West opener for both Pac-12 bound squads.