Sorry for the delay this week I have been busy in other parts of my life, but here is the preview
(6-2)
(3-5)
Whenever service academies get together the game is never a sure thing on who the winner is going to be. Army has been the worst performer of the three academies, even though they have improved this year.
Air Force is undefeated on the year and that looks to stay the same, because ever since the Navy debacle on special teams and giving up turnovers the Falcons have been 3-0 and has so far seemed to have fixed that scenario.
Army does not have the offense to keep up with the Falcons as they only score 17 points per game and in contrast the Falcons score 29 per game, so if Air Force goes up early Army does not have the personnel to play catchup to the Falcons.
Army runs a similar run first option like Air Force, but they are not quite as good as the Falcons. Army averages 100 yards less then Air Force of total offense, but they do have play makers in Collin Mooney who is averaging over 100 yards per game this year and has six touchdowns on the year and is the player Air Force needs to slow down.
Final Score: Air Force 30 Army 17
(1-7)
(2-6)
War Memorial Stadium 12PM MT TV:
The battle for the basement takes place in wonderful Laramie, Wyoming. Both teams are really this bad, both teams are ranked lower then 100 in points per game with Wyoming in dead last averaging 8.8 per game while San Diego State more then doubles the Pokes with 19.1 points per game.
Wyoming is at home which gives them an edge, but the weather should be nice as the projection is to be sunny in the upper 50's to low 60's which may not help out Wyoming too much.
The advantages that Wyoming has is that they have a fairly decent run defense which should be able to dominate a San Diego State rush offense that averages below 80 yards per game. Also, Wyoming has one offensive play maker in running back in Devin Moore who has 802 yards on the year and an average of 5.1 per carry. Look for Moore to take off since Wyoming's quarterback situation is not good with Karsteen Sween expected to start, but Joe Glenn should be smart enough to use Moore and also mix in <!-- begin left column --> <!-- begin player --> <!-- begin playerStatCont --> Wynel Seldon in the running game.
San Diego State has an advantage of a good quarterback in Ryan Lindley, but Aztecs will need some type of running game so that they are not predictable. A problem for the Aztecs in the passing game could be the experienced secondary that Wyoming has, yes they are not uber talented but the experience will help them be able to slow down the Aztec receivers.
Turnovers will be the key in this game, while that is obvious but a short field will help both of these inept offenses.
Final Score: Wyoming 20 San Diego State 13
#21 (7-1)
(4-4)
Will the BYU team that showed up in weeks one through six show up on Saturday, or will it be the team that has lost the last two game? BYU should win this game because they have the better offense in every position with the exception of a push at tight end and running back, but the Rams defense does not have the secondary to matchup with wide receiver Austin Collie and tight end Dennis Pitta.
The Cougar offense will be too much for a Colorado State defense that has problems against the run and is giving up more than 30 points a game. The powerful BYU offensive line will mash a soft Ram interior, creating room for Harvey Unga to find the open hole and time for Hall to find open recievers.
The Rams do have a chance because BYU has not played as well on the road with the one loss to TCU, a close win over Washington, and then a lackluster win over Utah State. The Rams have the type of offense to mimick what New Mexico and TCU did. The Rams have Gattrell Johnson III at running back and to a lesser extent Kyle Bell to spell him and CSU coach Steve Fairchild will use a steady dose of the running game to keep the Cougar offense off of the field.
Also, quarterback Billy Farris has stepped up his game and with targets like tight end Kory Sperry and wide out Rashaun Greer who has been the most consistent receiver that the Rams have. Colorado State maybe able to stay close to the Rams, but college football comes down to quarterback play and BYU has the more superior player at the position.
Final Score: BYU 38 Colorado State 27
#14 (8-1)
(3-5)
Sam Boyd Stadium 5PM PT TV:CSTV PPV
This could be a trap game for TCU with the the big matchup against Utah next Thursday. TCU better pay attention to the Rebels, because offensively UNLV does have play making receivers which could make this game interesting.
The Horned Frogs have been devastating since the loss to Oklahoma allowing just seven points in each of the last four games. In fact, they haven’t allowed more than seven points in any of the seven games against non-BCS schools.
UNLV's offense has the players such as running back Frank Summers, wide receivers Casey Flair, Ryan Wolfe, and Phillip Payne and then quarterback Omar Clayton has the ability to run and pass to make some plays. Even with these offensive players UNLV does not have the winning results and they are still winless in conference play.
As mentioned earlier TCU has been dominating on offense which in the past has been their achilles heel, and this game may be decided by TCU's offense and not their defense in this game. The Horned Frogs will still most likely limit the Rebles output, but the Rebels run a lot of misdirection plays that can result in a big play eventually.
This game could be similar to the 13-7 win TCU had over Colorado State on the road and a few days before a Thursday night game before they played BYU.
Final Score TCU 24 UNLV 16
#10 (8-0)
(4-5)
University Stadium 7:30PM MT TV:
The coaches and players may not bring this up publically, but the last game at New Mexico was a sour game for all who played. Utah lead 24-3 just before the half and ended up losing the game 34-31, also an important note in this game is that Utah quarterback Brian Johnson has the chance to be the schools all time win leader at the position by getting the chance for win number 22 as the starter to pass former Utah quarterback great Alex Smith.
That accomplishment most likely will not mean too much for him at this time, but the Utes will be focusing on this game that could be a trap game with the TCU matchup looming next week.
New Mexico will want to run the ball up the middle against the Utes defensive line that has been depleted by injury, but they have held their own during that time. This week returns more depth to the defensive line that should help the Ute run stopping even more.
If the Lobos are able to have success with Rodney Ferguson who is one of the many very dominant running backs in the league. The key for the Lobos will be their quarterback play with <!-- begin left column --> <!-- begin player --> <!-- begin playerStatCont --> Brad Gruner who has yet to pass for more then 100 yards on the season so far. Bruner still may not need to pass for a lot of yards, but he will need to make plays to keep the Utah defense off balanced.
The week before the bye the Utes had their best overal game of the year with their offense racking up 549 total yards, and if the Utes can play similar to that Rams game then Utah should have no problem beating the Lobos.
However in years past the Utes have lost games they should not have even though they have had better talent, and this game could be this spot this year.
Final Score: Utah 37 New Mexico 24