Best In The West: Week One

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

Nevada 28, Troy 26

It was not a game that many people outside of Reno and Troy had circled on the calendar, but this turned into quite the battle – and for the Mountain West, a long-absent sign of life in the Nevada football program, which stagnated following Jay Norvell's departure to Colorado State. Last week against SMU, there were stirrings for Jeff Choate's fledgling Wolf Pack, but it very well could have been an illusion. After beating Troy, it looks like Nevada really does have a pulse.  

This game went down to the wire, with Troy getting out to an early 14-0 lead yet still having to mount a furious comeback effort late in the fourth after Nevada stormed back, using a dominant middle-eight stretch to knot the game and eventually pull ahead in the third quarter. With 12:56 left to play, the Wolf Pack added to their lead with a Brendon Lewis touchdown pass to make the score 28-17.

But, Troy was fighting until the end. The Trojans hit a field goal with 6:17 remaining and forced a punt to get the ball back. With 21 seconds remaining in an eight-point game, Troy signal-caller Goose Crowder threw a 16-yard touchdown pass. Troy’s ensuing two-point conversion failed, though, leaving Nevada to field an onside kick, take a knee and earn the first win of the Choate era.

UNLV 27, Houston 7

UNLV put 24 points on Houston before the Cougars could even crack the scoreboard on their home field, and rolled to a dominant victory over a P4 foe.

It wasn't the liveliest affair of the weekend, with less than 600 combined yards of offense from the two teams and a dreadful 8-of-30 conversion rate on the game's third down tries, but UNLV's defense did the job about as well as it could have hoped, and the offense mostly just stayed out of its way.

Quarterback Matthew Sluka threw for 71 yards and a pair of touchdowns and rushed for another 59 yards on 11 carries, while linebacker Jackson Woodard posted seven tackles, three sacks and four tackles for loss, helping the Rebels to dispatch their hosts in an impressive 27-7 beatdown.

Boise State 56, Georgia Southern 45

Boise State, or, more accurately, tailback Ashton Jeanty, flexed some powerful muscles in a 56-45 road win over Georgia Southern. Jeanty ran for 267 yards and six touchdowns (!!!) on 20 carries, making a very strong early case for his status as college football's top runner.

He picked up some help from No. 2 man Sire Gaines (12 carries, 110 yards, three receptions, 44 yards, two total TDs), and quarterback Maddux Madsen had a solid, if unremarkable outing (22-of-31 passing for 280 yards, one TD, one INT) to keep the offense on pace between massive Jeanty jaunts through Georgia Southern's defense.

The Broncos defense provided a bit less to write home about, surrendering 322 yards through the air and allowing at least 45 points for just the second time since 2021 (Washington's 56 points in 2023 being the other instance). Georgia Southern's air raid offense is always dangerous, but that's a bit of an inauspicious start for a unit that Boise State is expecting significant improvement from.

Michigan 30, Fresno State 10

The interim head coach of the Bulldogs, Tim Skipper, got quite the welcome as Fresno State went to the Big House to take on the defending champs. The Bulldogs never really threatened the ninth-ranked Wolverines, but they held up nicely and gave Sherrone Moore plenty to think about well into the second half – which is just about all you can ask for. 

The game started with a Mikey Keene interception and a Michigan touchdown on the ensuing drive, giving the Bulldogs a grim outlook early. But, things turned around and Fresno State managed to keep the Wolverines close the rest of the way. Michigan only led by a score at the half, 10-3, and the Bulldogs got as close as 16-10 with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Keene threw for 235 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two costly interceptions. On defense, Camryn Bracha led the team with seven tackles including one for loss and cornerback Cam Lockridge had three tackles, one tackle for loss, a pass breakup and an interception.

UCLA 16, Hawaii 13

Hawaii came up just short of delivering one of the most enjoyable upsets of the year in week one.

Sure, UCLA isn’t projected to be particularly good this year, but the newly-minted Big Ten program carries at least some respect, and the Rainbow Warriors took it to the brink on national television. Hawaii blanked the Bruins early, getting out to a fragile but impressive 10-0 lead at the half.

UCLA came out of the half and scored 10 in the third quarter, though, held Hawaii to a field goal in the frame, and finished the job in the fourth with two unanswered field goals. Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager picked a bad time to have an off game, completing 25 of 42 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown, but twice giving the ball back on interceptions. That, alongside a Pofele Ashlock fumble and 10 penalties worth 97 yards, ultimately cost Hawaii its chance at a marquee win.

Texas 52, Colorado State 0

The highly-anticipated Colorado State offense fell flat in its 2024 debut. Really, really flat.

Texas is a strong bunch with title aspirations, but Colorado State looked out of sorts throughout the affair and will need to iron out its offense in a hurry. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi wasn’t able to get much of anything going and went 10-of-18 passing for 59 yards and an interception. Star wideout Tory Horton only had 31 yards on five catches and six targets. Promising young halfback Justin Marshall was about the only guy who figured out how to move the ball and had 106 yards on 25 carries.

Given how CSU's bout with Texas on the hardwood in the 2024 NCAA Tournament went (read: poorly, specifically for a previously high-powered offense), the Rams might want to consider checking their facilities for any Texas-planted bugs – or, better yet, to just stop playing the Longhorns entirely.

Arizona State 48, Wyoming 7

Even with the Rams not showing up in Austin, perhaps the most unacceptable performance of the week belongs to Wyoming. This team looked like it had forgotten just about everything Craig Bohl had taught them when they took the field at Arizona State, suffering silly penalties, landing on the wrong end of the physicality battle and watching as an early deficit spiraled into one of Wyoming's worst performances in recent memory.

The Cowboys gave the Sun Devils everything they wanted, including two interceptions, a field goal and a touchdown in the first quarter alone. After surrendering 48 points, Wyoming's most allowed in a game since 2017, the Pokes were shut out but for a touchdown with eight seconds left in the game. 

The 0-1 Cowboys will retreat to Laramie where they have a week to dress their wounds. BYU is headed to town, and Wyoming badly needs to get back on track.

Rest Of The West 

• Air Force looked like Air Force in a 21-6 win over Merrimack. In one of the more absurd stat lines you’ll see, Cade Harris had five carries, 11 yards and two touchdowns. Aiden Calvert accounted for the other touchdown, and ended up with three carries, one yard, and one TD.
• New Mexico kept it respectable at Arizona for a while. The game was tied at 14 apiece after the first quarter, and Arizona held just a 27-24 lead at the half, but the game got away from the Lobos in the second half and New Mexico fell 61-39.
• San Jose State took the opposite approach and started off with a sloppy 14-0 deficit. The Spartans figured it out eventually and beat Sacramento State 42-24 to start the season 1-0.
• San Diego State also had a hard time turning the engine over to start the year and trailed Texas A&M-Commerce 6-3 at the half. The Aztecs found the gas pedal in the second half and didn’t leave much doubt as they cruised to a 45-14 victory, opening the Sean Lewis era with a win.