Category: Utah State

The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21

The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21 The Falcons Nuke the Dukes Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire After going winless in the month of November, following an 8-0 start to the season, Air Force corrects course …

The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force Runs Over James Madison 31-21

The Falcons Nuke the Dukes

Contact/Follow @Sean or @MWCWire

After going winless in the month of November, following an 8-0 start to the season, Air Force corrects course by winning the Armed Forces Bowl in convincing fashion. The Falcons wore out the Dukes by a score of 31-21.

Entering the contest, the Dukes of JMU were favored, and for good reason. They just capped off a 12-1 campaign, and feature one of the top passing attacks in the country, and what was statistically the stoutest defense against the run nationally. Air Force said hold my beer.

JMU learned early on what many do the hard way; Air Force is built different. There aren’t any teams on the Dukes schedule that pose the kind of problems that the Falcons do, in particular in the run game. James Madison was averaging just 2 yards per carry allowed, and 62 yards per game on the ground for the season. Senior fullback, Emmanuel Michel pounded the Dukes for over 200 rush yards and two tudd’s on his own.

It was a great way to end the season, winning their 9th game of the season over a very good opponent. The Air Force seniors really showed up and impacted the game; from an unblockable Bo Richter being a menace and disrupting the Dukes offense all game long, to John Lee Eldridge III and Emmanuel Michel shredding JMU’s vaunted defense, Jonathan Youngblood’s interception and Zach Larrier’s flawless execution of the offense behind the road grading Diesel’s, the senior stars shined the brightest.

The Air Force Fightin’ Falcons have won their fifth consecutive Bowl Game, and are Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Champions!

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PODCAST: Week 2 Of Mountain West Bowl Previews

PODCAST: Week 2 Of Mountain West Bowl Previews There are four bowl games this week Contact/Follow @MWCwire Bowl season continues Jeremy and Josh get into the second wave of bowl games with four bowl games this week. A trio of games on Saturday …

PODCAST: Week 2 Of Mountain West Bowl Previews

There are four bowl games this week

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Bowl season continues

Jeremy and Josh get into the second wave of bowl games with four bowl games this week. A trio of games on Saturday featuring San Jose State, Utah State, and Air Force. Then a post Christmas bowl game with UNLV getting a challenge with Kansas.

You can find the Mountain West Wire podcast below or subscribe to the show via TuneIn, Spotify, iTunes, and more. Listen in, subscribe and rate it and let us know what you think!

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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Getting To Know The Georgia State Panthers

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Getting To Know The Georgia State Panthers Utah State is facing a team that has been hit hard by the portal Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire Who are the Aggies playing? Utah State is taking on Georgia State in the Famous …

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Getting To Know The Georgia State Panthers

Utah State is facing a team that has been hit hard by the portal

Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire

Who are the Aggies playing?

Utah State is taking on Georgia State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and to get to know the Sun Belt team, we reached out to Brady Weiler who covers the Panthers for 247Sports.

We go through the portal, key players and how will Georgia State handled the cold of Boise, Idaho, this weekend.

The portal is huge in college football, how has this impacted Georgia State since the end of the regular season?

Let’s go with “greatly”. The portal has greatly impacted Georgia State in advance of this bowl game.

Leading running back Marcus Carroll (1,350 yards, 13 TDs this season) has entered the portal and since committed to Missouri. Likewise, top wide receiver Robert Lewis (877 yards, 7 TDs) has moved to Auburn, starting right tackle Montavious Cunningham to Virginia Tech and one of the starting cornerbacks Bryquice Brown to Boston College. And add on to that left tackle Travis Glover and leading tackler and starting inside linebacker Jontrey Hunter leaving early to begin their work prepping for the 2024 NFL Draft. This will be a very new-look team for GSU on Saturday, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

What is the excitement level for Georgia State fans for this bowl game?

For all the above personnel-related reasons, plus the fact the team ended the regular season on a 5-game skid after starting the year 6-1 AND the fact that this game is not easily travelable from the other side of the country, it’d be fair to say vibes are pretty low in Panther Nation.

There’s a growing consensus opinion that head coach Shawn Elliott, wrapping up his seventh season in Atlanta, has taken the program as far as he can and fans are growing increasingly vocal that they want to see a new HC try and tap into a greater ceiling. So Coach Elliott is in an unenviable spot where a win here doesn’t do much to improve the feeling around the fanbase but a sixth straight loss and a losing 6-7 final record would do some additional harm.

Georgia State started 6-1 but then ended 6-6, what happened during the losing streak?

Good question! I have to be honest up front and say it’s a real mystery. Sometimes when you see this type of late-season nosedive from a team, you can chalk it up to some major loss due to injury. But Georgia State can honestly say it was fortunate on the injury front for the entire season.

The problems started, funnily enough, in the second half of their most recent win, a 20-17 victory at Louisiana on October 23. They escaped with the W and locked up bowl eligibility thanks to a Gavin Pringle interception in the end zone in the game’s final minute, but it had been a 20-0 lead that all but evaporated over the course of the second half. The offense which had been rolling to that point of the year lost its mojo in a major way in that second half and they never regained it for the rest of the year.

They got down by as much as 34-7 at their rival Georgia Southern the following Thursday, and though they fought back a little in that second half, it was still a heavy 44-27 loss. What followed were two identical, ugly losses – dropping contests by a score of 42-14 to each of James Madison and Appalachian State. And after holding on to that three-score lead at Louisiana earlier, in the regular season finale at Old Dominion, the Panthers blew a 21-0 lead and lost this time 25-24 on a Grant Wilson touchdown run as time expired.

For whatever reason, the team – and specifically the offense – wilted down the stretch and stopped making the “winning plays” they’d been making as they rolled to six wins out of their first seven games.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: First Look At The Georgia State Panthers

Who are the key players that Utah State needs to know about, and who could step up for players who hit the portal?

Even if the Panthers were at full strength without any of the aforementioned portal entrants, the number one player who demands Utah State’s attention more than anyone else in blue and white would still be quarterback Darren Grainger. A true dual threat, Grainger is playing his last game for the Panthers on Saturday after being the team’s starting QB for the bulk of the last three seasons. This season, he improved his accuracy on passing greatly – completing 67% of his passes for 2,364 yards – while still giving opposing defenses fits with his legs, rushing for 625 yards and 8 scores. DG is the focal point of this offense, and the departures the team is dealing with will only make his contribution more valuable to the team on Saturday.

Maine transfer RB Freddie Brock should slide in to replace Carroll, and while he only has 6 carries for 31 yards to his name in a Georgia State uniform, he amassed 1,145 yards rushing in his three seasons at the FCS level. If the rushing lanes are there, Brock should be up to the task of filling in. And that’s where the real key change for GSU’s offense comes up – the new offensive line. Only left guard Jonathan Brown remains of the starting offensive line for much of the season for the Panthers. Walk-on Ben Chukwuma will take Glover’s spot at left tackle and usual right guard Trevor Timmons is kicking outside to play right tackle.

Mountain West Football: 2023 Bowl Season Opt-Out And Transfer Tracker

Defensively, Hunter and Brown will be losses that defensive coordinator Chad Staggs will have to reckon with. But the one benefit Staggs has at his disposal is the fact that inside linebacker is probably the Panthers’ deepest position on defense. Super-senior Jordan Veneziale and sophomore Josiah Robinson, the latter of whom followed Staggs from his last stop at Coastal Carolina, should see increased roles alongside incumbent starter Justin Abraham. Coverage is going to be where the ILB group is tested without Hunter, a former safety and OLB who possessed great coverage skills for an inside backer. They’ll need to lean on the solid safety pairing of Jeremiah Johnson and TyGee Leach in the middle of the field.

As for the opening spot at CB, redshirt freshman Izaiah Guy did fill in for Brown earlier in 2023 when Brown was saddled with an injury and Guy more than held his own. Gavin Pringle has another year of eligibility after transferring in from Bucknell and Guy figures to begin 2024 as the starting corner on the other side, so this will be a chance for Panther fans – and the coaching staff – to get an early look at what should be their team’s CB tandem next season. And they’ll certainly be tested by the talented receivers Utah State possesses.

Weather-wise, this is way different from Georgia and Sun Belt games with it being colder, what have been discussions about prepping for that? Some teams do some different things in new weather environments.

It’s a topic that has definitely come up for this bowl game, but I get the feeling Georgia State coaches and players are fine with it. Coach Elliott openly asked for it to be a snow game in last week’s media availability. And while they may not be as hardened to the elements as their coach – who spent his college days up on the mountains on Boone, NC, at Appalachian State – Darren Grainger mentioned that they had been checking weather apps and noticing the temperature had been lower in Atlanta on some practice days this month than the temperature in Boise.

I’ve seen through the practice photos released by GSU Athletics that players are certainly layering up more than would for a usual gameday at Center Parc Stadium, but it has been an unseasonably cold month in the A and the additional time spent in Boise as a part of this bowl trip should help them acclimate to whatever the weather gods have in store for Saturday.

How do you see this game playing out?

I teased it before, but the single biggest key to this game is going to be how Georgia State’s almost entirely new offensive line meshes. I do think Grainger and Brock can rack up yards on the ground if there are holes that open up, but if the OL can’t get any push and the offense can’t stay on the field, it could be a long afternoon in Boise for the Panthers. Grainger does not have his top weapon at WR in Robert Lewis, but Tailique Williams has elite top-line speed and Ja’Cyais Credle – who has missed most of the season due to injury – has been a deep threat that this passing attack has leaned on in the past. With a month to prep, it will be interesting to see what offensive coordinator Trent McKnight schemes up to make the most of what he’s got.

Defensively, Georgia State will have to be ready for the threat that Utah State’s (presumed) starting QB Levi Williams poses with his legs while also accounting for top WR Jalen Royals and the Aggies’ weapon in the slot, Terrell Vaughn. The golden ticket for the Panthers’ defense will be their ability to get after the QB. The Aggies are tied for 119th in FBS with 41 sacks allowed this season. Georgia State’s D has a solid yet unspectacular tally of 27 sacks, but against every team they faced that’s allowed 30+ sacks to date, they had at least 3. That includes the program record 8 they collected in their loss at ODU.

I think this will be an interesting clash of offensive styles that will hinge on the Panthers’ ability to weather the losses they’ve suffered through postseason roster attrition. If they can make lemonade out of the lemons they’ve been handed, this should be a fun game throughout. But if the roster churn rears its ugly head, the high-scoring Utah State offense could turn this into that forgettable blowout that happens every bowl season.

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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Game Preview, How To Watch, Odds, Prediction

The Utah State Aggies hope to end a rollercoaster year with a win against Georgia State Panthers. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.

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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Game Preview, How To Watch, Odds, Prediction

The Utah State Aggies hope to end a rollercoaster year with a win against Georgia State Panthers. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Who will be more motivated to chase one last W?

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL: Georgia State Panthers (6-6, 4-4 Sun Belt) vs. Utah State Aggies (6-6, 4-4 Mountain West)

WHEN: Saturday, December 23 — 1:30 PM MT/12:30 PM PT

WHERE: Albertsons Stadium; Boise, ID

WEATHER: Mostly sunny, high of 38 degrees

TV: ESPN

STREAMING: Fans can sign up to receive a free one-week trial of Fubo, which includes ESPN, by following this link.

RADIO: The Georgia State broadcast can be found on the affiliates of the Georgia State Radio Network, including flagship 88.5 FM (WRAS) in Atlanta. The Utah State broadcast can be found on the affiliates of the Aggie Radio Network, including flagship 1280 The Zone (KZNS) in Salt Lake City.

SERIES RECORD: This is the first meeting between Georgia State and Utah State.

LAST GAME: Georgia State lost on the road to Old Dominion, 25-24, while Utah State defeated New Mexico on the road in double overtime, 44-41.

WEBSITES: GeorgiaStateSports.com, the official Georgia State athletics website | UtahStateAggies.com, the official Utah State athletics website

GAME NOTES (PDF): Georgia State | Utah State

ODDS: Utah State -2.5

SP+ PROJECTION: Utah State by 0.8

FEI PROJECTION: Utah State by 1.0

PARKER FLEMING PROJECTION: Utah State 50.72% win probability (33.11-32.87)

The Utah State Aggies are bowling for the third straight season under head coach Blake Anderson, but they’ll hope to avoid a repeat of last year’s disappointing postseason performance against the Georgia State Panthers in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

For their part, the Panthers are mired in a slump and head into the game without their top offensive weapon, but you never know what might happen when Spuddy Buddy is involved.

Here’s how the Panthers and Aggies can finish their year with a win.

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Three Keys to a Georgia State Victory

1. Don’t abandon the running game now.

The Panthers boasted one of the Sun Belt’s best running backs throughout the regular season, but first-team all-conference star Marcus Carroll has already bolted to Missouri through the transfer portal and what remains at the position didn’t see a ton of action throughout 2023. The team’s listed starter, Freddie Brock, was a one-time starter at FCS Maine but only had six carries in three games for Georgia State in 2023.

GSU may want to see what he and true freshman Jaylen Carter can do, anyway, since Utah State got pushed hard in the trenches over the last two weeks of the regular season. Both Boise State and New Mexico averaged over seven yards per carry, but the Aggies have just been tested on the ground more frequently than anyone else in the Mountain West, period, seeing an average of 41.6 rushing attempts per game and allowing 4.79 YPC.

2. Make the Aggies offense pay for potential mistakes.

It’s no secret that Utah State has struggled with protecting the football for most of the season, evidenced by the 24 giveaways that are the second-most among Mountain West offenses. It remains to be seen, however, if that will change with Levi Williams under center for the second straight game, but they had just one in the regular season finale against New Mexico.

If GSU is going to put themselves in a position to score an upset, though, they’re going to have to figure out how to keep close tabs on USU’s playmakers. On the one hand, the Panthers defended just 38 passes in 12 regular season games, the fewest in the Sun Belt; on the other hand, they also had rotten fumble luck and recovered just six of 17 balls to hit the turf. When the opportunity arises to flip a field, the Georgia State defense can’t afford to let them slip away.

3. Be the more disciplined team.

Another non-secret is that penalties have frustrated Utah State’s hopes this year just as much as their erratic play on offense. Only four FBS teams had more than the 7.8 penalties per game that the Aggies drew in 2023, and only New Mexico racked up more than USU’s 74.3 penalty yards per game.

Assuming both teams play somewhere close to their average, this is an area where Georgia State could benefit from favorable field position simply by avoiding flags. In the regular season, the Panthers tallied six on average for 53.4 yards per contest.

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Three Keys to a Utah State Victory

1. Let Jalen Royals do his thing.

Among Utah State’s triumvirate of pass-catching threats, Royals’s breakout campaign could spell trouble for a shaky Georgia State defense. According to Pro Football Focus, Royals had an average depth of target of 13.0 yards in the regular season and posted both a 72.7% contested catch rate and just four drops on 94 total targets.

The Panthers, meanwhile, struggled mightily against opposing quarterbacks down the stretch, allowing a 68.3% completion rate, 9.9 yards per attempt, and 14 touchdowns in four November games. In other words, should the junior from Powder Springs, Georgia finish as the game’s offensive MVP, don’t be shocked.

2. Keep Darren Grainger contained.

The Georgia State quarterback will finish his collegiate career as one of the most prolific playmakers in program history, and he’ll provide a test for a Utah State defense that has already seen several mobile signal-callers throughout the season. Grainger might be singular, though, in that he led all Sun Belt quarterbacks with 625 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns in addition to completing 67% of his throws at seven yards per attempt.

It may be telling that Grainger hasn’t been as impactful with his legs during the team’s current five-game losing streak, averaging 4.59 yards per carry (before adjusting for sacks). If the MJ Tafisi-led front seven can hold that line, that could bode well for their hopes.

3. Let Levi Williams cook.

You may recall that the last time Williams played in the Potato Bowl, two years ago, he put up video game numbers for Wyoming in a rout of Kent State. That propensity for major damage with his arm and his legs popped again in the last game of this regular season, when he ran for 153 yards and threw for 198 against the Lobos, accounting for five total touchdowns.

Given that he’s soon to prepare for Navy SEAL training, why not give him one more opportunity to do heavy lifting on both fronts? According to CollegeFootballData.com, Georgia State has posted a 20% defensive stuff rate but the 6-foot-5 and 230-pound Williams is a big target to bring down consistently over four quarters. Enabling him to be a threat alongside Robert Briggs, Rahsul Faison, and Davon Booth will only give the Panthers one more thing to worry about.

Prediction

As wildly uneven as the Aggies could be this year, they haven’t had the same kind of struggles that the Panthers have faced and they certainly enter the bowl game much more intact. While it seems safe to bet the over, at least, Utah State should have the offensive firepower to win this one handily.

Utah State 34, Georgia State 21

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Mountain West Football’s Updated 2024 Matchups Released

Mountain West Football’s Updated 2024 Matchups Released The Mountain West revised its college football schedule to include games against wayward Oregon State and Washington State. Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire What’s new? The vagaries of …

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Mountain West Football’s Updated 2024 Matchups Released

The Mountain West revised its college football schedule to include games against wayward Oregon State and Washington State.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire

What’s new?

The vagaries of college football realignment didn’t directly impact the Mountain West Conference over the last calendar year, but the shockwaves of moves across the country resulted today in a revised slate of matchups that includes the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars, the two Pac-12 programs left behind by their conference mates’ exodus.

When it was announced that the conference would do away with the Mountain and West divisions in 2022, the conference announced a rotation that would protect two games for each team and extend through the 2025 season. A multitude of Power 5 programs had other plans, however, and when the Big 12, Big Ten, and ACC raided the Pac-12 for ten of its teams throughout 2023, it left Oregon State and Washington State standing alone.

Here are the home and away games that the Mountain West had previously unveiled for 2024:

Air Force, Nevada, and San Diego State will host the Beavers while Boise State, Fresno State, and New Mexico will do the same for the Cougars. Conversely, Colorado State, San Jose State, and UNLV will travel to Corvallis; Hawaii, Utah State, and Wyoming will head to Pullman. None of the games will count as part of the conference standings, however, meaning that each Mountain West team will have seven conference games rather than the usual eight.

The changes, as you might expect, have differing impacts on every Mountain West team’s pre-existing schedule. Air Force, for instance, will get to face Oregon State at home instead of Hawaii, but Colorado State now travels to Oregon State and Nevada rather than Boise and San Diego. As DNVR Sports’s Justin Michael noted, it will be the first time since 2010 that the Rams and Broncos do not face each other. Similarly, Wyoming will now host San Diego State and Utah State rather than Nevada and UNLV.

One interesting twist is that the two teams who played in the Mountain West championship game this month, Boise State and UNLV, are now set to square off at Allegiant Stadium rather than Albertsons Stadium next year. Exact dates for the Mountain West schedule will be released at a later time, but next year’s title game is slated for Saturday, December 7, 2024.

Air Force

Home – Colorado State, Fresno State, San Jose State, Oregon State
Away – Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming

Boise State

Home – Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Washington State
Away – Hawaii, San Jose State, UNLV, Wyoming

Colorado State

Home – New Mexico, San Jose State, Utah State, Wyoming
Away – Air Force, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon State

Fresno State

Home – Colorado State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Washington State
Away – Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV

Hawaii

Home – Boise State, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV
Away – Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, Washington State

Nevada

Home – Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State
Away – Boise State, Hawaii, San Jose State, UNLV

New Mexico

Home – Air Force, Fresno State, Wyoming, Washington State
Away – Colorado State, Hawai‘i, San Diego State, Utah State

San Diego State

Home – Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon State
Away – Boise State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

San Jose State

Home – Boise State, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming
Away – Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State

UNLV

Home – Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State
Away – Hawaii, San Jose State, Utah State, Oregon State

Utah State

Home – Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV
Away – Boise State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Washington State

Wyoming

Home – Air Force, Boise State, San Diego State, Utah State
Away – Colorado State, New Mexico, San Jose State, Washington State

Oregon State

Home – Colorado State, San Jose State, UNLV
Away – Air Force, Nevada, San Diego State

Washington State

Home – Hawaii, Utah State, Wyoming
Away – Boise State, Fresno State, New Mexico

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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: First Look At The Georgia State Panthers

Utah State’s Sun Belt foe in the upcoming Potato Bowl knows a thing or two about having an adventurous season.

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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: First Look At The Georgia State Panthers

Utah State’s Sun Belt foe in the upcoming Potato Bowl knows a thing or two about having an adventurous season.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS and @MWCwire

Can the Panthers catch a break?

This year’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl will mark Utah State’s fifth overall appearance in the Boise-based game, but the blue turf is brand-new territory for the Georgia State Panthers.

GSU will be just the second Sun Belt Conference team to take the blue turf in the postseason, but the Panthers are arguably the weakest of the seven teams that the Mountain West will face as part of its bowl slate. They head to Idaho on a substantial slide and with key on-field contributors out the door, so the pressure will be on to find an upper hand against the unpredictable Aggies and finish the year on a high note.

Here’s what Utah State fans need to know about the Panthers.

2023 Georgia State Panthers — Team Profile

Conference: Sun Belt

2023 Record: 6-6 (3-5 Sun Belt)

SP+ ranking: 101st

FEI ranking: 102nd

Sagarin rating: 112th

Head coach: Shawn Elliott (seventh year, 42-49 overall).

2023 in a nutshell: For a brief time, it looked like the Panthers might be in position for a real breakthrough this fall. The team opened 6-1, the lone blemish a stumble at home against Troy, but the realities of the super-competitive Sun Belt Conference pulled GSU back to earth. After scoring those six wins by an average of 12.8 points, they dropped the final five games of the year by an average of 23.2.

Best wins: at Coastal Carolina (7-5), at Louisiana (6-6), vs. Marshall (6-6)

Key Players

Darren Grainger, QB

Georgia State football has only existed for a little over a decade, but Grainger might already be the best quarterback in the program’s young history. He already owns team records for career total offense and career total touchdowns and, in 2023, completed 67% of his 336 attempts for 2,364 yards and 17 touchdowns against a 2% interception rate. He also led the Sun Belt’s QBs with 625 rushing yards and tied for the conference lead with eight rushing touchdowns, so while he struggled in the second half of the regular season, he’s more than talented enough to do damage against an often-shaky Aggies defense.

Travis Glover, OT

One of the longest-tenured Panthers in program history, the Potato Bowl will mark Glover’s 58th career start. At 6-foot-6 and 323 pounds, he also happens to be the biggest player on the roster. He’s spent time at tackle and guard across his five seasons at GSU, but 2023 was spent protecting Grainger’s blind side. Though he gave up four sacks in just over 800 snaps, Glover allowed just 12 total quarterback pressures. He’ll be a tough assignment for whichever Aggies defensive end lines up across from him.

Gavin Pringle, CB

A three-time all-Patriot League defender at Bucknell, Pringle transferred to Atlanta last off-season and made his lone year at GSU count. He finished the regular season as one of five Sun Belt defenders to grab four interceptions, and he added four pass breakups, four tackles for loss, and 37 total tackles to land on the third-team all-conference defense earlier this month.

Tailique Williams, WR

Leading wide receiver Robert Lewis has already left the program and transferred to Auburn, leaving his primary running mate to shoulder a larger load in the Panthers passing game. Williams took 90.2% of his snaps out of the slot, per PFF, and finished the regular season with 46 catches, 581 yards, and five touchdowns. He also contributed to special teams, earning an average of 17.7 yards on ten kick returns, meaning the redshirt junior might be a problem in more ways than one.

Justin Abraham, LB

Abraham broke into Georgia State’s starting lineup in the second half of 2022 and had a fine year in his first full campaign as a starter. According to PFF, the Hartsville, South Carolina has made 38 total stops on the strength of 76 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks, so he’ll likely be a key disruptor in the Panthers front seven.

Overview:

Offense

The story of the Panthers offense is closely tied to their tale of two seasons. On the whole, Georgia State finished 75th in the country by averaging 2.07 points per drive and 71st with 45% of available yards earned per drive, but both marks actually represent a small step back from 2022 and obscure their struggles as the year progressed. In a nutshell, the team scored 34.8 points per game in their six victories and 16.7 in their six losses.

Personnel losses to the transfer portal since season’s end will only compound the problem for the bowl game, as leading rusher Marcus Carroll, leading receiver Robert Lewis, and offensive tackle Montavious Cunningham are all gone. Former Maine transfer Freddie Brock seems likely to be the next man up at running back, while Jacari Carter (Jerry Rice Award finalist at Merrimack in 2021; 34 catches, 227 yards in 2023) and Cadarrius Thompson may get first crack at helping Grainger and Williams through the air.

Defense

Much like their offensive counterparts, the Panthers defense also suffered a substantial decline in performance as the regular season wore on. For the year, they managed to give up 2.46 points per drive and 50.9% of available yards per drive — 89th and 94th among FBS defenses, respectively — but tougher offenses like James Madison and LSU tore them up in the second half of the campaign: GSU gave up 40 points in four straight contests, then dropped the season finale at Old Dominion on the final play of the game.

That could spell trouble against an explosive Utah State offense, though losses have been limited to veteran cornerback Bryquice Brown, a transfer portal departure; and linebacker Jontrey Hunter, who recently declared for the NFL Draft, as of this writing. On the other hand, CollegeFootballData.com notes that the Panthers posted a respectable 20% stuff rate and gave up just 4.24 yards per carry on the ground, so a front seven that’s still laden with veterans could pose a stiff challenge for the Aggies’ trio of running backs. Linebackers Abraham and Kevin Swint each tied for the team lead with seven tackles for loss, but Jordan Veneziale, Javon Denis, and Henry Bryant each had five TFLs, as well.

The bigger concern is whether GSU can keep Utah State from having their way through the air. Among the 14 teams in the Sun Belt, the Panthers ranked 12th in opponents’ completion rate (65.4%), 13th in yards per attempt allowed (8.5), and 14th by opponent passer rating (154.76). Pringle and senior safety TyGee Leach (68 tackles, seven TFLs, five pass breakups, one INT) will lead the charge here, though redshirt freshman Izaiah Guy might be a noteworthy name to follow as Brown’s potential replacement.

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Mountain West Football: 2023 Bowl Season Opt-Out And Transfer Tracker

The transfer portal is open. NFL Draft prep looms. Business decisions are made. Which players will sit out the Mountain West’s bowl games?

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Mountain West Football: 2023 Bowl Season Opt-Out and Transfer Tracker

The transfer portal is open. NFL Draft prep looms. Business decisions are made. Which players will sit out the Mountain West’s bowl games?

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Not all the stars will be out in December.

December marks perhaps the busiest time of college football season. Between the upcoming slate of bowl games, the official opening of the transfer portal, and buzz surrounding the game’s brightest stars and their standing in next year’s NFL Draft, players have plenty on their minds when deciding how to finish their season.

Not everyone will choose to stay on the field, though. Check back here throughout the month as we watch which athletes opt out of bowl season, both among the Mountain West’s seven bowl teams and their opponents.

Note: Significant contributors among opponents will be noted in italics.

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl

Air Force

  • Aidan Behymer, TE
  • Caden Blum, DL
  • Mason Carlan, OL
  • John Lee Eldridge III, RB
  • Jonah Jensen, QB
  • Brady Phillips, DL
  • Caleb Rillos, TE
  • Jarius Stewart, QB
  • Anthony Wenson, WR

James Madison

  • Brent Austin, DB
  • Kaelon Black, RB — team-high 594 rushing yards, 23 catches, 220 receiving yards in 2023
  • James Carpenter, DL — FCS Freshman All-American in 2021; two-time all-Sun Belt
  • Aiden Fisher, LB — third-team all-Sun Belt, 91 tackles, seven passes defended, six tackles for loss in 2023
  • Desmond Green, WR
  • Zach Horton, TE — first-team all-Sun Belt, 26 catches, 266 yards, six touchdowns in 2023
  • Taurus Jones, LB — first-team all-Sun Belt, 82 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss in 2022
  • Mikail Kamara, DL — second-team all-Sun Belt, 18.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks in 2023
  • Wayne Knight, RB
  • Ty Son Lawton, RB — 742 all-purpose yards, six total touchdowns in 2023
  • Chauncey Logan, DB — 42 tackles, four tackles for loss, six passes defended in 2023
  • Carter Miller, OL — redshirt freshman, nine starts, 639 snaps at left guard in 2023
  • Abi Nwabuoku-Okonji, DL
  • Tyler Stephens, OL — 30 career starts; four starts each at left guard, right tackle, left tackle in 2023
  • Jailin Walker, LB — 30 career starts; 55 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, four passes defended in 2023
  • Tyshawn Wyatt, OL

Starco Brands LA Bowl, Hosted By Gronk

Boise State 

  • Taylen Green, QB
  • Eric McAlister, WR
  • Keenan McCaddy, DB
  • Kivon Wright, DL

UCLA

  • Kam Brown, WR
  • Keegan Jones, WR
  • Laiatu Latu, DL — Ted Hendricks Award winner, Lombardi Award winner, Pac-12 defensive player of the year in 2023
  • Dante Moore, QB — five-star true freshman, five starts in 2023
  • William Nimmo Jr., DB
  • Kamari Ramsey, DB — redshirt freshman safety, 11 starts in 2023
  • Carsen Ryan, TE
  • Jake Wiley, OL

Isleta New Mexico Bowl

Fresno State

  • Tanner Blount, LB
  • Logan Fife, QB
  • Chrishawn Gordon, DB
  • Abraham Montaño, K
  • Hayden Pulis, OL
  • Raymond Scott, LB

New Mexico State

  • Reggie Akles, WR
  • Ta’ir Brooks, WR
  • Jamari Buddin, LB
  • Tyler Devera, TE
  • Trent Hudson, WR — 36 catches, 571 yards, team-high ten touchdowns in 2023
  • PJ Johnson, WR
  • Malachi McLean, DB
  • Jordin Parker, WR
  • Tyriece Thomas, DL

EasyPost Hawaii Bowl

San Jose State

  • Branden Alvarez, WR
  • Fernando Carmona Jr., OL
  • Blake Davis, DB
  • Charlie Leota, DL
  • Anthony Madrigal, OL
  • Dominick Mazotti, TE
  • Elijah Wood, LB

Coastal Carolina

  • CJ Beasley, RB — team-high 717 rushing yards in 2022; 262 rushing yards, two touchdowns in 2023
  • Mason Bowers, OL
  • Jahmar Brown, DB
  • Jared Brown, WR — 2022 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year; 108 career receptions, 1,534 career receiving yards, 11 career touchdowns
  • Bailey Carraway, LB
  • Evan Crenshaw, P — sophomore; 83 career punts, 39.7 career yards per punt
  • Aaron Diggs, DB
  • Jarrett Guest, QB — two starts in 2023 following injury to Grayson McCall
  • Eli Hillman, DB
  • Kaleb Hutchinson, DB
  • Tavyn Jackson, DB
  • JT Killen, LB — 25 career starts; 65 tackles, three tackles for loss in 2023
  • Derrick Maxey, DB
  • Grayson McCall, QB — three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year
  • Tyson Mobley, WR
  • Tre Pinkney, LB
  • Jacob Proche, DB
  • Chris Rhone, WR
  • Braylon Ryan, DL — 38 career games, 21 career starts; 24 tackles, two tackles for loss in 2023
  • Laurence Sullivan, DB
  • Bryson Summers, OL
  • Dami’on Thompson, WR
  • Donnell Wilson, OL

Guaranteed Rate Bowl

UNLV

  • Jordan Jakes, WR
  • Jordyn Morgan, DB

Kansas

  • Will Huggins, TE
  • Reece Thomas, WR

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Utah State

  • William Testa, K
  • Josh Williams, LB

Georgia State

  • KZ Adams, RB
  • Rico Arnold, WR
  • Bryquice Brown, DB — 42 career games; 35 tackles, six passes defended in nine games
  • Marcus Carroll, RB — first-team all-Sun Belt, 1,350 rushing yards, 13 touchdowns
  • Montavious Cunningham, OL — redshirt sophomore, 15 career starts, 737 snaps at right tackle in 2023
  • Jaquon Dixon, RB
  • Cameron Dye, OL
  • Evan Graham, LB
  • JayT Jackson, DB
  • Jordan Jones, LB
  • Robert Lewis, WR — led team with 70 catches, 877 yards, five receiving touchdowns
  • Tony McCray, DB
  • Jalen Tate, DB

Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl

Wyoming

  • DQ James, RB
  • Kolbey Taylor, DB

Toledo

  • Dequan Finn, QB — three-time all-MAC, 2023 MAC Vern Smith Leadership Award winner (conference MVP)
  • Jaret Frantz, WR
  • Micah Kelly, RB
  • Brad Ling, K
  • Vinny Sciury, OL — first-team all-MAC in 2023, 836 snaps at left guard
  • Ty Thomas, DL

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Mountain West Wire’s 2023 Postseason All-Conference Football Team

Who did our staff pick as the best of the best in Mountain West football this season?

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Mountain West Wire Presents Its 2023 Postseason All-Mountain West Football Teams

Our staff has made its selections for the best of Mountain West football as we close out the 2023 season.

Contact/Follow @MWCwire

Only the best of the best make the cut.

Mountain West Wire’s 2023 postseason honors:

All-Conference Teams | Offensive Player of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | Special Teams Player of the Year | Freshman of the Year | Newcomer of the Year | Coach of the Year | Coordinator of the Year

With the Mountain West’s regular season in the books and the conference championship game just one day away, our staff here at Mountain West Wire has once again put its collective heads together to create our fifth annual postseason all-Mountain West football team.

If you’re interested in seeing how these selections stack up against our preseason picks, click here. Alternatively, you can click the following links to find our postseason honorees from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.

As always, our all-conference roster goes four deep and attempts to best reflect the variety of offenses and defenses we see week in and week out throughout the conference:

  • We vote for a Defensive Flex player to better reflect that some units — like Boise State, San Diego State, and Wyoming — often operate with five defensive backs or a nickelback/linebacker hybrid in their 3-3-5 or 4-2-5.
  • We split our linebacker selections into two, inside and outside, as we’d previously differentiated between centers, guards, and tackles on the offensive lines and between interior linemen and edge rushers on defense.
  • We vote for three wide receivers instead of two.

If you disagree with our choices, feel free to let us know what you’d have done differently on Twitter or Facebook.

First Team

Offense

QB – Chevan Cordeiro, San Jose State
RB – Ashton Jeanty, Boise State
RB – Jacory Croskey-Merritt, New Mexico
RB – Kairee Robinson, San Jose State
WR – Tory Horton, Colorado State
WR – Ricky White, UNLV
WR – Jalen Royals, Utah State
TE – Dallin Holker, Colorado State
C – Thor Paglialong, Air Force
G – Mark Hiestand, Air Force
G – Wesley Ndago, Air Force
T – Adam Karas, Air Force
T – Cade Beresford, Boise State

Defense

DT – Jordan Bertagnole, Wyoming
DT – Payton Zdroik, Air Force
DE – Mohamed Kamara, Colorado State
DE – Ahmed Hassanein, Boise State
OLB – Jackson Woodard, UNLV
OLB – Bo Richter, Air Force
ILB – Easton Gibbs, Wyoming
ILB – MJ Tafisi, Utah State
CB – Cameron Oliver, UNLV
CB – Jay’Vion Cole, San Jose State
CB – Carlton Johnson, Fresno State
S – Ike Larsen, Utah State
S – Wyatt Ekeler, Wyoming
FLEX – Morice Norris Jr., Fresno State

Special Teams

K – Jose Pizano, UNLV
P – James Ferguson-Reynolds, Boise State
KR – Jacob De Jesus, UNLV
PR – Jacob De Jesus, UNLV

Second Team

Offense

QB – Jayden Maiava, UNLV
RB – Malik Sherrod, Fresno State
RB – Emmanuel Michel, Air Force
WR – Steven McBride, Hawaii
WR – Terrell Vaughn, Utah State
WR – Pofele Ashlock, Hawaii
TE – Mark Redman, San Diego State
C – Jacob Gardner, Colorado State
G – Mose Vavao, Fresno State
G – Wes King, Wyoming
T – Frank Crum, Wyoming
T – Kage Casey, Boise State

Defense

DT – Soane Toia, San Jose State
DT – Cole Godbout, Wyoming
DE – P.J. Ramsey, Air Force
DE – Tre Smith, San Jose State
OLB – Levelle Bailey, Fresno State
OLB – Andrew Simpson, Boise State
ILB – Alec Mock, Air Force
ILB – Bryun Parham, San Jose State
CB – Noah Tumblin, San Diego State
CB – Donte Martin, New Mexico
S – Trey Taylor, Air Force
S – Jack Howell, Colorado State
FLEX – Seyi Oladipo, Boise State

Special Teams

K – Jonah Dalmas, Boise State
P – Marshall Nichols, UNLV
KR – Jaelen Gill, Fresno State
PR – Tory Horton, Colorado State

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Utah State Football: Aggies To Face Georgia State In Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

The Aggies look to finish a wild 2023 campaign by defeating the Panthers in Boise.

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Utah State Football: Aggies To Face Georgia State In Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

The Aggies look to finish a wild 2023 campaign by defeating the Panthers in Boise.

Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire

The Aggies face another Sun Belt opponent.

Few things have gone as planned for the Utah State Aggies this fall, but the Mountain West’s most mercurial football team clawed their way to bowl eligibility and have been rewarded with a date against the Sun Belt Conference’s Georgia State Panthers in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, in a matchup first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Stan Awtrey.

Blake Anderson’s Aggies stumbled out of the gate with a 1-3 record but developed a penchant for the dramatic, rallying from early deficits against UConn and Colorado State to spur a turnaround that wasn’t exactly flawless but was defined by taking care of business against beatable opponents. Utah State didn’t beat a single team with a winning record in the regular season, but the Aggies finished 6-6, anyway, reaching the postseason for the third straight year.

By contrast, the Panthers had a hot start to the season and began 6-1, scoring wins over Coastal Carolina and Marshall, but a rigorous conference schedule took its toll and the team lost their last five games. Despite the slide, head coach Sean Elliott is set to lead Georgia State into its four bowl in the last five years.

This year’s Potato Bowl is set for Saturday, December 23. It will be broadcast on ESPN, kicking off at 1:30 PM Mountain/12:30 PM Mountain).

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Final Mountain West Bowl Projections

Final Mountain West Bowl Projections Seven teams in a bowl game Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire Two bowl teams know their destination The complete regular season is in the books and there will be seven Mountain West teams going bowling. The …

Final Mountain West Bowl Projections

Seven teams in a bowl game

Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire

Two bowl teams know their destination

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The complete regular season is in the books and there will be seven Mountain West teams going bowling. The Hawaii Bowl is confirmed with San Jose State taking on Coastal Carolina and with Boise State’s win over UNLV in the Mountain West title game they are going to the newly named Gronk LA Bowl.

As for the rest, this info will trick out later on Sunday as bowl teams get to pick their teams as the Mountain West doesn’t go in order of finish but bowls pick in order.

While there are bowl lineups tied with the Mountain West, but with ESPN owning a lot of bowl games there likely will be some switching going on.

BOWL LINEUP

– Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs MAC
– Gronk LA Bowl vs Pac-12
– New Mexico Bowl vs Conference USA
– Barstool Arizona Bowl vs MAC
– EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl vs American Athletic

Mountain West has an affiliation to fill if needed …
– Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Big Ten or Big 12

To be determined among the Group of Five conferences … as other options
– Duluth Trading Co. Cure Bowl Pool vs. Pool
– Frisco Bowl Pool vs. Pool
– RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Pool vs. Pool
– SERVPRO First Responder Bowl AAC vs. Pool

Preseason Projection | Week 0 | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13

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