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Mountain West Football: Week 5 Winners And Losers
Who came out ahead and who left something to be desired across the Mountain West in Week 5 of the college football season?
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Encouragements and letdowns from the week that was.
A few more Mountain West teams got to dip their toe into conference play during Saturday’s Mountain West football slate and, at least at this juncture, it seems very clear who will be a contender and who is not. Here are the winners and losers from Week 5 of Mountain West football.
Winners
1. Air Force quarterback Zac Larrier
It was generally thought that succeeding Haaziq Daniels, who had done an exceptional job of replacing Donald Hammond III before him, would be a tall order for coordinator Mike Thiessen to sort out, but Larrier has arguably been the best overall offensive player of the season thus far in the Mountain West.
The latest evidence came in the Falcons’ 49-10 drubbing of San Diego State, in which Larrier completed 6-of-7 throws for 189 yards and two touchdowns while also running for a team-high 103 yards on just eight carries, including explosive runs for 41 and 34 yards.
Though 17 other Mountain West quarterbacks have more than Larrier’s 19 pass attempts, the Falcons’ QB ranks first in completion percentage, first in yards per attempt, and is one of two without an interception so far. At this point, if you aren’t paying attention, you’re missing out.
2. Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty
Say what you will about some of the questionable decision-making made by Broncos coaches on Saturday afternoon, you’d probably be right when, these days, the answer always seems to be, “just get the ball to Ashton Jeanty.”
The young running back scored a career-high four touchdowns and accounted for 135 all-purpose yards as Boise State fell 35-32 to Memphis. While it proved to be tougher sledding overall against the Tigers — his 3.6 yards per carry were a season low — Jeanty continues to be the obvious focal point of an offense in dire need of more consistency elsewhere.
3. Utah State
Man alive, if football games were only three quarters then the Aggies would be nationally ranked by now. After a dreadful first half in which 63 of the offense’s 97 yards came on a touchdown throw from McCae Hillstead to Colby Bowman and they trailed 17-7, Utah State roared back to score on five straight drives and average 8.2 yards per play to outlast UConn in a 34-33 rollercoaster.
Wide receiver Jalen Royals and quarterback Cooper Legas, who replaced Hillstead after the starter suffered a concussion, led the comeback effort with three second-half touchdown connections, completing all seven passes between them for 185 yards. Oh, yes, and let’s not forget Ike Larsen’s blocked extra point with forty seconds left in the fourth quarter, late-game heroics that kept the Huskies from taking the game to overtime.
If nothing else, they’ve developed into the Mountain West’s true wild card, capable of anything in the course of a game.
4. Colorado State wide receiver Tory Horton
Normally, our lists consist of three but when you grab ten receptions for the third game in a row, score three touchdowns for the third time in your career, and post a career-high 227 receiving yards, it’s a rule that you have to be included among the winners.
Losers
1. Boise State head coach Andy Avalos
The Broncos scored on five of six trips inside the red zone on Saturday, but it’s the one time they didn’t come away with points during the defeat at Memphis that’s become the latest emblem of the program’s seeming mortality.
Facing a 4th-and-1 situation at the Tigers’ seven-yard line late in the third quarter, nursing a 17-14 lead, the decision to settle a field goal could not have been more disastrous. When Geoffrey Cantin-Arku blocked Jonah Dalmas’s attempt and returned it 80 yards the other way for a touchdown, it changed the entire tenor of the game. It was playing not to lose, and Boise State isn’t supposed to play not to lose. Though it ultimately came down to a very closely reviewed touchdown for the home team to escape, it’s hard to remember when the Broncos seemed to be in such dire straits.
Who will be the starting quarterback against San Jose State next weekend: Taylen Green or Maddux Madsen? Can anyone rush the passer? Can anyone stop giving up big pass plays? Regarding the latter two questions, the Broncos have given up 7.88 yards per play against FBS competition to date, a number that can no longer be solely explained away by the Washington game and should feel particularly galling when you consider that is supposed to be Avalos’s wheelhouse. Not even another 2022-esque turnaround could cool his seat entirely at this point, at least as far as the fans are concerned.
2. Hawaii’s pass protection
By this point, it seems plain as day that the Warriors are going to struggle to consistently protect Brayden Schager. They allowed six sacks, 13 quarterback hurries, and 21 total pressures in a 44-20 loss to UNLV, undercutting what had otherwise been one of the offense’s best overall showings this season. At what can be considered the rough halfway point of their year, the Warriors are allowing 4.17 sacks per game, the most in the Mountain West, and that doesn’t seem like it will change soon.
3. Nevada
Maybe it’s beating a dead horse at this point, but the Wolf Pack looked overmatched on the road in a 27-9 defeat to Fresno State. It didn’t even feel as close as the final score would suggest: AJ Bianco’s 19-yard scoring toss to Spencer Curtis with 11 seconds to go was the team’s only offensive touchdown (and a bad beat for Fresno State bettors at that), the offense gained 40.9% of its total offensive yardage on that final scoring drive, they managed roughly half as many yards per play as they allowed to Fresno State (3.3 to 6.9), and the team also saddled itself with a season-high ten penalties for 98 yards. One step forward, three steps back.
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