5. San Jose State – Chevan Cordeiro
Cordeiro had some ups and downs in his years at Hawaii, but he was mostly sharp whenever he set foot on the field against the Wolf Pack. He missed last year’s game with injury but played one of the best games of his career in the Warriors’ win two years ago, so with a fully stocked offense now at his disposal in the South Bay he could make a lot more noise.
4. Iowa – Spencer Petras
Petras is the exemplar of Iowa quarterbacking in that he’ll give you exactly what you need and nothing more. In two years as the Hawkeyes starter, he’s only been asked to throw the ball 26.7 times per game and, in so doing, essentially carbon-copied his 2020 campaign in 2021. One potential hangup: His interception rate rose from 2% to 3.1% last year, something about which head coach Kirk Ferentz is certainly aware.
3. Air Force – Haaziq Daniels
Daniels didn’t have to personally do too much in the Falcons’ victory over Nevada last year, but that’s because his decision-making enabled Brad Roberts and DeAndre Hughes to run wild instead. He hasn’t received as much attention as some of his peers in the conference over the last two seasons, but he improved his yards per attempt and accounted for 18 total touchdowns while engineering the nation’s most dangerous running game. He’s very good.
2. Boise State – Hank Bachmeier
The Broncos lost their matchup with Nevada last year, but you can’t really pin that on Bachmeier. He did everything he could to try and bring Boise State back, taking a lot of punishment in the process, and he still established single-game career highs in completions (34) and passing touchdowns (four) while throwing for 388 yards. That he continued to improve across the board last year despite battling through injury means that the Wolf Pack could have their hands full once again trying to stop him.
1. Fresno State – Jake Haener
If there’s one team against whom Haener has been lights out in his collegiate career, it’s the Wolf Pack. Between the two contests in 2020 and 2021, the Bulldogs quarterback threw for 741 yards, the most he’s had against any one team, with four touchdowns and zero interceptions in 103 attempts. Now that the Nevada defense is reloading, it may be even tougher to stop Haener the third time around.
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