On Mountain High: SDSU faces tough opponent, WSU, in trap game

It’s the third week of college football and while it may not appear so at first glance, it’s a big weekend for Mountain West football. Tonight, Boise State kicks off the weekend at the Glass Bowl in Toledo. The Broncos walloped the Rockets last year 57-14 and have won 32-straight games against unranked opponents. That being said, top-25 teams are 0-4 all time in the Glass Bowl and the Broncos can ill-afford a let-down coming off a bye-week after the season-opening beat-down of Georgia two weeks ago.

Colorado State, seeking its second 3-0 start in three seasons, takes on in-state rival and Pac-12 opponent Colorado. It’s the 85th meeting between the two schools, a rivalry that dates back to Feb. 11, 1893. Last year the Rams lost in the season opener, 24-3.

Wyoming, also seeking a 3-0 start which would match last season’s wins total, travels to Bowling Green in a pivotal contest for the Cowboys who have lost nine consecutive road openers. With the win, Wyoming would take a lot of momentum into its September 24 match-up against Nebraska, who will be coming off a tough game against Washington this weekend.

The biggest game of the weekend is the other Mountain West – Pac-12 match-up, San Diego State hosts Washington State. Already 2-0, this is easily the most important game of the season for the Aztecs thus far. In 2010, Brady Hoke led the Aztecs to a 9-4 record and a Poinsettia Bowl victory. If you look deeper into that 9-4 record you’ll see the Aztecs could’ve easily had a 10 or 11-win season if they completed upsets of Missouri, BYU, TCU and Utah, to whom they lost by three, three, five and four points, respectively.

Hoke, riding the momentum of a surprise season, jumped ship for his Alma Mater Michigan. Next week, the Aztecs get a chance to enact revenge on Hoke for skipping town when they travel to the Big House. They’ve already won their first close game of the season last week 23-20. But before San Diego State gets its crack at Michigan, it must first beat an upstart Washington State squad averaging more than 600 yards of total offense and 61 points per game in what is sure to be another close, but high-scoring affair.

It’s a far cry from the triple-option offenses run by Cal Poly and Army. In those first two games, the Aztecs gave up 540 yards rushing, the bulk of which came last week against Army. The Black Knights gained 403 yards on the ground in 77 attempts and controlled the ball for 42 minutes.

This week, the Aztecs have a much different task – stopping the spread-option Cougar passing attack led by fifth-year senior quarterback Marshall Lobbestael. In his weekly press conference, Aztec head coach Rocky Long expressed concern with transitioning away from defending the triple-option and getting back to stopping a spread option passing attack.

“We’ve been working against a triple-option (offense) for two weeks and now we have a team that’s going to come in here and throw it 60 times. We haven’t rushed the passer and we haven’t covered anybody for 15 or 16 days. It will be interesting to see,” Long said. “It’s a completely different mentality. Now you’re trying to penetrate the line of scrimmage, get up the field, put pressure on the quarterback, trying to cover wide receivers and tackle people in open spaces. It’s a big time change. We’ll see how we handle the change.”

Getting pressure on the quarterback is a necessity if the Aztecs hope to stop Lobbestael. He started the season-opener against FCS Idaho State when junior Jeff Tuel was sick with the flu. When Tuel entered the game in the second quarter and proceeded to break his clavicle, Lobbestael was thrust into the role he lost to Tuel two years earlier when Tuel was a true freshman. Since then, Lobbestael has been nothing short of spectacular. He’s completing 74 percent of his passes and has thrown seven touchdowns, to no interceptions. In fact, the Cougar offense has only turned the ball over once.

Last week, against Army, the Aztecs ability to force eight fumbles and recovery three provided just enough scoring opportunities for Lindley and the high-powered offense. In just 18 minutes with the ball, Lindley threw for 146 yards and a touchdown and speedy back Ronnie Hillman scampered for 117 yards and two touchdowns. If anything is clear about this week’s game against Washington State, it’s that Lindley and Lobbestael are going to put up big numbers. The big question is how each team’s rushing attack will do.

San Diego State has the edge defensively, returning senior linebackers Logan Ketchum Sr. and 2010 first-team all-conference outside linebacker Miles Burris Sr. But, unlike last week when the Aztec’s opponent was primarily a one-dimensional offense, the Cougars not only put up yards through the air, they’ve also averaged 214 yards rushing per game and have scored five touchdowns on the ground. If the Aztecs hope for an undefeated matchup next weekend against Michigan, they must stop the Cougar rushing game.

“We’re playing against a very athletic, big, strong football team that’s coming in with a whole bunch of confidence, because nobody’s even slowed them down,” Long said.

Now, on to this week’s picks. I’ve been 3-3 the past two weeks for an overall record of 6-6. Hopefully, this week I can finally post that first winning record.

Boise State (-21) at Toledo
Pick: Boise State is coming off a bye following a big season-opening victory over Georgia and Toledo will be ready to attack if Boise State comes out slow. However, with a week to prepare, I’m sure Chris Peterson and his coaching staff will be ready for the challenge.
Boise State wins/doesn’t cover 42-27

Wyoming (+9.5) at Bowling Green
Pick: Wyoming can match last season’s win total with a victory. Unfortunately, the Cowboys have not fared well in road-openers, losing nine-straight by an average score of 33-9. Bowling Green’s defense has been strong out of the gate, allowing only 236 yards per game. This early rode game will not end well for the Cowboys.
Wyoming loses/doesn’t cover 35-20

Colorado State (+7.5) vs. Colorado – in Denver
Pick: This is the 85th meeting of the two in-state rivals. The Buffaloes own a 60-20-2 edge overall and have won 17 of the last 23 meetings including last season’s 24-3 season-opener. However, that was the first game of true freshman quarterback Pete Thomas’ career. Now, a year later, Thomas is more experienced and the Rams defense is currently the top-ranked in the Mountain West. The Rams are ready to turn the tables in this rivalry.
Colorado State wins/covers 31-28

Louisiana-Monroe at TCU (-29)
Pick: I’ll be honest, I expected last week’s game against Air Force to be much tougher for TCU and, in fact, I predicted an upset. Fortunately for TCU, I was wrong in my prediction and the Horned Frogs got back to their winning ways. This week is going to be more of the same for TCU – winning big.
TCU wins/covers 48-7

Texas Tech at New Mexico (+21)
Pick: Last year, New Mexico lost big, 52-17, to the Aggies. In the past two years, they have been outscored 100-45. This year, after a demoralizing thrashing last week in Arkansas, the Lobos only solace after this week’s game will be that they won’t have to get on a plane after and can just lick their wounds at home.
New Mexico loses/doesn’t cover 49-13

Hawai’i at UNLV (+18)
Pick: UNLV has had a tough two weekends to start the season. The defense has been picked apart against the high-power offenses of Wisconsin and Washington State. They don’t have it any easier welcoming Hawaii to town, a year before the two schools become conference rivals. The holes in the defense will be too much for UNLV to overcome once again, but the offense should get it going.
UNLV loses/covers 31-21

Washington State at San Diego State (-5)
Pick: San Diego State makes the difficult transition from defending a triple-option to a spread option and while they have the more experienced defense, I think the Cougar offense is going to be too much for the Aztecs to handle. It’s going to be a high-scoring affair, that’s for sure, but I think San Diego State will get caught looking ahead to next week’s meeting against Michigan and will suffer a tough loss.
San Diego State loses/doesn’t cover 34-30