Mountain West Predictions: Picks against the spread for Week 7

Making predictions against the spread for every game in the Mountain West this week.

In a week where two college football coaches were fired and another resigned, we were a bit surprised to see things remain the same in the lackluster Mountain West. While North Texas’ Dan McCarney and USC’s Steve Sarkisian were terminated early in the week and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier joined them voluntarily shortly thereafter, the Mountain West had nothing to report.

That’s not to say things aren’t heating up for several coaches, beginning with Fresno State’s Tim DeRuyter. As’ Yahoo’s Pat Forde points out, DeRuyter was a hot commodity when he won 20 games his first two years with the Bulldogs.

Then came last season’s 6-8 record, which could be excused since the team was expected to struggle without star quarterback Derek Carr. However, nobody expected things to get so bad so fast. Fresno State has actually played worse than its 1-5 record reflects, and the Bulldogs are down to their fourth-string quarterback.

Joining DeRuyter on the hot seat: Wyoming’s Craig Bohl and Hawaii’s Norm Chow. But both fan bases are considerably more patient than the one in Fresno. Here’s thinking they’re going to be even more irritable following Saturday’s impending loss to visiting UNLV.

That’s one prediction for this week’s slate of games and here are the rest of the picks against the spread for the Week 7 games in the Mountain West

Results
Last week: 5-1 ATS. Overall: 21-24 ATS
Note: Games involving FCS teams had no line and have not been included in ATS picks.

Boise State (-9.5) at Utah State: The Broncos are rolling behind freshman QB Brett Rypien, who is completing 70.2 percent of his passes. We like the way the Aggies are putting things together after a rough start, but they’ve lost 12 straight to Boise State, and the Broncos are playing as well as anyone in the country right now. Pick: Boise State -9.5

UNLV (-6.5) at Fresno State: The Rebels handed us our only loss last week when they fell to San Jose State in overtime. Fresno State is looking to avoid its first 0-4 conference start since 1978, but we lost hope in the Bulldogs midway through last week’s debacle against Utah State. Pick: UNLV -6.5

Air Force at Colorado State (+3.5): The Rams turned in a dismal effort against Boise State, but we’re willing to give them a pass. We’d like to think they get back on track at home, but don’t sleep on Air Force, whose defense ranks fifth in the FBS.  The Falcons are 2-10 on the road in conference games since 2010, but they’ll get the win here. Pick: Air Force -3.5

Nevada (-6.5) at Wyoming: The Cowboys have had 15 players suffer a concussion this season, and it’s good to see Bohl taking the issue seriously. Unfortunately, his team continues to struggle. Normally we’d pick Nevada in a rout, but four of the last five games between the teams have been decided by seven points or fewer. Pick: Wyoming +6.5

Hawaii (+5.5) at New Mexico: The Lobos took a step backward in last week’s loss to Nevada, but they have a good chance to rebound against injury-plagued Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors are expected to have QB Max Wittek (knee) back for this one as they look to snap a five-game losing skid to the Lobos. Pick: New Mexico -5.5

San Diego State (-2.5) at San Jose State: This one features a marquee matchup at running back between SDSU’s Donnel Pumphrey and the Spartans’ Tyler Ervin, who has already rushed for 11 scores. San Diego State has won seven of the last 10 in the series and boasts the better defense. Pick: San Diego State -2.5 

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