By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
If you go by the overall records in the Mountain West football race, it’s obvious where you don’t want to be: In the New Mexico Lobos’ Mountain Division.
There are three teams in the Mountain Division with five overall wins or more and not a single team in the West Division with more than four wins.
The surprise team in the Mountain West has to be Colorado State. The Rams were considered to still be in slight rebuilding mode entering only their third seasaon under Coach Jim McElwian, the former Alabama offfensive coordinator. But the Rams have won 12 of their past 15 games, including the 2013 New Mexico Bowl, and have the league’s best record a 6-1. They carry a five-game win streak into Saturday’s game vs. the Wyoming Cowboys.
Amazingly, the Rams are bowl eligible with five games to play. There are 16 FBS team bowl eligible after eight weeks.
However, that doesn’t mean the Rams will win the Mountain Division. Boise State (5-2 and 3-1 MW) were picked to win that division and Boise handed CSU (2-1 MW) its only loss on the year: 37-24 in Boise. That could be a pivotal win.
The Rams have some impressive wins: 31-17 over Colorado, 24-21 at Boston College, 42-17 over Tulsa and 16-13 over Utah State. Air Force of the Mountain Division also has five wins and a very solid Utah State team is at 4-3.
The best bets for bowl eligibility in the West Division are Rocky Long’s San Diego State Aztecs at 4-3 and Nevada at 4-3. San Jose State has but three wins and Fresno State is a surprise at 3-5. The Aztecs lead that division at 3-1 with San Jose State at 2-1.
Stats, numbers and records also can be deceiving. In head-to-head competition, the West Division holds a narrow 4-3 advantage, but you can put some perspective on those four wins by noting all four came over Wyoming and New Mexico, who are at the bottom of the Mountain Division. The West also held a 7-12 edge in 2013.
If the Mountain West standings were frozen today, it would be Boise State playing San Diego State in the Mountain West Championship Game set for Saturday, Dec. 6. It probably would surprise nobody, if that pairing does hold up. A big hurdle for the Aztecs is a Saturday game this week at high-scoring Nevada and the Aztecs also have to visit Boise.
Boise State has the win over CSU and a conference loss to Air Force. The Broncos have played maybe the two toughest teams in their division and are still in the top spot. The Lobos have a chance to be spoilers when Boise State steps onto Branch Field on Nov. 8. The Broncos also have to get past a visit to Boise by SDSU.
There are a lot of games to play.
Teams love to win championships and they also like to avoid the cellar. The Lobos are at the bottom of the Mountain Division at 0-3 and their next game is at UNLV, which sits on the bottom of the West Division at 1-2 along with 1-2 Nevada. Wyoming is a game up on New Mexico with a 1-2 divisional mark in the Mountain race. Nevada, at 4-3 and coming off a 42-35 win at Brigham Young, is not expected to stay at the bottom of the West standings.
MW Attendance: The attendance figures in the Mountain West aren’t exactly staggering so far in 2014. Of the 12 programs, ten of the schools average fewer than 32,000 per game. Fresno State tops the Mountain pulling in a home average of 35,868 followed by Boise State at 34,418. The Lobos are averaging 23,012 with a high of 25,802. San Jose State is at the bottom at 13,164.
MW’s Top Quarterback? Sure, that’s open for debate and for 2014, you probably have to include CSU’s Garrett Grayson and Boise State’s Grant Hedrick in the discussion. Grayson is the league’s top passer and has 16 TD tosses this year. But Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo has been sizzling for the Wolf Pack for several seasons and tops the league in total offense with a 305.4 average heading into week No. 8. For sure, Fajardo is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the Mountain West. Fajardo had 332 total yards at BYU last Saturday and has 11,735 total yards in his career at Nevada. The rest of the Mountain West is probably happy that Fajardo is a senior.
The Lobos might be happy that Nevada is not on their schedule this season. The Lobos aren’t as lucky in dealing with Hedrick (Nov. 8) and Grayson (Nov. 22).
Mountain West quick hitters: CSU kicker Jared Roberts has a MW-record 91 consecutive point-after kicks … Utah State’s Nick Vigil is the only player in the country to start on both offense and defense (LB/RB) in the same game his season. Vigil has done it three times … UNM’s Cole Gautsche is tied for second on the MW’s all-time list for 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback with eight. The MW record is nine … New Mexico sophomore linebacker Dakota Cox is the only active player averaging more than 10 stops (10.21) per game in his career … The Lobos are No. 6 in the nation allowing only 15.50 kick-return yards per attempt.