Mountain West Football: Three Things to Look for This Fall

To go along with ESPN, here is my three things to look for:

1. Can anyone dethrone BYU—or at least beat them once this year? New Mexico and Utah look to have the best chance to do that. Utah has 10 of their 11 starters back on offense, and get Matt Asiata and Brent Casteel back after early injuries. New Mexico always plays BYU close, and they do get Rodney Ferguson back after being ineligible for their bowl game last year. BYU has to play at Utah, TCU, and Air Force in conference play.

2. Can Steve Fairchild, the new coach at Colorado State, do what Troy Calhoun at Air Force did in his first year? Fairchild will have one of the best running attacks in the conference, with Kyle Bell fully recovered from his ACL tear. Toss in Gatrell Johnson III and super stud TE Korey Sperry, who will be back after an early-season knee injury.

3. Will Wyoming ever live up to the hype? The Cowboys have a talented defense that only allowed one player all last year to allow a 100-yard rusher.  Also, the Pokes need to finish strong—instead of faltering like last year's team, which started 4-1 and did not even qualify for a bowl game. 

Wyoming has a realistic chance to go 6-1, with home games against a rebuilding Air Force, I-AA North Dakota State, Ohio, San Diego State, and Utah.  If Wyoming can go at worst 4-3 at home and somehow manage to go 3-2 on their road, that would be a great year.

But their road schedule is tough, with games at BYU, New Mexico, TCU, Tennessee, and UNLV.  With a non-conference schedule of Ohio, North Dakota State, Bowling Green, and a tough one at Tennessee, the Cowboys have a good chance of going bowling.

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