Stirring the WAC Brew: Conference Power Rankings Heading Into Week 4

Now that week 3 in the WAC has come and gone, the pace in the action picked up significantly. 

Boise State and Fresno State returned to action after having bye weeks, neither team showed any signs of rust whatsoever. 

Nevada put on an offensive clinic piling up points at will when the California Golden Bears visited Reno.  Truthfully, the Bears may have had much better luck playing the slots or attempting to play the dealer in Blackjack.

Let's glace back at the new WAC Power Rankings as week 4 approaches, and afterward, you can decide which team or teams in the WAC looked more impressive. 

9) New Mexico State Aggies: (0-2)

Unless a tenth team had been added the WAC in the past week, the New Mexico State Aggies stake firm claim to the nine spot in the WAC Power Rankings heading into Week 4.

El Paso, Texas’ Sun Bowl hosted the 42-10 whipping as the UTEP Miners rolled to an easy victory last Saturday. 

The Miners shot out of the gates dropping 14 points on the board in the first quarter, but it wasn’t until UTEP ran up a 21 point differential when New Mexico State reached the end zone.  Before halftime approached, the Aggies trimmed the lead down to 21-10.

Quarterback Matt Christian’s 21-40, 200 yard passing performance proved too little to build on as they fell to 0-2 on the 2010 season.

This Saturday, New Mexico State gears up for another road test against the Kansas Jayhawks (1-2) under the lights of Lawrence’s Memorial Stadium.

8) San Jose State Spartans: (1-2)

Taking a break from getting lashed by back-to-back top 15 ranked teams, San Jose State played on their own turf taking on 1AA Southern Utah in a thrilling 16-11 win.

Though not a portrait of beauty victory wise, a win is a win.  Lamon Muldrow scampered into the end zone putting the Spartans ahead for good with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Spartan quarterback Jordan LaSecla threw for 193 yards completing 24 of 35 passing attempts, connecting 5 passes to Jalal Beauchman for 73 yards.

Southern Utah outmatched San Jose State in virtually every aspect of Saturday’s game including total yards and clock control, but the underlined topic of the game pertained to all the yellow laundry airing out all over the field.

The two teams combined for 22 penalties for a hefty 222 yards.

San Jose State will hit the road for the third time this season as they travel to Salt Lake City for a date with the No.13 Utah Utes on Saturday.

7) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs: (1-2)

Leading 23-16 at the half, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs squandered an 8 point lead when the Navy Midshipmen struck for 14 in the third quarter alone.  Navy rallied forth to a 37-23 victory.

Uncharacteristically, Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs threw 8 of 14 for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns in Joe Aillet Stadium Saturday night. 

Dobbs added another 67 yards on the ground to pile onto the team’s 516 yard outburst.

Colby Cameron tried his best to sustain the early Bulldog onslaught going 31-43 for 251 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Lennon Creer carried the ball 13 times amassing 90 yards in Louisiana Tech’s effort. 

If the Bulldogs take anything out of this loss, it’s that they scored on their first five possessions of the game while gaining 328 total yards of offense. 

Apparently, Navy did make the necessary adjustments shoring up the open gaps in their defense before the second half kickoff.

Saturday, Louisiana Tech stays home to host the Southern Mississippi Eagles.  The Eagles are flying high off last week’s 31-16 win over the Kansas Jayhawks.

6) Hawaii Warriors: (1-2)

Shutting the Buffaloes out during the first half last week was the equivalent to finding fools’ gold.  The 10-0 lead vanished in the third quarter.

From there, Colorado never looked back winning the game 31-13 in Boulder last weekend. 

The Warrior rushing game didn’t bother to show up totaling up a whopping 7 yards.  Quarterback Bryant Moniz passed for 330 yards completing 27 out of 41 attempts with one touchdown and one interception.

Moniz’s primary receiver Kealoha Pilares reeled in six receptions for 117 yards and one touchdown in Hawaii’s attempt to survive their second straight week on the road.

Hawaii returns home as Charleston Southern leaves the continental United States this weekend. 

5) Utah State Aggies: (1-2) (0-1)

Slipping from 4 to 5 this week, the Utah State Aggies plunged to the turf hard as Fresno State went into Logan and handed out a 41-24 beating.

The Bulldog defense had Diondre Borel rattled all day. Borel completed 11 of 23 pass attempts for 106 yards; however the running game stepped up to rush for 205 yards making the game respectable.

Fresno State outscored Utah State 24-7 in the second half while the Bulldogs offense exploded. 

Fresno took their first lead at 27-24 within the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.  From that point on, the romp was on and the Aggies did not recover.

Next up, Utah State travels to Southern California to face the San Diego State Aztecs this weekend at Qualcomm Stadium.

4) Idaho Vandals: (2-1)

Leaping back to the No. 4 overall position in the WAC Power Rankings, the Idaho Vandals leapfrog the Utah State Aggies after their rebound win following their trip to Lincoln.

A week removed from the woodshed beating at the hands of the Big Red, Idaho found comfort back home against the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. 

The Vandals regrouped quickly dismantling the Rebels 30-7 in Moscow, Idaho’s Kibbie Dome.  Allowing just 182 yards of total offense to UNLV, Idaho’s offense took care of the rest.

Nathan Enderle’s 15-of-27, 210 yard and one touchdown effort propelled the Vandals to 2-0 at home this season. 

Idaho goes back on the road to take on Colorado State this Saturday.  So far the Rams are 0-3 on the young season.

3) Nevada Wolf Pack: (3-0)

Last Friday, watching the Nevada-California game could’ve passed for a game of Tecmo Super Bowl for the original Nintendo.  Nevada defeated the California Golden Bears 52-31 in a wild shootout on the Wolf Pack’s home field.

Colin Kaepernick played like a man possessed sucking the life out of the Golden Bears on his own assortment of play calls.  Kaepernick went 10-15 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions and stacked on another 148 rushing yards to boot.

Vai Taua carried the ball 25 times for 151 yards including a touchdown.

Though Cal won the total yards battle 502-497, Nevada easily controlled the clock for nearly 15 minutes more.  As a team, the Wolf Pack rushed for 318 yards illustrating why they are one of the premier running teams in the country.

Saturday Nevada goes to Provo, Utah for a date with the BYU Cougars.  BYU collapsed in Tallahassee when the Florida State Seminoles walked all over the Cougars by a final of 31-10.

2) Fresno State Bulldogs: (2-0) (1-0)

Pat Hill’s Bulldogs stormed into Utah State and beat one of the best offensive teams in the nation 41-24.

Not a bad way to begin conference play.

Ryan Colburn completed 15 of 23 passes for 149 yards, one touchdown and one interception.  Colburn also added another 40 yards on the ground through 8 carries.

A.J. Ellis on the other hand, ran wild on the Aggies running the ball 29 times for 165 yards and three touchdowns as Fresno State won the battle of total yardage 379-311. 

Not an easy accomplishment facing an explosive powder keg like Utah State.

This Saturday, Fresno State takes their 3-0 record to Oxford, Mississippi to play the Jeremiah Masoli and the Ole’ Miss Rebels.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET.

1) No. 3 Boise State Broncos: (2-0)

As strong of a message as Fresno State sent to the WAC, Boise sent a message just as loud and clear in Laramie as they clobbered the Wyoming Cowboys 51-6.

The game was over from the kickoff.  The Broncos scored 17 points in each of the first two quarters taking a 34-0 lead to the locker room at intermission.

Boise State’s defense yielded only 135 yards of total offense, compared to the 648 put up on their own. 

Kellen Moore passed for 370 yards on 20-30 for two touchdowns and his first interception on the season. 

Titus Young caught 4 passes for 94 yards and his counterpart Austin Pettis raked in 3 receptions for 88 yards.

Running back Doug Martin rumbled for 105 of the Broncos 275 rushing yards in Boise’s second win on the road in 2010.

On Saturday night, Bronco Stadium will be rocking as Boise State finally kicks off in their own stadium. 

Trying for their 17th straight win, Boise will have to go through Pac 10 power No. 24 Oregon State on the Smurf Turf.  Kickoff is at 8 pm ET.