The Mountain West football teams continue to finish off their non-conference schedules this week with exciting matchups in Fresno, Calif., and in Notre Dame, Ind. All times are Mountain.
Friday, Oct. 7
No. 5 Boise St. Broncos (4-0) vs. Fresno St. Bulldogs (2-3), 7:00 p.m., ESPN/ESPN3: This is a preview of what will be a conference game between the two teams starting next year when the Bulldogs join the Mountain West. Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore has 42 career victories and should break the three-way tie he is in with Georgia's David Greene and TCU's Andy Dalton on Friday.
Saturday, Oct. 8
Air Force Falcons (3-1) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2), 1:30 p.m., NBC: This series has been one-sided in favor of Notre Dame since they began playing each other in 1964. The Fighting Irish are 22-6 all-time and 10-4 at home. Air Force did defeat Notre Dame in South Bend back in 2007, but that was a far different Irish program. If Air Force hopes to win this game, Tim Jefferson will need to have a big game.
UNLV Rebels (1-3) vs. Nevada Wolf Pack (1-3), 5:00 p.m., ESPN GamePlan/ESPN3: The Rebels are a bit confusing. After defeating Hawaii, 40-20, they then dropped last week's game to Southern Utah, 41-16. That's an FCS school, mind you. Nevada, meanwhile, has picked up losses to some very good teams: Oregon, Texas Tech and Boise State.
Wyoming Cowboys (3-1) vs, Utah St. Aggies (1-3), 6:00 p.m., ESPN GamePlan/ESPN3: The Cowboys are back in action after taking a week off from their loss to Nebraska. They'll face Utah State, possibly the best 1-3 team in the nation. The Aggies almost upset Auburn, they lost in overtime to Colorado State and then let a last-seconds touchdown by BYU end their chance at victory last Friday.
TCU Horned Frogs (3-2) vs. San Diego St. Aztecs (3-2), 8:30 p.m. MT: TCU has been one of the biggest disappointing teams this season. The Horned Frogs opened the season with a 50-48 shootout loss to the Baylor Bears but then won three straight. However, in two of those games, they needed to come back from early deficits. The usually solid defense of TCU has turned to mush and that allowed SMU to score 23 points in the fourth quarter, forcing overtime. SMU scored first and TCU's Casey Pachall threw an incompletion on fourth down to end the game. San Diego State had last week off to recover from their loss to Michigan, but quarterback Ryan Lindley and running back Ronnie Hillman should be back to their usual thing--should TCU's defense continue its decline.
For more on the Mountain West, visit the Mountain West Connection.