BYU Wins Holy War

BYU Wins Holy War
George, like Collie and Harline before him, is now still open!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Week 2 Predictions for the Mountain West Conference

Both Scott and I are trying to rebound from a bad first week of predictions...

It was a hard first week of predictions.

Mark (6-5) Head-to-Head (0-0-1)
Scott (6-5) Head-to-Head (0-0-1)


This weeks game for BYU is the marque game in the conference. There aren't really any great games on paper nationally this week; however, you never know when a team will rise up and bite somebody. (Although it probably won't happen this week) Here are this weeks predictions.

#15 BYU @ Washington 1PM MT FSN

Speaking from a historical point of view, this is the game that should trip up the Cougars. They are playing a lower level team from a BCS conference on the road. They are also facing a very mobile quarterback, which has historically been a problem for the BYU defense. Historically BYU hasn't been able to move the ball on the ground against faster PAC-10 defenses. This is the game where BYU will have to take the next step in order to become a major college program. BYU will finally be able to get over the hump, thanks in large part to the better offensive line and running back.

BYU 42 Washington 21

BYU has a tendency to play poorly on the road against out-of-conference teams. I think BYU struggles early and then finds their rhythm in the second quarter. Washington did not look very good last week against Oregon, and it appears that Jake Locker is trying to carry that team on his back. Just like the UNI score last week, the final score makes the game look closer that it really is.

Scott's Pick: BYU 27 Washington 17


Sacramento State @ Colorado State 1:30PM MT

This is a great way for Colorado State to get confidence for the rest of the season.

CSU 49 Sacramento State 7

Colorado State is still in transition and needs more time to really play competitively. Fortunately Sac Sate comes to town. This game is going to be closer than CSU fans would like, but that is what you get with a young inexperienced team.

Scott's Pick: CSU 24 Sacramento State 14


San Diego State @ Notre Dame 1:45PM MT NBC

Everybody is going to overreact after this game, because Notre Dame is going to look amazing after they destroy San Diego State this weekend.

Notre Dame 42 SDSU 10

After San Diego State laid an egg last week against Cal Poly many would say that their season is finished. Not so fast my friend…If I remember correctly, ND was a very bad team last year. Yes, they have the talent, but man were they bad! ND had a first week bye, so we weren't able to see ND is finally putting things together under Chuck Weise. I don’t expect ND to be much improved over last year’s team, but they will be better than SDSU by a TD.

Scott's Pick:Notre Dame 24 SDSU 17


Air Force @ Wyoming 1:30 PM MT CBSC

Wyoming looked awful, and Air Force looked good. Yet, I am going with History, and according to history Wyoming should be able to bounce back and handle the option of Air Force.

Wyoming 28 Air Force 17

One thing constant at Air Force is their ability to control the game on the ground. Last week the rushed for over 400 yards. I expect Air Force to run all over Wyoming. Nothing about Wyoming was really impressive. They would have lost the game except the Ohio QB decided to toss the ball right to a Wyoming defender.

Scott's Pick: Air Force 31 Wyoming 14


Texas A&M @ New Mexico 3PM MT

New Mexico laid an egg against TCU. The veteran offense of New Mexico wasn't able to move the ball against the defense of TCU. I think that the Lobos will rebound due to playing the game at home.

New Mexico 24 Texas A&M 21

What can I say about this game…New Mexico laid down to TCU last week, and A&M lost to Ark. State. I expect A&M to bounce back and control this game on the ground. New Mexico has decent talent on the offensive side of the ball, so I expect them to be better this week but A&M has overall better talent.

Scott's Pick: Texas A&M 28 New Mexico 14


Stephen F. Austin @ TCU 5PM MT

TCU might be resting the starters after the first quarter.

TCU 54 Stephen F. Austin 3

After beating down New Mexico last week, TCU keeps rolling.

Scott's Pick: TCU 42 Stephen F. Austin 7


UNLV @ #22 Utah 6PM MT Mtn.

Historically Utah has not done well in games following big non-conference road wins. Going into the Big House, and winning was a big opening week win for the Utes. Now they must not overlook a bad UNLV team at home. I believe this is the year that Utah stays committed and doesn't overlook any opponents.

Utah 35 UNLV 10

One thing about UNLV is that they know how to beat Utah. If they can get pressure on Johnson, Utah’s offense will struggle. Look for Utah to come out and put UNLV away early and erase last years loss. Utah has everything to lose if they don’t win this game, which is exactly why I am picking UNLV in the upset. Louis Sekoda kicks five field goals in the loss.

Scott's Pick: UNLV 24 Utah 15


Utah State @ #18 Oregon 1:30PM MT

Utah State really looked good in the first quarter against UNLV. After that things didn't turn out too hot for the Aggies. This week I anticipate another good first quarter for the Aggies, but then the better athletes of Oregon will finish them off early in the second quarter.

Oregon 35 Utah State 13

Enough said...
Scott's Pick:Oregon 42 Utah State 13


Miami @ #5 Florida 6PM MT ESPN

Miami had a great recruiting class, and appear to be on the way back to being a good program. Yet, it will take a few years for thug U to be ready to compete with the in-state rivals.

Florida 28 Miami 7

Florida is on top and Miami is still a ways away. I expect things to get closer down the road, but Miami is still rebuilding. This game isn’t close.

Scott's Pick: Florida 42 Miami 10


Cincinnati @ #4 Oklahoma 12:30PM MT ABC

I smell blowout.

Oklahoma 42 Cincinnati 10

Was last years Cincinnati team a one year wonder, or are they on their way to competing regularly in the Big Least…I mean the Big East? This game will tell us a lot about this team. Unfortunately they play a pretty good team. I think Oklahoma comes out strong and coasts in for the easy victory.

Scott's Pick: Oklahoma 35 Cincinnati 17


#8 West Virginia @ East Carolina 2:30PM MT ESPN

East Carolina beat a down Virginia Tech team at home in a late come from behind victory. West Virginia will bring them back to earth.

West Virginia 35 East Carolina 14

Do they still play football at West Virginia??? I thought they canceled the program because Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan. Anyone who says they are a better team without Rodriguez is wrong. They still have two of the best playmakers in all of college football in White and Divine, which makes them scary on offense. Pat White seemed to find a passing game last week, which makes the Mountaineers much more dangerous. The question is whether the Pirate’s defense is up to the challenge. This is going to be closer than most people think. Look for the Pirates to contain White and Divine and make the Mountaineers beat them through the air.

Scott's Pick: West Virginia 28 East Carolina 24


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the blog mark. I read it everytime it comes out. I don't always agree with your opions but I respect your point of veiw. Now as for scott, I don't know who the heck he is but I can tell that he is a zoobie stuck in "the quest" and has no respect for any other team and can't see beyond byu to make a valid or fair opion on any other team or game. Anyways I lost all respect for scott after his comment on the AGGIE game coming up this weekend. I have to say I will never read anything posted by him again! Enough said.....

Mark said...

I feel bad about the "Enough said..." remark that was accredited to Scott. That might have been more bad editing on my part when I was putting the story together. I was trying to sum up Scott's view on the game.

Anonymous said...

Dude...get over your little man's complex. Wait a minute...you are an Aggie, you were just born that way. I love how you can judge Scott without knowing anything about him, yet Scott can't judge your team. Guess what, he picked USU over UNLV last week. I don't know how you think he comes off that way. And it looks like Scott didn't even write that about the USU game. Go figure.

Unknown said...

Haha!!! This is great. Love the drama. Jake, is that you?? :) Hey, at least someone other than me has posted a comment. I love how we can hide behind "anonymous" and say whatever we want.

On a side note, Mark your quicktime BYU link is killing me. I can't download quicktime on my computer at work and every time I visit the page it messes me up.

Jake said...

No Scott, this is me and I have to say Air Force over Wyoming by 17 points? Really? If that happens I will root for Michigan the following week...

You were right on the video, it was bogging it down, but it was a good way to kick off the season. It has now been removed.

Anonymous said...

Jake, I hope you would root for Michigan over Notre Dame. That is pretty much a no brainer. Did you see the Wyoming game??? Me neither, but it sounded horrible! ;) All I have to say that throughout the history of the world every great mind has been oppressed and ridiculed. I guess I am no exception (for those that have a hard time with sarcasm, that was a sarcastic statement).

Anonymous said...

WOW I really think scott is a joke. I'm not judging you just the fact you are an ignorant zoobie. And this is a blog I don't care who you are, you could be the coolest person in the world, I don't know. But I simply just don't like your writing or your opinion if you can't take it, stop blogging! go huskies

Unknown said...

So what about my opinion don't you like? Just wondering...

Unknown said...

Oh yeah, looks like Jake is rooting for Michigan this week. I think you should wear a Michigan shirt to the BYU game;)

Anonymous said...

I just thought I'd suggest changing the name of the blog to maybe "the byu podcast". That way people won't read it assuming they are getting a balanced opinion. It wouldn't matter if it was a u of u one or a usu one, just let people know what they're in for so they won't have to waste time finding it out for themselves. Even though it wouldn't take that long....