La. Tech 52
Illinois 24
Stellar quarterback play in the WAC is becoming a norm. La. Tech senior Colby Cameron threw four touchdown passes as the Bulldogs ran away from the Illini in the second half of their blowout victory at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. The Bulldogs took a four-point halftime lead and scored 31 unanswered points in the second half to embarrass the Big Ten program. The win makes the Bulldogs an intriguing team to follow in terms of BCS buster ability. A neutral site game against SEC opponent Texas A&M later in the season will be the true test.
New Mexico 27
New Mexico State 14
It’s starting to look like the same old story for the Aggies of New Mexico State. The bottom tier Mountain West Lobos went in to Las Cruces and jumped out to a 10-0 lead that they never relinquished. Aggie quarterback Andrew Manley played well with 256 yards and a touchdown, but the running game wasn’t there for New Mexico State with only 78 yards as a team. The Aggies can get back on track when they face Texas-San Antonio next week in the first WAC game of the season.
Utah State 31
Colorado State 19
The Aggies will fit in to the Mountain West just fine. Utah State overcame a rough outing from their sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton with a dominant rushing attack to come away with a 12-point road victory over their future Mountain West foes. Keeton threw two interceptions that hardly mattered because running back Kerwynn Williams ran for 205 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that put the game away for good. A two-point loss on the road against Wisconsin is the only thing that stands in the way of perfection for the Aggies.
San Jose State 38
San Diego State 34
The Spartans are proving that their week-one performance against Stanford in Palo Alto was anything but a fluke. David Fales once again shined with a 260-yard and four touchdown performance, which includes hitting Chandler Jones for the touchdown with 50 seconds left in the game to put San Jose State ahead for good. The Spartans overcame a 202-yard day from Aztec running back Adam Muema and went back and forth with the Spartans, trading scores from halftime on. The Spartans were just fortunate enough to be able to get the last score. The future Mountain West program will travel to Navy next week.
Texas State 41
Stephen F. Austin 37
When the Bobcats beat the Houston Cougars in week one, it may have quelled some of the questioning of whether or not Texas State was FBS ready. This game, despite winning, should bring those questions back to the surface. The Bobcats nearly blew a 24-point lead in the second half, withstanding 20 unanswered points from Stephen F. Austin to pull away with a 41-37 victory at home. The Bobcats have junior wide receiver Isaiah Battle to thank for the win after he put up 199 yards of total offense on only nine touches.
Texas San Antonio 56
Northwest Oklahoma State 3
Along with La. Tech, the Roadrunners are the only other undefeated team in the WAC. With one catch — UTSA has yet to beat an FBS opponent. Granted, two of those victories have come against Georgia State and South Alabama, who are members of the Sun Belt, but neither of those programs are full FBS members either. UTSA junior quarterback Eric Soza completed five passes for 115 yards and a touchdown before sitting the second half.
WAC power
rankings
1. La. Tech
2. Utah State
3. San Jose State
4. Texas State
5. New Mexico State
6. Idaho
7. Texas-San Antonio
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]