Santoro: MW a two-team show … unless Pack beats Fresno State

Sports Fodder:

Are we in the middle of the worst Mountain West football season in the history of the conference? Well, it's certainly not the best.

All dozen Mountain West teams have now played six games and just three of them (Boise State and UNLV at 5-1 and San Jose State at 4-2) have winning records.

The other nine teams in the Mountain West have a combined record of 19-36 with six of those wins coming against fellow conference teams. The Mountain West overall is just 21-28 in non-conference games with none of those wins catching the attention of anyone east of Denver.

Many of the losses, though, ranged from disappointing (Oregon over Boise State, Syracuse over UNLV, Navy over Air Force, Central Michigan over San Diego State) to discouraging (Montana State over New Mexico, Idaho over Wyoming, North Texas over Wyoming, Temple over Utah State, Sam Houston over Hawaii).

The off-the-field news, of course, has been a disaster, with Boise State, Fresno State, Utah State, San Diego State and Colorado State pledging their allegiance to the Pac-12 starting in 2026.

Anything can happen, of course, but as things stand now it appears the Mountain West will be completely void of drama this year as far as the standings are concerned. The conference regular-season title will likely be decided Oct 25 in Las Vegas when Boise State and UNLV meet and the league championship will be UNLV against Boise State on Dec. 6, hosted by the team that wins on Oct.25. Everyone else is just fighting for bowl games their fans bases will largely ignore during the holiday season. But even those bowl games right now seem reserved for just Boise State, UNLV, Fresno State, Colorado State and, maybe, San Diego State and Nevada.

The only true excitement connected to the Mountain West, as usual, is attached to Boise State. Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty leads the nation with 1,248 rushing yards and 18 total (17 rushing) touchdowns and is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. Who ever thought a Mountain West player would have an honest-to-goodness chance of winning the Heisman? Well, we see if he does on Dec. 14.

Boise State, now ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 19 in the coaches’ poll, also has a solid chance at representing Group of 5 schools in the 12-team College Football Playoff. UNLV, which has one vote in the AP rankings and 12 in the coaches’ poll (six Mountain West coaches vote there, by the way), also could jump into the mix if they beat Boise twice over the next two months.

If Jeanty wins the Heisman and either Boise or UNLV is in the Playoff, the Mountain West will send out a press release declaring this the greatest season in the league's history. Nobody, of course, will buy it because there will be seven schools (the ones the Pac-12 doesn't want) seriously wondering whether the Mountain West will be the new Big Sky or old Big West in two seasons.

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Here's hoping the television networks, or at least the ones the new Pac-12 will be talking to sometime in the next year or so, noticed what happened at Mackay Stadium last Saturday. The Wolf Pack, winners of just six of its last 31 games going into Saturday, beat the Oregon State Beavers, 42-37.

If the networks are planning on heaping considerably more money on the new Pac-12 compared to the Mountain West starting in 2026, well, they might want to reconsider. The Wolf Pack showed that Oregon State, one of just two teams from the former Pac-12 (with Washington State) that will help carry the banner of the new league in 2026, is not at a higher level than the current or future Mountain West.

The NCAA knows this, of course, since it already has banished the old "Power 5 Conference" label and sliced it down to Power 4 (even though it is really a Power 2 with the Big Ten and SEC). There will also be no official Pac-12 champion this year to automatically put in the College Football Playoff. Is it really a conference if it has no champion?

As far as Oregon State and Washington State are concerned, the Pac-12 died last winter and only left it the name in the will. And that name, however historic, is about as valuable as $1 million in Confederate money in a dusty old suitcase after the Civil War.

Oregon State has, for the most part, always been a closet Mountain West school. So, this is nothing new. But the Beavers before this season came from a good family when the Pac-12 truly existed and were treated with respect accordingly. But that family abandoned them. The only thing Pac-12 about Oregon State, Washington State and the five Mountain West traitors they lured with false promises and slight-of-hand in 2026 will be the sticker on their helmets.

The Pac-12 is dead. Long live the Pac-12. But it is not coming back. Yes, we understand that means the Pack's win on Saturday loses a lot of its shine because Oregon State is now only a Pac-12 school in name only. The Pack win on Saturday was, in reality, just a win over a mediocre independent FBS school. It was not a victory over a Pac-12 school because, well, there is no Pac-12 anymore. Saying it was a win over a Pac-12 school only tarnishes the great victories the Pack achieved over true Pac-12 schools at the time, like 2003 over Washington, 2010, 2012 and 2021 over Cal, 2014 over Washington State and, yes, even 2018 over Oregon State.

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Wolf Pack fans have to be excited about how backup quarterback Chubba Purdy was used. Purdy was sprinkled into the lineup, and he completed an 18-yard pass, caught an 11-yard pass and ran for an 18-yard gain. Purdy's pass went to starting quarterback Brendon Lewis and one of Lewis' five completions went to Purdy. Two of the Pack's six completions went to quarterbacks.

It was a true Purdy Potpourri of offense. It was the most exciting, invigorating display of offensive creativity the Wolf Pack has given us since the Jay Norvell Travelling Circus left town after the 2021 season.

Offensive coordinators around the Mountain West are now probably sweating and developing nervous twitches thinking about how to stop the Lewis-Purdy Pack Party, given the endless possibilities that must be accounted for. I believe we are seeing some of head coach Jeff Choate's Boise State bloodlines coming to the surface. Choate is an old school, loud, gruff, smack-'em-in-the-mouth linebacker coach, but he seems to have paid attention during his six years in Boise (2006-11) to all of the gadget, trick plays Boise head coach Chris Petersen unleashed on unsuspecting foes.

Finding creative, deceptive ways to utilize Lewis and Purdy is a credit to Choate, offensive coordinator Matt Lubick and quarterback coach David Gilbertson. Nevada football is fun again, Pack fans. Enjoy it. And pay attention to all of the quarterbacks on the field.

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Another quarterback disguised as a running back is Savion Red. The former Texas Longhorns receiver/running back is one of the best running backs in the Mountain West this season with 593 yards and seven touchdowns. But Red cut his teeth in college football last season as a Wildcat formation quarterback at Texas and he did it so well the Longhorns called it their "Code Red" package.

Red has already repeatedly demonstrated those abilities this year with the Pack. The second of his four touchdowns against Oregon State, for example, was as a Wildcat quarterback.

Red has been a revelation this year for the Pack, leaving one to wonder where Choate's run-it-down-their-throat philosophy would be without him. Red is averaging 6.9 yards a carry this year and is clearly on a path to becoming the Pack's first 1,000-yard runner since James Butler in 2016, unless Lewis beats him to it. Red already has three (135 against Troy, 117 against Eastern Washington and 137 against Oregon State) 100-yard games this year.

Simply Red has been simply marvelous for Nevada. Who knew anyone or anything related to the color red would be so loved in Northern Nevada? Even Chris Ault, hater of all things UNLV red but a long-time lover of a productive running game, would have to allow this.

Once again, the credit for Red goes to Choate, who is likely the only reason Red is wearing silver and blue this year. Choate, a Texas assistant the last three years, clearly paid attention to the abundance of Longhorns offensive talent and literally stole a dynamic talent from Austin.

But Red isn't the only one with dynamic abilities he swiped from the Longhorns after last season. Choate also grabbed defensive back Kitan Crawford, defensive lineman Kristopher Ross and running back Ky Woods from the talent-rich Longhorns. And all three, especially Crawford and Ross, have made the Pack better already.

Pack fans saw all they needed to see from Crawford on Saturday when he picked off an Oregon State pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Crawford, finally getting a chance to play full-time on defense after four years at Texas, is an explosive player and big-time talent. His 35 tackles this year are third on the Pack and he just might be the best defensive back in the Mountain West.

Ross, who spent two years at Texas, is also an explosive, big-time talent who is only now scratching the surface of what he can become. He has 18 tackles this year with 3.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks. Woods, who never carried the ball in two years at Texas, has just four carries for 18 yards as Red, Patrick Garwo and Lewis eat up most of the carries. But Choate, it seems, has gone out of his way to make sure Woods is involved, likely with an eye for the future. 

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The Wolf Pack is now at a make-or-break moment in the season. The Fresno State game on Friday night at Mackay Stadium is, without question, the most important to date in Choate's first season at Nevada. A win on Friday will solidify the Pack as the true No. 1 contender to upset the Boise State-UNLV domination of the Mountain West throne this year.

Fresno State, which has lost two in a row, is a struggling football team right now. The Bulldogs are 3-3 but the three wins are over pushovers Sacramento State, New Mexico and New Mexico State. The Bulldogs have played three legitimate FBS teams (Michigan, UNLV and Washington State) and have been outscored 114-41, never scoring more than 17 points in a game. This is not the same Fresno State team that beat the Pack 27-9 and 41-14 the last two seasons as well as 34-32 in 2021. We all know this is not the same Pack team that lost to the Bulldogs the last two years.

Fresno State can be beaten. In most games, the Bulldogs ask to be beaten. They have thrown 10 interceptions already this year. The oddsmakers also think Fresno State is vulnerable, listing them as just a 2.5-point favorite on Friday. The Pack should be the favorite. But Las Vegas oddsmakers don't watch Pack games so there is still a clear betting value with the Pack (as we saw last week when Oregon State was a 3.5-point favorite at Mackay).

Fresno State (1-1 in the Mountain West) and Nevada (0-1) realistically can't afford another league loss if they want to be in the league title game in December. That reality is not lost on first-year Fresno State head coach Tim Skipper. "We are going to see what we're made of," Skipper told gobulldogs.com of Friday's game.

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Oregon State coach Trent Bray refused to give the Wolf Pack much credit for Saturday's 42-37 victory over his Beavers.

"There were very few plays when a Nevada player beat an Oregon State player," Bray said on Monday on the Beavers' YouTube channel. "It was very much self-inflicted."

Self-inflicted? All we saw was the Pack players inflicting damage on the Beavers. There was Kitan Crawford picking off a pass and flying 52 yards for a touchdown. There was Savion Red shredding the Beavers for 137 yards and four scores on 23 punishing carries. We saw the Pack coaches outcoaching Bray and his assistants the entire night, practically telling the Beavers they were just going to run the ball all night and then running right through them.

The Pack had more playmakers than the Beavers. The Pack played smarter and certainly with more discipline. There were Pack players beating Oregon State players on practically every play.