Nevada Appeal
Boise State Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson felt like a winner on Saturday despite what the scoreboard might have indicated.
"We showed ourselves tonight," Danielson told the Associated Press after a late-second 37-34 loss to the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Ore. "Our guys kept swinging. That's a testament to their heart and who they are."
Boise State (1-1, 0-0), the No. 1 team in this week's Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings led the Ducks 20-14 at halftime and 34-27 in the fourth quarter. Oregon, though, returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score and kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to steal the victory.
The kickoff return touchdown was actually a 99-yard return by Noah Whittington to the 1-yard line where he then fumbled the ball into the end zone. It was recovered in the end zone by Oregon's Jayden Limar for the touchdown that tied the game, 34-34.
"Our best football is in front of us," Danielson said.
Boise State's Ashton Jeanty kept his name in Heisman Trophy consideration with 192 yards and three touchdowns (3, 8, 70 yards). Jeanty has nine touchdowns in two games this year.
"Even for people who didn't believe, we have a good football team," Danielson said.
The No. 2 UNLV Rebels buried Utah Tech, an FCS school located 120 miles from Las Vegas, 72-14. The Rebels (2-0, 0-0) led 44-7 at halftime and rushed for a school-record 694 yards for the entire game. A total of 27 different players had at least one tackle for UNLV, which emptied its bench for much of the game.
"We are going to turn this place (UNLV's Allegiant Stadium) into a great home-field advantage," UNLV coach Barry Odom told unlvrebels.com after a crowd of 24,512 witnessed the blowout victory. "It will only grow."
No. 3 Fresno State (1-1, 0-0) outscored Sacramento State, 46-30 in front of a home crowd of 41,031. Bulldogs' quarterback Mikey Keene connected with wide receiver Mac Delena on a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the game.
"We (practiced) that play multiple times, knowing it was going to be the first play of the game," Delena told gobulldogs.com. "We didn't know it was going to be that wide open, but it was. Just knowing all week that no matter what that was going to be the first play, we were prepared. It wasn't a surprise."
Fresno's Jalen Moss also returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown. Keene was 24-of-35 for 358 yards and two touchdowns against the FCS Hornets. Delena caught seven passes for 235 yards and one score.
"We wanted to be on the attack," Fresno State coach Tim Skipper told gobulldogs.com. "That was a goal of ours. We wanted to force the issue."
No. 4 San Jose State (2-0, 1-0) won the first Mountain West conference game of the season, beating No. 8 Air Force (1-1, 0-1), 17-7 at Air Force. San Jose State quarterback Emmett Brown was 17-of-32 for 262 yards and two touchdowns to Nick Nash and Jackson Canaan.
Air Force, which normally chews up opponents with its run-based triple-option offense, had just 143 yards rushing on 46 carries (3.1 a carry).
"It was a little choppy but that goes with the position," said Brown of his performance (to sjsuspartans.com). "You just have to hang in there and take some hits in order to make plays. But it was just good to go on the road at a tough stadium and get a win."
No. 5 Colorado State rolled over Northern Colorado 38-17 in front of 36,573 fans at Fort Collins, Colo. Rams quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was 18-of-27 for 202 yards and a touchdown.
Colorado State had a 426-298 edge in total yards. The Rams' Tory Horton returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring early in the first quarter.
No. 6 Nevada (1-2, 0-0) whipped Georgia Southern everywhere but on the scoreboard in falling to the Eagles, 20-17, at Mackay State in front of 16,245 fans. Nevada had a decided edge in total yards (498-285) and time of possession (37:15 to 22:45) and held Georgia Southern to just 42 yards rushing on 19 carries.
Nevada, though, was called for its most penalties (14) since it had 15 against UNLV in 2009. The Wolf Pack also fumbled the ball at the Georgia Southern 1-yard line late in the game.
"We're not a team that has the ability to overcome as many self-inflicted wounds as we posed upon ourselves," Nevada coach Jeff Choate said on the "Wolf Pack Athletics" channel on YouTube.
No. 7 Hawaii (1-1, 0-0) had a bye last week. No. 9 Utah State (1-1, 0-0) was dominated 48-0 as a crowd of 68,110 watched at the Los Angeles Coliseum. USC outgained Utah State, 544-190.
No. 10 San Diego State (1-1, 0-0) was blanked, 21-0, at home by Oregon State. The Aztecs were outgained 420-179 and had the ball for just under 19 minutes in front of a home crowd of 25,318.
"Tonight was not near good enough," San Diego State coach Sean Lewis told goaztecs.com. "I wear the loss completely. We need a much better week of preparation. We had the self-inflicted wounds that really hurt so the Aztecs beat the Aztecs tonight in a lot of areas."
No. 11 Wyoming (0-2, 0-0) fell to Idaho, 17-13, at home (25,070 crowd) in Laramie. Wyoming did outgain Idaho, 270-225 and held the Vandals to just 1-of-13 on third down.
"We knew the threat the opponent posed," Wyoming coach Jay Sawvell told gowyo.com. "We felt like this would be one of the better defenses we'd see all season. They don't make mistakes.
"We made mistakes good football teams don't make. We made mistakes that 0-2 teams make. We have to own it."
No. 12 New Mexico (0-2, 0-0) had a bye and will play at Auburn this Saturday.
The Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings for the week of Sept. 9:
1. BOISE STATE (1-1, 0-0): Last week: Oregon 37, Boise State 34. This week: Bye.
2. UNLV (2-0, 0-0): Last week: UNLV 72, Utah Tech 14. This week: UNLV at Kansas, Saturday.
3. FRESNO STATE (1-1, 0-0): Last week: Fresno State 46, Sacramento State 30. This week: New Mexico State at Fresno State, Saturday.
4. SAN JOSE STATE (2-0, 1-0): Last week: San Jose State 17, Air Force 7. This week: Kennesaw State at San Jose State, Saturday.
5. COLORADO STATE (1-1, 0-0): Last week: Colorado State 38, Northern Colorado 17. This week: Colorado at Colorado State, Saturday.
6. NEVADA (1-2, 0-0): Last week: Georgia Southern 20, Nevada 17. This week: Nevada at Minnesota, Saturday.
7. HAWAII (1-1, 0-0): Last week: Bye. This week: Hawaii at Sam Houston, Saturday.
8. AIR FORCE (1-1, 0-1): Last week: San Jose State 17, Air Force 7. This week: Air Force at Baylor, Saturday.
9. UTAH STATE (1-1, 0-0): Last week: USC 48, Utah State 0. This week: Utah at Utah State, Saturday.
10. SAN DIEGO STATE (1-1, 0-0): Oregon State 21, San Diego State 0. This week: San Diego State at California, Saturday.
11. WYOMING (0-2, 0-0): Idaho 17, Wyoming 13. This week: BYU at Wyoming, Saturday.
12. NEW MEXICO (0-2, 0-0): Last week: Bye. This week: New Mexico at Auburn, Saturday.