Falcons fly to top of Mountain West rankings

The San Jose State Spartans, Colorado State Rams and the longest winning streak in the Mountain West all collapsed this past weekend.

The Spartans squandered a 17-7 lead in a 35-27 loss at Boise State, the Rams wasted a 17-0 advantage in a 44-24 loss to Utah State and the Wyoming Cowboys ended the Fresno State Bulldogs’ 14-game winning with a 24-19 victory in Laramie, Wyo.

“I do feel like there’s something special with this football team,” Cowboys’ coach Craig Bohl said. “We’ve felt like that for some time.”

Wyoming ran for 130 yards while holding Fresno state to just 38 rushing yards.

“We have a unified locker room, and you can do a lot with that in college football in this day and age,” Bohl said. “The X factor is chemistry.”

Wyoming, ranked No. 2 in this week’s Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings, put No. 3 Fresno State away with an interception by nose tackle Cole Godbout with 46 seconds to play.

“I’ve been waiting five years for that pick,” Godbout said. “I wish I could have scored but I’m not that mad.”

The Cowboys (5-1, 2-0) had not beaten the Bulldogs since 2014 (45-17), losing four in a row. Wyoming scored just 10 points combined in those four losses.

Wyoming jumped out to a 24-7 lead on Fresno State (5-1, 1-1) as quarterback Andrew Peasley connected with Wyatt Wieland for touchdown passes of 14 and 4 yards. Peasley (19-of-27, 183 yards, three touchdowns) also found Treyton Welch from 12 yards out for a 24-7 halftime lead.

“There was a lot of effort in the second half, but we didn’t play our best,” Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford said.

Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene (23-of-35, 218 yards, one TD) left the game in the fourth quarter after suffering a leg injury on a sack by Wyoming’s DeVonne Harris.

Logan Fife replaced Keene and was 7-of-11 for 68 yards and a touchdown. Fife found Mac Delena from eight yards out to cut the Wyoming lead to 24-19 with 5:17 to play.

Fresno State outscored Wyoming 12-0 in the second half (recovering an on-sides kick along the way) but had to settle for two fields goals (39, 38 yards) by Dylan Lynch.

“This was a big, big win over a program we have not had a great deal of success with,” Bohl said. “It wasn’t a fluke.”

No. 4 Boise State (3-3, 2-0) found itself trailing No. 8 San Jose State (1-5, 0-2) 27-7 in the second quarter. The Broncos, using two quarterbacks, then scored the final 28 points of the game.

Starter Taylen Green scored touchdowns on runs of 1 and 11 yards and connected with Riley Smith from 2 yards out to lead the comeback.

Backup Maddux Madsen tossed an 83-yard touchdown pass to Eric McAlister for the Broncos’ first touchdown and also scored on an 8-yard run to start the comeback with just 42 seconds remaining in the first half.

Green was 4-of-8 through the air for 75 yards and one touchdown and ran the ball five times for 40 yards and two scores. Madsen was 9-of-16 for 170 yards and a touchdown and ran eight times for 39 yards and another score.

The second largest crowd in Albertsons Stadium’s history (37,491) witnessed the comeback.

“The stadium was electric,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “There was one time when the referees came over and asked us about the volume and how loud it was. We can’t do anything about the crowd, but they asked us to turn down the public address volume. That’s never happened before. That was pretty cool.”

San Jose State built its 20-point lead on a pair of 11-yard touchdown runs by Kairee Robinson and quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and a pair of field goals (33, 27 yards) by Kyler Halvorsen.

“I don’t have an answer for what happened in the second half,” San Jose State coach Brent Brennan said. “That’s just heartbreaking.”

San Jose State, now 1-14 against Boise State, has never beaten the Broncos in Boise (now 0-7) but did beat them in the 2020 Mountain West title game in Las Vegas. Boise State has scored 33 or more points against San Jose State in 13 of the rivalry’s 15 games.

“This is a brotherhood,” Broncos’ linebacker Andrew Simpson said. “We just looked at each other and decided we were not going to lose today.”

“It’s not easy to dig down inside,” Avalos said. “To feel the guys lead each other, that was the coolest part about it.”

No. 6 Utah State found itself down 17-0 to No. 9 Colorado State in the first quarter. The Aggies (3-3, 1-1) then erupted for 37 unanswered points for its fifth win in a row over the Rams.

“I’m super proud of these guys for keeping steady and staying the course,” Utah State coach Blake Anderson said. “You saw a seasoned group, a group that stays together.

“I love the fact that, as the game continued, we got tougher, we got faster and more physical than they were.”

Tory Horton returned a punt 79 yards for a Colorado State touchdown and a 10-0 lead. Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi was an inefficient 26-of-57 for 225 yards with three interceptions and one lost fumble.

“We’ve really got to look at what we’re doing,” said Colorado State coach Jay Norvell, whose Rams dropped to 2-3, 0-1, “and who we’re doing it with. Those guys have to be accountable.”

Norvell added, “I was disappointed in our second-half response. There were some very disturbing things that happened to us in the second half.”

This is the second time this season the Rams have wasted a big lead in a big game. Colorado State led Colorado 28-17 midway through the fourth quarter on Sept. 16 before losing 43-35 in three overtimes.

Utah State quarterback Cooper Legas, playing for injured starter McCae Hillstead, was 19-of-29 for 387 yards and four touchdowns. Three Utah State receivers (Terrell Vaughn, Jalen Royals and Micah Davis) each went over 100 yards and each caught at least one touchdown pass.

“For us to give up three 100-yard receivers to this team is unacceptable,” Norvell said.

Anderson, though, told his team before the game just how Saturday’s matchup would go.

“Our conversation all week was that they (Colorado State) would be twitchy (faster, quicker) early,” Anderson said. “They were going to be flashy and explosive early but just keep hitting them in the mouth. Our toughness, our conditioning and just the way we do things was going to show up. The process would take hold and that’s exactly what you saw.”

Half of the dozen Mountain West teams, including No. 1 Air Force (5-0, 3-0), had byes last week. All 12 Mountain West teams will be in action this week, including Air Force hosting No. 2 Wyoming while No. 5 UNLV (4-1, 1-0) travels north to meet No. 10 Nevada (0-5, 0-1) at Mackay Stadium on Saturday.

The Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings for the week of Oct. 9:

1. AIR FORCE (5-0, 3-0). Last week: Bye. This week: Wyoming at Air Force, Saturday.

2. WYOMING (5-1, 2-0). Last week: Wyoming 24, Fresno State 19. This week: Wyoming at Air Force, Saturday.

3. FRESNO STATE (5-1, 1-1). Last week: Wyoming 24, Fresno State 19. This week: Fresno State at Utah State, Friday.

4. BOISE STATE (3-3, 2-0). Last week: Boise State 35, San Jose State 27. This week: Boise State at Colorado State, Saturday.

5. UNLV (4-1, 1-0). Last week: Bye. This week: UNLV at Nevada. Saturday.

6. UTAH STATE (3-3, 1-1). Last week: Utah State 44, Colorado State 24. This week: Boise State at Colorado State, Saturday.

7. SAN DIEGO STATE (2-4, 0-2). Last week: Bye. This week: San Diego State at Hawaii, Saturday.

8. SAN JOSE STATE (1-5, 0-2). Last week: Boise State 35, San Jose State 27. This week: San Jose State at New Mexico, Saturday.

9. COLORADO STATE (2-3, 0-1). Last week: Utah State 44, Colorado State 24. This week: Boise State at Colorado State, Saturday.

10. NEVADA (0-5, 0-1): Last week: Bye. This week: UNLV at Nevada, Saturday.

11. NEW MEXICO (2-3, 0-1). Last week: Bye. This week: San Jose State at New Mexico, Saturday.

12. HAWAII (2-4, 0-1). Last week: Bye. This week: San Diego State at Hawaii. Saturday.