Idaho State v. Washington
Raider: The joy of being a fan is the sheer pleasure of looking ahead, since it would probably be an event on par with Mt. Rainier erupting if the Bengals win this game. Between Stanford and Oregon, can the Huskies beat none, one or both? I keep thinking deeply that they will be able to beat one of them, but anymore I can’t make heads or tails of this conference.
MAC: I’m not sure what to make of Washington other than their back Bishop Sankey, my wife and John Stockton all went to the same high school. As for Idaho St. I wonder if anyone currently going there knows the story of how they beat UCLA in the Marriott Center in basketball in the ’70s, spurred on by an angered BYU crowd because UCLA came out of the locker room early and interrupted a BYU halftime dance routine.
Utah State v. USC
Raider: Let’s say that the unconventional conventional wisdom does indeed occur and Chuckie Keeton runs roughshod over the Trojans. Let’s also pretend for a moment that you’re Pat Haden and you have already told some impressionable USC students that your football program will be a tire fire for at least the next decade (Read Pat Haden Thoughts Here). You, Mr. Haden, probably need to seem as though you’re totally on top of the situation. You’re also USC. You don’t lose to Utah State, regardless of how good the Aggies are. Wazzu is one thing. Utah State is entirely another. You’re going to have to fire Kiffin anyway, so why wait until the end of the season and just fire him after he loses to USU?
MAC: If Kiffy does lose to Chuckie Heisman and the Aggies, he couldn’t possibly have a job come Monday right. It would seem inconceivable.
Arizona State v. Stanford
Raider: The Maroon Color methodically beat Army last week, and for about a quarter or so, I had that hope that the kids at West Point might be able to pull it off. Alas, it was not meant to be. This is also my weekly reminder to the whole entire Internet that I’m still mad at Stanford, and ASU probably doesn’t come that close to beating them, do they?
MAC: This will be an interesting one. ASU is super pissed off that everyone says they got lucky against the Badgers. Even thought they got totally lucky against the Badgers. If the Devils are to show they are for real, they gotta make a show of this one.
Oregon State v. San Diego State
Raider: I would like to take this opportunity to point out that while the Utes had some major weaknesses that got exposed for all of the conference to see on Saturday, Sean Mannion was on fire! It seemed like he completed 500 passes in a row. Just when you think you have them on the ropes, Keith McGill gets torched and he completes another one. In the past decade or so of Ute football, I can’t think of any other QB to play against the Utes and beat them where I said “wow, that guy was good”.
MAC: Mannion and that damn receiver whose name escapes me (Cooks) were simply perfection. BTW, is Rocky Long still the coach at Sandy Eggo State? Damn he is. BYU fans hate Rocky Long.
New Mexico State v. UCLA
Raider: A friend of mine I used to watch Ute games with back in my time in Boise told me once that his wife, who was from New Mexico, was decent enough in academic endeavors that New Mexico State threw all kinds of scholarships for her to go to NMSU. Sure made me wish I had tried harder in school, I could have spent several years in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They have not one but three Whataburger locations in Las Cruces! That alone might make being an New Mexico State Aggie totally worth it.
MAC: We have Whataburger here in Tucson as well and damn if their Green Chile Double Cheese isn’t freakin’ awesome.
Idaho v. Washington State
Raider: Someone on the Internet once asked me “if you were so rebellious towards your family being Boise State grads/fans, why didn’t you just go to the University of Idaho?” The simple answer to that has to be that I’m not entirely sure being disowned would have been worth it, because that is exactly what would have happened. Such a shame that the Vandal football program has atrophied since they left the Big Sky, because Vandal grads enjoy hearing an outsider flirt with them about how wonderful their graduate programs and research happens to be.
MAC: Boise people puzzle me. Imagine if you will, that BYU became as good at football as Weber St. And our beloved Utes soared to even more national prominence. Would we still sit and obsess over BYU and work even via the state legislature to destroy the entire school. It’s a long way of asking, why the hell are Boise fans so crazy.
Utah v. BYU
Raider: I must give you some credit. After Saturday’s overtime loss I thought, much like everyone else in this town, this was a sign that things were going to unfold similar to how they did last season and that maybe we will be also-ran’s in this conference forever and ever. While there is probably a good chance of that happening, I did agree with what you wrote here last weekend as you said that this is the margin or error in this conference. Last year’s team probably would have rolled over and died while losing 46-10. Travis Wilson had his faults, but there’s no way this game goes into OT without him.
Here is something to think about: win or lose this weekend, this will be the last time we have to deal with “BYU would have done better in the PAC than Utah”, “Kyle Van Noy will give Travis Wilson a costly medical bill” and other unholy things between each other. Staley’s Dash, Harline’s Still Open, 4th and 18, and Andrew George will become distant memories, as well they should. This game still matters in the sense that it could mean the difference between a bowl game and staying home in December, but it won’t hurt quite as bad on the inside.
At least that is what I’m telling myself on a Tuesday afternoon…
MAC: I’m still going to say it. Unless we crap the bed I don’t see how we lose. But at the end of the day, we get to head into the break of the rivalry with a BYU player doing this
Now the lesson at the end of the day for Mr. Hadley is, there is NO SEX IN THE CHAMPAIGN ROOM. There is Champaign in the Champaign Room, but he didn’t want Champaign, he wanted sex.
Of course if he gets it, he’s gone for the year and not just five games.