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SALT LAKE CITY — A Boise State loss on Friday gave Wyoming the bid into the Mountain West championship game. Wyoming followed up on its victory by getting creamed by New Mexico, sliding its way into the championship. On the other side, San Diego State, which clinched its division weeks earlier, also finished the regular season with a disappointing loss against Colorado State. San Diego State and Wyoming played two weeks ago in an instant Mountain West classic, so there's a lot to look forward to in this rematch.
The loss against Air Force that Boise State suffered will be felt in the New Year’s Six bowl games, where Boise State was heading the whole season. The highest-ranked conference champion in the Group of 5 conferences gets an automatic bid. Boise State held that distinction over Western Michigan, despite a loss on its record. Losing to Air Force and missing the championship game dooms Boise State and propels Western Michigan into the spot.
The weekend started when Boise State traveled to Air Force. Boise State, despite being on the road, was still the heavy favorite to win the game. Boise State let Air Force go on a 17-point run in the first half and never recovered, as Air Force upset the Broncos 27-20.
@BroncoSportsFB Have fun in a garbage bowl game. Two losses to average at best teams. BSU SHOULD be better than that. — Tim Kaminski (@Namedropper5000) November 25, 2016
Fresno State only had one win going to this game, and it was against an FCS school, Sacramento State. It had a chance to get its first and only win against an FBS opponent when San Jose State came to town. San Jose State has had a below-average season, but still a much better one than Fresno State. Fresno State scored two touchdowns in the second quarter within three minutes of each other to jump up 14-7. The only scoring in the second half came from three San Jose State field goals, which edged out Fresno State at home, 16-14.
@FresnoStateFB This team is terrible. We're going to need more than Jeff Tedford to turn this around. Start with the offensive line. 😝 — RaiderJohn (@EastLAChiva) November 26, 2016
Both UNLV and Nevada missed bowl games this year, but UNLV looked like the better between the two teams, if for no other reason than it beat Wyoming. UNLV was the surprisingly heavy favorite going into this game, and it let its home crowd down. It got ravaged by its in-state rival 45-10 in a game where the Wolf Pack had full control from beginning to end, with Nevada keeping the Blue Cannon for another year.
San Diego State lost the week before to Wyoming on a wild finish and a missed two-point conversion. Still, it was favored to beat Colorado State in San Diego. San Diego State already clinched its division and it didn’t have a chance at a New Year’s Six bowl after losing to Wyoming. Regardless of having nothing to play for, San Diego State was still expected to beat Colorado State. What happened was a complete routing of the Aztecs, as Colorado State put up 42 points in the first half and didn’t take its foot off the gas in the second. Colorado State rolled 63-31. In other news, if Donnel Pumphrey puts up 100 rushing yards in the championship game, he’ll pass Ricky Williams and take the No. 2 spot in the all-time rushing record.
Utah State has had a bad season. There’s no excuse for the disappointing season it had. Aggies fans had high hopes going into the season, and Utah State was favored in several games that it lost. Many fans were willing to forgive all if Utah State could beat in-state rival BYU. After a hard-fought first half, Utah State fell apart the second half for the third game in a row, failing to score a touchdown and letting up two more touchdowns. Utah State lost in Provo 28-10 and BYU keeps the Wagon Wheel for another season.
Wyoming got the news the night before that it had won its division. The Cowboys weren’t particularly heavy favorites to beat New Mexico, but they were expected to do better than what we got. New Mexico ran wild over Wyoming, getting rushing yards at will and creaming the Cowboys 56-35, as Wyoming still heads to the championship game. New Mexico ended with the same record as the Cowboys and the same division record as Boise State.
Hawaii has had a pleasantly surprising season, where it ended 4-4 in conference play. With one last game, it had UMass come to town, which was having an awful season. Hawaii and UMass got in a shootout, with the final score coming on a 56-yard pass by Hawaii, elevating it to a win, 46-40. Even though Hawaii now has six wins, it also has seven losses, so it is not automatically let into a bowl game. It needs some teams to lose and hold lower priority than Army. Even if the Rainbow Warriors don’t make it into a bowl game, 6-7 is the best season they’ve had since 2011 when they notched the same record.
