Despite Fresno State’s Week 1 loss to USC, the Mountain West as a whole had a great opening week going 9-3.
The conference had four wins over Power 5 schools, and the three losses also came against Power 5 schools.
The winning started with Hawaii beating Pac-12 opponent Arizona 45-38 at home.
The Warriors and Wildcats were tied 35 all heading into the fourth quarter. Hawaii’s touchdown with about five minutes left gave the Warriors a 10 point lead and sealed the victory.
The other home wins were Wyoming over SEC opponent Missouri, 37-31, and Nevada over Big 10 foe Purdue 34-31.
Purdue led 31-17 going into the fourth quarter and had mostly dominated the game up to that point. The Wolfpack made a near miraculous comeback, culminating in a game-winning 56 yard field goal with 38 seconds left.
Freshman walk-on kicker Brandon Talton was told he would be the starting kicker the morning of the game. Head coach Jay Norvell awarded Talton with a scholarship in the locker room after the game for his game-winning kick.
Boise State made the most noise nationally, travelling to Tallahassee and beating ACC member Florida State 36-31.
The Seminoles jumped scored all 31 points in the first half, leading the Broncos 31-19 at halftime. But Boise State, led by true freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier battled back.
Bachmeier had a great first career game, going 30-51 for 407 yards and one touchdown and interception.
The win moved the Broncos up in the AP Poll to No. 24, the only team in the conference heading into Week 2 ranked. The only other Group of 5 team ranked is UCS at 18.
In addition to Fresno State losing to USC 31-23, Utah State narrowly lost to Wake Forest 38-35, and Colorado State lost to Colorado 52-31.
The most concerning game in the Mountain West was San Diego State’s narrow 6-0 victory over FCS school Weber State.
To round out the conference, San Jose State beat Northern Colorado 35-18, Air Force beat Colgate 48-7, New Mexico beat Sam Houston State 39-31 and UNLV beat Southern Utah 56-23.
The Mountain West has four games against Power 5 schools in Week 2, including Fresno State hosting Minnesota.
The three other games are against Pac-12 schools: Oregon State at Hawaii, San Diego State at UCLA and Nevada at No. 16 Oregon.
