ZAG’S FRAGS:
2007 WEEK 5
Copyright Zagco
A WEEKLY LOOK AT WESTERN ATHLETIC
CONFERENCE FOOTBALL
Zagco’s
25-5 on the year, after a tough week last week.
The WAC, however, remains extremely consistent, with yet another loss to
a BCS team, moving the conference’s record this year against BCS teams to a
paltry 0-13. The conference also
lost to Division I program (more on that later).
Meanwhile,
the MWC is closer in overall strength to the Big 10 and the ACC than the WAC is
to the MWC. Of course, when your
conference is weighted down with 6 football programs rated below 100 (in
comparison to the MWC, which has no programs below 85), you deserve to be
bunched together with the CUSA, MAC, Gateway, Colonial, and Great West
conferences. Sagarin
Ratings.
Last
week was probably the lamest weekend of college football in Zagco’s memory.
Man! Everything about it
pretty much sucked. The big matchups
of the week on television were pretty crappy, and the WAC only had 4 games.
Things appear to be a bit better this weekend, starting with the return
of
America
’s Favorite College Football Team, the Boise State Broncos!
Zagco
smoked a whole brisket on Saturday, hoping that the aroma and vibe would somehow
improve what was a totally lackluster day of college football.
It helped, but when his buddies Rizzo, the nicely dressed black mamba,
and Chaka-kan, the water buffalo who is currently on the wagon, showed up
unannounced, it really fouled up everything.
Rather than spending a quiet evening watching kid movies and chick flicks
with his wife and kids, Zagco ended up sitting in his study smoking cigars with
Rizzo and Chaka-kan while the last games of the day were playing out on the
television.
Rizzo
kept speaking incessantly about his latest idea for the three of us to form an
LLC for a Web-based “think tank,” the purpose of which would be to offer
consulting services focused on providing better role models for teenage girls.
Rizzo, who frankly spends too much time reading the daily dish about
Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, etc., on the Perez Hilton website, has convinced
himself that society has got to put its foot down hard on the kind of imagery
and behavior that exudes from these ultra high profile celebs.
Rizzo’s just apoplectic about this issue.
Anyhoo,
Rizzo spent the whole night trying to convince Zagco that the three of us could
make a fortune by offering a better role model product for our teenagers,
especially the young ladies. It was
pretty clear to Zagco that they were both looking to him to front the start-up
capital, because he could tell that Rizzo and Chaka-kan had rehearsed the whole
thing—while Rizzo was waxing eloquent about seizing the first mover advantage
with this Web-based teenage girls-role model-think tank LLC, Chaka-kan was
acting like he was watching the football games while quietly singing that Jim
Croce song “I Got A Name:”
Like
the pine trees lining the winding roads
I've got a name, I've got a name
Like a singin' bird and a croakin' toad
I've got a name, I've got a name
And I carry it with me like my daddy did
But I'm livin' the dream that he kept hid
At
the proverbial end of the day, Zagco was mildly intrigued, so he asked Rizzo to
put together a business plan before he comes back next month.
We’ll see—sometimes Rizzo gets these things in his head, but then
they go away, like the way you can never remember all the good ideas you came up
with the night before when you were partying like a rock star.
Utah
State
AGGIES v. the
Utah
Runnin’ Utes
Where:
Salt Lake City
,
Utah
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 1:00 p.m. MT (mtn.)
Zagco
watched
Utah
State
fight hard and nearly win last week’s game against San Jose Can You See,
until imploding at the end, letting all their hard work and hopes and dreams go
down the drain.
Watching
Utah
State
play football is a bit like watching
Idaho
, except without the Satanism. They
simply suck. With
Utah
State
, you get crap comet after crap comet….
Zagco
was actually starting to become impressed with quarterback Leon Jackson,
thinking that Darrell Dickey had finally tamed the beast.
Alas, he was up to his old tricks last week, throwing picks in critical
situations. Leon Jackson should have
never been allowed to play quarterback for a Division I football team.
He’s athletic, but he just isn’t quarterback material.
Zagco thinks Utah State might be the worst football team in America
(although Idaho’s loss to Northern Illinois at home makes Zagco hesitant to
reach any definitive conclusions in this regard), but he does think that return
man and receiver Kevin Robinson is a serious talent for the Aggies.
Down
Salt
Lake
way, the Utes are up to their usual trick—winning a big one now and then, but
then underperforming. Two weeks ago,
the Ute nation was all excited about the big win over UCLA, but then the Utes go
down Vega$ way and get run by the Rebels 27-0, falling to 1-3 on the season.
As
little as Zagco respects Utah and their craptastic coaching staff—the same
coaching staff that called that final defensive series against BYU last fall,
where the Utes only rushed like 2 men, allowing John Beck to pick them apart
with all the time he had and lead the Cougars to a thrilling last second
victory—he cannot find it in his cold, black little heart to predict a loss
for them.
Utah
State
is that bad.
Utah
will defeat
Utah
State
.
Vega$ Runnin’ Rebels v.
Reno
Wolf Pack
Where: The Biggest Little City in
the World
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 2:00 p.m. MT
In
a game that should have the rival fans of the respective Nevada cities talking
smack about who has the better all-you-can-eat buffets, Zagco expects Chris
Ault’s offense to come out firing its pistols, like some kind of crazy Western
gunslinger fighting his way out of a cowtown saloon after getting caught with
some extra Aces up his sleeve, swiggin’ a bottle of whiskey and rubbing his
face with his sleeve while he pops caps all over the place as the patrons dive
for cover under the wooden tables, yellin’ at the top of his lungs, “I’ll
kill ye all, ye sodbustin’ worms!”
Anyhoo,
when Zagco first noticed this matchup, he immediately thought of Arte
Johnson’s German soldier character on Laugh In saying, “Very interesting.’
It
is. This is a VERY interesting
matchup. Vega$ doesn’t look half
bad. They played
Wisconsin
tough at home, losing by a score of 20-13, and they knocked off
Utah
easily (27-0), the week after
Utah
creamed UCLA. On the flip side,
they got killed by
Hawaii
in Vega$ (49-14), and they played a relatively close game (23-16) against
Utah
State
. While these scores are somewhat
schizophrenic, there is reason to think the Runnin’ Rebels might be a bit
better than we might have all thought they were going to be this year.
Reno
is a bit more mysterious to Zagco.
They got blown out at
Nebraska
, lost a squeaker to Northwestern in
Illinois
, and easily beat a I-AA team at home. When
you look deeper, you see that Northwestern is truly crappy, losing to Duke and
just getting pummeled by
Ohio
State
. Thus,
Reno
’s close loss looks even less impressive—Northwestern is a BCS team in
conference only; the loss might as well have been to someone like
Northern Illinois
.
Vega$
is led by USC-transfer quarterback Travis Dixon, who is barely at a 50%
completions. They have a dynamic
running attack, with two backs over 50 carries on the year.
The more prolific of the backs, has rushed for 298 yards in 3 games, for
a 5.1 ypc clip.
Reno
’s Nick Graziono is a 50% passer, but he’s more prolific with yards and
touchdowns.
Reno
’s leading running backs, Luke Lippincott and Via Taua, get 5.7 and 7.9 ypc.
Reno
has won the Fremont Cannon two consecutive years in the Battle of Nevada,
winning last year’s contest 31-3.
At
home, hungry for win, Zagco thinks
Reno
will win again. They might not be
as good as they were last year, and Vega$ might be better, but the gap is still
there in favor of our WAC classmates.
Reno
will defeat Vega$
Cal-Davis AGGIES v.
San Jose
Can You See Spartans
Where: San Jose Can You See,
Cali
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 2:00 p.m. MT (Comcast Sports Net)
Right
off the bat, Zagco would like to get one thing off his chest:
He’s sick and tired of schools that use the “Aggie” mascot.
We’ve got
Utah
State
and
New Mexico
State
in the WAC that BOTH use that name.
Fresno
State
played the Texas A&M Aggies earlier this year.
Now, San Jose Can You See plays a I-AA team that also calls themselves
the “Aggies.” ENOUGH!!!!
Crap!!!!!!!!!!!
Cal-Davis,
which is apparently the origin of all that is good in college football, is a
I-AA team that is 2-2 on the year, with victories over
Portland
State
(26-17) and Northeastern (28-10) and losses to Western Washington (21-28) and
Eastern Washington
(31-41). The Aggies have an
impressive array of offensive statistics, averaging 418.5 yards per game behind
an accurate quarterback (Tim Plough, 97-147-1,136-8-3) and a prolific running
back (Joe Trombetta, 79-449-5.7-5).
San
Jose Can You See seemed to get on track last week, with Adam Tafralis finally
putting up numbers resembling his game performances from last year.
The Bay Area Spartans should also see Yonus Davis back this week, unless
Dick Tomey—a totally decent guy—decides to really save him to salvage their
season in conference play. Zagco
thought that by the end of the
Utah
State
game, the Bay Area Spartans actually looked pretty decent.
Maybe, just maybe, they did not give up after the brutal early schedule.
As
much as Zagco respects and admires the Cal-Davis machine, he’s got to stick
with San Jose Can You See. Zagco’s
liked them since early last year, and while he sorta gave up on them last week,
he’s back in their corner.
San
Jose Can You See will defeat Cal-Davis.
The Dark Side of the Force v. The
Great Satan
Where:
Moscow
,
Idaho
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 3:00 p.m. MT (Oceanic PPV, ESPN Gameplan)
Last
week, Zagco made the mistake of picking
Idaho
to defeat
Northern Illinois
. Hey, it was a home game for
Idaho
against an 0-3 team from the MAC! Plus,
Zagco had been smoking crack, so he felt sorta daring and invincible.
Alas, his little world came crashing down when the Vandals managed to not
only get absolutely humiliated in the first half of the game, trailing 35-7 at
one point, but then they also managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory
when their freshman quarterback got sacked again to end the game, to cap off a
stunning rally where they came back from 28 points down, recovered an onside
kick, and then marched down into the red zone with time running out.
Watching this game was like reading Beowulf while listening to an old Bob
Dylan record—totally inexplicable in every way, yet somehow enticing.
Folks,
you have not lived until you’ve seen the Vandals do things like this—it’s
like losing twice in the same game.
Washington
State
has long been accused of “Coug'ing” games, but
Idaho
does something even weirder that might be like “Coug'ing It” squared.
There is NOTHING more wonderful than watching those Satan-worshipping
cheat monkeys get totally embarrassed and then lose a close game.
Nothing. It’s like watching
Wild Things and reading Maxim at the same time!
Meanwhile,
back on Coruscant,
Hawaii
’s puking quarterback, Colt Brennan—the Sith Lord—sat out to rest his
sprained ankle, allowing his apprentice (Tyler Graunke) to fill in for him.
Darth Graunke started out a little shaky, not at all unlike the opening
moments of the battle between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn, but by the end of the
game he was jumping around and spinning his double-bladed light saber like any
good sandbagging Sith Lord. The
Rainbow Warriors also finally got their running game going a little, putting up
147 yards against its second I-AA opponent of the year.
Zagco’s favorite Rainbow Warrior, Davone Bess, even got in the act with
a crazy, running summersault into the end zone, drawing a flag from the WAC’s
high and mighty referees who are against fun and happiness.
Hawaii
continues to roll.
Idaho
will be without its best player, freshman
running back Deonte Jackson, who is the best running back in the WAC and is
already on Zagco’s “Heisman 2008” list.
Mr. Jackson has amassed 537 yards through 4 games, and he’s averaging
5.4 ypc. Thus, with their star
player out this week, the Vandals will turn to plodding fullback Jason Bird to
carry the ball.
When
the local
Boise
newspaper interviewed
Idaho
’s team about this week’s game, Vandal freshman quarterback and interception
machine Nathan Enderle (the lowest rated quarterback in the WAC, behind Leon
Jackson) commented on the running back situation:
"People
tend to forget he was (close to) a 1,000-yard rusher as a freshman,"
Enderle said. "He is very capable. I'm hoping and praying that Deonte can
go, but if it's not in the best interest of his health or our team, it's nice to
have a guy like Jayson. He's a great player."
Quite
a vote of confidence, huh!?! Then,
in response to questions about finally getting some carries, Mr. Bird—who was
hailed as a star in the making back when he was a freshman—said:
"I've
been there before. It's nothing new to me and I'm used to that," Bird said.
"Last week, I was able to portray that I can handle that situation. I'm
ready for it, and this is what I've been waiting for all season."
…
"In
order to keep backs healthy at the Division I level, I feel like a rotation is
necessary," he said.
Idaho
Statesman Article.
Interesting.
VERY interesting. It seems
like only yesterday, Mr. Bird was the BMOC, yet now he’s pimping for playing
time and being propped up by a freshman quarterback who can’t throw a straight
pass.
Hawaii
traditionally does not play well on the
mainland. They nearly lost at La
Tech earlier this year. They’ve
played 2 I-AA teams at home, which does nothing to toughen them up for
conference road games. Still,
Idaho’s super craptastic, thin at so many position groups due to the 19
players that got kicked off the team during the off-season for drugs and
whatnot, and starting to show the signs of a team that knows its hopeless.
Plus, with all his seething evil and hate, Satan will play right into the
hands of the Dark Side of the Force…..
Hawaii
will defeat
Idaho
.
Arkansas
Pine
Bluff Golden Lions v.
New Mexico
State AGGIES
Where:
Las Cruces
,
New Mexico
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 6:00 p.m. MT (Aggie Vision)
New Mexico
State
put up a fight early against
Auburn
, but they were worn down and eventually succumbed to all the incredibly sexy
girls in the stands at
Auburn
.
Now,
they get to take out all their pent up frustration on a I-AA team.
Like so many times this year, Zagco would rather not patronize his
readers by overanalyzing this game. Aggie
quarterback Chase Holbrook is putting up huge numbers, passing Colt Brennan in
most categories last week. He does,
however, have problems with the interception.
The Aggies have been able to muster up a running game of sorts too, with
two backs (Justine Buries and Tony Glynn) leading the way.
The Aggies should put up eye-popping numbers at home against the 1-3
Golden Lions.
New Mexico
State
will defeat Arkansas Pine Bluff.
Louisiana
Tech
Bulldogs v.
Fresno
State
Bulldogs
Where:
Fresno
,
Cali
When: Saturday, September 29, 2007
at 8:00 p.m. MT
Last
time we checked in with
Fresno
, they were getting run by the Ducks to the tune of 52-21.
Earlier in the year, they played Texas A&M into overtime at
College Station
,
Texas
, but that performance looks less impressive now, after A&M got walloped by
Miami
.
La
Tech gave
Hawaii
a scare a couple weeks ago, but then they went and got run by the hippies in
Berkley
.
Zagco
thinks this game could be a real battle.
Fresno
just doesn’t seem to have a breakaway offense.
Plus, La Tech always seems to play the Cali Bulldogs tough.
La Tech has the WAC’s third leading rusher in Patrick Jackson.
La Tech’s strength is rushing, on both offense and defense.
Quarterback Zac Champion (a cool name) plays a very conservative game.
La Tech’s passing defense is horrible.
Fresno
’s strength on defense is the pass, which is
not going to help them much in this game. They
seem to struggle with the run. On
offense, they are balanced and about middle-of-the-pack in the WAC overall.
Zagco
thinks the home field advantage is the key factor in this game.
Fresno
, with a week off to lick its wounds after its annual ass-kicking by a couple
BCS teams, can now start over and work towards a bowl game.
La Tech, which is a very young team, looks to have a good future ahead,
but it’s still too early in their development to give them the nod in this
game.
Fresno
State
will defeat Louisiana Tech.
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles v.
Boise
State
Broncos
Where: The Blue
When: Thursday, September 27, 2007
at 5:30 p.m. MT (ESPN)
The
Bronco Nation continues to wring its hands over various and sundry things about
this year’s version of
Boise
State
:
1.
When’s Ian Johnson going to bust
out?
2.
What’s going on with our
offensive line?
3.
Can Taylor Tharp throw the ball?
4.
Will our cheerleaders ever learn
to NOT lead the “
Boise
State
” cheer when we’re on offense?
Zagco doesn’t know the answers to these questions, but he does know that
Boise
State
’s in for a game this week. It’s
no longer valid for Bronco fans to discount the loss to
Washington
by proclaiming the Huskies to be national power, because they aren’t.
Hell, this month’s edition of Maxim magazine named the Huskies one of
the ten worst teams in
America
! Plus, it’s really no longer
valid to proclaim
Wyoming
’s defense as the reincarnation of the Steel Curtain, especially when a week
after
Boise
State
struggled to score against the Cowboys, the Bobcats of Ohio put up 33 on them.
Southern Miss is 2-1, with wins over Tennessee-Martin and East Carolina, and a loss to
Tennessee
. Their offense is very balanced,
running for 182 yards and passing for 208 yards per game.
They platoon four running backs, led by Damion Fletcher (57-304-5.3-2)
and their passing game appears to be very conservative.
The
best thing, so far, about this year’s Boise State Broncos is how good the
defense appears to be. The Bronco
Nation was worried about this, because many felt that the losses we were
suffering up front (Andrew Browning, Dennis Ellis, Korey Hall,
Colt
Brooks
, etc.) would haunt us. It has not,
at least in the sense that we are really stuffing the run.
Plus, our defensive backs appear to be very solid, as good as Zagco’s
seen here in many, many years. Zagco
hasn’t seen a DB spin around like a top and trip on his shoelaces in at least
3 years!
Zagco’s
biggest concern about
Boise
State
is the offensive line. What
happened? We have given up 8 sacks
this year, third worst in the WAC. While
our running game is second overall in the WAC, it just doesn’t appear that the
holes are very big—certainly nowhere near as big as they were last year.
Perhaps
part of the problem is our opponents’ disrespect for our passing game and the
scrambling ability of our quarterback. Z
certainly presented a lot of problems for defenses with his running ability, and
while you never knew for sure if his next pass was going to be a pick 6 or a
touchdown, Z did have that high risk-high reward thing that forced defenses to
be very careful. Tharp does not seem
to present the wide range of possibility that Z brought to the table—he’s
safer, more “by the book,” and probably more coachable.
Zagco believes that Tharp needs to run once in awhile (he started doing
that a bit against
Wyoming
), and we need to go up top and over the middle early, establishing an ability
to do it. We have got to bring the
game to the opponent.
This
is going to be a close game. A real
battle. Like so many games this
year, Zagco believes the home field advantage is crucial for these young
Broncos. We know they have
tremendous talent, but at this point as they work towards getting the Bronco
offense off the ground, playing a tough team like Southern Miss at home is a key
aspect of our advantage. It will be
enough to get us over the hump.
Boise State will defeat Southern
Miss.
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