Mountain West Conference: Lots of Offense, some defense

The Mountain West conference enters its sixth week of football action when teams take the field October 6. Conference teams get under way on Saturday morning early when Air Force takes on Navy and will try to win its third consecutive Commander-in-Chief trophy. Three other games are non-conference matchups on the second.

The conference is one of the highest scoring in the nation and has some of the top offensive units in the country. Boise State earned 83 votes in this week’s USA Today top 25 poll and returned to the no.25 spot. The Broncos had dropped out of the top 25 after having an idle weekend in week two of the season, but have appeared in the top 25 rankings in 63 of the past 67 polls.

BSU is still not in the AP rankings, as they only were given 53 votes after a difficult victory over New Mexico 32-29. The conference has had a minimum of one team in the AP rankings in 72 of the past 75 weeks, which dates all the way back to November of 2007.

Three of the top 13 scorers in the nation play on Mountain West teams. Stefphon Jefferson of Nevada is second in the nation in scoring with an average of 14.40 per game. Robbie Rouse of Fresno State is sixth and Cody Getz of Air Force is 13th. Three running backs in the conference are in the top 5 for single-game scoring leaders. Nevada’s Jefferson scored seven touchdowns for Nevada including six on the ground and one receiving, which set a conference record of 42 points for a single game. Nevada continues to show its strength on the ground. The school has played 14 consecutive games where at least one player has run for 100 yards. No other FBS team has tallied more than five consecutive games in that category.

Eric Pinkins and Leon McFadden each had interceptions, for San Diego State, that were returned for touchdowns against last week’s opponent Fresno State. In 2012, 11 interceptions have been returned for six points in the conference. That is the highest number of pick-6s since 2009. Fresno State leads the nation in pick-6s with four.

The Bulldogs are also leading the nation with 11 interceptions overall. In Fresno’s win last week over San Diego State, three wide receivers had more than 100 yards receiving marking the second time in the history of Mountain West football that, that feat was accomplished. It was the 14th time in school history the team has had at least two receivers with over 100 yards receiving in the same game.

Three of the top quarterbacks in total offense play in the Mountain West conference. Brett Smith the sophomore quarterback from Wyoming is seventh in the nation in total offense. He is averaging 328 yards passing and more than 34 yards rushing each game. Cody Fajardo the sophomore QB for Nevada is in ninth place nationally and Derek Carr the junior signal caller for Fresno State is ranked 15th.

The top two rushers in the country play in the Mountain West conference. Nevada’s Stefphon Jefferson averages 175 yards per game and is ranked first in the country. Cody Getz from Air Force is ranked second in the nation with an average of 170 yards per game rushing. The conference has 3 of the nation’s top 11 rushers and six of the nation’s top 30 rushers.

If watching exciting high scoring games with lots of running and passing is your football of choice, the Mountain West Conference is the football to watch.