MountainWestConf's user profile page. Match highlights, posts and more on site!

HIGHLIGHTS: Boise State at Wyoming Football 12/12/20

HIGHLIGHTS: Nevada at San Jose State Football 12/11/20

San José State qualified for the Mountain West football championship game with a historic 30-20 victory over Nevada in Las Vegas on Friday night. The 2020 Spartans will be the first team in program history to play in a conference title game. SJSU will enter that game with a perfect record of 6-0 after a dominant second half paved the way to a 10-point win over the Wolf Pack. The team trailed by 13 points at halftime but the dominant San José State defense pitched a shutout in the contest's final two quarters. A balanced attack both through the air and on the ground led the Spartans in this one. Quarterback Nick Starkel threw for 306 yards and a pair of touchdowns while senior Bailey Gaither led all receivers 156 yards. Jermaine Braddock and Derrick Deese, Jr. snagged receiving touchdowns as well while running back Tyler Nevens popped for 184 yards and one score. The night's biggest momentum-shifting play came via special teams as freshman Shamar Garrett took the first kickoff the second half 98 yards to the end zone. A 27-yard field goal off the foot of Matt Mercurio with 9:35 remaining stretched the Spartan lead to two possessions at 30-20. It was the defense's show from there on as a fumble forced by Jay Lenard and a turnover on downs ended any hopes of a Nevada comeback. San José State ended the night with a 506-398 advantage in total yards and out-gained the opponent 200-138 on the ground. The SJSU defense made four sacks to the Pack's one and made five tackles for a loss. Lenard was the team's leading tackler on Friday, ending the night with eight (six solo). Next up for the Spartans is a trip to the Mountain West title game, where they will face second-place Boise State on Dec. 19.

HIGHLIGHTS: Wyoming at New Mexico Football 12/5/20

HIGHLIGHTS: Fresno State at Nevada Football 12/5/20

Carson Strong threw three of his career-high five touchdown passes to Tory Horton and Nevada beat Fresno State 37-26 on Saturday night in a key Mountain West Conference matchup. Nevada (6-1, 6-1) kept pace with San Jose State (5-0, 5-0), which beat Hawaii 35-24 earlier Saturday. Horton, a freshman from Fresno, California, caught a 17-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and an 85-yarder early in the fourth. On third-and-10, he beaett and then jumped over a defender in the end zone for a 32-yard score with 5:32 to play. Strong completed 23 of 39 passes for 354 yards. Horton finished with five catches for 148 yards. Fresno State's Jake Haener threw a program-high 65 passes, completing 41 including a pair of touchdown passes. He surpassed Brian Burrell, who had 59 pass attempts against Nebraska on Nov. 13, 2014. Keric Wheatfall had 113 yards receiving and a 19-yard touchdown catch for the Bulldogs (3-2, 3-2). Jalen Cropper added 107 yards receiving and Zane Pope another 96 yards with a 21-yard touchdown catch late in the game. ___ More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 Postgame notes – Fresno State -Nevada got back into the win column after a 37-26 victory over Fresno State in the team's final regular season home game of the 2020 season. -True freshman WR Tory Horton posted a breakout game in his first collegiate start. Horton tallied five receptions for a career-high 148 yards and three touchdowns. It marked the first 100-yard receiving performance and first multi-TD game of Horton's career. Horton is the second Wolf Pack receiver to post three receiving TDs in a game this season as junior Romeo Doubs did so against Utah State and New Mexico. -Tory Horton's second touchdown catch of the game went for 85 yards from Carson Strong, a career-long for both Horton and Strong and the longest pass play of the season for Nevada. -Sophomore QB Carson Strong tossed a career-high five touchdowns in the game, becoming the first Wolf Pack quarterback to do so since Colin Kaepernick threw five against Idaho on Nov. 6, 2010. -Carson Strong finished the game with 354 passing yards, completing 23-of-39 pass attempts. It marked Strong's fifth game over 300 yards this season and his first in three games. -Junior WR Romeo Doubs eclipsed 2,000 career receiving yards in his career during the game, becoming the 16th receiver in Nevada history to do so. He finished the game with seven receptions for 97 yards, just three yards shy of posting his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the season. -Junior LB Trevor Price blocked a punt in the game, the first block of his career and the first blocked punt for Nevada since Sam Hammond blocked one against Portland State in August of 2018. -Junior TE Cole Turner hauled in two receiving touchdowns in the game, his second multi-TD game of the season. His other was during the season-opening win over Wyoming. -Nevada forced three Fresno State fumbles and recovered two of them. Junior DB Tyson Williams and true freshman LB Peter Montini forced two of the fumbles, and senior DB Berdale Robins and sophomore Jordan Lee recorded the recoveries. -Sophomore DE Daniel Grzesiak registered the first sack of his career during the game and finished with 2.0 tackles for loss, a career-high. Nevada recorded two sacks on the night, with the other going to senior DE Sam Hammond, giving him 6.5 in his career. -Nevada had two players record double digits totals in tackles with junior Tyson Williams registering 11 and sophomore Jordan Lee finishing with a career-high 11 as well. Ten of Lee's 11 tackles were solo stops and he added a tackle for loss. -Sophomore PK Brandon Talton was 1-for-1 in the game in field goal attempts, hitting a season-long 49-yard field goal to open the scoring in the first quarter. -The all-time series now stands at 29-23-1 in favor of Fresno State. Nevada has now beaten the Bulldogs in back-to-back games. -Up next, Nevada will conclude the 2020 regular season with a game against San Jose State next Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. with a MW championship berth on the line.

HIGHLIGHTS: Colorado State at San Diego State Football 12/5/20

San Diego State scored two long touchdowns in the second quarter on Jordan Byrd's 93-yard kickoff return and BJ Busbee's 90-yard punt return just 90 seconds later, as the Aztecs registered a 29-17 triumph over Colorado State on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park. Making his first career start, quarterback Jordon Brookshire tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Matthews, while Matt Araiza tied a career-high with three field goals to help SDSU (4-3, 4-2 MW) snap a two-game losing streak. With their two special teams scores, the Aztecs became the first school to record a kickoff and punt return for a touchdown in the same quarter since Tennessee accomplished the feat in the third period at Kentucky on Oct. 31, 2015. After an exchange of punts on the first three possessions of the game, SDSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the 4:41 mark of the first quarter on Brookshire's first career touchdown pass, capping a 12-play, 81-yard march that consumed 4:52 of the clock. The redshirt junior carried twice for 19 yards on the drive and added 42 yards through the air, including the final eight on a swing pass to Matthews, who waltzed into the end zone untouched. CSU (1-3) narrowed the gap to 7-3 on a 43-yard field goal by Robert Liss with just under three minutes elapsed in the second period, setting the stage for the Aztecs' special teams blitz. On the ensuing kickoff, Byrd gathered the football along the near sideline and cut across to the far side of the field, outracing the Rams pursuit for his first career kick return for a touchdown, an electrifying 93-yard jaunt that gave SDSU a 14-3 advantage. After holding CSU to a three-and-out, lightning struck once again for the Scarlet and Black just 1:30 later when Busbee back-pedaled to field Ryan Stonehouse's punt and weaved 90 yards through the coverage on his way to the end zone. Despite missing the extra point, the Aztecs increased their lead to 20-3 with 10:24 to go before halftime. With his burst, Busbee became the first SDSU player to return a punt for a touchdown on his first career attempt since Rashaad Penny completed the trick vs. Nevada on Oct. 28, 2017. The Rams attempted to ignite some special teams fireworks of their own, as Thomas Pannunzio returned Araiza's kickoff 58 yards to the Aztec 45. Six plays later, Marcus McElroy Jr. hit pay dirt from a yard out, cutting the deficit to 20-10 with 8:22 remaining. Not to be outdone, Byrd added to his all-purpose total on the ensuing kickoff with a 55-yard return to the CSU 39. SDSU quickly advanced on a nine-yard pass to Ethan Dedeaux and an eight-yard run by Brookshire. However, the drive stalled an Araiza was summoned for a field-goal attempt, splitting the uprights from 40 yards out to give the Aztecs a 23-10 bulge at the 5:48 mark. It took just three plays for the Rams to pull within striking distance, as McElroy provided some tough running on his way to the end zone on a 37-yard touchdown that provided the contested with its 23-17 score at intermission. CSU threatened on its second foray down the field in the third quarter, advancing to the SDSU 19 after a 15-yard run by A'Jon Vivens on a 4-and-1 situation. However, the Aztecs stood their ground, with Jonah Tavai sacking Ram quarterback Patrick O'Brien for a nine-yard loss on third down, while Liss came up short on a 47-yard field goal attempt. SDSU subsequently took strategic control of the game, driving 68 yards on 15 plays over seven minutes and change before Araiza drilled a 21-yard field goal to put the host school up 26-17 with 12:21 left in the fourth quarter. Brookshire keyed the advance with a 19-yard completion to Kaegun Williams before hooking up with Daniel Bellinger for another 15-yard gain. Moments later, Darren Hall recorded his sixth career interception, leaping in front of a pass from O'Brien intended for Dante Wright and returning the ball 15 yards to the CSU 19. The turnover set up Araiza's third field goal of the game, increasing the Aztec lead to 29-17 with 9:17 to go. SDSU held the Rams to just 32 yards on their final two drives of the contest, with Tayler Hawkins picking off a pass from reserve quarterback Todd Centeio at the Aztec 35 with 3:35 remaining for his first career interception. Tavai registered a career-high seven tackles on the night, sharing the team lead with Trenton Thompson and Cameron Thomas. On the other side of the ball, Brookshire completed 14 of 24 passes for 130 yards, including one touchdown, while rushing 23 times for a team-high 38 yards. With his performance, he became the fifth Aztec quarterback to win his starting debut over the last six opportunities. Elsewhere, Bellinger tied for game-high honors with five receptions for 53 yards, while Matthews, Dedeaux and Dominic Benson had two catches apiece.

HIGHLIGHTS: San Jose State at Hawaii Football 12/5/20

San José State University's most dominant running game in four years propelled the Spartans to a 35-24 victory over the University of Hawai'i in a Mountain West football game. The win kept the Spartans (5-0, 5-0 Mountain West) as one of the nine remaining Football Bowl Subdivision's (FBS) undefeated teams and in first-place percentage-wise in the Mountain West with a regular-season finale against the University of Nevada, Friday, December 11. Off to its first 5-0 season start since the 1939 team finished 13-0, San José State rushed for a season-high 288 yards including 154 yards in a dominant first quarter taking a 21-0 lead. Senior Tyler Nevens led the way with career bests of 152 yards and two touchdowns on only 16 carries. His runs of a career-long 72 followed up by a 10 yard burst capped the Spartans' explosive first quarter. Teammate Kairee Robinson supplemented Nevens' best day as a a Spartan with one of his own. The shifty tailback outfoxed the Rainbow Warriors defense for 111 yards and a touchdown on 17 attempts. His 2-yard scoring run near the end of the third quarter quelled a Hawaii (3-4, 3-4 Mountain West) rally and boosted the Spartans back to an 11-point lead, 28-17. What looked relatiely easy at the start of the game became a struggle in the middle two quarters as Hawai'i chipped away at the San Jose State lead. Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, wild early, settled down using Hawai'i's short and intermediate passing game leading to a pair of touchdown passes of 10 yards to Dae Dae Hunter and 11 yards to Rico Bussey cutting the Spartans' lead to a precarious, 21-17. But, perhaps, the drive of the season, an 18-play, 70-yard march which included a pair of fourth-down short-yardage runs by Nevens set up the Robinson scoring run. Neither Nick Starkel nor Nick Nash were as sharp in the passing game as earlier in season. On the throwing end of several dropped passes, Starkel completed 11-of-23 with an interception for 167 yards and touchdown passes to Isaiah Holiness and Tre Walker. Walker's catch-and-run 50-yard reception was only his second catch of the afternoon, but he made the most of on a slant pass from moving left to right, cutting across the entire field and turning the final 20 yards to pay dirt with 12:04 to go in the game. The Spartans finish the next-to-last regular season week in a first-place percentage tie with Boise State that did not play for a second consecutive weekend due toCOVID-19 protocols. San José State can clinch a spot in the December 19 Mountain West Championship with a win when it faces the University of Nevada, Friday, December 11. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at a site to be announced. The CBS Sports Network will televise the game.

HIGHLIGHTS: Nevada Wolf Pack at Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors

HIGHLIGHTS: Wyoming at UNLV Football 12/27/20