Miami, BYU, and San Jose State Chalk-up Friday Night Wins

November 7, 2020 by Staff

On Friday night, Miami rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 11 minutes to win 44-41 and avoid the upset loss at N.C. State. The 'Canes improved to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the ACC while the Wolfpack dropped to 4-3 overall and in the conference.

BYU won for the first time in six visits to Boise State. The Cougars caught the Broncos shorthanded and took advantage with a 51-17 blowout on the Smurf Turf to give BSU its worst loss at home since 1996 when now head coach, then backup QB, Bryan Harsin endured a 64-19 drubbing at the hands of rival Idaho. For this game, Sophomore quarterback Hank Bachmeier was unavailable to play and junior backup Jack Sears was out after 10 plays from a possible concussion. The Broncos also had just one healthy scholarship player at running back, thanks to Covid. Adding insult to injury, former Boise State commit Zach Wilson had a field day for BYU at QB, completing 21-of-27 passes for 359 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for another score. Combined with last season's 28-25 win in Provo, BYU has its first two-game winning streak over the Broncos and is 4-7 over-all in the series. The No. 9 Cougars are the highest-ranked team to ever play in Boise and the Cougars left with their undefeated season intact at 8-0.

A third game on Friday saw night saw San Jose State score a 28-17 upset road win over 9-1/2-point favorite San Diego State. The Aztecs fell to 2-1 while the Spartans are 3-0 for the first time since 1982. San Jose State, in its fourth season under head coach Brent Brennan, had lost 7 straight in the series.

Thursday night saw a pair of Mountain West games. Colorado State captured the Bronze Boot and evened its record at 1-1 as the 3-point underdog Rams downed visiting Wyoming 34-24. The Rams ended a four-game losing streak in the series which they now lead 59-48-5. Wyoming fell to 1-2.

In the other contest, Nevada improved to 3-0 as the Wolf Pack rolled to a 34-9 win in Reno over Utah State (0-3).

The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com batted 1.000 on the opening six games of the Mid-American Conference's 2020 college football season on Wednesday night.

All 12 teams played on Wednesday night with Western Michigan routing Akron 58-13, Miami (O) edging Ball State 38-31, Toledo thumping Bowling Green 38-3, Buffalo rolling past Northern Illinois 49-30, Central Michigan edging Ohio 30-27, and Kent State tripping up Eastern Michigan 27-23.

The computer picked 4 home teams and 2 visitors to be victorious in a scenario that played out to perfection.

It (computer) didn't perform as well against the spread as it correctly played just 2 of the 6 games.

Buffalo and Central Michigan are each conference's projected division winners, with Buffalo predicted to win the MAC title game.

Not a single MAC school changed its head coach from last season to this season.

Frank Solich, who is, by far, the longest-tenured head coach in the conference in his 16th season, is expected to have a 4-2 season with his Bobcats. Five other head coaches are on their 5th year or longer with their current team - Chris Creighton (Eastern Michigan, 7th), Jason Candle (Toledo, 5th), Mike Neu (Ball State, 5th), Lance Leipold (Buffalo, 6th), and Chuck Martin (Miami, 7th).

Projected west division winner Central Michigan is at the other end of the spectrum as head coach Jim McElwain is in his 2nd season. In his inaugural campaign, he led the Chippewas to an 8-6 season and a loss to Miami in the conference title game.Central Michigan hasn't captured the MAC championship since 2009 under Butch Jones who is now a special assistant to head coach Nick Saban at Alabama.

Saban is also a MAC alum, albeit for one year. He was the head coach of a 9-2 Toledo team in 1990 that tied Central Michigan for the conference title.