Friday, November 28, 2008

What the WAC has done so far

Okay, Boise State has done okay so for outside the league as the loss to Sienna wasn't unexpected and was on the road.

Fresno State has no unexpected loss but notching a road win against San Diego State would have really helped the WAC as well the the confidence of the Bulldogs. Oregon State, UNLV and Pacific are next and any of those contests would be beneficial RPI wins.

Hawaii fell at home to USF and by a larger than expected 16 points to Cal State Fullerton but do give credit to the Rainbow Warriors for toppling Iowa State.

Idaho is struggling as expected but a 10-point loss on the road to Eastern Washington is a WAC RPI hit.

LA TECH's stumble with Seattle hurts period.

Nevada's loss at San Diego wasn't a biggie and the win at home against PAC-10 Oregon State really wasn't an upset but losing in Reno to a Pacific squad minus its two best players came unexpectedly.

New Mexico State played USC tough in Los Angeles, losing by 13, but hasn't faced a true test yet. The 24-point romp over Pepperdine was a confidence builder but not an equal or near-equal match.

With San Jose State, the loss at Nebraska wasn't a surprise but losing a game at Presbyterian that was theirs to win hurts. Taking down rival Santa Clara next week -- if that happens -- will be a salve for the Presbyterian loss.

A nice road win against Santa Barbara was a confidence booster for Utah State but the next real test will be with BYU. Win that one and the Aggies break out of the WAC pack.

In summary keep in mind that there is a large cloud of inexperience and unfamiliarity hovering over most of the teams in the WAC this season and it's evident in many of the games so far. There are a number of teams in the league who will have the opportunity to perform better as the season rolls along but which ones will and which won't? Right now, it appears the league will be a true shootout with nobody running away from the other teams. That's greta news but let's see some more RPI-building non-conference wins posted.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

NMSU played USC when they were ranked #19 in the nation, so I have no idea how you can say NMSU hasn't been tested. That is dumb

Kevin McCarthy said...

Remember it was a USC squad minus 6-9 Alex Stephenson (who now will sit out the season as determined by the NCAA) and 6-10 Nikola Vucevic (eligibility status undetermined) and with 6-9 Kasey Cunningham and his bum knee that eventually required surgery. The Trojans have no depth -- no one coming off the bench who is ready to consistently produce in any given game. If you wish to base your claim on a team's early ranking, then be our guest. We've been dumb before and will be so again but not this time unless 'truthiness' counts.