Mountain West/Big Sky Football Saturday Preview

Boise State, Idaho and Idaho State each face key league games this weekend but only Boise State is favored to win.

The Broncos play their first road game in a month traveling to Las Vegas Saturday to face the Rebels of UNLV.

Boise State is favored by 24 points following UNLV's 53-17 loss at Wyoming. The Broncos are coming off a bye week.

The 15th ranked Broncos are 4-0 but Monday during his press conference head coach Bryan Harsin was more gloom and doom than 4-0. Harsin said his team has to prepare better, focus better and said the four wins were like deodorant, they just covered up the stink.

Boise State may get two starters back for the UNLV game as lineman John Ojukwu and safety DeAndre Pierce are back at practice. BSU however is down a key linebacker, in fact their leading tackler in Ezekiel Noah out for the season with an ACL injury.

Two former walk on's, Benton Wickersham and Bruno Derose will get their opportunity to step up.

There are juist two other Mountain West league games as San Jose State hosts New Mexico Friday night and San Diego State is at Colorado State Saturday.

Meantime, Air Force will be at Navy and Utah State plays at 5th ranked LSU.

Idaho State and Montana both had big wins last week in the Big Sky. The Bengals beat Portland State 51-24 in Pocatello while Montana thrashed UC Davis 45-20 on the road. Saturday the Grizzlies host the Bengals. Montana favored in Missoula.

The Idaho Vandals return to the Kibbie Dome Saturday to host Weber State. The Vandals lost 27-24 to Northern Colorado in Greeley. Idaho led for most of the game and their frustration certainly boiled over with both head coach Paul Petrino and QB Mason Petrino being flagged for unsportsmanlike like conduct penalties.

Weber State is coming off a 29-17 win at Northern Iowa and the Wildcats are a slight favorite vs. Idaho. Pregame begins at 2pm, kickoff at 3pm on sports radio 630 The Fan. Join Dennis Patchin for all the play by play.