⚡ CFB Dashboard

Ah, mediocrity. We know it so well in the good ole MWC, and this week it came back and embraced us like a warm, wet blanket of ‘meh.’ Nobody really stood out, and only one team truly fornicated the pig. Still, taking two losses to FCS programs does not a power conference make, especially when those losses were in MWC stadiums. More on that later. But before we get to the grades, a refresher on the grading standards. All teams start at a base of “C”. Grade goes up and down based on what happens within the game – whether or not the betting line is met, whether the opponent is FBS or FCS (no “A” grades for beating the **** out of a FCS opponent), and anything weird or interesting that may affect the flow of the game or otherwise need to be pointed out. With that said, on to the grades! UNLV (-3) 6 @ North Texas 44 - UNLV Grade: F. No way to sugar-coat this one. UNLV’s first half went as follows: Punt, Fumble, Fumble, Punt, Punt, FG, Downs. Even at that they were only down 20-3 at recess. Unfortunately, the Rebs kept turning the ball over in the second half. UNT won the game by 38 points, but only outgained UNLV by 140 yards. TO’s kill. NoCo 13 @ Wyoming (-22.5) 21 – Pokes Grade: C-. Wyoming tried their level-best to gack this one up at home, but they found Northern Colorado to be in a giving mood in the fourth quarter, and so a 13-7 Bears lead at the 3rd quarter break turned into a 21-13 win for Wyoming. Only the fact that they won kept Wyoming out of the “D” column, having less in total yards and TOP to an unranked FCS team at their own crib. Mercyhurst 7 @ Loobs (-40.5) 70 – Loobs Grade A-. The Loobs may be for real. Or Mercyhurst may just really suck. Maybe a bit of Column “A”, a bit of column “B”. Eh. Illinois State 28 @ UNI (-4.5) 24 – UNI Grade C-. Ordinarily a loss to a FCS school at home would merit a “D” or “F” grade, but Illinois State was the #4 ranked FCS school coming in, and they took Montana State to OT in the 2025 FCS championship game, so IL State’s a real team. It’s just a shame that UNI has come out with such a poor showing in their MWC introduction. MT State 20 @ UNR (+3.5) 7 – UNR Grade D-. Only think keeping the Fleapack from the “F” grade is the fact that Montana State is the defending FCS champion and is currently ranked as the #1 FCS team. Still, getting boat-raced like that at home by a FCS team after absolutely pasting a CUSA team the week before has the Gradebook scratching its head a bit. Cal Poly 20 @ SJSU (-20.5) 30 – SJSU Grade C+. Yes, this grade may be overly harsh, but SJSU is fortunate in the extremest to have emerged with a win in this game. The Spartans were absolutely putrid on 3rd down, both on offense AND on defense – going 3/12 on O and allowing SLO to go 7/14 on their 3rd down plays. Throw in the dumb penalties and the missed scoring opportunities, and SJSU had to work much harder than they should have, and got bailed out by some excellent individual efforts from the defensive secondary. If SJSU plays like this against Fresneck, they’re gonna get pummeled. Fix your ****, Coach Ken. TxSo 10 @ UTEP (-25.5) 51 – UTEP Grade B. This one was just taking care of business, which the Miners were able to do in a fairly convincing fashion against an unranked FCS foe. (shrug) NMSU 19 @ Hawaii (-7.5) 29 – Hawaii Grade B. The ‘Bows started strong, then let the NewMags make things very close before pulling away at the end. This may be Hawaii’s most comfortable game (at least on paper) until they play CSU-Sacramento to wrap the season, so it is well they notched the W. SNUD (-2.5) 38 @ USAFA 32 – SNUD Grade B+, USAFA Grade B-. Finally these two teams play someone with a pulse – each other. Given the ebb-and-flow of the game, it would not surprise the Gradebook at all to see these two teams meet once again in the MWCCG, plus or minus the Loobs. The Bison led 35-13 going into the 4th before the walls almost entirely caved in on them, but managed to recover the late onside kick and hold off the late AFA charge. Stud of the Week: Nobody. Ordinarily this goes to the team with the highest grade, but you don’t get SotW by beating the ever-loving **** out of Mercyhurst. So sorry, Loobs, the prize goes vacant for the week. Dud of the Week: While it was tempting to hang this on UNR just for the fun of seeing them go from Stud to Dud within one week’s time, this week’s Cone of Shame goes to their Little Brothers in the south, UNLV. That was a bafflingly bad performance, buoyed up with a bunch of yards and first downs between the two 30 yard lines, against an ACK team that was nobody’s choice to finish anywhere near the top of that conference. Coming Up Next Week: Toothless reprobates bark at normal people in San Jose, UTEP prepares a voodoo doll to stab their football scheduler, Wyoming gets Directional, Nevada gets to the Middle, and we get a chance to find out whether or not the Loobs are for real. Until next week!