Western Athletic Conference Football Future Lines – Bodog Sportsbook
Where do you start when talking about the WAC. Boise State is gone and the top three contenders this season – Nevada, Hawaii and Fresno State – will all be gone by this time next year.
Last year was a bit of a golden one for the conference with Nevada knocking off Boise State on the way to a record season, but with all everything QB Colin Kaepernick gone the Wolf Pack are likely in for a downer of a season despite being the odds on favourite.
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Western Athletic Conference 2011 – Odds to Win Conference
Nevada 2/1
Hawaii 5/2
Fresno State 3/1
Louisiana Tech 6/1
Idaho 14/1
San Jose State 16/1
Utah State 20/1
New Mexico State 33/1
Truth be told without the Broncos and little star power elsewhere, there is little reason to pay close attention to the WAC this season.
Best Bet – Hawaii
The Rainbow Warriors get the nod here because they are the only one of the top contenders returning their starting QB – Bryant Moniz – the latest in a long line of prolific signal callers. He is one of only 2 starters returning on offense but Hawaii hasn’t had trouble moving the ball down the field in years with their high flying passing attack. 
On defense they return more than half of their starters, sprinkling them across all levels of the defense. In this conference, which tends to be a bit wide open, having any degree of strength on D is key to winning. Just one stop a game can make the difference.
Best Value – Fresno State
You can see that the odds are fairly close at the top so the Bulldogs are the play here offering just a slightly more value than the others. This team is always tough and plays a physical brand of football that is contrary to most other teams in the conference. The schedule isn’t too bad and in Robby Rouse they have the conference’s best running back.
They are hoping lightning can strike twice with the elevation of Derek Carr (David’s younger brother) to starting QB this fall.
Best Schedule – Nevada
They lost their best player in program history but this team still has several playmakers, and most importantly, a very favourable schedule to challenge for the league title before bolting to the Mountain West.
The key is that they host both Hawaii and Fresno State but not to be overrated is their very light road schedule – @San Jose State, @New Mexico State and @ Utah State. It might not be great timing given their losses but the non conference schedule is pretty brutal with three road games against Oregon, Boise State and Texas Tech.
If they emerge from those games healthy and with their ego in tact after those ones they should compete for the WAC championship again.
Prediction – Fresno State
Truth is this league is really a toss up this season with any of the top three teams capable of winning it. I like Fresno State the best because they have a couple of special players in the aforementioned Rouse and defensive tackle Logan Harrell.
As usual the Bulldogs loaded up in the nonconferene which makes playing the other WAC teams sometimes feel like scrimmages.
Pat Hill knows he is under some pressure to perform and I think he will rise up to meet it.
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