It is a tall task to replace a legend, and that is exactly what graduate transfer Gardner Mineshaw will be asked to do this season for Washington State. While head coach Mike Leach kept who will be his starting quarterback in Week 1 close to his vest prior to the Cougars game against Wyoming, Mineshaw made his presence felt early and often in this one.
In his first game as the starter, Mineshaw led the Cougars to a blowout victory on the road against Wyoming, throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns. The transfer from East Carolina led the Cougars to their first road victory in a season opener in nearly 15 years, as Washington State rolled all over Wyoming by the score of 41-19.
Running back James Williams also made his presence felt against the Cowboys, rushing for 82 yards and a score, while also catching one of Mineshaw’s three touchdown passes. Washington State will head home in Week 2 to take on the San Jose State Spartans, as they look to continue their home success from last season, where they went 7-0 inside Martin Stadium.
The expectation coming into the 2018 college football season is that the Utah Utes should be very solid on offense, and they showed that they can certainly put points on the board in Week 1. Led by quarterback Tyler Huntley, who is one of the better dual-threat signal-callers in the country, Utah easily beat Weber State this past weekend, but they took a quarter to get the offense going.
In fact, Utah was down 10-7 going into the second quarter, but once things started clicking for Huntley and company, Weber State had no chance in this one. Huntley finished the game with 253 yards passing and four touchdowns, as the Utes scored 34 unanswered points to close out Weber State by the score of 41-10.
Running back Zack Moss also had a big game for Utah, rushing for 150 yards and a score while also catching one of Huntley’s touchdown passes. Britain Covey, who is returning from a two-year LDS Mission joined Siaosi Mariner with six catches apiece. On defense, the Utes smothered Weber State, holding them to 13 passing yards, while racking up three sacks and four turnovers.